English Language Teaching within the New Educational Policy of Turkey: Views of Stakeholders

Abstract

Teaching English to young learners has gained speed in the past twenty years. Many countries in Europe are offering English at the primary level as advised by the EU. The efforts to lower the age for foreign language learning have echoed in countries in Asia as well. Turkey as one of these countries has changed its educational policy in 2012 and launched the new English Language Teaching Program for grades 2-8 in 2013. Along with many changes, the new system offers EFL in the second grade. The present study not only aims to investigate the views of prospective ELT teachers towards this change, but also to compare their views with those of trainers, and English teachers who were investigated in the earlier phases of the study. The results indicate that although all three groups of participants favor an earlier start in foreign language education, there are significant differences between groups in terms of the appropriate starting time and teaching methodologies used. Teachers were indecisive as they favored both the first and second tiers to introduce a foreign language. The results have implications for policy makers, teachers, teacher trainers, and prospective teachers.

Old Wine in a New Bottle: Implementation of Intensive Language Program in the 5th Grade in Turkey

“…Recent educational changes in Turkey (1997,2005,2013) included lowering the onset of EL instruction to the 4th and then to the 2nd grade (Gursoy, Korkmaz & Damar, 2017). Since 1997, EL instruction in Turkey has been practiced starting from the primary school level (Kırkgöz, 2017).…”

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

“…As indicated by various studies in Turkish context (Arıkan, 2015;Arslan, 2012;Gursoy, Korkmaz, & Damar, 2017), improvements on teacher education, instructional methods, curriculum, and language teaching materials were urgently required. Thus, revising the coursebooks, assessment procedures, and teacher education programs could be considered by the MONE.…”

My quest for negotiating meaning. Reflections on my dilemmas about practices of English language teaching in public school context in Turkey

“…Another action which indicates the importance given to the teaching of English as a foreign language was the new English Language Teaching Program for grades 2-8 which was launched in 2013 (Gursoy, Korkmaz & Damar, 2017). The program aimed to start English language teaching at an early age -in the second grade-in order to increase the total hour of English language teaching in the Turkish public school context.…”

“…In the Turkish public school context, ELT practices and the initiatives to improve the quality of L2 teaching have been researched via many mixed methods studies (Gursoy, Korkmaz & Damar, 2017;Erarslan, 2018;Tosuncuoğlu, 2018, Coşkun, 2016; British Council & Tepav (The Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey), 2014) by the academicians from an outsider's perspective. Yet, this autoethnographic writing addresses the issue from an insider's perspective.…”