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SELÇUK UNIVERSİTESİ

SOSYAL BİLİMLER ENSTİTÜSÜ

İNGİLİZ DİLİ VE EDEBİYATI ANABİLİM DALI

TÜRKİYE’DEKİ EĞİTİM KURUMLARINDA YABANCI

DİL ÖĞRETİLEMEME SORUNU: YÜKSEKÖĞRETİM

KURUMLARI ÖRNEKLEMESİ

Eda YAPICI

YÜKSEK LİSANS TEZİ

Danışman

Yrd. Doç. Dr. YAĞMUR KÜÇÜKBEZİRCİ

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SELÇUK UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

THE PROBLEMS WITH TEACHING FOREIGN

LANGUAGES IN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN

TURKEY: A CASE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

INSTITUTIONS

Eda YAPICI

MASTER THESIS

Advisor

Assist. Prof. Dr. YAĞMUR KÜÇÜKBEZİRCİ

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T. C.

SELÇUK ÜNİVERSİTESİ Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Müdürlüğü

Öğre n cin in

Adı Soyadı Eda YAPICI

Numarası 104208001010

Ana Bilim / Bilim

Dalı İngiliz Dili ve Edebiyatı

Programı Tezli Yüksek Lisans Doktora Tez Danışmanı Yrd. Doç. Dr. Yağmur KÜÇÜKBEZİRCİ Tezin İngilizce

Adı The Problems with Teaching Foreign Languages in

Educational Institutions in Turkey: A Case of Higher Education Institutions

ÖZET

Türkiye’deki üniversitelerin en önemli hedeflerinden biri her zaman yabancı dil öğretmek olmuştur. Bu üniversitelerde eğitim almakta olan öğrencilerin yabancı dil öğrenmelerini gerektiren çeşitli sebeplerden bazıları küresel algılarını geliştirme, hedef dilin konuşulduğu bir ülkede yaşama, iş imkanları elde etme, okul müfredatı nedeniyle zorunlu olması ve hedef dilin kültürüne duyulan ilgidir.

Türkiye’de üniversite düzeyinde verilen yabancı dil eğitimine ilişkin bazı problemler bulunmaktadır. Yapılan literatür taraması ve anketler sonucu elde edilen verilere göre; bazı olası problemler öğretme ve öğrenme ortamının fiziksel durumu, verilen eğitimin niteliği, yabancı dil öğretim elemanlarının alanınlarındaki yetersizliği, öğretim yöntemleri, müfredat, ölçme ve değerlendirme, öğrencilerin uygun olmayan öğrenme alışkanlıkları, motivasyon eksikliği ve yabancı dil kaygısı gibi etkenlerle alakalıdır.

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Bu çalışmanın amacı Türkiye’deki üniversitelerde yabancı dil öğretimi ve öğrenimine ilişkin karşılaşılan problemleri incelemektir. Çalışmada, bu problemlere dair veri toplamak amacıyla anket uygulaması yapılmıştır. Mevlana Üniversitesi Yabancı Diller Hazırlık Okulu’nda yabancı dil eğitimi veren otuz öğretim elemanı ve yüz öğrenci bu anketlere katılım göstermiştir. Yabancı dil öğretimi ve öğrenimine ilişkin olası sorunlar hakkında olan iki anket veri toplamada kullanılmıştır. Bu araştırmanın sonucu; motivasyon eksikliği, dil öğretim müfredatının gereksiz detaylar içermesi, öğrencilerin bağımsız çalışma becerilerinin yetersizliği, anadilin etkisi, öğretim yöntemlerinin ve öğrencilerin dil öğrenme alışkanlıklarının uygunsuzluğu ve sınav kaygısı gibi çeşitli problemler olduğunu ortaya koymuştur. Tavsiye olarak, öğretim elemanlarına öğrencileri motive etmeleri, her öğrenme türüne uygun çeşitli öğretim yöntemleri kullanmaları ve daha öğrenci merkezli bir eğitim vermeleri, öğrencilerin bağımsız çalışma becerilerini geliştirmeleri, ve onların yabancı dilde düşünmelerine ve sınav kaygısının üstesinden gelmelerine yardım etmeleri önerilmiştir.

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T. C.

SELÇUK ÜNİVERSİTESİ Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Müdürlüğü

Öğre n cin in

Adı Soyadı Eda YAPICI

Numarası 104208001010

Ana Bilim / Bilim

Dalı İngiliz Dili ve Edebiyatı

Programı Tezli Yüksek Lisans Doktora Tez Danışmanı Yrd. Doç. Dr. Yağmur KÜÇÜKBEZİRCİ Tezin İngilizce

Adı The Problems with Teaching Foreign Languages in

Educational Institutions in Turkey: A Case of Higher Education Institutions

SUMMARY

One of the main goals of Turkish Universities has always been to teach a foreign language. Some of the various reasons why students in these universities need to learn a foreign language are increasing their global understanding, living in the target language community, job opportunities and being compulsory because of school curriculum.

There are some problems with foreign language education at university level in Turkey. According to the data acquired as a result of literature review and questionnaires; some potential problems are with physical situation of teaching and learning atmosphere, teaching methodology, syllabus, testing, evaluation, learning habits, individual differences, motivation and foreign language anxiety.

