Relationships between reading in English and the L1 and L2 (Armenian and/or Russian) language proficiencies

Abstract

This study investigated the potential of the relationship between the English reading proficiency of the Intensive English Program (IEP) students at the American University of Armenia (AUA) as measured by their reading comprehension scores in their Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) results and their L1 and/or L2 (Armenian and/or Russian) overall proficiency as measured by their final marks in Armenian and Russian at the secondary school. Participants were 88 students of the IEP at AUA, Yerevan, Armenia. This study was an ex post facto design. To get the statistical description of the variables in terms of their mean, mode, median, standard deviation, and range, the UNIVARIATE Procedure was employed. To investigate the existence of any statistically significant relationship between the variables, that is, to be able to answer he research question, General Linear Models Procedure, the multivariate or multifactor analysis, with an alpha level of .05 was used. The two analyses conducted with the purpose of answering the research question yielded the following results. In the first analysis when the participants of the study were grouped with 0.5 difference in the knowledge of Armenian and Russian, there appeared to be no relationship between the two variables. Given the sample size, this seems to suggest that the 0.5 increase in Armenian and Russian (L1 and /or L2) proficiency might be insufficient to reveal the increase in L2 (English) reading ability. The results of the second analysis, when proficient or competent in L1 and L2 participants were compared to the week in their L1 and L2 students, namely, when only “5”s in both Armenian and Russian languages and Literatures were contrasted “4”s and “3”, showed that there is statistically significant relationship between the knowledge of the participants in Armenian and Russian as measured by their school marks and their TOEFL reading scores. Thus, while the results of the first analysis failed to show any statistically significant difference between the mentioned variables, the results of the second analysis which is less problematic showed a significant pattern of dependence ; the level of the L1 and /or L2 proficiency did have effect on the TOEFL reading score, F=3.37,p>0.0399. As no conclusive statement can be made regarding the issue, a follow-up study seems a must.