Persistence by Successful and Nonsuccessful Remedial and Nonremedial English and English as a Second Language Students: A Longitudinal Study. Research Report #65

A study was conducted at Evergreen Valley College (EVC) to examine the effects of remedial English and English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction on student persistence. All new fall 1982 day students without prior college experience (N=1,264) were divided into three groups: English students, ESL students, and students who took no placement test within two semesters of initial enrollment. The English and ESL students were further divided into remedial and nonremedial groups, and a group consisting of students who qualified for English or ESL but did not take these classes. The persistence of each student in each group was noted for four semesters from fall 1982 through spring 1984. Study findings included: (1) successful experience in reading and/or writing was one of the most significant factors related to persistence; (2) a high degree of personal/cultural support for educational goals appeared to be related to persistence; (3) nonsuccess in reading and/or writing was one of the most significant factors related to low persistence; (4) nonsuccess had more impact on remedial than nonremedial students; (5) students who completed both reading and writing courses tended to persist at greater rates than those who took reading or writing only; (6) remedial students persisted as well as successful nonremedial students when they experienced success and/or a high level of support for educational goals; (7) students who took no placement test and no English or ESL reading or writing courses persisted at one of the lowest rates of all the groups in the study; and (8) those who qualified for, but did not take English or ESL reading and/or writing courses had lower persistence rates than those who qualified for and took the courses. The study report includes a discussion of the policy implications of the findings. (Author/UCM)