Abstract
Scientific and technological advancements, global trends and societies’ needs lead policymakers to change language teaching policies. Turkey made its latest reform in English Language Teaching Program in 2013 and a generation has already been educated with the new program since then. In this context, this study aimed to evaluate this program over the very first generation through the eyes of implementers, namely the language teachers in the field. For this purpose, a study group was formed with 16 language teachers who have at least 10 years of experience and teach at primary level public schools in Kütahya Province, Turkey. Their views regarding the major changes (age, methodology, materials, and assessment) offered by the new program were collected through semi-structured interviews. The results show that although there are still certain problems they are facing, the majority of the language teachers agree on the policies, support the new program, and think we are on the right road to teach / learn English.
Highlights
As an interdisciplinary academic field, foreign language policy and planning are often described as the combination of official decisions and prevailing public practices related to language education and use (McGroarty, 1997)
This situation might be resulted from the fact that English course are instructed by those who graduated from English Language Teaching Department, and the ones that have a degree in English Language and Literature, Translation & Interpretation as well as Primary School Education for 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades
In-service training on the methodology, material use, and assessment of the New English Language Teaching Program (NELTP) should be provided to language teachers, especially to those who do not have a degree in ELT
Summary
As an interdisciplinary academic field, foreign language policy and planning are often described as the combination of official decisions and prevailing public practices related to language education and use (McGroarty, 1997) Since it is fed and affected by a number of factors, it is doomed to be updated according to the needs of a nation (Brecht & Walton, 1993). In the modern sense Kırkgöz (2009) divides English in Turkish foreign language education into two period; the first of which is from 1983 to 1996 and the second is from 1997 to present In this second period that covers the last 25 years, Turkey has launched three reforms (in 1997, 2006 and 2013) in its language teaching program and changed its approach each time (Erarslan, 2019). In the curriculum which was prepared in 2006, constructivism was adopted and it was more learner-centered, task-based and process-oriented where learners were guided to construct meaning with their peers and teachers through activities
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