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23 June 2024

Ensuring Equal Opportunities in an English-for-Specific-Purposes Course for Working-While-Studying Technical Students

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Department of Foreign Languages, Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University, 199106 St. Petersburg, Russia
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Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Educ. Sci.2024, 14(7), 685;https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14070685
This article belongs to the Special Issue Working Students in Higher Education
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Abstract

The number of technical students combining work and studies has increased recently. More and more students decide to gain professional experience as early as possible, resulting in a lower attendance rate. This is highly relevant to master’s degree students who struggle to succeed in both academic and professional activities, necessitating research into academic attainment strategies. The paper describes the types of working students, their needs in English, and proposes a way to improve their academic achievement, including English proficiency. A series of tests and an interview were administered to a sample of 363 master’s degree students learning technical English. The chi-square test, Fisher’s test and the Mann–Whitney Z-test were employed in order to assess the language skills acquired by students in blended learning and offline classes, and to validate the designed blended ESP course featuring an e-course and classroom lessons. The findings of the research indicated that working-while-studying students enrolled in the blended course made more significant progress in their English skills, particularly in reading and writing, compared to non-working students who had only traditional offline lessons. The results provide insights concerning the benefits of blended learning to ensure equal opportunities for working-while-studying students and their ways of adapting to a changing learning environment.

1. Introduction

Despite having a specialized profile and a higher education diploma, job security and a high salary cannot be guaranteed. The abundance of certified specialists has shifted the priorities of employers to other indicators apart from a university degree, such as work experience and acquired competencies to the extent that they correspond to the required ones [1,2,3]. Furthermore, combining studies and work can often help students decide on a career in advance [4,5,6]. However, employment negatively affects full-time education, especially in the learning of English as a primary medium of science communication [7,8]. With the increasing diversity of engineering students learning English, it is necessary to adopt more thoughtful and long-term teaching strategies to cater to them [9]. The emergence of working students as a heterogeneous group at technical universities highlights the need for research into factors that promote their foreign language skills and can facilitate their learning potential. The authors posed the following research questions:
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What insights and background do working-while-studying technical students have?
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Are there any specific features of English language acquisition by working-while-studying technical students?
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How effective is an ESP blended course in enhancing the four fundamental language skills (speaking, reading, listening, writing) of master’s degree technical students combining studies and work?
The study seeks a solution to provide equal opportunities for working-while-studying technical students learning English for specific purposes. The researchers developed a complementing Moodle-based ESP course. Thus, we sought to equip working-while-studying technical students with training materials while they are at work. To tailor the Moodle-based ESP course to the students’ needs, we analyzed the employment conditions of working students and their professional-value orientations. The research hypothesis was that an ESP blended course can serve as an effective strategy for academic attainment of working-while-studying technical students and is efficient for honing working students’ English skills.
The peculiarities of the development of the basic language skills of technical students combining work and studies have not received as much attention as the features of working students’ educational experience and subjective well-being. Certain job characteristics have been found to impact students’ academic performance [10,11]. Students who work in their specialty learn better not only than students who do not work in their specialty, but sometimes even those who do not work at all [12,13,14]. Student employment for over 24 h a week has been proved both to have a negative impact on students’ academic achievements and to cause stress because of the inability to fulfill necessary academic requirements [15]. First-year students may not yet have developed sufficient independent learning skills [16]. Some researchers characterize working students as those rarely receiving “excellent” and “good” grades (30.6%) and having more academic debts than non-working students [17,18]. Non-attendance and an increased number of dropouts of almost half of students have been among the consequences of starting work during university studies [19,20]. Conversely, some researchers consider part-time work as a strategy to encourage better academic performance [21,22]; it may enhance students’ awareness and improve discipline. Some students successfully combine studies and work, but recent research suggests that this may be because of the low level of academic workload [23,24]. Researchers have emphasized the importance of a responsible attitude to study of working-while-studying students [25]. The perception of work and university studies as two competing spheres of life leads to psychological disengagement from studies and can cause students’ psychological well-being to deteriorate [26,27,28]. Other scientists, such as [29,30], have evaluated ESP courses pursued by working-while-studying students. The results suggest that ESP learning should provide training materials highly related to students’ field of study.
Overall, the scientific literature and Internet sources indicate a lack of research on foreign language training for working-while-studying technical students, despite the growing trend of combining work and studies.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Research Design

