Higher education classrooms in countries such as Australia and the U.S. have become increasingly diverse in their student populations through rising enrollments in the number of non-traditional students, students who have English as a second language, and international students. This paper reports on the results of a study that investigated (a) the diversity in English language competence of first-year students enrolled in a Commerce and Economics Department at an Australian University and (b) the impact of language diversity and English language competence on academic performance. Implementationof a written diagnostic task to 210 first-year students from diverse backgrounds and 765 students from local Australian backgrounds revealed significant differences in language competence between the two cohorts. Results indicated that 76% of the diverse student cohort had English language difficulties in comparison with 20% of the local Australian students. No significant differences were found between the two groups when language grades were linked to average academic results. The findings of extensive differences in English language competence have implications for improving language learning and experiences in the first-year, particularly for students from diverse backgrounds.
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Prem Ramburuth (2001) studied this question.