The comparative validity analysis of praxis English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) test and Turkish Public Personnel Selection Examination (KPSS) for selecting English language teachers

Along with the increasing demand for language teachers, institutions started to apply different tests to recruit teachers. While some of the national assessment centers develop their own tests such as Turkish Public Personnel Selection Examination (KPSS) for Selecting English Language Teachers, other institutions use international tests such as Praxis English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Test. Although there are many studies researching reliability of tests in the field, literature shows that there are only a few studies to determine a test’s validity based on the validity specifications. Therefore, this study aims to compare and contrast validity of different tests, systemically reviewing ESOL Test and KPSS Test in order to find out whether they are valid or not. For this purpose, both tests were analyzed based on four types of validity. Comparative qualitative case study method was followed. The data were gathered from the websites and analyzed through document analysis study approach. The results of this investigation showed that both tests have some similarities and differences in terms of validity criteria. Whereas ESOL Test offers more valid test items in all validity types, KPSS Test does not meet many requirements of test validity. These results can be explained through the time and practicality constraints of test centers and also the number of test takers