Developing a reading exam for the A2 level of teaching Turkish as a foreign language

In teaching Turkish as a foreign language, measurement and evaluation are important and one of the areas that should be studied. In order to be able to measure and evaluate in a healthy way, it is essential that the measurement tools are valid and reliable and that the instructors are competent in this field. Otherwise, it will be inevitable for learners to settle in the wrong levels, move away from Turkish, and approach the language with prejudice. As a result of incorrect evaluation, students' placement in a lower lot causes them to move away from the language because they will see the structures they know again, and their placement in a higher lot causes them to experience academic deficiencies. In order to avoid all these problems, it is essential that learners take a valid and reliable exam in accordance with the principles of item writing and the achievements of the level in teaching Turkish as a foreign language. The aim of this research is to develop a reading comprehension test, which is suitable for use at A2 level in teaching Turkish to foreigners, whose validity and reliability studies have been carried out. The research is important because it will fill the gap in the literature as it will be the first study in the field of developing a reading comprehension exam for A2 level and it is an exemplary reading comprehension exam. Qualitative and quantitative research methods were used in the research. The study group of the research consisted of 54 students who will complete the A2 level Turkish language level at Bartın University TÖMER and take the A2 level skipping exam. In this process, the steps of determining the purpose of the test, determining the features to be measured, writing the items, editing the items, preparing the trial form, scoring the trial results, item analysis and item selection, and estimating the statistics of the final test were followed in the qualitative dimension of the research. The achievements of Gazi TÖMER and Istanbul Turkish for Foreigners textbooks were examined by document analysis method. As a result of the examination, a table of specifications was created and questions were prepared. Preparation of the specification table A2 level reading descriptors of the European Common Recommendations Framework are also associated with the Turkish as a Foreign Language Program prepared by Ankara University TÖMER and the Turkish as a Foreign Language Program prepared by the Maarif Foundation. Item and test analyzes were made for the prepared questions. The difficulty of the items was determined by the percentage of correct answers, item discrimination was analyzed by comparing the upper and lower groups. Descriptive analyzes (test mean, standard deviation, test skewness and kurtosis coefficients) were performed to determine the difficulty of the test, Cronbach Alpha and Spearman Brown two-half correlations were checked to determine the reliability of the test, expert opinions were taken to determine the content validity of the test. At the last stage, learner opinions were received on the selected texts and the questions prepared. Learner opinions were analyzed by qualitative descriptive analysis. The reading comprehension test, which was developed by selecting and arranging the items, was made ready for the users.