TEOG (TEPSE) English Test: Content Validity and Teachers’ Views

Abstract

One of the most important dynamics of the educational setting all over the world is examinations, and some of those are English tests. In Turkey, English tests for the students preparing for the high schools were included in the national exams with the Level Determination Exam (SBS) in 2008 for the first time, and Transition Examination from Primary to Secondary Education (TEPSE) replaced them in 2013. The effects of these exams have been investigated; however, to the best knowledge of the author, other principles of language assessment such as validity and reliability have not been investigated based on the analysis of documents. This study, therefore, aimed to investigate content validity of the English tests in TEPSE, which were conducted between 2016 and 2017. Data collection procedure included the analyses of TEPSE English tests, the coursebook, the curriculum of 8th grade and semi-structured interviews held with 21 English language teachers. The analyses of the frequently used items in the coursebook and table of specifications were used to examine the content validity. The results revealed that despite some factors, TEPSE English tests between 2016 and 2017 have content validity based on the alignment between the coursebook and TEPSE English tests.