The analysis of A1 level speaking exam in terms of syntax-The effect of general competence on syntax in A1 level speaking

Hülya Mısır

Abstract


This study aims at discovering the relevance of general competence of Turkish and Arab learners who have an A1 level of English proficiency in preparatory school of University of Turkish Aeronautical Association (UTAA) to their speaking skill in terms of syntax by analyzing the recordings of speaking exams in the first semester. Before the analysis, one can ask why learners could ever perform a great syntactic structure variety while the university ensures that all learners get a standardized language education based on the same syllabus and course books to succeed their future academic studies. The answer may seem easy; however, it is difficult to get out thoroughly. Therefore, the paper will try to explain this connection between better performances in terms of syntactic structure in spoken production comparing to Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) A1 level expectations and these learners’ attitudes, motivation, background of education, and world knowledge . During the process, the information falling within the scope of general competence (declarative knowledge and existential competence) is held by one-to-one interviews with 22 randomly chosen learners. The results mainly showed that the learners who invested in developing general competence have their own independent wordrobe and higher syntactic complexity in their speaking whereas the rest and also the majority of the learners who are not as competent regarding declarative knowledge and existential competence (attitude and motivation) show a standard level of syntax (commonly used structures as defined in ALTE) in speaking.


Keywords


: general competence; syntax; A1 level speaking, CEFR; speaking skill

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