Exploring Middle School Students’ Experiences and Perceptions of Listening and Speaking Performance Exams in English Lessons: The Case of Türkiye
Abstract
Recent curriculum reforms in Türkiye have emphasized communicative competence and performance-based assessment in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) yet listening and speaking assessments remain challenging to implement in exam-oriented school contexts. This qualitative case study explores middle school students’ perceptions of listening and speaking performance exams in English lessons, focusing on perceived fairness, emotional responses, exam design, and perceived effects on learning and classroom participation. Data were collected through semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with 20 students (grades 5–8) attending a public middle school in Bozüyük, Bilecik, Türkiye. Interviews lasted 15–25 minutes, were audio-recorded with consent, and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed using content analysis with iterative coding and peer debriefing, and intercoder agreement was high (0.93). Findings reveal a central tension. Many students viewed performance exams as more authentic than paper-based tests and reported increased participation and greater awareness of listening and speaking development. However, the same exams were experienced as emotionally demanding, often associated with anxiety, time pressure, uncertainty about expectations, and concerns about grading fairness. Students reported distinct difficulty profiles across skills, including speech rate, unfamiliar vocabulary, and accent variation in listening, and anxiety-related hesitation, sentence construction under pressure, and word retrieval difficulties in speaking. Facilitating factors included clear instructions, opportunities for repetition, topic familiarity, and supportive classroom practice. Overall, the results suggest that perceived fairness and effectiveness depend on instructional alignment, transparent criteria, predictable procedures, and anxiety-sensitive conditions. The study highlights the value of student voice for strengthening assessment design and informing teacher training in Turkish EFL settings.