An Investigation of HKU Undergraduates’ Learning Transfer of Academic English

Abstract

This study aims to investigate undergraduate students’ perceptions of the learnt academic English literacy they find transferable in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course in an English-medium international university. About 650 Year-1 undergraduates completed each of the two rounds of in-class e-survey in the second semester of the academic year of 2018/19. The study solicited first-year students’ perceived understanding and applicability of academic English skills taught in CAES1000 Core University English (CUE), their perceived relevance of the course’ content and their perceived transfer outcome to other learning contexts. By adopting a mixed methods approach, which includes the application of Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) algorithm as a quantitative method, and theme analysis of focus group and individual interviews as qualitative data, the PLS-SEM results were compared against the qualitative findings. This presentation will discuss a framework of instrumental measurements for undergraduate course review to prepare for the evaluation of learning transfer. It will also exemplify how the four constructs (i.e. content relevance, understanding of learning, transfer applicability, and transfer outcome) within the conceptual framework are impactful on learning transfer.