An Analysis of Foreign Language Oriented Fifth Grade English Curriculum: Opinions of Students, Teachers and Administrators
Abstract
There has been a testing period for the implementation of the foreign language oriented curriculum to understand its contribution to language learning for the fifth graders, in Turkey recently. Accordingly, by considering the experience of the students, teachers and school administrators in the schools where this curriculum is implemented, this study aims at developing suggestions to determine the improvements for the foreign language oriented curriculum, which is to be practiced in the fifth grade of middle school in Turkey as a pilot study during the year of 2017-2018 and planned to be practiced across the country in the upcoming years. The study was carried out with concurrent triangulation design, a mixed method design. The participants consisted of 209 fifth grade students, 6 English teachers and 4 school administrators in Hatay. The data was collected from the students through the survey developed by the researchers and for the interviews with teachers and administrators, two separate semi-structured interview forms were used. Descriptive statistics, thematic and content analyses were utilized for the analysis of data. Validity and reliability of the data were strengthened by the use of various techniques such as getting expert opinion, pilot practice of the data collection tools, data diversity and coder compatibility. The findings of the study show that the participants are generally satisfied with this practice and support the continuation of it on the condition that some problems are solved. Students expressed positive views in the improvement of language skills except for speaking skill. However, some emergent problems related to the practice were revealed. Moreover, there could be possible risks of practicing this curriculum throughout the country considering regional differences, other lessons’ hours and teacher insufficiency. It is essential to evaluate it continuously in terms of creating a sustainable curriculum and implementing it efficiently.
Keywords
fifth grade, foreign language oriented education, curriculum, early language education, program evaluation
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