Challenges of English Language Teaching in High Schools in Turkey and Possible Suggestions to Overcome Them

Abstract

The English language curriculum prepared by the Ministry of National Education for high schools in Turkey seems to be satisfactory in theory, but the related studies about the attitudes of actual practitioners towards English classes in high schools are not detailed and comprehensive enough. This study aims to fill this gap. To do so, qualitative research was conducted with 13 English language teachers and 55 high school students from different parts of Turkey. They were asked for their opinions, applications, observations, and challenges of the English language teaching system in their high schools and some suggestions for the problematic issues were requested from them via open-ended questions. The data were analyzed descriptively; the results showed that most teachers are not satisfied with the coursebooks, crowded classes, quite limited class hours, and unmotivated students. Their main suggestions cover the privatization of education, having language libraries, labs, speaking clubs, and more lesson hours for English and decreasing the number of students in each classroom. Additionally, teachers want to attend international seminars to become aware of the latest methods/sources. Students have some valuable suggestions for the improvements as well. Nearly all of the students are unhappy about the coursebooks; thus, they suggest them to be revised. They also want to join international projects and improve their language skills. As a result of the study, suggestions covering many issues like coursebooks, assessment, teacher training, and European projects were proposed with an aim to diminish the gap between theories and applications in real classes.

Difficulties in Learning English by EFL Students in Turkey

“…In line with this, studies about teaching and learning English as a foreign language in Turkey focused on how to provide better instruction. According to researches and curriculum evaluation studies, teaching and learning a foreign language in Turkey today have various problems (Ağçam and Babanoğlu, 2018;Demir-Ayaz, Özkardaş, and Özturan, 2019;Demirpolat, 2015;Erdem, 2016;Gürel and Demirhan-İşcan, 2020;Öztürk and Aydın, 2019;Soğuksu, 2013; The Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV) and British Council, 2013). Some studies in Turkey tried to determine the problems in English teaching and learning by evaluating the English language teaching curricula according to the opinions of teachers, directors or inspectors (Aksoy, 2020;Cihan and Gürlen, 2013;Demirtaş and Erdem, 2015;Dinçer and Koç, 2020;Gürel and Demirhan-İşcan, 2020;Er, 2006).…”

“…In addition to these curriculum evaluation studies, Demir-Ayaz et al, (2019) presented the problems of English language teaching in high schools in Turkey and suggested ways to overcome them. According to the findings of the study, most teachers were dissatisfied with the English coursebooks, limited teaching hours, very crowded classrooms and students having low level of motivation.…”

Üniversite hazırlık sınıfı a1 kuru öğrencilerinin lisedeki dil öğrenme deneyimleri

“…This is understandable as they find themselves in a vicious circle in which they repeat the same content. From the reviewed literature, similarly, Demir-Ayaz et al (2019) argue that the 9 th graders take courses of A1 and A2 level, but with more complex vocabularies and structures compared to the 8 th grades. This may make the language learning process complicated and tough as everything is clear and standard in the CEFR; the curriculum has some points that do not match the principals of the CEFR (p. 43).…”

“…However, not all the students have the chance to finish high school with advanced English. Students who are placed in a high school are considered as a homogenous group of learners, but they have differences in terms of their language skills, motivation and desire to reach their goals (Demir-Ayaz, Ozkardas and Ozturan, 2019).…”

Status of English speaking skills in Turkish ELT departments: A nationwide survey

“…in ESL context. What is also noted in these studies is that English is provided as a required course in most educational levels in Turkey, hence rendered as a course to be achieved to meet the graduation criteria rather than a target language to be learned (Demir-Ayaz, Özkardaş, and Özturan, 2019). As a corollary, the Turkish education system fails to encourage learners to improve their English speaking skills due to several factors such as insufficient public funding and lack of quality textbooks to be used in English courses (Koru and Akesson, 2011).…”