First Certificate In English Research Articles

Testing the viability of ChatGPT as a companion in L2 writing accuracy assessment

This study explores the effectiveness of ChatGPT as a tool for evaluating linguistic accuracy in second language (L2) writing, situated within the complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) framework. By using the Cambridge Learner Corpus First Certificate in English (CLC FCE) dataset, an error-tagged learner corpus, it compares ChatGPT's performance to human evaluators and Grammarly in assessing errors or accuracy rates across 232 writing samples. The findings indicate a strong correlation between ChatGPT's assessments and human accuracy ratings, demonstrating its precision in automated assessments. In comparison to Grammarly, ChatGPT shows a closer alignment with human judgments and students’ writing scores. Thus, ChatGPT can be a potential tool for enhancing efficiency in L2 research and L2 writing pedagogy.

Comparative Study on Speaking Assessment Rubrics in Trinity and Cambridge Language Certificates

Abstract The European Council has been instrumental in the standardization of language competence levels and certifications with the guidelines provided in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) published in 2001 and later reviewed in 2020 with the Companion Volume with New Descriptors (CEFRCV). Cambridge Assessment English and Trinity College are two of the highest regarded institutions at the international level that grant their language certificates following the language competence levels provided by the CEFR. For this reason, the current study is grounded on the conviction that those certificates should meet certain principles of the Framework as a form of guarantee that they are assessing the CEFR level correctly. In particular, this paper focuses on the speaking skill and the rubrics of assessment used by the two aforementioned institutions. The rubrics of Trinity and Cambridge for the assessment of the oral production at the B2 CEFR level were considered for the purposes of this study – in particular, the rubrics that assess the oral production in the Integrated Skills in English (ISE-II) exam and in the First Certificate in English (B2 First). With a qualitative document research approach, this study analyses these rubrics in order to determine to what extent they respect the criteria established by the CEFR.

Sense-aware lexical sophistication indices and their relationship to second language writing quality.

The relationship of lexical sophistication to second language (L2) production quality has received much attention in the past few decades. Viewed as a multidimensional construct, lexical sophistication has been measured using indices that tap into various distributional, formal, semantic, acquisitional, and psycholinguistic properties of words and certain n-gram properties (e.g., Kyle et al., 2018). However, existing indices have not systematically accounted for the fact that polysemous words are used with distinct senses in different contexts and that those senses may not be equally sophisticated for L2 learners. The current study addresses this gap by proposing three frequency-based lexical sophistication indices that take into account the reference-corpus frequency of the senses with which polysemous words are used in learner texts and assessing their predictive power for L2 English writing quality both in comparison to and in combination with existing lexical sophistication indices. Results from the analysis of a corpus of exam scripts produced by L2 learners sitting for the Cambridge First Certificate in English (Yannakoudakis et al., 2011) show that two sense-aware indices proposed correlated more strongly with holistic scores of L2 English writing quality than existing indices. Integrating the new sense-aware indices with existing ones in a regression model resulted in higher predictive power for L2 English writing quality than models built with either set of indices alone. The implications of our findings for future L2 lexical sophistication research are discussed.