The present study is set to examine the problems facing teaching and learning of foreign languages in universities in Turkey. Thirty instructors and a hundred learners of English from Mevlana University Foreign Languages Preparation School were involved in the research. Two questionnaires on teaching and learning of a

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foreign language were used to gather the data. The result of the research has shown that there are various problems such as lack of motivation, foreign language teaching syllabus including unnecessary details, lack of independent study skills of students, inappropriate learning habits of students and teaching methodology, and the exam anxiety. As recommendation, instructors have been advised to motivate students, to use different methodology for all types of learners and provide more learner-centered education, to improve their independent learning skills, and to help them think in the target language and deal with anxiety.

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LIST OF TABLES

TABLE 1: Distribution of the Students According to Gender ... 69

TABLE 2: Distribution of the Students According to Age ... 69

TABLE 3: Distribution of the Instructors According to Gender ... 70

TABLE 4: Distribution of the Instructors According to Age ... 70

TABLE 5: The Efficiency of Foreign Language Education from the Students’ Perspective ... 71

TABLE 6: The Efficiency of Foreign Language Education from the Instructors’ Perspective ... 71

TABLE 7: The Convenience of Course Books from the Students’ Perspective ... 72

TABLE 8: The Convenience of Course Books from the Instructors’ Perspective .... 72

TABLE 9: The Convenience of Teaching Methods and Techniques from the Students’ Perspective ... 73

TABLE 10: The Convenience of Teaching Methods and Techniques from the Instructors’ Perspective ... 73

TABLE 11: How Foreign Language Courses Should Be Given; from the Students’ Perspective ... 74

TABLE 12: How Foreign Language Courses Should Be Given; from the Instructors’ Perspective ... 75

TABLE 13: The Most Favourite In-class Activities from the Students’ Perspective ... 75

TABLE 14: The Most Favourite In-class Activities from the Instructors’ Perspective ... 76

TABLE 15: Commonly Used Out-of-class Activities from the Students’ Perspective ... 76

TABLE 16: Commonly Used Out-of-class Activities from the Instructors’ Perspective ... 77

TABLE 17: The Convenience of Foreign Language Teaching Syllabus from the Students’ Perspective ... 78

TABLE 18: The Convenience of Foreign Language Teaching Syllabus from the Instructors’ Perspective ... 79

TABLE 19: The Convenience of Foreign Language Exams from the Students’ Perspective ... 80

TABLE 20: The Convenience of Foreign Language Exams from the Instructors’ Perspective ... 80

TABLE 21: The Physical Convenience of Learning Environment from the Students’ Perspective ... 81

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TABLE 22: The Physical Convenience of Learning Environment from the

Instructors’ Perspective ... 82 TABLE 23: The Students’ Level of Interest in Foreign Language Learning from the Students’ Perspective ... 82 TABLE 24: The Students’ Level of Interest in Foreign Language Learning from the Instructors’ Perspective ... 83 TABLE 25: Eagerness and Motivation Level of Instructors to Teach a Foreign Language from the Students’ Perspective ... 84 TABLE 26: Eagerness and Motivation Level of Instructors to Teach a Foreign Language from the Instructors’ Perspective ... 84 TABLE 27: The Reasons Why Students Like the Foreign Language Education Given from the Students’ Perspective ... 85 TABLE 28: The Reasons Why Students Like the Foreign Language Education Given from the Instructors’ Perspective ... 86 TABLE 29: The Reasons Why Students Dislike the Foreign Language Education Given from the Students’ Perspective ... 87 TABLE 30: The Reasons Why Students Dislike the Foreign Language Education Given from the Instructors’ Perspective ... 87 TABLE 31: The Students’ Opinions about Foreign Language Courses ... 88 TABLE 32: The Instructors’ Opinions about Foreign Language Courses ... 89 TABLE 33: The Amount of Time the Students Spend to Learn a Foreign

Language from the Students’ Perspective ... 89 TABLE 34: The Amount of Time the Students Spend to Learn a Foreign

Language from the Instructors’ Perspective ... 90 TABLE 35: The Reasons Why Students Need to Learn a Foreign Language from the Students’ Perspective ... 91 TABLE 36: The Reasons Why Students Need to Learn a Foreign Language from the Instructors’ Perspective ... 92 TABLE 37: The Foreign Language Level of Students before Starting

University Education from the Students’ Perspective ... 93 TABLE 38: The Foreign Language Level of Students before Starting

University Education from the Instructors’ Perspective ... 93 TABLE 39: The Independent Study Skills of Students and Their Eagerness to Learn In Their Own Right: from the Students’ Perspective ... 94 TABLE 40: The Independent Study Skills of Students and Their Eagerness to Learn In Their Own Right: from the Instructors’ Perspective ... 94 TABLE 41: The Ability to Think in the Target Language from the Students’

Perspective ... 95 TABLE 42: The Ability to Think in the Target Language from the Instructors’ Perspective ... 96

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TABLE 43: The Most Succeeded Foreign Language Skills from the Students’ Perspective ... 97 TABLE 44: The Most Succeeded Foreign Language Skills from Instructors’

