Medium of instruction exposure and self-reported perceived English-based assessment performance among undergraduates in Mogadishu, Somalia

This study examines the relationships among four self-reported constructs: Medium of Instruction Exposure (MIE), Academic Language Proficiency Readiness (ALPR), Instruction–Assessment Language Alignment (IALA), and self-reported perceived English-based assessment performance (ELPAP) in higher education in Mogadishu, Somalia. A quantitative, cross-sectional design was employed, and data were collected from 331 undergraduate students enrolled in English-medium instruction (EMI) programs. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), with adjustment for demographic and educational background variables. The measurement model assessment indicated satisfactory levels of indicator reliability, internal consistency, and convergent validity, although HTMT estimates and bootstrap confidence intervals indicated incomplete separation among some constructs. The structural model results showed that MIE, ALPR, and IALA were positively associated with students’ self-reported perceived assessment performance. MIE showed the strongest association, followed by IALA and ALPR. All three associations were statistically significant under the primary testing procedure, although the ALPR inference was sensitive to the bootstrap confidence-interval method. The expanded model, including controls, explained 72.0% of the outcome variance (R² = 0.720). The findings suggest that students’ perceived English-based assessment performance is associated with instructional exposure, academic-language readiness, and instruction–assessment correspondence. Common-source measurement, construct overlap, and limitations in categorical control specification constrain interpretation. The findings concern perceptual associations and do not establish causal relationships or improvements in objectively measured proficiency. This study contributes evidence from an underrepresented multilingual African higher education context and provides a basis for further evaluation of academic-language support and assessment alignment.