Abstract
An Investigation of Foreign Language Proficiency of Cabin Crew Candidates during Employment Process
This study investigates the Foreign Language Proficiency (FLP) of cabin crew candidates during their employment process by airway companies in Turkey. For the purpose of the study, participants (N=184) were administered a written test containing multiple choice questions of vocabulary, grammar, reading and dialogue completion, and a spoken text which was evaluated analytically. At the end of the assessment procedure, the ones with an average score of 60 and more out of 100 were accepted for the cabin crew position. Results showed that there is a significant and meaningful relationship between these two scores of the accepted candidates. As another purpose of the research, candidates were also given a survey in which they were required to give information about the personal methods, techniques they applied to learn English, and factors they considered to affect their language learning process. Results of this survey showed that watching films and serials in English, listening to English music are the most commonly stated personal techniques to help them improve their foreign language proficiency. Moreover, using mobile phone applications, attending language courses are listed among most affective factors.
Keywords
English as a Foreign Language, English proficiency, proficiency test.