Perspective ... 97 TABLE 45: The Reasons for the Difficulties Faced by Students in the Learning Process from the Students’ Perspective ... 98 TABLE 46: The Reasons for the Difficulties Faced by Students in the Learning Process from the Instructors’ Perspective ... 99 TABLE 47: The Frequency of Foreign Language Anxiety for Failure from the Students’ Perspective ... 100 TABLE 48: The Frequency of Foreign Language Anxiety for Failure from the Instructors’ Perspective ... 100 TABLE 49: The Relation between Gender and Level of Interest of the Students ... 101 TABLE 50: The Relation between the Reasons for Learning a Foreign

Language and the Amount of Time Spent for Learning ... 102 TABLE 51: The Relation between the Reasons for Difficulties Faced by

Students and the Level of Anxiety for Failure ... 103 TABLE 52: The Relation between the Foreign Language Level of Students before Starting University Education and the Independent Study Skills ... 104 TABLE 53: The Relation between the Gender of Instructors and Their Level of Eagerness and Motivation to Teach a Foreign Language ... 105 TABLE 54: The Relation between the Age of Instructors and Their Level of

Eagerness and Motivation to Teach a Foreign Language ... 106 TABLE 55: The Relation between the Reasons for Difficulties Faced by Students and the Level of Foreign Language Anxiety from the Perspective of the Instructors ... 107

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

BİLİMSEL ETİK SAYFASI ... i

YÜKSEK LİSANS TEZİ KABUL FORMU ... ii

ÖZET ... iii

SUMMARY ... v

LIST OF TABLES ... vii

CHAPTER I 1.1. Introduction ... 1

1.2. Problem Statement ... 4

1.3. Significance of the Study ... 5

1.4. Purpose of the Study ... 5

1.5. Assumptions ... 6

1.6. Scope and Limitations of the Research ... 6

1.7. Hypothesis ... 7

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW: MOTIVATION SOURCES FOR LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE ... 8

2.1. To Increase Global Understanding ... 11

2.2. Living in the Target Language Community ... 13

2.3. Job Opportunities ... 16

2.4. Being Compulsory Because of School Curriculum ... 19

2.5. Being Attracted by the Culture of Target Language ... 20

CHAPTER III LITERATURE REVIEW: POTENTIAL PROBLEMS ... 23

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3.2. The Quality of Schooling ... 30

3.2.1. Incompetency of Foreign Language Instructors ... 30

3.2.2. Teaching Methodology ... 36 3.2.3. Syllabus ... 43 3.2.4. Testing ... 44 3.3. Learners ... 45 3.3.1. Learning Habits ... 47 3.3.2. Individual Differences ... 49 3.3.3. Motivation ... 51

3.4. Mother Tongue Interference ... 53

3.4.1. Grammatical Interference ... 54

3.4.2. Semantical Interference ... 59

3.4.3. Lexical Interference ... 60

3.5. Foreign Language Anxiety ... 63

CHAPTER IV METHODOLOGY ... 65

4.1. Introduction ... 65

4.2. Nature of the Study ... 65

4.3. Research Design and Methodology ... 65

4.3.1. The Research Problem ... 65

4.3.2. Research Settings and Participants ... 66

4.3.3. Research Instruments ... 66

4.3.4. Validity of the instrument ... 66

4.3.5. Data Analysis ... 67

CHAPTER V RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ... 68

5.1. Findings of the Questionnaire ... 68

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5.1.2. The Efficiency of Foreign Language Education ... 71

5.1.3. The Convenience of Course Books ... 72

5.1.4. The Convenience of Teaching Methods and Techniques ... 73

5.1.5. How Foreign Language Courses Should Be Given ... 74

5.1.6. The Most Favourite In-class Activities ... 75

5.1.7. Commonly Used Out-of-class Activities ... 76

5.1.8. The Convenience of Foreign Language Teaching Syllabus ... 78

5.1.9. The Convenience of Foreign Language Exams ... 80

5.1.10. The Physical Convenience of Learning Environment ... 81

5.1.11. The Students’ Level of Interest in Foreign Language Learning ... 82

5.1.12. The Eagerness and Motivation Level of Instructors to Teach a Foreign Language ... 84

5.1.13. The Reasons Why Students Like the Foreign Language Education Given ... 85

5.1.14. The Reasons Why Students Dislike the Foreign Language Education Given ... 87

5.1.15. The Opinions about Foreign Language Courses... 88

5.1.16. The Amount of Time the Students Spend to Learn a Foreign Language ... 89

5.1.17. The Reasons Why Students Need to Learn a Foreign Language ... 91

5.1.18. The Foreign Language Level of Students before Starting University Education ... 93

5.1.19. The Independent Study Skills of Students and Their Eagerness to Learn In Their Own Right ... 94

5.1.20. The Ability to Think in the Target Language ... 95

5.1.21. The Most Succeeded Foreign Language Skills ... 97

5.1.22. The Reasons for the Difficulties Faced by Students in the Learning Process ... 98

5.1.23. The Frequency of Foreign Language Anxiety for Failure ... 100

5.1.24. The Relation between Gender and Level of Interest of the Students ... 101

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5.1.25. The Relation between the Reasons for Learning a Foreign

Language and the Amount of Time Spent for Learning ... 102

5.1.26. The Relation between the Reasons for Difficulties Faced by Students and the Level of Anxiety for Failure ... 103

5.1.27. The Relation between the Foreign Language Level of Students before Starting University Education and the Independent Study Skills ... 104

