Linguistic competence in tertiary-level instruction in English and its relevance for student mobility

Abstract

Student and  teacher mobility are  important aspects of education within  the Bologna Process. Overcoming the language barrier is a precondition for following and providing instruction in a foreign  language.  A  survey  was  conducted  among  first-year  undergraduate  students  to determine  their  readiness  for  instruction  in English. The  survey  results  show  the  respondent profile, their assessment of instruction within an English language course, using other ways of acquiring  knowledge  and  self-assessment  of  their  command  of  English.  The  students'  self-assessment  of  motivation  for  learning  English  and  its  relevance  for  their  profession  are presented  along with  students'  interest  in  other  courses  offered  in English.  It  turns out  that, regardless  of  a  satisfactory  level  of  self-assesed  competence  in  English  and motivation  for learning English, students are not willing to enroll in the offered study courses in English. This may indicate that all the precoditions for mobility have not been fulfilled. The survey results are compared with  the corresponding results of another, more comprehensive, survey among graduate  students  at  the  Faculty  of  Organization  and  Informatics  conducted  at  the  whole University of Zagreb. Althouh the results obtained in the two surveys are not identical, they roughly correspond.