The Predicted Value of the Admission Criteria Used at QOU concerning English Major

Abstract

This study aims at identifying the predicted value of the admission criteria

used at QOU which, for this purpose, took into account the student’s overall

average along with his/ her English language grade achieved in the General

Secondary Examinations in addition to his/ her grades in both English One

and English Two in order to foretell his/ her Specialized Grand Point Average

(SGPA) in the English language specialization.

The study population comprises all QOU students in the West Bank who

have met the admission criteria of the English language specialization and

who have successfully completed a minimum of (18) credit hours required

for this field out of a total of (69) until the end of the first semester of the

academic year 2011/ 2012.The size of the study population is (1400) male

and female students distributed over all the university branches.

The study sample consists of (205) students enrolled at QOU Ramallah

and Al- Bireh Branch who have met the above- mentioned criteria regarding

admission in the field of specialty.It is, in fact, an accessible sample selected

in light of the university’s administrative facilities.

The researcher employed the analytical descriptive methodology

depending on some secondary data attained from the official records of the

students at QOU Ramallah and Al- Bireh Branch in order to answer the study

questions.Pearson correlation coefficient was used in addition to step- wise

linear regression analysis.

The study came up with a number of conclusions among which were

the following:

1. There are three significant criteria relevant to predicting (SGPA)

which are listed, here below, in order, according to the degree of their

significance: the English Two grade which alone, in itself, interpreted

45.7% of variation within (SGPA) ; followed by the General Secondary

Examinations’ total grade, which along with the preceding factor,

interpreted 52.5% of variation within (SGPA) ; and finally English

One grade which, along with the two preceding factors, contributed in

interpreting 57.2% of variation within (SGPA) .

2. There seems to be a significant rise in the predicted value of the admission

criteria used at QOU in the field of the English language specialization related

to the more advancement the student makes in his/ her field of specialty.

In the light of this study, the researcher would like to put forward a

number of recommendations, the most important of which, is retaining the

three admission criteria adopted by the university for selecting English

language students in addition to laying more focus on the criterion of the

student’s English Two grade as a result of its high predicted value relevant to

the Specialized Grand Point Average (SGPA)