5.1.28. The Relation between the Gender of Instructors and Their Level of Eagerness and Motivation to Teach a Foreign Language ... 105

5.1.29. The Relation between the Age of Instructors and Their Level of Eagerness and Motivation to Teach a Foreign Language ... 106

5.1.30. The Relation between the Reasons for Difficulties Faced by Students and the Level of Foreign Language Anxiety from the Perspective of the Instructors ... 107

CHAPTER VI 6. CONCLUSION ... 108

6.1. Overview of the Study ... 108

6.2. Conclusions and Implications ... 109

6.3. Prospects for Further Study ... 116

REFERENCES ... 118

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CHAPTER I

1.1. Introduction

Language is a tool that makes communication and interaction possible among individuals. In addition to this, it is a phenomenon that includes cultural characteristics. As in the process of acquiring the mother tongue, the acquisition of a foreign language depends on the social and cultural atmosphere as well as the teaching and learning activities. Language is a fundamental constituent of the society which is a quite significant tool to transfer the cultural heritage from one generation to another. People and nations learn the skills to communicate and learn about their cultures with the contribution of languages.

Cultural and social elements have significant impact on learning foreign languages. As a result of this, a foreign language learner has lots of difficulties in learning if there are important differences between the culture of their own society and the culture of the target language society. Without learning about the cultural characteristics and ways of of life of the target language society to a certain extent, the internalization of the structures, functions and mechanics of the target language is a considerably difficult and boring process. The main reason why people living in the countries of European Union have the skills to use minimum two languages effectively is that there are lots of common communicational elements and structural and lexical similarities between their mother tongue and the target language.

The efficacy of foreign language education is the most important factor for success in a society which includes great differences from the target language and its society. The efficacy of foreign language education has been described by Tsui (2009:34) with these words: ‘The nature of what we mean by effectiveness in

teaching is not always easy to define because conceptions of good teaching differ from culture to culture.’

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Richards (2011:46) suggests:

“In some cultures a good teacher is one who controls and directs learners and who maintains a respectful distance between the teacher and the learners. Learners are the more or less passive recipients of the teacher’s expertise. Teaching is viewed as a teacher-controlled and directed process. In other cultures the teacher may be viewed more as a facilitator. The ability to form close interpersonal relations with students is highly valued, and there is a strong emphasis on individual learner creativity and independent learning.”

This means learners should be encouraged to question and challenge what the teacher says to take the responsibility of their learning and be more independent in the learning process.

Richards (2011:48) reflects different understandings of effective teaching process in the following teacher comments:

“When I present a reading text to the class, the students expect me to go through it word by word and explain every point of vocabulary or grammar. They would be uncomfortable if I left it for them to work it out on their own or if I asked them just to try to understand the main ideas”. – Egyptian EFL teacher

“If a student doesn’t succeed, it is my fault for not presenting the materials clearly enough. If a student doesn’t understand something, I must find a way to present it more clearly”. – Taiwanese EFL teacher

“If I do group work or open-ended communicative activities, the students and other colleagues will feel that I’m not really teaching them. They will feel that I didn’t have anything really planned for the lesson and that I’m just filling in time”. –

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Comments made by teachers show that giving responsibilities to students by teachers to bring them in autonomy not only in educational institutions in Turkey but also in many parts of the world can initially cause to misunderstand, and reaching the students to this awareness level requires a challenging training process. Therefore, teachers are responsible for turning the goals of students into the designated teaching goals and directing the students to act in accordance with these objectives.

The physical condition of the learning environment also takes place among the factors influencing foreign language learning. To be well-prepared to instruct in a technologically changing world, the necessary physical properties should be created for FLT settings. Teachers fail to implement the curriculum in schools giving training under difficult conditions and exceeding the number of classrooms to be accepted and to perform interactive learning activities among students. The use of technological teaching equipments and especially audio-visual aids should be supported by the administration of schools.

It is highly important to use the technological tools such as overhead projector, language lab, video, cinevision and computer in foreign language education departments of education faculties in the scope of teaching activities. Because it is recently mentioned that providing the foreign language teaching via video becomes very effective (Demirel, 1991:27).

In a questionnaire sent to 68 countries including Turkey in the scope of a UNESCO-funded research project related to training of foreign language teachers, our universities were asked a question in the following way: “Which audio-visual tools are you using?” and our universities gave different answers to this question, for example while some of them give responses such as ' eraser, chalk ' and remaining universities gave responses such as “video devices, foreign language labs” (Freundestein, 1986: 26). This means that the use of technological tools in education process even in higher education institutions training foreign language teacher in our country is not widespread enough.

The most important deficiency in foreign language training in our country consists of methodological errors. Grammar Translation method that is a traditional

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foreign language teaching method aiming at teaching about language, not language is carried out to analysis and translate the works written in foreign languages and to learn the grammar rules belonging to those languages. There is a need to methods that don’t give information about the language but provide the rich and comprehensible input for student as well as using the language as a communication and learning tool (Zafar, S, & Meenakshi K., 2012:39).