The researchers focused their study on master’s degree students of a technical university (a case study of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University) who were enrolled on an ESP course with blended learning. A semi-structured interview and tests were employed to identify the needs of working-while-studying technical students and the learning outcomes after blended learning. The research steps included: (1) Collection of background information on ESP working-while-studying students’ needs, (2) research planning and instructional design, (3) developing a blended ESP course, (4) testing before and after the experiment, (5) analysis of the ESP final test results and assessment of the effectiveness of the blended ESP course. Our mission was to bridge a gap between working and non-working students and to create conditions for working while-studying-engineering students to develop their English skills independently. There were originally 363 master’s degree students learning technical English at the Department of Foreign Languages for two academic semesters (spring 2022−2023 and autumn 2023–2024 academic years). The intensive course syllabus for the developed ESP course included 36 h of classroom activities and approximately 36 h of self-directed learning. At the preparatory stage of the experiment, all first-year master’s degree students took a unified introductory test standard for Saint Petersburg Mining University developed at the department of foreign languages and went through a semi-structured interview to identify their needs to determine whether they were going to combine university studies and work. The standardized language proficiency test, called the placement test, evaluated English language skills with 120 questions, ranging from easiest to most difficult. Overall, 363 master’s degree students completed the placement test. Based on two parameters—having employment and proven English proficiency of “intermediate” (B1) standard—we formed the experimental and control groups. The experimental group comprised 95 working students (67 males and 28 females) who undertook both e-lessons and classroom ones. The control group included 95 students (62 males and 33 females) who undertook classroom lessons only at the university. It should be added that the percentage of female and male engineering students participating coincided with the male to female ratio in technical fields as supported by statistical data [6,31]. In the first phase of the study, working-while-studying students filled in the questionnaire to reveal their needs, details of their employment, academic performance, motives for technical university enrollment, and professional plans.
After the needs of working-while-studying students were identified, we developed, applied, and practiced the training materials within the framework of experimental teaching. We tailored the two-semester intensive e-course of English for specific purposes according to the working-while-studying students’ needs.
During the educational experiment, students of the control group learned using a traditional approach, through the classical language learning methods for technical universities in Russia, while students of the experimental group additionally completed the e-course in English complementary to the main course of the ESP studies.
The working-while-studying technical students pursued the intensive course via a Moodle platform alongside the ESP course. We collected the quantitative data through a semi-structured interview and three test papers, including a placement test taken before the ESP e-course and two follow-up tests administered afterwards.
All participants had been informed about the study and agreed to participate in it.

2.2. Statistical Data Processing

Statistical data processing and graphical representation of the data obtained were performed by SPSS 17 (IBM) and Microsoft Office Excel 2017.
We measured indicators of skewness and kurtosis, characterizing the distribution curve to assess qualitative attributes. We described continuous quantities using the median and the first and third quartiles as Me (Q1; Q3). We presented the values of qualitative attributes as the observed frequencies and percentages. The comparison in the groups was based on nonparametric methods, such as the Mann–Whitney test for independent samples and the Friedman criterion as an analogue of an analysis of variance for dependent (correlated) samples. The Pearson’s chi-square test χ2 criterion for four-field contingency tables was used to compare qualitative attributes. With small frequencies (>5 … <10), Yates’s correction for continuity was employed. For frequencies <5, Fisher’s exact test for four-field contingency tables was used.
We considered differences between the experimental and control groups to be statistically significant at p < 0.05, where p is the Type I error probability when testing the null hypothesis. In all cases, two-tailed criteria were employed. The Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons was adjusted to assess the differences between the control and the experimental groups.

