Profiling students’ English language writing proficiency to the CEFR: the case of an English medium instruction university

• Main Authors: Abu Sufi, Mohd. Khairul, Engku Ibrahim, Engku Haliza
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: L Education (General); PE English
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/100897/8/2_MKAS_ILS%202022%20Pre-recorded%20Presentation%20Khairul%20ID_26CEFR%28E%29.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/100897/2/Presenter%20-%20Mohd%20Khairul%20Abu%20Sufi%202%20%281%29.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/100897/; https://conference.iium.edu.my/ILS2022/
• Institution: Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia

The introduction of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) into the Malaysian educational platform has brought numerous benefits to students studying the English language subject at primary, secondary, and tertiary level education. This is because the CEFR enables the profiling of Malaysian students’ English language proficiency to a universally recognised standards. Much research revolving CEFR in the Malaysian education system circumnavigates surmounting issue at the primary and secondary level education whilst CEFR research at higher education usually concerns users’ perception and implementation of the framework at institutional level. However, this study aimed at profiling the English language writing proficiency of tertiary level students studying at a full-fledged English medium instruction (EMI) public university. This quantitative study was conducted at the main campus of the EMI university and a total of 460 final year students from 8 different faculties participated. The data collection instrument comprised of an essay question that was adapted from an IELTS textbook and assessed by 2 of the university’s language experts using the CEFR illustrative descriptor scale for the general linguistic range. Data was tabulated using SPSS and the outcome was presented using simple descriptive statistics. Findings indicated that the majority of students at the EMI public university could be profiled as having an English language writing proficiency of B2+. Additionally, it was also discovered that students studying at the Faculty of Information and Communication Technology, Law and Order, and Communication and Management fared better than the students from the other faculties as 100% (n=129) of the participants managed to score CEFR B2 and higher in their English language essay.