Bayraktaroğlu (2012:54) offers a strategic proposal to equip the university students with the knowledge of foreign language in Higher Education Strategy Report of Higher Education Council published in February 2007. According to this proposal, it is required to ensure that university students in Turkey should graduate from universities by knowing at least one foreign language. This report also claims that arrangements made related to deficiencies and inaccuracies in foreign language education in Turkey could not become successful enough so far and it defends that a strong claim should be put forward in this regard, while the students in EU countries are obliged to know at least two foreign languages. A research shows that Turkey is one of the most unsuccessful countries and ranks forty-third in English language proficiency among 44 countries (after countries such as Chile, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia) and Kazakhstan ranks forty-fourth after Turkey. Investigating why a foreign language could not be taught literally in Turkey, Demirel (1999:9) asserts in a statement made by him that a student has taken lesson for years to learn foreign language, but most of the students could not become successful especially in the preparatory class of universities such as METU and Bosphorus University and therefore language teaching method used in Turkey should be scrutinized.

1.2. Problem Statement

The need to learn a second language arises as a result of inter-community communication and cultural interaction requirement. An effective foreign language teaching is an important element greatly needed in our country to train and develop the skilled human power. However, as revealed in the researches performed, the foreign language teaching process starting from primary education cannot be

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sufficiently achieved in our country. Students who get into higher education institutions after trained in traditional language teaching system bring the problems and learning habits arising from inefficiencies in the system along with them. If various issues of foreign language teaching applied in higher education are considered, it is difficult to have an adequate level of foreign language applied in these institutions. In this study, problems experienced in foreign language teaching in higher education institutions in Turkey, physical condition of the learning environment will be discussed and evaluated in terms of teacher, student and method.

1.3. Significance of the Study

Our country exerting effort to develop aims to have a voice in international organizations that are very effective on areas such as economy, politics, health and technology. All of them depend on the existence of a sound economic structure and the training of qualified manpower. Responsibility to meet this need firstly belongs to the universities. Our universities should implement effectively at least a foreign language teaching in order to train the qualified and well-trained individuals in their own fields. But today, the targeted level in the foreign language training cannot be reached except for few universities. This study has a great importance to reveal the reasons of this insufficiency in foreign language teaching in higher education institutions and to make some suggestions.

1.4. Purpose of the Study

This study aims to investigate the reasons for the problems faced by foreign language instructors and students in Higher Education Institutions in Turkey concerning the physical situation of the learning environment, the quality of schooling, problems about learners, motivation, testing and teaching methodology. The results of the questionnaire for the instructors and students are going to show the reasons why foreign language teaching/learning in Higher Education Institutions has been failure in Turkey for many years and include some suggestions to revise the

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traditional ways of foreign language teaching. It will help instructors of foreign languages to identify the main problems faced by themselves and students with the help of information about student’s weak areas in learning a foreign language and motivate the instructors to have effective remedies.

The aims can be enlisted as follows:

1. To find out problems of teaching and learning foreign languages by collecting the data from the students and instructors through questionnaires,

2. To closely examine and analyse the data collected from instructors and students and to present the statistical data,

3. To present problems, those are found in the survey through questionnaires, 4. To suggest some solutions.

1.5. Assumptions

While conducting this study, we shall act according to assumptions specified below;

- Foreign language instructors and students shall impartially give answers to survey questions,

- Participation rate of instructors and students in the survey will be high, - The surveys implemented at the university level to determine and examine the problems shall reveal in general the issues related to foreign language teaching in higher education institutions in our country.

1.6. Scope and Limitations of the Research

This study will be limited to data which are based on responses given by foreign language instructors and students to questionnaires working in Mevlana University in the academic year of 2015-2016 in relation to field covered and data used by it. The other universities in Turkey may be experiencing similar or different

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issues but a generalization cannot be made since the researcher cannot really access information about what kind of issues are being faced with in all other universities.

The scope of the research is very wide. Researcher is supposed to consider and cover all aspects of teaching and learning a foreign language. In the survey researcher has constrained himself to find out problems in teaching and learning a foreign language and making some solutions on this. These suggested solutions will not be experimented before suggesting. The present research is limited to study the views of students and teachers and not to analyse the actual teaching of English in the classroom.

1.7. Hypothesis

An analysis of teaching a foreign language through questionnaires at university level will indicate that teaching a foreign language at university level is at unsatisfactory level and it is the main reason for the poor linguistic competence among students.

1. Conventional or old methods are used in teaching foreign languages. 2. There is inadequate use of teaching aids in the classroom.

3. Students generally have inappropriate learning habits and style.

4. Exam oriented teaching approach affects the psychology and motivation of the students.

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CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW:

MOTIVATION SOURCES FOR LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Mankind, for centuries now, has been influenced by the idea of universal civilization. There are some factors that generate and maintain this universal civilization. Innovations seen in mass communication have made the world smaller and international relations easier, so multilingualism has become more than just ‘important’. Knowing a foreign language other than your mother tongue has appeared to be extremely beneficial. From both financial and social aspects, the ability to communicate in a foreign language helps to make ‘real’ connection with people and provides a better understanding of your language.

As in all parts of the world, the necessity for learning foreign languages not only arises from political, economic, technological, scientific and cultural purposes but also from personal desire. Some people like to challenge their brain capacity and strengthen their memories by learning and using new languages in their lives whereas some others need it for specific purposes. Living in the target language community also promotes to learn and use the target language efficiently in real life circumstances.

