Feasibility of computer assisted English proficiency tests in Turkey: a field study

Abstract

The content and administration procedures of proficiency tests, the difficulties faced and the perception of “proficiency” in schools of foreign languages in Turkish context are issues worth focusing on. One of the comprehensive studies on this topic was conducted by Aydın, Akay, Polat and Geridönmez (2016) in which they conducted a series of interviews with the administrators of 12 schools of foreign languages in Turkey as a part of a Scientific Research Project of Anadolu University. One of the striking findings of this study was the willingness and enthusiasm of administrators for computer assisted language proficiency tests. They stated that this practice may bring certain advantages regarding work load and quality. Therefore, two international test providers which design and administer such tests were visited within the scope of this research project to gather information about the technical and procedural information regarding the following issues: the reasons of the transition from paper-based tests to computer-based ones; the decisions taken prior to transition and preliminary works; the advantages and difficulties of computer based tests; and automatic scoring practices. This paper aims to report the results of these interviews by suggesting a possible path to develop our nationwide computer based proficiency test. development of the student.