Examining Thai First-Year University Students’ English Proficiency on CEFR Levels
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Abstract
Interests in the adoption of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) for English teaching and learning have been growing among countries beyond Europe since 2001. The framework offers practical interpretations of language proficiency levels relating to real-life situations and is open to multimodality and adaptations in various educational contexts. However, little research has been conducted on English proficiency and CEFR with a specific focus on a country or region. Therefore, this study intends to address such gap by examining the English proficiency of Thai EFL learners on CEFR levels. By using Walailak University – Test of English Proficiency (WU-TEP), a comprehensive university standardized test framed by the Classical Test Theory (CTT) and CEFR, this study, conducted in July 2018, measured the English proficiency of 2248 Thai EFL learners (74% female and 26% male). The results of the analyses revealed that 77.3% of the students were at the levels of basic users (A1 and A2) in CEFR. Such levels are equal to the abilities of primary and junior high school students in the Thai education system. This study, further, suggests the implementation of a school level-focused curriculum development for future improvements.
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References
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