Research Article
BibTex RIS Cite

Konuşma Sınavında Konuların Önceden Bildirilmesinin Öğrenci Başarısına Etkisi

Year 2018, Volume: 2 Issue: 2, 45 - 58, 28.12.2018

Abstract



Topic familiarity is
an important issue for oral assessment. There may be factors (such as
readinesss through in-class activities or background knowledge of the students)
that affect students’success. Furthermore,
familiarity with the ‘speaking exam’ topics before the
exams may contribute to this issue. Therefore, this study investigated if
students’ familiarity with the ‘speaking exam’ topics before the exams has a
positive effect on students’ speaking scores or not. The study was conducted at
Gaziantep University School of Foreign Languages with 245 students and 25
interviwers. The data was collected by means of interviews in three stages.
The first and second stages were to examine the
difference between two different implementations about students’speaking topic
familiarity. The third stage was to
investigate the opinions of the students about the implementation. The
results revealed that the students’ un/familiarity with the speaking topics
before the exams made no difference on the students’ speaking scores.





References

  • Alderson, J. C., & Wall, D. (1993). Does washback exist? Applied linguistics, 14(2), 115-129.Brown, H. D. (2000). Principles of language learning and teaching. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.Chou Hare, V., & Devine, D. A. (1983). Topical knowledge and topical interest predictors of listening comprehension. The Journal of Educational Research, 76(3), 157-160.He, L., & Shi, L. (2012). Topical knowledge and ESL writing. Language Testing, 29(3), 443-464.Karimi, M. N. (2016). Prior topical knowledge and L2 proficiency as determinants of strategic processing in English for academic purposes multi-texts comprehension. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, , 1-12. doi:10.1080/17501229.2016.1177058Khabbazbashi, N. (2015). Topic and background knowledge effects on performance in speaking assessment. Language Testing, 34(1), 23-48.Kitao, S. K., & Kitao, K. (1996). Testing Speaking.Mahmoudi, S., & Mahmoudi, A. (2017). Can topic familiarity override language proficiency in reading comprehension? Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 8(3), 496. doi:10.17507/jltr.0803.07Paker, T. (2013). The backwash effect of the test items in the achievement exams in preparatory classes. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 70, 1463-1471.Ruth, L., & Murphy, S. (1988). Designing writing tasks for the assessment of writing (Vol. 4). Greenwood Publishing Group.Woodrow, L. (2006). Anxiety and speaking English as a second language. RELC journal, 37(3), 308-328.

The Impact of the Topic Familiarity on EFL Students’ Speaking Scores

Year 2018, Volume: 2 Issue: 2, 45 - 58, 28.12.2018

Abstract

Topic familiarity is
an important issue for oral assessment. There may be factors (such as
readinesss through in-class activities or background knowledge of the students)
that affect students’success. Furthermore,
familiarity with the ‘speaking exam’ topics before the
exams may contribute to this issue. Therefore, this study investigated if
students’ familiarity with the ‘speaking exam’ topics before the exams has a
positive effect on students’ speaking scores or not. The study was conducted at
Gaziantep University School of Foreign Languages with 245 students and 25
interviwers. The data was collected by means of interviews in three stages.
The first and second stages were to examine the
difference between two different implementations about students’speaking topic
familiarity. The third stage was to
investigate the opinions of the students about the implementation. The
results revealed that the students’ un/familiarity with the speaking topics
before the exams made no difference on the students’ speaking scores.

References

  • Alderson, J. C., & Wall, D. (1993). Does washback exist? Applied linguistics, 14(2), 115-129.Brown, H. D. (2000). Principles of language learning and teaching. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.Chou Hare, V., & Devine, D. A. (1983). Topical knowledge and topical interest predictors of listening comprehension. The Journal of Educational Research, 76(3), 157-160.He, L., & Shi, L. (2012). Topical knowledge and ESL writing. Language Testing, 29(3), 443-464.Karimi, M. N. (2016). Prior topical knowledge and L2 proficiency as determinants of strategic processing in English for academic purposes multi-texts comprehension. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, , 1-12. doi:10.1080/17501229.2016.1177058Khabbazbashi, N. (2015). Topic and background knowledge effects on performance in speaking assessment. Language Testing, 34(1), 23-48.Kitao, S. K., & Kitao, K. (1996). Testing Speaking.Mahmoudi, S., & Mahmoudi, A. (2017). Can topic familiarity override language proficiency in reading comprehension? Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 8(3), 496. doi:10.17507/jltr.0803.07Paker, T. (2013). The backwash effect of the test items in the achievement exams in preparatory classes. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 70, 1463-1471.Ruth, L., & Murphy, S. (1988). Designing writing tasks for the assessment of writing (Vol. 4). Greenwood Publishing Group.Woodrow, L. (2006). Anxiety and speaking English as a second language. RELC journal, 37(3), 308-328.
There are 1 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Studies on Education
Journal Section Eğitim Bilimleri
Authors

Tülin Ekler

Emrah Cinkara 0000-0003-4327-7061

Publication Date December 28, 2018
Published in Issue Year 2018 Volume: 2 Issue: 2

Cite

APA Ekler, T., & Cinkara, E. (2018). The Impact of the Topic Familiarity on EFL Students’ Speaking Scores. Gaziantep Üniversitesi Eğitim Bilimleri Dergisi, 2(2), 45-58.