A report of Council of Europe suggests that:

“… the aim of language education is profoundly modified. It is no longer seen as simply to achieve ‘mastery’ of one or two, or even three languages, each taken in isolation, with the ‘ideal native speaker’ as the ultimate model. Instead, the aim is to develop a linguistic repertory, in which all linguistic abilities have a place.” [Council of Europe (CE), 2001:5].

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Gallagher-Brett (2004:2) suggests that the UK Subject Centre made a new research which has identifed more than 700 reasons for learning foreign languages. The research shows that the strongest reasons are the personal benefits and enjoyment that people gain while learning a new language. The findings are highly inspiring and encouraging for more people to learn languages in and out of school. The personal value of language learning was associated with satisfaction; personal benefits such as employability, communication and mobility; intercultural competence and improved relationships.

Learning a foreign language provides a great variety of employment opportunities. For businesses, it is essential to develop and sustain a powerful position in the universal economy. Being able to understand the psychology and the language of their foreign clients improves staff performance and increase revenue for the companies. Consequently, foreign language skills are included in the job requirements of most companies.

Other than increasing the employability, learning a foreign language can offer a life changing experience to people who love travelling to explore different parts of the world, know about various cultures, places, and lifestyle. Speaking the local language provides great convenience in finding the places, asking for directions, and even ordering food. Interaction with people gives you a better insight of the country’s culture with a greater scope of meeting new people, making new friends, having more fun, and enjoyment.

Learning foreign languages, discovering new worlds and gaining knowledge about other cultures afford people the unique opportunity of expanding their vision of life, seeing themselves and their own culture from an outsider perspective and contributing to their community and country. Federico Fellini, an Italian film

director shares his thoughts about the benefits of learning different languages with

these words: "A different language is a different vision of life". With this different vision of life, they get the chance to step outside their familiar scope of existence and view their culture’s customs, traditions, norms and value systems through the eyes of others.

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Developing cognitive and analytical abilities is another reason for learning a foreign language which is tough and involves a lot of mental exercise. Mackey (2014:71) reports in The Guardian that learning new languages has some cognitive benefits, too. It produces changes in the anatomy of the brain. Swedish scientists used brain scans to observe what happens when someone learns a new language and discovered that learning a new language makes the brain grow and have a better function with just three months of intense language study. Having better cognitive skills, people who speak more than one language proficiently have stronger memories and are more cognitively creative and mentally flexible than monolinguals.

Strengthened interest and support for foreign language studies revealed a positive connection between second language proficiency and cognitive and academic ability. Tochon (2009: 654) presents the results of a research made by The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages which identifies three main research areas on language learning for which significant evidence was found. First, learning new languages support academic achievement with higher scores on standardized test measures. Second, language learning provides cognitive benefits to students. Researches from all around the world shows that bilingual people are likely to get better results from IQ tests in comparison with monolingual people of the same socioeconomic class. Last, it also has an influence on attitudes and beliefs about language learning and other cultures. Language learners tend to develop a more positive attitude toward the target language and the speakers of that language.

Multilingual labor force stimulates economic competitiveness abroad, maintains political interests, and prompts tolerance and intercultural awareness.

Trimnell (2005:36) states that:

"We have strong evidence today that studying a foreign language has a ripple effect, helping to improve student performance in other subjects." - Richard Riley, U.S. Secretary of Education under Bill Clinton

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As a variety of learning skills is included in language learning, people who study a foreign language acquire the ability to learn and function in several other areas and show higher cognitive development in areas such as mental flexibility, creativity, and thinking skills, such as problem-solving, conceptualizing, and reasoning.

An important decision to be made is to choose from the number of foreign languages – French, Spanish, German, or Italian- to be learnt. Whether people learn a language for a specific reason or out of interest, learning a foreign language will bring about a long-term success and create endless opportunities for them.

Foreign language education arises intercultural awareness and understanding, interest in the target countries, motivation, and understanding our own culture. Additionally, being able to compare values and worldviews and becoming biliterate help one develop a wider worldview, build tolerance of difference, likely reduce racism, raise one’s self-esteem and strengthen one’s identity. These positive effects of learning foreign languages are some of the reasons why people need to learn them. Some other reasons are examined in the following parts in details.

2.1. To Increase Global Understanding

The world is full of languages. Learning other languages helps broaden people’s personal horizons, interests and views. Learning whatever language people choose definitely makes a difference in how they see the world and how the world sees them. Giving people the opportunity to interact with each other makes it easier to have closer relations, to learn about their cultural differences and different ways of living. They become more tolerant of the differences among people. In the age of global interdependence and an increasingly multicultural and multi-ethnic society, foreign language study gives people exceptional awareness of other cultures and builds their proficiency skills in a way that no other discipline is able to do.

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“Those who know nothing of foreign languages, knows nothing of their own.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive." - Mohandas K. Gandhi, Indian nationalist and spiritual leader

"... Effective communication and successful negotiations with a foreign partner--whether with a partner in peacekeeping, a strategic economic partner, a political adversary, or a non-English speaking contact in a critical law enforcement action --requires strong comprehension of the underlying cultural values and belief structures that are part of the life experience of the foreign partner." - Dr. Dan Davidson, President of the American Councils on International Education (Trimnell,

2005:36).

