Selecting future teachers: the predictive validity of communication skills, personality and academic achievement in the admission process at an Asian University/ Richard J. Holmes, Marina Mohamed Arif and Lee Lai Fong

This paper studies the relationship between communication skills,
personality factors and performance in secondary school and
academic success in Teaching English as a Second Language
(TESL) programme in a Malaysian university. It was found that
three specific skills: fluency, clarity and language use were
modestly predictive of success over the first six semesters of the
degree programme but that personality traits and general and
educational knowledge were not. Performance on the Malaysian
secondary school examination, especially in maths, also predicted
academic success. It was also found that the qualities assessed at
the interview were barely detectable by lecturers a little more than
two years later although communicative skills were somewhat more
so than the others. The findings suggest that when students are
studying in the medium of a second language, communicative
competence and prior academic achievement, possibly reflective
of underlying general intelligence are important factors
contributing to academic success.