An adaptation of a Cambridge exam: is the same topic necessary in the four language skills?

Abstract

Cambridgecertificates exams test students’four skills (reading, listening, writing and speaking). However, all of the parts involved in a real Cambridge exam are not properly contextualised.Instead, each of the parts deals with a different topic. Therefore, the contents that Cambridge exams use are thought for learners who need to use English in a practical way to communicate (Preliminary English Test, 2014). The main purpose of this study is to examine the performance of a B1 level student in two different types of tests. She sits a real Cambridge exam the first time and she takesan adaptedexam the second time. Then,gastronomy is the topic which contextualises this adapted examand all the activities includedpresentideas such as kinds of food, restaurantsor types of customers. Moreover, the parts and the contentsthat are used in the adapted exam are the same as in the original Cambridge exam. In other words, there are five parts in the reading testwhich are worthone point for each correct question, four parts in the listening test (1 point per question) and three parts in the writingtest(25 points in total). The results of both exams show that theparticipant ismore successful in the adapted exam than in the original one.The results suggest that contextualising Cambridge exams helps students to get better results.