Getting familiar with different cultures that have their own history, literature, style or music enables people to connect through social media, means of mass communication, TV or the internet with a whole countries worth of people. It gives them the chance to see fascinating new things from a new perspective and an improved understanding of the way the world works, including political affairs and security.

Tochon (2009:657) states that language learners become involved in the context of other cultures. Intercultural sensitivity improves reliability and understanding, lays a bridge between peoples, and promote peace and international trade. Economic associateships, diplomacy, and international connections require a clear perception of the cultural values and belief systems of the partners abroad. Proficiency in other languages carries the banner for global citizenship. “One does

not inhabit a country; one inhabits a language.” E.M. Cioran (Tochon, 2009: 657).

Curtain & Dahlberg (2004:29) explains how foreign language study promotes cultural awareness and competency:

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“The positive impact of cultural information is significantly enhanced when that information is experienced through foreign language and accompanied by experiences in culturally authentic situations.” (Curtain & Dahlberg, 2004:29)

To avoid the barriers to true access to other cultures, people are supposed to have the ability and information to communicate and understand those cultures in their own terms. Intercultural sensitivity increases global understanding, cooperation, negotiation and compromise among people from a great variety of cultures. Globalization, mobility and communication opportunities bring the world ever closer together, which requires global nations to be experienced and competent in other languages (Vrbová, 2006: 61).

2.2. Living in the Target Language Community

“What you do is what you learn.” (Van Lier, 1999:37 as cited in Sayın,

2009:128).

Target language community is a community which the language learner lives or wants to live in, and where the main language is the one the learner wants to learn. People living in a country where the target language is used are exposed to social and linguistic challenges and they battle through these challenges using numerous communication strategies with lots of opportunities for independent learning. That is to say, linguistic interactions that include various communicative activities help push learners’ language capacity limits to maximum language learning opportunities. As learning is the experience of overcoming the challenges successfully in virtue of strategies, these linguistic challenges are of vital importance.

Nation (2014:24) suggests that learning a foreign language not in the target language community occurs in a very different situation. Learners do not need the language for real communication and there are not a lot of opportunities to interact with people and use the foreign language. The learners have to keep their

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motivations very high in a usually very uninteresting learning process. Adults have some advantages in learning a new language in a country where the target language is not used: they are better at aiming for long-term goals, at keeping working at the learning, and they often have learning skills and strategies that they have already practised in other learning activities. They reflect on their learning more easily and take personal responsibility of it.

“However, a single approach to understanding language learning can be summarised as one that provides a social ecology for the learner in which he or she can engage in linguistically challenging and purposeful activities” (Swain,

1985:44 as cited in Sayın, 2009:23)

“What enables people to communicate is not a shared grammar, but communicative practices and strategies that are used to negotiate their language differences. Furthermore, these strategies are not a form of knowledge or cognitive competence, but a form of resourcefulness that speakers employ in the unpredictable communicative situations they encounter.”

Canagarajah & Wurr (2011:2)

As we can understand from what Sayın (2009:78) and Canagarajah & Wurr (2011:22) say, independent language learning is a quite rewarding process including learner activities with ample opportunities of social settings in the target language community. Learners are already engaged in talks with the native speakers of the target language in various social settings. Learner activities and linguistic conveniences are interdependent and interrelated with one another by means of certain strategies. Learners actively participate in the settings that are components of language use for social interactions. Under these circumstances, effective language learning occurs as being linked to making it part of everyday life.

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The learning environment which learners live in is important for two reasons: first, it is the source of learning opportunities and second it has a direct influence on learning. Reber (1993:58 as cited in Sayın, 2009:133) states that: “don’t ask what is

inside your head, ask what your head is inside of”. Learning environment including

a variety of linguistically challenging activities which force the learners to communicate through the target language has a determining role in optimum language learning. The regularity and variety of learner activities with the local community is crucial for consistent language skills improvement. In these informal social settings outside the school, foreign language learners get a chance to gain some language skills and confidence for challenging linguistic performances. Regular and intensive linguistic interactions are required in these formal and informal learning environments and appear to be highly supportive for comprehensive language development. Forming social bonds with the local community for wide-ranging learning opportunities in authentic situations is closely interrelated with encountering native speakers on a regular basis in respective social circles.

While evaluating one’s language competence and skills, special attention should be paid to daily performance. Regular contact with speakers from the same linguistic background on authentic occasions at the language school, at home or in the workplace in the target language community, increases purposeful, constant and intensive social and linguistic engagement of learners in the target language. Learners are usually disposed to develop strong relations with these people and comfortably share their experiences as well as sorting out their linguistic difficulties by socializing without any concerns.

Depending on negotiation strategies, languages should not be considered as a product, but a form of social practice. Multilingual orientation which is a multisensory process occurs fluently and easily when one joins a target language community and acquires competence in that language by means of various strategies for survival. It is a quite motivational source for acquiring a new language to need it urgently for different functions to be able to survive in a community where the language is spoken.