2.3. Research Instruments

We designed the ESP e-course to provide ESP training in a more rational way. As was identified in the preliminary part of the study, students need professionally oriented English language skills in order to function effectively at work, so a strong emphasis was placed on the use of functional language presented in context and skills work, especially using role-plays to practice.
We selected authentic professionally oriented materials related to students’ motivation and effective leadership, with a view to gaining a competitive edge for the ESP e-course (Table 1).
Table 1. Moodle-based ESP course (72 h) (compiled by the authors).
The Moodle-based ESP course provided the following benefits for students:
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learner-centered approach, i.e., students can access the course content many times to gain a deeper understanding of training materials;
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adaptability to student’s individual capabilities;
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quick feedback offering some tools ensuring quality of assessment;
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abundant content, making the learning environment more interesting and appealing to the learners thanks to use of multimedia resources.
Upon completion of the experiment, the participants completed the ESP final test, indicating the results of English language acquisition in the experimental and control groups.
Speaking (5 min). At the exam, students demonstrate mastery of an unprepared monologue speech, as well as a dialogue in a situation of professional communication in English.
Reading (60 min). Students must demonstrate the ability to read and understand authentic professionally oriented literature in English, based on the studied language material, professional background knowledge, and contextual guessing skills.
Listening (30 min). The test evaluates students’ core listening skills, including following conversations, discerning opinions and drawing accurate conclusions.
Abstract writing (60 min). The test evaluates academic writing skills, including practical skills of written interpretation of English language texts and generalizing abilities.
The reading proficiency testing section included a text with specialized vocabulary and a more complex writing style. We used authentic texts, ranging from descriptive and factual to discursive and analytical, from journals and magazines. A set of 40 questions followed the text, testing students’ ability to read and comprehend (Table 2).
Table 2. Assessing reading comprehension (compiled by the authors).
Students had to answer a certain number of questions correctly to secure a high band score. The scales for assessing students’ reading, listening, speaking and abstract writing skills developed by the authors are listed in Appendix A. The highest total score was 400 points (Table 3).
Table 3. Rating system (compiled by authors).
Also, the experimental group were asked to express their attitude towards the ESP e-course.

3. Results

The paper explores the types of students’ employment and how work affects technical students’ educational motivation and their academic performance. Additionally, the research includes a comparative analysis of the ESP final test results of the experimental and control groups in order to assess the knowledge gained by the technical students in blended learning and offline classes, to validate the Moodle-based ESP course, and to analyze students’ perceptions of the ESP e-course design.

3.1. Outcome 1: Participants

The semi-structured interview showed that 64% of the technical students work during their university studies. The employment prospects for master’s students depend on their chosen field of study. Employers will hire students with a bachelor’s degree as full-time specialists, so the employment of master’s students according to their major does not necessarily reflect their own choice. Concerning the specific features of the working students’ English language acquisition, students at technical universities are eager to learn specific English that focuses on language usage in context and integrates language and content.
We identified two categories of working-while-studying students: the first group had a rotation-based job on a permanent contract and the second group included students in part-time employment. Permanent contracts were predominant (63%). A Higher Education Diploma provides master’s students with opportunities to obtain jobs requiring more qualifications. However, some prefer less skilled jobs, possibly not associated with the specialty, in order to devote more time to study if facing financial difficulties. The students’ responses acquired from the semi-structured interviews were manually organized into Excel files and further processed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 17 software (IBM) for Windows (64-bit version) in order to answer the first research question about the working-while-studying students’ insights and background information (Table 4).
Table 4. Master’s students’ insights and background % (abs.) (compiled by the authors).
The motivations of the part-time working students and those with rotation-based employment were different. The statistical analysis of the data using the chi-square distribution and Fisher’s exact test showed that the part-time employed students reported financial independence statistically significantly more often by 155.0% (p = 0.001) than those with rotation-based employment. The part-time working master’s students gave the response “I started working at the 3rd or 4th year” statistically significantly less frequently by 30.1% than the responses of the students with rotation-based employment (p = 0.036). There was a significant difference in the frequency of responses of students reporting 1–3 h of work per day between part-time working master’s students and those with rotation-based employment (p < 0.001). The frequency of responses from the part-time students working irregularly for 4–5 h per day was 84.8% lower compared to those with rotation-based employment, with statistical significance (p < 0.001). Responses of the part-time working master’s students that they were motivated to enroll in the technical university for a rich social life and acquaintances were given statistically significantly less often by 80.4% than those with rotation-based employment (p = 0.001). The students engaged in rotational employment were twice as likely to report working in their specialty (p = 0.002).
As can be seen from Table 4 above, the primary motive for combining studies and work was financial difficulties. The generality of students (75.8%) intended to graduate and work in their specialty.
The students who worked part-time irregularly noted financial independence as a reason for working on average 1–3 h per day more often than those who worked regularly. More than half of these students started work as early as their first and second year (51.5%).
Compared to those who worked part-time from time to time, the students with rotation-based employment started work later—from the 3rd or 4th year of study—in order not to miss out on the discipline fundamentals. They mostly worked in rotational shifts of 4–5 h a day. Most of them (87.1) intended to graduate from university and work in their specialty. Students who successfully completed their studies constituted 64.5% of the students with rotation-based employment. More than half of them had a job profile that corresponded to the specialty studied at the technical university.
Perhaps the most surprising answers were those of students with rotation-based employment who stated that their learning motivation was to gain opportunities for new professional contacts (77.4%), whereas approximately 62% of the same students chose the option “to get work experience” as the principal motive for working.

