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

Abstract

This study aims at discovering the relevance of general competence of Turkish and Arab learners who have anA1 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 firstsemester. One can ask why learners could ever perform a great variety in syntactic structure in spokenperformance while the university ensures that all learners get a standardized language education based on thesame 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 betterperformances in terms of syntactic structures in spoken performance comparing to Common EuropeanFramework of Reference (CEFR) A1 level expectations and these learners’ attitudes, motivation, background ofeducation, and world knowledge. During the process, the information falling within the scope of generalcompetence (declarative knowledge and existential competence) is held by one-to-one interviews with 22randomly chosen learners. The results mainly showed that the learners who invested in developing generalcompetence have their own independent wordrobe and a higher level and variety of syntactic structures in theirspeaking whereas the rest and also the majority of the learners who are not as competent regarding declarativeknowledge and existential competence (attitude and motivation) show a standard level of syntax (commonlyused structures as defined in ALTE) in speaking.