ОНЛАЙН ІНСТРУМЕНТИ ДЛЯ ОЦІНЮВАННЯ ІНШОМОВНОЇ КОМПЕТЕНТНОСТІ СТУДЕНТІВ ВИЩИХ ЗАКЛАДІВ ОСВІТИ: ЗАРУБІЖНИЙ ДОСВІД

У статті висвітлено проблеми формування та оцінювання іншомовної компетентності студентів вищих навчальних закладів; надано результати аналізу та характеристика основних міжнародних онлайн тестів для об’єктивного оцінювання рівня володіння англійською мовою студентами закладів вищої освіти. Такі тести можуть забезпечувати їхнє самонавчання та самооцінювання. Відтворено структури міжнародних онлайн тестів із англійської мови як іноземної та наведені приклади тестових завдань. Виокремлено, проаналізовано та схарактеризовано основні міжнародні онлайн тести для об’єктивного оцінювання рівня володіння англійською мовою студентами закладів вищої освіти. Виокремлено, проаналізовано та схарактеризовано основні міжнародні онлайн тести, що можуть забезпечувати самонавчання та самооцінювання, для об’єктивного оцінювання рівня володіння англійською мовою студентами закладів вищої освіти, а саме: тести Кембриджської шкали оцінки професійних компетентностей викладачів іноземної мови; тести Кембриджського екзамену, що містить у собі такі тести, як Ключовий тест з англійської мови; Попередній тест з англійської мови; Перший сертифікат з англійської мови; Сертифікат із прогресивним рівнем володіння англійською мовою; Сертифікат із майстерним рівнем володіння англійською мовою; Інтернет орієнтований тест з англійської мови як іноземної та Міжнародна тестова системи англійської мови. Аналіз цих тестів показав, що вони, загалом, складаються з чотирьох частин, таких як читання, слухання, говоріння, письмо, та базуються на Загальноєвропейських рекомендаціях з мовної освіти: вивчення, викладання, оцінювання. Ці тести є зручним інструментом у процесах викладання англійської мови та навчання мові, оскільки забезпечують такі функції: викладачеві – зручну швидку перевірку рівня володіння студентом англійською мовою, можливість переглянути типові помилки та обговорити їх зі студентами для корегування їхнього подальшого плану навчання, можливість підвищити рівень викладання іноземної мови завдяки використанню онлайн тестів; студенту – можливості неперервного навчання англійській мові та постійного підвищення свого рівня володіння мовою для отримання в подальшому необхідного сертифіката. Перспективами подальших досліджень є впровадження міжнародних онлайн тестів в освітній процес закладу вищої освіти для проведення оцінювання рівня володіння англійською мовою та аналіз впливу цих інструментів на рівень іншомовної компетентності студентів.

The Competency-Based Approach to Passing First Certificate in English

In this article the influence of competency-based approach of foreign language teaching to successful passing First Certificate in English (FCE) has been shown and the empirical analysis of the effectiveness of this approach for students of non-linguistic specialties has been conducted. The range of research methods (theoretical, empirical, statistical) has been used to reach the research purpose and justify the research finding. It has been confirmed that the most relevant type of a competency-based approach to teaching a foreign language for specific purposes is the communicative competency-based one. The linguistic competence, which is considered by authors to be the central multicomponent notion has been defined and characterized from the perspective of teaching English as a foreign language. The linguistic competence is based on five practical competences: Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Use of English. To check the effectiveness of the applying competency-based approach of teaching foreign language (English) for specific purposes the empirical (diagnostic) methods such as: testing (oral and written), observation, discussion were used; the pedagogical experiment was also conducted with the students. Statistical methods (Student’s t-test) helped to evaluate the results of the pedagogical experiment. The t-value result ranged from 3 to 4.7 shows the difference between the sample data and the null hypothesis that is significant, which proves the statistical importance of the obtained results.

The Effect of Summary Training on Intermediate EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension in Individual and Collaborative Conditions

Inspired by Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory (SCT), the current study intended to investigate the effect of summary training (i.e., oral and written) on intermediate EFL learners’ reading comprehension in different conditions (i.e., individual and collaborative). Data collection tools and procedures encompassed PET test, First Certificate in English (FCE) reading pre-test, and post-test. First, to ensure that the instruments, scoring, as well as summary training procedures were reliable, the researchers conducted a pilot test. During the main study, 120 Iranian EFL intermediate male and female learners aged from 16-18 were considered as the main participants. Learners were divided into 6 groups (i.e., three individual and three collaborative conditions). Furthermore, each condition included three groups with oral summary, written summary groups, and no summary group. A post-test followed the treatment that lasted for 6 sessions. A series of ANOVA with follow up pair-wise comparisonsand a series of independent-samples t-tests indicated that: (1) summary training, especially the oral one, was more effective in enhancing the EFL learners’ reading comprehension, and (2) members of the collaborative groups outperformed the members of the individual groups regarding their reading comprehension development. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed concerning enhancing the EFL learners’ reading comprehension.

