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Language Teaching Research
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A comparative study of Croatian and Hungarian EFL students

Jelena Mihaljevic Djigunovic

University of Zagreb, Croatia, jmihalje{at}ffzg.hr

Marianne Nikolov

University of Pécs, Hungary

István Ottó

Regional Public Administration Office for Southern Transdanubia, Hungary

This comparative research aims to provide insights into how Croatian and Hungarian 8th graders' proficiency in English as a foreign language (EFL) compares to one another in relation to organizational macro factors. A total of 717 14-year-old students participated in the study in two neighboring regions and towns of Croatia and Hungary examining how Croatian and Hungarian 8th graders' performances compare on the same EFL measuring instruments by starting age, frequency of weekly classes, and size of group. The findings show that Croatian students performed significantly better on the EFL proficiency tests than their Hungarian counterparts, despite the fact that Hungarian learners start English earlier, and study the language in more weekly classes in smaller groups. Larger differences have been found between groups' performances in Hungary than in Croatia, whereas no significant differences characterize within-group variations.

Key Words: assessment of proficiency • 14-year-olds • time factors • number of students in groups

Language Teaching Research, Vol. 12, No. 3, 433-452 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1362168808089926
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