A contextual investigation into the achievement tests (B1) administered in Turkish language teaching application and research centers (TÖMERs) in Turkey

Currently, with the increasing prominence of communication among countries, the importance given to Turkish as a foreign language has also increased. This situation provided many developments in this area, additionally attracted many researchers to work so as to search related issues more deeply. Researchers claim that Turkish Teaching Application and Research Centers (TÖMER), which have a very crucial place in the field of teaching Turkish as a foreign language in Turkey, apparently lack a standard application in testing and assessment among themselves as institutes. In the same vein, researchers have put forward the problems caused by this situation and have made suggestions to overcome it for a few decades. When the relevant literature is scrutinized, it is deduced that the number of studies related to testing and assessment practices of TÖMERs is rather limited and there are still various aspects to be unearthed in this point, especially in terms of the achievement test these institutes prepare and apply. Thus, to fill this gap in the field, a study based on the descriptive method, which embraces qualitative research design, was launched to conduct a document analysis on the B1 level achievement tests of four TÖMER institutions (two state and two foundation universities). The achievement tests are analyzed according to the content analysis grids provided by the manual entitled as Relating Language Examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR) in order to elucidate the points these achievement test overlap and differ. Regarding to the result of the current study, it is found out that the achievement tests provided by the four TÖMERs overlap by containing similar test items within reading sections, having similar component time and providing the same amount of listening for test takers within listening sections, including open-ended writing tasks which require compositions as the genre of input, and by benefiting from the same type of channel, interaction type and discourse mode within speaking sections. Additionally, it is deduced that the four achievement tests (with a very few exceptions) are prepared in with the B1 level descriptors calibrated in CEFR-CV (2020). Contrariwise, the achievement tests differ in terms of question types within listening sections, lengths of the reading and listening passages, number of tasks and test items provided for reading, listening, and speaking sections, number of tasks to choose from for writing and number of words expected from test takers to write. Moreover, there are various differences and issues related to characteristic properties of the achievement tests such as titles, instructions, and grading of the test items. These differences can impact the abilities of test takers negatively and may give rise to concerns regarding fairness among test takers who participate in different achievement tests administered by different TÖMERs. Therefore, it is crucial to address these differences as they are likely to lead to students being incorrectly placed in lower or higher levels than they deserve, or even unjustly requiring them to retake courses. Keywords: Teaching Turkish as a foreign language, TÖMER, achievement tests, standardization, CEFR