Rating of Arabic L1 Speakers in a Research Based on the Finnish National Language Proficiency Test
This article addresses a change in the rating of spoken language proficiency of Arabic
first language (L1) examinees between 2015 and 2016 in a study based on the National
Certificate for Language Proficiency (NCLP) test for applying for citizenship in Finland.
The study is part of a larger research project Broken Finnnish: Accent perceptions in
societal gatekeeping (funded by the Academy of Finland 315581) on rating in the NCLP.
In the Project data, the speech performances rated in the NCLP 2015 were rated anew
in 2016 by 44 raters. The data of this article consist of ratings of the Arabic L1
examinees. As a grade of 3 is the threshold for passing the test, the focus is on the
examinees who received a 3 in the NCLP test in 2015 (N = 8) in comparison to their
rating a year later in the Project data in 2016. The data thus consist of 352 (8 x 44)
ratings. The results showed a drop in the ratings: only 70.40% of the 2015 passers
achieved the threshold rating in 2016 as well. Within the male examinees, the passing
rate in 2016 was only 53.40 %. The results are discussed in relation to various possible
explanatory factors, including the discriminative atmosphere concerning the Arabic L1
migration wave in 2015–2016.
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