An analysis of the final speaking exam at an English preparatory school in Turkey

Speaking as a language skill has always been important both for foreign language educators and learners. The reason for this may be the fact that the success in speaking a foreign language is considered as an indicator for success in that language. However, although speaking ability is one of the most important skills, it is also the most difficult skill to assess. Therefore, appropriate ways for assessing speaking skill has been one of the most common research issues in this field.The main purpose of this study is to investigate whether or not the speaking component of final exam at Zirve University Preparatory School has any problematic areas. In order to reach this aim content validity and inter-rater reliability of the exam are examined. Moreover, the ideas and suggestions about the exam were gained by interviews held with the students and the instructors.The participants of the study are 15 students and 10 teachers of Zirve University Preparatory School. Interviews conducted with the participants are used to gather data for identifying the weak points of the exam and suggesting appropriate and better ways to do the speaking exam. It was found out that although the exam was discovered not to have content validity, the inter-rater reliability of the exam was satisfactory. Furthermore, using the participants? opinions and recommendations gathered from the interviews, ways for a better speaking assessment procedure for Zirve University Preparatory School was suggested.