3.2. Outcome 2: Specific Features of English Language Acquisition of Working-While-Studying Technical Students

The study addressed peculiarities in the development of language skills of technical students combining work and study. The results of the semi-structured interviews revealed the technical students’ needs and indicated that they had preferred assignments within the ESP course. In general, the technical students evaluated the ESP e-course that was designed highly. They were more willing to complete reading and writing tasks relevant to the engineering fields. The technical students needed to see the relevance of the language skills in their field of study. In addition, students of the mining university had difficulties in speaking, with excessive self-control over the speech they produced acting as a hindrance. During the speech activities, technical students tended to use pre-learned phrases and texts, which they included in their own speech without prior thought. The students liked learning words and word-groups belonging to the engineering terminological system as these were viewed as a very important aspect of learning languages for special purposes. The authors view the special instructional design based on the integration of traditional teaching approaches in offline learning as being of value. The ESP e-course based on professionally oriented materials encouraged technical students’ cognitive activity and performance and provided an opportunity to apply their knowledge to actual performance rather than summative assessment. Thus, contextualized meaningful English language learning based on learners’ field of study can be provided in order to enhance English language acquisition by working-while-studying technical students.
Using the assessment scales developed by the authors for the educational programs of Saint-Petersburg Mining University comprising the “Technical English” course, we found that there was a difference between the English language acquisition of the working-while-studying technical students and of the non-working students (Table 5).
Table 5. Comparative analysis of the experimental and control groups at different research stages (compiled by the authors).
The results of the Mann–Whitney test showed that the listening skill indicators of the control group students were statistically significantly lower by 23.1% after the university semester than in the experimental group (p < 0.001). The control group speaking skill indicators were statistically significantly lower by 19.5% after the university semester than the indicators in the experimental group (p < 0.001). The writing skill indicators of the control group students were statistically significantly lower by 13.6% after the university semester than the indicators of the experimental group students (p < 0.001). As can be seen from Table 5, after the training course, the reading and writing scores of the experimental group were higher than their listening and speaking scores. The listening skill indicators of the control group students were statistically significantly lower by 25.0% after completing the training course than the indicators in the experimental group (p < 0.001). After completing the training course, the control group students showed a statistically significant 18.2% decline in speaking skill indicators compared to the experimental group (p < 0.001). The writing skill indicators of the control group students were statistically significantly lower by 15.5% after completing the training course (two semesters) than the indicators in the experimental group (p < 0.001).
The statistical analysis of indicators using the Friedman criterion revealed positive dynamics in the experimental group after the first semester of training (p < 0.05). Thus, the indicator “Reading” increased by 28.9% compared with the initial data after the 1st semester of the ESP training, by 32.7% at the end of the training course compared with the data of the 1st semester, and by 71.1% compared with the initial data (Table 6).
Table 6. Dynamics of the indicators in the experimental group (compiled by the authors).
It should be highlighted that the positive dynamic of the reading indicator was statistically significant (p < 0.001). The indicator “Listening” increased by 39.3% relative to the initial data after the 1st semester of the ESP training, increased by 33.3% relative to the data of the 1st semester at the end of the course, and by 85.7% compared with the initial data. The positive dynamic of this indicator was statistically significant (p < 0.001). The indicator “Speaking” increased by 32.3% after the 1st semester relative to the initial value, at the end of the course increased by 34.1% compared with the data of the 1st semester, and by 77.4% relative to the initial data. Here, the positive dynamic of this indicator was statistically significant (p < 0.001). The “Writing” indicator showed a 63.0% increase after the 1st ESP training semester compared to the initial data, a 31.8% increase compared to the 1st semester data at the end of the training course, and a 114.8% increase compared to the initial data. The positive dynamic of this indicator was statistically significant (p < 0.001). Summarizing the ESP final test scores in the experimental group, we can conclude that the English language skill indicators increased statistically significantly relative to the previous stages of the research (p < 0.05).
In addition, statistical analysis of the indicators in the control group by the Friedman criterion showed positive dynamics after the ESP e-course. The indicators of the four English language skills increased statistically significantly relative to the previous research stages (p < 0.05) (Table 7).
Table 7. Dynamics of the indicators in the control group (compiled by the authors).
From Table 7, it is evident that after the 1st semester, the “Reading” indicator increased by 27.0%, by 6.4% at the end of the ESP Moodle-based course, and by 35.1% overall. The positive dynamic of this indicator was statistically significant (p < 0.001).
The “Listening” indicator showed a 7.1% increase after the 1st semester, followed by a 30.0% increase at the end of the course compared to the 1st semester, and a 39.3% increase compared to the initial data. The positive dynamic of this indicator was statistically significant (p < 0.001).
The indicator “Speaking” increased by 6.5% after the 1st semester relative to the initial data, at the end of the training course increased by 36.4% relative to the indicators of the 1st semester, and by 45.2% relative to the initial data. The positive dynamic of this indicator was statistically significant (p < 0.001). The indicator “Writing” increased by 52.0% after the 1st semester relative to the initial data, increased by 28.9% at the end of the course relative to the indicators of the 1st semester, and by 96.0% relative to the initial data. The positive dynamic of this indicator was statistically significant (p < 0.001).
Summarizing the statistical analysis data represented in Table 5, Table 6 and Table 7, the indicators of the four English language skills of the experimental and control groups increased significantly relative to the initial stage of the research. It should be noted that, after the experiment, the working-while-studying students’ language skills were developed more profoundly than in the control group. The results confirm the hypothesis that the ESP blended course effectively helps working-while-studying technical students to achieve academic success and to improve their English skills, especially in reading and writing.

