Authenticity in ESP/EAP Selection Tests Administered at Iranian Universities  

Oleh:

Alibakhshi, Goudarz ; Kiani, Gholam Reza ; Akbari, Ramin

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: The Asian ESP Journal vol. 6 no. 2 (2010), page 64-92.
Topik: ESP/EAP tests; authenticity; test tasks; and learners' needs
Fulltext: Untitled4.pdf (595.66KB)

Isi artikel

The issue of authenticity has always been an important part of any discussion on language testing. Authenticity, situational and interactional, is also a critical quality of English for Specific/Academic Purposes (ESP/EAP). Despite the significance of this quality, only a few studies have been carried out to investigate ESP/EAP tests in terms of authenticity. The present research was an attempt to study the authenticity characteristics of ESP/EAP tests administered as a part of MA/MSc or PhD entrance examination in 2006 and 2007 at Iranian universities. A mixed design study, both qualitative and quantitative, was used. The data were gathered through a semi-structured interview and a questionnaire. In addition, ESP test tasks were compared with characteristics of target language use situations using the framework provided by Bachman and Palmer (1996). The results were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. The results indicated that ESP/EAP tests administered at Iranian universities are not authentic. That is, they are not representative of target language use situation tasks and the learners' language needs. The participants also indicated that a change in the purpose of ESP tests is needed.

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