Cefr Orıented Testıng And Assessment Practıces In Non-Formal Englısh Language Schools In Turkey

Abstract

As an offspring of the negotiation on the accession of Turkey to the European Union, the Framework has been adopted as a basis for language education policies with related implementations in the field of language testing and assessment. Although there is a growing body of research on the CEFR and language teaching, testing and assessment in formal educational settings, there is a perceived gap in the literature regarding the CEFR oriented testing and assessment practices of English language schools serving as non-formal educational settings. Considering this research gap, the prevalent aim of this study is to scrutinize the appropriateness of the current testing and assessment practices of English language schools rendering non-formal education to some European guidelines together with the Framework. Grounded upon a mixed methods research design, this study embraces quantitative data gathered from English language teachers who are also test (-item) developers at 3 private institutions rendering non-formal English language education, which are renowned for quality with the highest course attendee capacity and branches in Turkey together with the qualitative data gathered from their directors and that of the Association of Private Educational Institutions and Study Centers in Turkey (ÖZKUR- DER). Accordingly, the results have yielded that English language schools do not apply European guidelines in language testing and assessment thoroughly as the Framework is not adequately covered in related practices. This study has several implications for research on the development of the CEFR oriented language testing and assessment practices, and feeds into the growing body of research on the utilization of the European standards in non-formal educational settings. To sum up, in this study, the current language testing and assessment practices in non-formal educational settings, as the arteries of Turkish education economy, have been discussed to improve the quality by the exploitation of the CEFR.