4. Discussion

The research topic is of considerable importance as a national goal has been set to create opportunities for promoting the scientific careers of talented young people, ensuring the preservation and use of their intellectual potential, and increasing the prestige of engineering as a profession [32]. The aim of the study was to find a way to ensure equal opportunities in the ESP course for the working-while-studying technical students. The key practical outcomes of this research are both a description of the types of working students and the peculiarities in the development of their English language skills. We achieved the study aims through the design of a blended course, which combined Moodle-based ESP online and traditional offline courses. During the experimental period, working-while-studying students developed their English skills and achieved higher scores, especially in reading and writing, compared to non-working students. This result is consistent with previously published data on the most efficient learning tools (see [4,20,30]). However, in our present research, the specific features of English language acquisition by working-while-studying technical students were emphasized.
The findings of the paper validate that blended learning has the capability to enable integration of work and study in a technical university. In comparison, previous research [12,13,14] focused on the impact of employment on academic success within the students’ social milieu.
The study reported in [33] addressed difficulties posed by self-directed learning. Similarly, the semi-structured interview in this study aimed to identify the needs of working students. It revealed that technical students prefer writing and reading tasks that are professionally oriented and learning activities that enable them to analyze and draw independent conclusions. Researchers have proposed that the themes for discussion could be based on working students’ responses in relation to their respective engineering disciplines [34,35,36].
The authors of this paper align with scientists who believe that the utilization of electronic learning tools and various applications can make learning more productive [37,38].
The professional orientations of part-time students and students having rotation-based employment differ. Part-time working students are primarily motivated by financial reasons when entering the labor market, whereas students with rotation-based employment aim to enhance their career prospects in various engineering fields immediately after graduation [39,40]. Some authors [41,42] have also noted the influence of the course undertaken and the relevance of the work profile to the specialty being mastered at the university on academic performance, which is also suggested in this paper (master’s students’ insights and background). Tertiary graduates do not profit from work experience that is unrelated to the field of study [43].
This research strengthens the hypothesis of Shalatska and Murzo’s study, who focused on the use of Moodle activities in a blended learning approach either as practice materials or as informal assessment tools for some course components [44,45]. The current research results confirm the benefits of an e-learning approach to teaching and self-tuition based on Moodle reported in [46]. The authors proposed some strategies for fostering learners’ autonomy by empowering them, as well as tools and techniques for self-paced learning, reflection and self-assessment. The present research provides practical guidance and evidence-based recommendations that can enhance the design and delivery of an ESP e-course in a blended or fully online environment.
Further research including the following is suggested: (1) further implementation, monitoring and assessment of the ESP e-course; and (2) unification of the requirements of all students to reflect the universities specific goals.

