Volume 2, 1999, Paper 3
Paper 3: A comparison of IELTS and TOEFL as predictors of
academic success
Kathryn Hill, Neomy Storch and Brian
Lynch
With increasing numbers of international students enrolling in
universities in English speaking countries such as Australia, the
question of the level of English Language Proficiency (ELP)
necessary for academic success becomes critical. The main
question for this study was the usefulness of IELTS and TOEFL (the
two main measures of ELP used for selection to universities in
Australia) respectively as predictors of readiness for the
Australian academic context. However, earlier research
suggests that ELP is only one of a number of factors impinging on
academic success (Davies 1990; Criper & Davies, 1998).
This study was, therefore, also concerned with additional factors
which may influence academic progress, such as the effect of
English language support. The research was carried out at the
University of Melbourne. Data for the study included
students' IELTS and/or TOEFL scores and Grade Point Average as well
as questionnaire and interview data. The relationship between
GPA and IELTS scores was found to be moderately strong whereas the
correlation between achievement and TOEFL score was relatively
weak. These results appear to be consistent with the results
of previous studies. In the interview and questionnaire data
students identified non-linguistic factors affecting their academic
performance which may help to explain the weak correlations between
ELP score and academic success.
