Representatives from public institutions, academia and civil society attended the Forum during which TEPAV and British Council report was discussed.

ANKARA - “Turkey National Needs Assessment of State School English Language Teaching Forum” was held on Wednesday May 8, 2014. Representatives from public institutions academia and civil society attended the Forum during which the report with “Turkey National Needs Assessment of State School English Language Teaching” prepared by TEPAV and British Council was discussed.

During his opening speech, TEPAV Director Güven Sak emphasized Turkey’s poor performance in English despite its economic success and said that the TEPAV - British Council study indicated the reasons of this failure.

Yusuf Tekin, Undersecretary of Ministry of National Education, expressed that the problem of Turkey was not only in foreign language teaching but also in mother-tongue teaching. Chloe Ewing, Deputy Director of British Council Turkey, emphasized that the issue of teaching English should be assessed by a holistic approach which includes students and teachers, the impact of current education practices on students’ success in university and business life and on welfare of the country in the medium term. Ewing stated that the National Needs Assessment study adopted such approach.

Prof. Dr. Ş. Tufan Buzpınar, Executive Board Member of The Council of Higher Education, indicated that Turkey allocated large resources for  English but the investment did not pay pack and said that studies like the present one could help the country bolster up its proficiency in English.

After opening speeches, Efşan Nas Özen from TEPAV and David Vale from British Council made presentations about the study. Özen emphasized that English proficiency of students in Turkey still stayed at a basic level after approximately 1000 hours of English lessons. According to the results of study, Özen stated, students’ interest in English lessons and their perception about their English level decreased over the years; teachers could not take a professional support; and education technologies were not utilized enough. David Vale made an interactive presentation by photos he took and by interviews he made during the fieldwork. He summarized his observations on problem areas as the following: communicative activities were not used enough; teachers hesitated from going out of textbooks due to their concerns on inspections; exams were grammar-based; and technology was not integrated with education.

Presentations were followed by a panel discussion moderated by Bozkurt Aran from TEPAV. Prof. Dr. Gölge Seferoğlu, Dean Faculty of Education of METU; Prof. Dr. Aydan Ersöz, President of INGED; and Dr. Taner Yapar, Director of Department of Foreign Languages, TOBB University, spoke during the session. During her speech, Prof. Dr. Gölge Seferoğlu indicated that the problem had more than one aspects but teachers’ education was especially important. Reminding that it was not required to have any certification to test graduates of 4-year English teaching departments and that the civil servant qualification exam KPSS did not test branch-specific knowledge until a year ago, Seferoğlu drew attention to the importance of continuing vocational training.

Aydan Ersöz: “The biggest problem is teachers who are not from the department of English teaching”

Stating that the biggest problem was teachers who are not from the department of English teaching, Prof. Dr. Aydan Ersöz said that claims that the curricula was heavily based on grammar actually stemmed from resistance of teachers. Indicating that this perception and resistance of teachers was one of the most important obstacles to change, Ersöz expressed that teachers could be reached through ongoing in-service training. In order to reach teachers, Ersöz emphasized that the Ministry of Education had to assure stability in its policy implementation.

Pointing out that 84 formatters who were trained by the Board of Education, Department of In-Service Training were currently idle, Ersöz said that an observational assessment system organized around formatters to be assigned to the Center of Continuing Education would be good alternative for the current inspection system.

The last speaker of panel Dr. Taner Yapar, indicated that collage-level Engligh proficiency decreased substantially after English prepatory classes at secondary school were omitted and high school education was extended to four years. Yapar drew attention to the success of innovative teaching practices such as extra-curricular program which was applied in TOBB ETÜ.