Investigating the standards and procedures in the recruitment of testing office members in English preparatory programs at universities in Turkey

The aim of this research is to determine the procedures in the recruitment process for independent testing units within the English Preparatory Programs in Turkey and the standards considered by the administrators in this process. This study also investigates the training programs provided by the institution for the staff assigned to the testing unit and what changes are desired to be made by the administrators in the process of testing office recruitment. For the current study, the qualitative research method has been utilized and semi-structured interviews were conducted with administrators from 15 universities (9 state and 6 foundation universities) invited by the researcher for qualitative data collection. In these interviews, the interview questions prepared by the researcher through literature research and expert opinion were forwarded to the participants. The interviews were transcribed by the researcher and analyzed by the content analysis method. Qualitative findings have shown that there is no standard procedure for assigning testing unit members and that each university prefers different practices when choosing the testing office members. In addition, it has been observed that the candidates of testing offices are not required to have assessment literacy, educational background in English language teaching, or a certificate in the field of assessment. 7 participants stated that they measured the candidates' skills in developing and applying appropriate assessment methods during the testing unit recruitment process. "Experience in the current institution" was the most mentioned criterion in the study. The results also showed that the participating institutions offered training to the testing unit officers with various resources such as master-apprentice relationships, observation, and training programs provided by different institutions. Finally, 7 of the participants expressed that they were pleased with the current practices and did not want to make any modifications while the other 8 participants mentioned some desired changes in the recruitment process, qualifications, or the induction process. As a result, it can be concluded that there is no standardized procedure or any list of criteria for the testing unit recruitment process in English Preparatory Programs in Turkey, and participating universities have developed their own methods and techniques.