The Implementation of Teaching-Learning Cycle in English for Hotels Training: A Case Study

<em>Education and training are now integral elements for all sectors and agencies operating within tourism industry. However, despite the importance of training, many educators and trainers have entered the industry without a well structured tourism training method. The teaching-learning cycle consisting of Building Knowledge of Field, Modelling, Joint Construction, and Independent Construction which is used in our formal educational level can also be used to give well understanding tourism training, particularly in English for hotels training. This study aims to introduce those already working in the industry, particularly hotel employees, to the cycle aiming to improve the participants’ speaking performance in English for hotels. Fourteen participants were taking part in this training. In addition, there were fourteen meetings in this training and the final assessment was conducted in the final meeting. The data were collected through the assessment by using the Format of the Cambridge ESOL First Certificate in English (FCE) spoken language test in the last meeting. In addition, the collected data from the final assessment were compared to the collected data from the early assessment before the treatment had been conducted and the parameter of success was evaluated by using the Holistic Rating Scale and the Foreign Services Institute (FSI) Analytic Rating Scale. The result shows that in the last meeting participants were able to increase their speaking ability. The outcome shows that the participants were able to set their rating almost 1-2 level(s) higher. In addition, the study shows that training by using the teaching-learning cycle thrives to improve and motivate most of the participants to be brave to speak or pronouncing the words or sentences better.</em>

Impact of Mediation Types on Iranian EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension Strategies

The sociocultural theory holds the idea that knowledge to be acquired should be mediated. It underscores the presence of mediation as a crucial factor in internalization of abilities. Given this, the present research was an attempt to examine the effect of mediation on learners’ reading comprehension strategy in light of 2 approaches of response-based (RB) mediation (Vygotsky) and task-based (TB) mediation (Bruner) to intervention. To this end, the Reading section of the First Certificate in English (2010) and 1 cognitive and metacognitive questionnaire (Phakiti, 2003) were administered to 104 Iranian lower-intermediate EFL learners who were selected by convenience sampling. The questionnaire was given to the participants before and after the mediation session. MANOVA results revealed that not only had the learners’ monitoring metacognitive strategies changed by interventions, but also the participants in the TB mediation group outperformed those in the RB mediation group.

Syntactic and Lexical Complexity of B2 Listening Comprehension Subtests in English: A Comparative Study

Abstract Adopting Weir’s (2005) socio-cognitive validation framework, the present paper focuses on the syntactic and lexical complexity of listening comprehension subtests in three B2-level examinations: The City Guilds international examination in English, The First Certificate in English, and the General Matura in English. By analysing and interpreting the results obtained from different automated tools, the research aims to determine to what extent the three subtests are comparable. The results of the study suggest the unreliability of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) as a sole mechanism for test comparisons.

A STUDY ON COOPERATIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING: THE IMPACT OF CLL APPROACH ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY OF EFL LEARNERS

The current research investigated the impact of cooperative language learning (CLL) approach on English language proficiency of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. The participants were 150 intermediate female EFL learners who were randomly selected from various private English language institutes of Tehran, Iran. First, FCE (First Certificate in English) test was administered to all 150 participants as a means of homogenization which brought down the number of the students to 135. Then, the homogenized participants were taught English through CLL approach for 20 sessions, each for 90 minutes. A pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design was employed to investigate the impact of CLL approach on English language proficiency of the EFL learners. The results were analysed through a one-way ANOVA and paired-samples t-test statistics. The outcomes revealed that CLL has a significant positive effect on English language proficiency of EFL learners. Article visualizations:

Result Analysis of the Local FCE Examination Sessions (2013-2014) at Tomsk Polytechnic University

In this article the authors cover main international English Language Examinations, their role in defining language proficiency and interpreting language qualifications and review the structure of English as a foreign language examination FCE (First Certificate in English). The applied part of the paper contains the result analysis of this examination at Tomsk Polytechnic University (local sessions 2013 and 2014) and is aimed at identifying the most complicated papers of the exam and the relationship between English proficiency and the difficulties detected (based on certificate grades). Theoretical analysis of methodological literature, mathematical research methods for data and results processing, as well as authors’ personal experience of administering local EFL examination sessions were used. The obtained results allow us to conclude that in productive skills there is no relationship between certificate grade and difficulty in Writing and Speaking papers of the test. The Listening paper was considered to be the most difficult. The following relationship is revealed: the lower English proficiency a candidate has, the more interference of the gaps in the student’s knowledge in different examination papers is observed, therefore, the greater difficulty he/she encounters when completing examination questions. This work will be useful for language teachers, graduate students, students of English who are preparing for the FCE exam. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n3s1p239

