Minister of National Education Ziya Selçuk announced that the Ministry is working in an effort to increase the capacity of e-exam centers of the Ministry and for the assessment of four basic language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Noting that the Ministry has started a new Turkish linguistic ability exam pilot study based on the assessment of reading, reading, listening and speaking skills in 2019, Selçuk said they had established language labs at e-exam centers in 15 pilot cities namely Adıyaman, Ankara, Antalya, Aydın, Bursa, Denizli, Erzurum, Gaziantep, İstanbul, Kütahya, Konya, Muğla, Samsun, Trabzon and Şanlıurfa and the first pilot application for 7th grade students was conducted between March and April.
Selçuk pointed out that they had announced the 11th report of the Ministry of National Education Analysis and Assessment Series under the name of "Turkish Language Exam For the Assessment of Four Language Skills: Pilot Study Outcome" last year.
Noting that the Ministry successfully completed the Turkish competence assessment pilot study for 7th grade students in 2019 and had to postpone the exams for 4th and 11th grade students due to new type of corona virus (Covid-19) pandemic, Selçuk stated that they will continue to carry out this pilot study in 81 cities in 2021 and re-decorated 52 e-exam halls for the assessment of language competence in four basic skills.
Turkish competence assessment of four skills for adults
Minister Selçuk announced that the Ministry will start a new project for the Turkish competence assessment of four language skills.
"Within the context of this project, we have started to develop a new test for the assessment of four basic language skills in Turkish of adults who are 16 and older," said Selçuk adding that the Ministry will organize a large workshop in Ankara between February 10 and 13 with the participation of expert academicians and experts from the Ministry.
Ziya Selçuk stressed that the Ministry aims at completing this pilot study until the end of this year and use it throughout the country in 2022.
Assessment of Turkish language competence of foreigners
Selçuk said that this study will also be used for the assessment of Turkish competence of foreigners and the exam will primarily assess Turkish reading, writing, listening and speaking skills of teachers assigned from France and then it will be applied for all foreign teachers.
Selçuk stated that this exam will be applied to all foreigners who will work in Turkey and include all levels of language skills.
Minister Selçuk stressed that the ultimate objective of the Ministry of National Education is to assess the competence of students in four basic language skills and conduct Turkish competence exams for foreigners which will be recognized by respected international institutions such as the Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE).
Noting that the ALTE has been encouraging member agencies to adapt assessment standards and certify language exams of approved agencies, Selçuk said, "The Ministry of National Education has applied to ALTE for corporate membership in 2019 and approved within the same year. 2021 objective of our Ministry is to adapt four language skill assessment exam in Turkish to the standards of ALTE.
Minister Selçuk thanked deputy Minister Mahmut Özer, Director General for Assessment and Examination Services Sadri Şensoy and Directorate of General for Research and Development and Project staff, Director General for Information Technologies Özgür Türk and Counsellor to the Minister Emine Eroğlu and Hayri Eren Suna for their contributions.