Prospects for Bilingual Education Curriculum in Turkey: A Mainstream Issue

Abstract

The goal of bilingual education is fostering academic achievement, assisting immigrant acculturation to a new community, enabling native speakers to learn a second language, conserving linguistic and cultural heritage of minority groups, and advancing national language resources. This study investigated how certain parameters such as the views and attitudes towards bilingual education and curriculum development may affect the development of a bilingual education curriculum in Turkey. This study is significant because it could pave the way for developing a bilingual education program in Turkey. This study used an explanatory sequential mixed method, conducted in two phases: a quantitative phase followed by a qualitative phase. For quantitative data collection, 140 participants responded the survey instrument. For qualitative data collection, 4 participants were interviewed. The results indicated that a bilingual education curriculum is necessary for the education system in Turkey because the population of minority peoples is quite large. Results also reflected that a bilingual education program in Turkey should focus on speaking, listening, writing, reading, and on the development of vocabulary. Universities should open language teacher training departments for teachers who are going to teach in two languages. Examining and implementing elements of bilingual education models from other countries could prove helpful in establishing an efficient bilingual education program in Turkey.