The Relationship between ESL Matriculation Students‟ Malaysian University English Test (MUET) Results and their Academic Achievement

Abstract

This study attempts to investigate whether MUET results can be used as a predictor of accounting and science stream students’ overall academic performance of matriculation program. This prediction will prove further whether MUET result is valid to be used as a measurement for placement in public universities. Data were analysed at three stages using SPSS version 22.0. Firstly, MUET test scores were explained descriptively for the minimum and maximum scores. Then, to identify the relationship, overall MUET scores and its individual components’ scores were correlated with students’ _Cumulative Grade_ Point_ Average (CGPA). Then, multiple regression analysis was carried out to investigate whether MUET overall scores and its components can be used to predict students’ academic achievements. The results of_ multiple_ regression analysis show that, overall MUET score and reading component can be used to predict for both accounting and science stream students’ academic success. Besides, findings also indicated that writing component was a significant predictor for science stream students’ CGPA. The findings provide further validation of using MUET as one of the measurement for admission of prospective students to local universities in Malaysia. The results also would be able to guide English language educators to enhance students to improve their language proficiency. This would indirectly influence their overall academic _achievements.

Keywords

• muet
• cgpa
• english_ language_ proficiency
• academic_ achievement
• matriculation