Comparative Coh-Metrix Analysis of Reading Comprehension Texts: Unified (Russian) State Exam in English vs Cambridge First Certificate in English

The article summarizes the results of the comparative study of Reading comprehension texts used in B2 level tests: Unified (Russia) State Exam in English (EGE) and Cambridge First Certificate in English (FCE). The research conducted was mainly focused on six parameters measured with the Coh-Metrix, a computational tool producing indices of the linguistic and discourse representations of a text: narrativity, syntactic simplicity, word concreteness, referential cohesion, deep cohesion, Flesh Reading Ease. The research shows that the complexity of EGE texts caused by lower than in FCE texts cohesion is balanced with a simpler than in FCE texts syntax and higher narrativity thus resulting in about the same text complexity of the two sets of texts studied. EGE and FCE texts demonstrate correspondence to grade six and very similar Means of Flesh Reading Ease (FCE Mean is 71.06; EGE Mean is 78.25) which fit the band FAIRLY EASY.

Bilingualism or Biliteracy: Predicting the Interdependence of BICS and CALP in Learning English as an L3

This study examined the performance of two different groups of bilinguals (dominant bilinguals vs. balanced biliterate/bilinguals) in two sets of skills, that is, BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skill) and CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency). It was hypothesized that different types of bilinguals perform differently on tests of reading as CALP and speaking as BICS. A total number of 96 senior learners of English as an L3 within the age range of 21-24 participated in this study. Fifty two (28 female, 24 male) were fully biliterate Kurdish-Arabic EFL learners from Salahaddin University in Kurdistan, Iraq and the remaining 44 (12 female, 32 male) were Kurdish-Persian bilingual learners of English from Kurdistan University in Kurdistan, Iran. Data was collected through a highly reliable linguistic background questionnaire and the reading and speaking tests of the First Certificate in English (FCE). Results submitted to a series of two-way ANOVA statistical test indicated that bilingual subjects performed better than biliterates in reading. On the other hand, no statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups with regard to their performance in BICS. In addition, findings indicated no significant interaction between linguistic background and gender of the participants as it impacted performance in L3 tasks. Findings are discussed in relation to the effect of active use of languages in the community, and the differential effect of degrees of bilingualism on L3 acquisition.

The Effect of Multiple Intelligences-based Reading Tasks on EFL Learners‟ Reading Comprehension

The aim of the present research was to address some fundamental innovative resolutions for EFL learners’ encountered impeding dilemmas in reading comprehension. The researchers proceeded to determine the most frequent multiple intelligences (MI) of the EFL learners so as to cater for well-designed tasks to obviate any existing obstacles to ideal reading. Accordingly, by means of a reliable MI profiling questionnaire, the dominant intelligences of EFL learners were highlighted. Moreover, all intended participants were homogenized on the basis of reading proficiency test adopted from First Certificate in English (FCE) whose scores served the purpose of pre-test as well. As a consequence of observed difference between the genders concerning the dominant intelligences, the participants were randomly assigned into distinct control and experimental groups. Furthermore, some evenly selected reading sections from a number of EFL materials, namely, New Inside Out, New Opportunities, and English Online were of primary focus of attention in all groups. As a point of departure, treatment groups were exposed to reading tasks in conformity with already identified dominant intelligences, while the control groups were inclusively conducted under already approached conventional teaching methods of reading in language schools and institutes. The results crystallized the effects of MI-based reading tasks on both EFL male and female learners’ reading comprehension. Lastly, findings revealed that EFL female learners emulated their male counterparts’ reading comprehension. In sum, the results of such innovative intelligences-based reading task will grant opportunities to discover, value, and enhance the talents of EFL learners in better tackling reading comprehension shortcomings.

