Intelligibility is equity: Can international students read undergraduate admissions materials?

Abstract

Fewer international students have applied to and enrolled in US institutions, as 40 per cent of US institutions reported a drop in international applications since 2016. Subsequently, US institutions must ensure that their international admissions materials are as equitable and transparent as possible. Expanding previous work, this study examines the readability and translation of international undergraduate admissions materials of 335 four‐year public and non‐profit private US institutions. Results reveal these materials are written near a 14th‐grade reading comprehension level, only 1 per cent of institutions provide web‐embedded translation tools on their websites and 91 per cent of institutions provide English‐only content. Implications for practitioners, policymakers and future research are addressed.

International, Inaccessible, and Incomplete

“…The research team employed quantitative linguistic software to calculate the length of the text and four common readability measures to learn of the English readability level of the material, including the Automated Readability Index, the Gunning-Fog Index, the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Test, and the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (Taylor, 2018). These English-language readability measures all examine a different element of the text, with the Automated Readability Index serving as a sentence structure measure, while the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook primarily focuses on word choice within sentences.…”

“…All four measures calculate the English reading level of a text by providing a grade-level estimate of difficulty, meaning a text measured at the 12th-grade level would require a reader to possess a 12th-grade level of English fluency or have matriculated through 12 years of Englishonly curriculum and instruction. In addition to readability level, the research team explored each website to learn if the institution had translated any international student information into a language other than English, as Taylor's (2018) study found that less than 5% of 335 four-year U.S. institutions provided international student content in a language other than English.…”

“…These students claimed institutional websites were difficult to read and often lacked critical information necessary for application to the institution, such as housing information and minimum TOEFL requirements. In related research, Taylor (2018) found international undergraduate information on U.S. institutional websites-such as admissions materials and application instructions-to be written in high, difficult English reading levels and rarely translated into languages other than English.…”

“…This study examines international student websites published by public, 4-year institutions of higher education in Texas (n = 43) to learn whether critical international student information is available, readable, and translated into languages other than English. Expanding upon research suggesting institutional websites are often incomplete and confusing for international students (Huang & Bilal, 2017) and difficult to read and rarely translated into languages other than English (Taylor, 2018), this study will inform institutions of higher education hoping to facilitate a more equitable admissions process for international undergraduate students in Texas and beyond.…”

Learning to Speak Financial Aid: Results from a National Financial Aid Jargon Survey

“…To calculate readability levels, the research team triangulated four different English language readability measures and averaged them, akin to prior research of higher education texts (Taylor 2018a(Taylor , 2018b(Taylor , 2018c(Taylor , 2018dTaylor & Bicak, 2019). Text one belonged to a large (90,000+ total enrolled students in 2017-2018), private for-profit institution and was written at the 11.5th-grade English reading comprehension (readability) level in 434 words.…”