Published on September 2018 | Education

Opportunities and Challenges Facing Bosnian High-School EFL Learners

The importance of learning English as a second or foreign language has been globally recognized, as its presence is plainly evident in diverse areas, in the area of business and science in particular (Schütz, 2005). Thus, as a global lingua franca, the English language is taught as the first foreign language in non-English-speaking countries around the world, and likewise it is fairly widespread as a compulsory course in elementary and secondary schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the curriculum of the Ministry of Education, Science and Youth (Ministry of Education, 2016), the expected level of English language proficiency that students need to achieve at the end of their secondary education is B2+ (CEFR, 2001). With this in mind, this paper primarily aims to determine whether Bosnian secondary-school students reach the expected B2+ level of English language proficiency as well as whether there is any significant difference between female and male students in that respect. In order to gain a better insight into the grading practices, a correlation between the students’ proficiency level and the English language grade they obtain at the end of the academic year was also explored.