Aligning English Grammar in the Thai University Exam with the Common European Framework of References (CEFR)

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the common error types in the General Attitude Test (GAT) and the congruence of the English grammar tests used for Thai university admission with the CEFR. The sample population consisted of the General Aptitude Test (GAT) from the academic years 2015-2019. The thirty items were examined by focusing on the error identification parts, which was the primary analysis in the current study. The research instruments were the criteria for test-item analysis of error types and the checklist for experts to validate the table of an analysis of error types. The results showed that more than half of the error types (56.67%, n = 17) were errors associated with agreement. It was also found that about 13% (n = 4) of the error types were form of the verb, and 10% (n = 3) were related to derivation of conjunction. The results also indicated that part of speech was most frequently used as a subcategory of agreement, followed by tenses, participle, and subject and verb agreement. In terms of form of verb, the “-ing form” was the most found in the test items, and the subcategory of a derivation of conjunction were the phrase such as and prepositions. In addition, 29 out of 30 (96.67%) items of the English grammar parts in GAT were congruent with the CEFR at the B2 level. Only one item did not match with the CEFR at the B2 level as it was considered relatively complex regarding the structure and grammar of the sentence, which may match at the C1 level instead.