The Effect of Private Language Institutes on High School Students’ Final Exam Performance

Abstract

The present research investigated the effect of attending private language institutes on Iranian high school students' performance on English final exams. The participants of the study were 160 high school students, eighty of whom had attended private language institutes. The performance of the students who had attended English institutes on high school English final exam was compared to that of the students who had not attended private institutes. The analysis of their English final scores revealed that attending private institutes had no significant effect on the final-exam performance of the students, there was no significant difference between male and female students in their final-exam performance, and there was no significant relationship between the length of study at private institutes and performance on English final exams. However, further investigations revealed that the high school and private institutes' textbooks, teaching methodologies and final exams are different. Private institutes focus on communicative ability and oral skills, while the focus of high school is on grammar, vocabulary and reading. The study implies that high school textbooks, teaching method and final exams must be more communicative and include more oral/aural activities.