Examination of Turkish proficiency exams in the national area in terms of language qualifications stated in the Common Framework on Foreign Language Teaching

Within the scope of the research, it is aimed to examine the Turkish Proficiency Exams (TPE) applied in the national field in terms of language proficiency specified in the Common Framework for Teaching Foreign Languages (CEFR). To represent the population in the relevant direction, TPE (2020) applied at Gazi University TÖMER, Istanbul University DİLMER, Hacettepe University TÖMER, Dokuz Eylül University DEDAM and Sakarya University TÖMER institutions were selected as a sample and examined in the axis of language competencies presented in the Framework Text. The research was planned within the framework of the qualitative research method due to its scope and content. In this respect, the survey model was used in the study following the nature of qualitative research; In this study, it has tried to present a situation description of the compliance levels of the Turkish Proficiency Exams (2020) applied in the national field with the European Common Recommendations Framework (2020 version). To scrutinize the aforementioned scopes, the Turkish translation of the digital versions of CEFR (2018) and (2020) was carried out. In the relevant context, the mentioned measurement tools and digital resources have been handled within the scope of data collection tools related to the research and have become the focus of the study as the dominant elements based on data collection processes. The research findings were obtained being the content analysis of the TPE (2020) of the relevant institutions. The main goal of content analysis is to reach concepts and relations between concepts that can explain the data at hand. For this purpose, categorical analysis, one of the content analysis types, was used in the study. In the related context, the question items first presented within the scope of the TPE in question were examined based on content analysis in terms of the language proficiency they aimed to measure at the CEFR level, and the sample descriptors they matched at this level were classified into various categories in terms of their related scales, language proficiency and levels by accepting border frames. During this process, first of all, opinions were obtained from 3 field experts separately. In an ongoing process, forums were organized with the participation of relevant experts, and the ideas that emerged here were collected in a pool. Each question item was discussed in separate discussion sessions. The data analysis of the items with unanimous consent was given their final form. At this point, it was aimed to structure all the items presented within the scope of data analysis around a common opinion, and in case of lack of consensus, it was aimed to present the different analysis styles of the experts separately. At the end of the process, it was seen that data analyses formed by consensus rather than majority vote emerged, and it was determined that a common analysis pool was created by providing a consensus on all question items. As a result of the research, within aforesaid measurement tools, it has been determined that there is no certain harmony between the language level, the descriptive scale, and the sample descriptive competencies, in which the test items presented under separate titles based on skill match in line with the CEFR (2020). In addition, it is concluded that the test items exhibit an agglomeration state for certain sample descriptors given concerning certain scales related to the Framework Text.