Investigation of the discriminating ability of the Greek State Certificate of Language Proficiency by means of Vacor method: The case of Greek speaking and Turkish speaking students from the Muslim minority of Thrace

Abstract

The present research aims at exploring the discriminating ability of the Greek State Language Certificate known as KPG, administered in May 2012, which examined the English language at A1/A2 Levels according to the scale of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The proposition of this paper pertains to the evaluation of the examination via the Vacor technique.The main target is the accuracy of differentiation of level A1 from level A2. More specifically, the goal is to identify items which differentiate the two levels for the Greek speaking as well as for the Turkish speaking students, of the Muslim minority of Thrace. Accordingly, the suitability of items leading to the differentiation and classification of the students’ linguistic ability in English, into levels is investigated. The technique Vacor is proposed, by means of which the suitability of each item and its contribution to the candidates’ ranking into A/A2, is checked. Therefore, the method is applied in two different groups, as mentioned earlier, and the results are compared. The present study confirms the choice of Vacor technique concerning the suitability of KPG qualification for English A1/A2 of May 2012.