5. Conclusions

We identified two of the most popular types of employment, namely, rotation-based and part-time employment, associated with the following common concerns of students:
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good academic performance
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aspiration to graduate and work in their specialty;
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higher reading and writing scores.
Our research suggests a strategy for facilitating working-while-studying students’ academic attainment in the ESP course. A course of ESP teaching developed on the Moodle platform was designed to support ESP lessons at a university.
Development of the ESP course based on the electronic educational environment Moodle and study of the peculiarities of foreign language skills development in the case of working-while-studying technical students showed that the proposed strategy proved to be quite effective. The ESP e-course laid a good foundation for the development of reading and writing skills of working-while-studying students.
In addition, the research highlighted the importance of learners’ autonomy and self-regulation. To achieve this, we developed training materials for blended learning, both for self-study and use in-class, in order to provide the most suitable activities for improvement in the working-while-studying students’ English skills.
Therefore, use of the Moodle-based ESP course within a blended learning approach proved to be one of the key tools in mastering foreign language skills, especially in writing and reading.

6. Limitations

This research has certain limitations. To begin with, the research was specifically carried out with technical students pursuing a master’s degree. Additionally, allocation of participants to the experimental or control groups was based solely on their English proficiency (intermediate) and the requirement of combining university studies and work, and did not consider other criteria.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, I.S.O. and I.G.G.; methodology, I.S.O. and I.G.G.; software, I.S.O.; validation, I.S.O.; formal analysis, I.S.O.; investigation, I.S.O. and I.G.G.; resources, I.S.O.; data curation, I.S.O.; writing—original draft prepara-tion, I.S.O.; writing—review and editing, I.G.G.; visualization, I.S.O.; supervision, I.G.G. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University (protocol code 2024-05-02c (protocol No 55) dated 8 May 2024).

Data Availability Statement

Data reported are available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Appendix A