Investigating the Construct Validity of the FCE Reading Paper in Iranian EFL Context

Validity studies on language proficiency tests have attracted many researchers in the last decades. Most of such studies try to investigate skills assessed by the items in the tests, hence the construct validity of the test. The present study took the same approach and therefore aimed to investigate the construct validity of the reading paper of the First Certificate in English (FCE) in the Iranian EFL context. The research addressed the following three questions: (1) Do the majority of the Iranian EFL expert judges agree on the skills measured by the items in the FCE reading paper? (2) Do the majority of the Iranian EFL undergraduates come to agreement on the skills measured by the items in the FCE reading paper? (3) Does exploratory factor analysis support that the FCE reading paper assesses the same reading skills claimed by its developing board, i.e. UCLES, in the context of Iranian EFL undergraduates? The present study deployed triangulated approach in collecting and analyzing the data. It attempted to use both qualitative (i.e. experts’ and test takers’ judgment) and quantitative (i.e. Factor Analysis) approaches to address the above questions. The findings revealed that there was not a substantial agreement among expert judges on the skills claimed to be assessed by the items in the FCE reading paper nor could any significant agreement be observed amongst the test takers on the skills being measured by such items in the FCE reading paper. Finally, exploratory factor analysis revealed similar findings as those in the judgmental phase of the study. The individual items in the FCE reading paper did not confirm the claims by the test developers.

Comparison of the Efficiency of Reading Comprehension Strategies on Iranian University Students' Comprehension

Knowledge of the strategies used by English as a foreign language (EFL) or second language (ESL) readers can help instructors teach these techniques and thereby enhance their students' reading comprehension. The present study compared three categories of reading comprehension strategies (metacognitive, cognitive, and socio-affective) to determine their effects on 31 EFL students' reading comprehension. A standard reading comprehension test taken from the First Certificate in English (FCE) and a questionnaire were used to collect the data. The results of the analysis using Chi-square tests revealed both positive and negative strategies, showing that metacognitive strategies have positive effects on reading comprehension. Pedagogical implications are also discussed.

Modelling relationships among some test-taker characteristics and performance on EFL tests: an approach to construct validation

Construct validation has seen two proposals recently: the use of construct representation and nomothetic span variables through structural modelling and the concept of population generalizability. This study investigated the influence of two major test-taker characteristics (TTCs), social milieu or cultural background and exposure or previous instruction, on test perform ance (TP) in tests of English as a foreign language (EFL) for two native language groups, the non-Indo-European (NIE) and the Indo-European (IE). Data from the Cambridge-TOEFL comparability study (Bachman et al., 1991; N = 1448) from eight sites in eight countries was used. The instruments were 1) a 45-item Likert scale background questionnaire which captured the test-taker characteristics; and 2) the First Certificate in English, administered by the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate, the TOEFL and the SPEAK, administered by the Educational Testing Service, Princeton, and the Test of English Writing. Modelling of the TTCs and the TP factors generally supported an equal influence factors model (where the factors have equal status) and an intervening factors type model (where the factors are not equal in status and one factor is an intervening factor) for both the NIE and IE groups.

A Comparison of the Abilities Measured by the Cambridge and Educational Testing Service EFL Test Batteries

A Comparison of the Abilities Measured by the Cambridge and Educational Testing Service E F L Test Batteries' Lyle F. Bachman University of California, Los Angeles Fred Davidson University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign John Foulkes University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate This paper compares the abilities measured by the First Certificate of English (FCE) administered by the Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS). An investigation of the factor structure of the two test batteries, both within each test battery as well as across test batteries, is presented. The analyses suggest that the FCE and ETS test batteries administered in this study appear to measure, to a large degree, the same common aspect of language proficiency of the subjects in the sample. The contribution of this study to language testing is also discussed. INTRODUCTION The First Certificate in English (FCE), administered by the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (Cambridge) and the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS), are widely used as measures of proficiency for English as a foreign language (EFL) throughout the world. Hundreds of thousands of I Issues in Applied Linguistics ©Regents of the University of California ISSN 1050-4273 V o l . 1 No. 1 1990 30-55