Impact of the preparatory school’s final English proficiency exam on students’ productive skills

This qualitative case study investigated the impact of a university preparatory school’s final English proficiency exam on students’ productive skills (speaking and writing) and on their emotions and opinions about learning English. 40 students and 7 instructors from a foundation university in Türkiye participated in the study. Data were collected through students’ written and spoken tasks, open-ended surveys, and instructors’ assessment notes, and analyzed using content analysis. Findings indicate that the overall exam had more varied impacts on students than each of the specific tests for speaking and writing. The impact of the exam on students’ emotions and opinions ranged from positive to negative. Among the productive skills, speaking elicited more negative emotional reactions than writing. While both speaking and writing skills were positively impacted by the exam, the effect was stronger on speaking skills, especially for students with higher proficiency levels. In contrast, no clear relationship was found between proficiency levels and the impact on writing skill. In that, higher proficiency did not correlate with greater improvement. These results suggest that the broader the exam content, the more complex its influence on learners is. The findings have implications for educators and test developers, emphasizing the importance of designing low-stakes exams that encourage positive outcomes and reduce anxiety, especially in the assessment of productive skills.