English teachers’ understanding of the new English language teaching program and their classroom implementations
Abstract
Recent changes in Turkish educational system have increased the importance of teaching English, following a global trend to introduce foreign languages at earlier stages of the language teaching program. However, putting the new language program successfully into practice can be challenging. In this regard, this study attempts to investigate teachers’ understanding and their instructional practices on curriculum innovation in teaching English to young learners. For this aim, basic components of the new English Language Teaching Program (ELTP) (MNE, 2013) are taken as the criteria to shed light on teachers’ beliefs with reference to 4+4+4 education reform introduced in 2013 and the implementations of this reformist program in young learners’ foreign language classrooms. In this way, 232 EFL teachers who taught 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th grades in Turkish state schools participated in the study. The data were collected through a questionnaire composed of three parts in an attempt to find teachers’ opinions about the starting grade for language instruction, their understanding about the new language teaching program and the implementations of this program while teaching YLs. Results indicate that teachers share almost the same opinion that foreign language instruction should start at the first grade of the education system. Despite the fact that they have mostly developed theoretically appropriate beliefs about TEYL, teachers, regarding their understanding about the new ELTP, cannot transfer their beliefs into their practices, especially with reading and writing skills in question.Â
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