Table A1. Speaking assessment. Scale (maximum 100 points) (compiled by the authors).
Table A1. Speaking assessment. Scale (maximum 100 points) (compiled by the authors).
Linguistic AspectsOrganization of Speech
CriteriaLexical Resource Grammatical RangeQuestionsContentFluency and Coherence
Scale Score 0–200–200–200–200–20
0–5Limited vocabulary; no communication possible;
no ratable language		Attempts basic sentence forms but with limited success;
makes numerous errors (5 or more) 		Fails to understand the question; only produces isolated words or memorized utterances;
cannot answer the question;
refuses to answer the question		Fails to develop the topicPauses lengthily before most words;
little communication possible;
speech is often unintelligible
6–10Able to talk about familiar topics but can only convey basic meaning on unfamiliar topics;
makes frequent errors in word choice (more than 3)		Attempts basic sentence forms;
makes 3–4 errors 		Fails to understand questions;
gives short answers to the examiner’s questions		Able to talk on everyday topicsMaintains flow of speech but pauses lengthily before most words; uses repetition, self-correction and/or slow speech to keep going
11–15Demonstrates ability to use a wide enough vocabulary to discuss topics at length;
uses phrasal verbs, idiomatic language;
makes 1–3 errors		Uses a wide range of structures;
makes 1–2 errors		Gives logically reasoned, extended answers, with some minor inaccuraciesDevelops some topics fully and appropriatelyMaintains flow of speech without noticeable pauses;
uses simple connectives and some breakdowns in coherence
16–20Uses vocabulary with full flexibility and precision in all topics;
uses idiomatic language naturally and accurately		Uses a wide range of structures flexibly;
produces error-free sentences		Answers coherently with fully appropriate cohesive featuresDevelops all topics fully and appropriatelySpeaks coherently with fully appropriate cohesive features; develops topics coherently and appropriately;
uses a range of connectives and discourse markers with some flexibility
Table A2. Reading assessment. Scale (maximum 100 points) (compiled by the authors).
Table A2. Reading assessment. Scale (maximum 100 points) (compiled by the authors).
CriteriaSkimming and ScanningUnderstanding Main IdeasReading for DetailEnglish Vocabulary SizeUnderstanding Opinion and Attitude
Scale score0–200–200–200–200–20
0–5Able to comprehend some basic informationFails to understand the questions; the number of correct answers less than 10%Completes less than 1/2 (60%) tasks in the textLimited vocabulary (500 words)Fails to understand the text
6–10Able to scan quickly through fairly long texts related to one’s major and on the topics of one’s personal interestsAble to find relevant information by less than 50%. The number of correct answers does not exceed 20–40%Completes more than 1/2 (60%) tasks in the textActive vocabulary 1000–2000 wordsUnderstands the main content of the text. Little proficiency in detailed passage understanding
11–15Able to decide whether closer study is worthwhile, as well as scan through the passage within one’s major and identify the most relevant fragments to read them more thoroughlyThe number of correct answers does not exceed 60–80%Completes 2/3 tasks in the textActive vocabulary 3000 wordsIdentifies the subject matter, content and relevance of items, articles and reports on a wide range of topics and demonstrates a complete understanding of what has been read except for some details
16–20Able to quickly read a passage, identify its subject and line of argumentAble to find the most relevant information in specialized texts related to one’s major as well as differentiate between the relevant/irrelevant. Understands in detail lengthy, complex texts both within and outside the majorCompletes all the tasks in the textActive vocabulary 4000 wordsLocates factual information and personal viewpoints, and differentiates between real information and hypotheses
Description of the scale and criteria for assessment of both the listening task and writing an abstract on the scientific and technical literature within the master’s students’ major is provided in Table A3.
Table A3. Scale and criteria for assessment of the listening task and writing an abstract (maximum 100 points) (compiled by the authors).
Table A3. Scale and criteria for assessment of the listening task and writing an abstract (maximum 100 points) (compiled by the authors).
Scale ScoreAssessment Criteria Description
Listening AssessmentWriting an Abstract
81–100No difficulty in following lengthy unprepared speech, understanding complex technical information, such as operating instructions, specifications, able to recognize a wide range of idiomatic expressions and colloquialisms, appreciating register shifts. Able to distinguish between explicit and implied information. Handles any and every listening task.The summary is comprehensive, exact and accurate. The discourse markers are used. The meaning of the text is understood fully. A variety of grammatical constructions are used. The lexical richness of the English language used is demonstrated. The task is achieved by substantiating the actual material logically. Semantic distortions are absent. The characteristics given are inherent in scientific and technical texts. The research methods are provided. There are no grammatical errors. The communication tasks are fulfilled.
61–80No difficulty in understanding in detail the standard spoken language, even in a noisy environment, as well as lectures, talks and reports within one’s major, provided the subject matter is familiar and the presentation is straightforward and clearly structured. Sometimes has difficulty with some propositionally and linguistically complex speech on both abstract and concrete topics delivered in a standard dialect. Usually distinguishes between explicit and implicit information. Copes with 2/3 of assignments. Makes no more than 1–2 semantic errors (misrepresenting/omitting/addition) when answering questions to the listening text.The summary is comprehensive, exact and accurate. The discourse markers are used. The means of logical connection, and a variety of lexical and grammatical constructions are used. Semantic distortions are absent. Compliance with the norm and usage of the target language, including the use of terms. The research methods are provided. Grammatical errors are extremely few (1–2) and not disruptive in the comprehension of the text. The communication tasks are fulfilled.
41–60No difficulty in understanding clearly articulated speech delivered at normal rate and following extended dialogues provided speech is clear and in standard language. Understanding of the content of the audio recording is average—less than 65%.The summary is comprehensive, exact and accurate. The discourse markers are not used. There are some grammatical constructions used. The research methods are provided. There are some minor grammatical (3–4) or lexical errors that are not disruptive in the comprehension of the text. The communication tasks are fulfilled.
21–40Able to understand simple messages delivered at a relatively high speed on everyday topics and to use contextual cues and analogy with one’s native language to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words in short messages. Makes no more than 4 semantic errors (misrepresenting/omitting/addition) when answering questions to the listening text.The content of the text is partially conveyed, or the logic of the description is broken. There are some semantic distortions. The discourse markers are not used. There are some lexical and grammatical errors (more than 4).
0–20Able to understand familiar words, basic phrases, questions and short, simple instructions. Fails to understand any oral statements and copes with less than 1/2 of the tasks; understanding—less than 20%.There are semantic distortions in the summary. The description is illogical. There are a large number of lexical and grammatical errors. The communication tasks are not fulfilled.

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