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Negotiating interactions with diverse speakers in situations of local practice can not be regarded as an individual achievement. The reason why the required skills for communication with these people are considered as collaborative accomplishments is that they can only be acquired as a result of a collaborative work.

According to the results of a research made by Arıkan (2011:77); even prospective teachers of foreign languages who are deprived of experiencing target language community in their naturally occurring ways do not have a positive perception of learning and teaching a foreign language. Research shows that intensive cultural immersion results in a quite different perception of the world. Even short-term overseas experiences have a positive influence on their perceptions and teaching skills. In that case, foreign language teachers are supposed to find some ways to keep communication open with people from different cultures and develop their speaking ability. These advantages of living in the target language community are motivation sources both for the foreign language teachers and learners.

2.3. Job Opportunities

With universal unemployment matters, a multilingual ability is certainly a competitive quality over others. Being able to communicate in more than one language is an ability indicating a person’s intelligence, flexibility, tolerance, openness to various kinds of people, and decision-making skills. These are just bonuses to the evident skills to communicate in diverse languages and cross cultural barriers.

In an increasingly competitive job market, people need to qualify themselves in many respects. With globalization in high gear, there's a good possibility people will be working with others whose native languages are not the same as their colleagues. Whether it's a development team in India, or a manufacturing plant in China, or an alternative energy supplier in Germany; being able to communicate in other languages gives them a distinctive competency over the others. Having that competitive edge on their resumes could be invaluable for people demanding to enhance their employment opportunities. As a person who is already working,

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foreign language skills may lead to special recognitions or promotions. As an employer, the ability to communicate in foreign languages may help encourage staff performance, improve customer services, and increase revenue for the company.

If businesses are to successfully compete in a global economy, they must learn to engage with other cultures on their own terms. Business is not the only area of employment where foreign language qualifications are needed, though. Multiple government agencies, the travel industry, engineering, communications, the field of education, international law, economics, public policy, publishing, advertising, entertainment, scientific research, and a broad array of service sectors all have needs for people with foreign language skills Trimnell (2005:35) suggests that

“Chances are that knowing languages will open up employment opportunities that you would not have had otherwise. And you will be able to command a greater salary in the workplace. All else being equal, knowing languages gives you an edge over monolingual applicants competing for the same jobs.” (Trimnell, 2005:35)

In today's world, companies have a lot of business relations with foreign companies. To be able to do business, they need people with necessary skills to communicate with them. Most companies therefore, look for candidates with foreign language skills. Correspondingly, communication skills in different languages are useful and come with a lot of privileges for better job opportunities, to the more specific, they can help in getting a particular job and provide a mobility advantage. What is meant by ‘mobility’ is that people with foreign language skills can do basically any job that they want anywhere in the world.

The responses to a questionnaire that collects data on reasons for studying languages from language learners cited from Gallagher-Brett (2004:22) indicate that the communication benefits for employability of possessing language skills were

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mentioned by most of the respondents. This can be seen in the following comments:

“Being successful at another language shows good communication skills and shows employers you are willing to learn new skills and welcome a challenge.”

With regard to this question of communication, language learners were likely to stress the importance of communication in foreign languages for employability. There were also many other employment gains perceived to result from foreign language study. These related, to a certain extent, to individual jobs or specific areas of employment where language learners stated a foreign language would be required or desirable. The significance of linguistic and cultural understanding of other people for job opportunities was also highlighted.

Another question “Is there anything special about studying languages at

university?” provoked discussion on values among language learners. Most of the

learners expressed the view that language learners have more of an open mind: “I do

think that you're a bit more open-minded than perhaps other people, the fact that you're actually willing to go out and learn another language.” (Gallagher-Brett,

2004:25).

This openness includes great self-confidence in the way language learners approach people and communicate with them, the ability to have connections with people from a variety of backgrounds, the ability to solve problems and to think on one's feet. They admit the possibility of employability gains although this is not the main reason for them to study languages. Whereas the potentiality of gaining an employability advantage was less important to participants than personal satisfaction, it was still the second most commonly cited reason for studying languages.

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“One of the primary purposes of education is to promote „… a sense of interculturality, an intercultural competence, which is fundamental to education, perhaps always has been so, but is all the more significant in the contemporary world‟

(Alred et al, 2003:6 as cited in Jones, 2011:2). Linguists who are

able to use their language skills may have excellent inter-cultural competence. The challenge will be to achieve the same without a common language, to develop „cross-cultural capability‟, seen as, the ability “to communicate effectively across cultures, to see one‟s discipline and subsequent professional practice in cultural perspective, and to recognise the legitimacy of other cultural practices in both personal and professional life” (Killick 2009 as cited in Jones, 2011:2).

This being the case, the role of higher foreign language education in putting in place practices such as personal development planning to encourage students to reflect on and articulate the skills they have developed so they are better equipped when looking for employment Allan (2006:23). Higher foreign language education can reasonably fulfil most of the expectations of employers and furnish learners with lots of foreign language skills, as well as subject knowledge.

2.4. Being Compulsory Because of School Curriculum

"One reason some students study language is because they are required to,"

says Mark Lenhart, Executive Director of CET Academic Programs, a study abroad organization based in Washington, DC that designs innovative language and culture immersion programs abroad. "We sometimes have students tell us they prefer to join

our programs because the foreign language classes fulfill a requirement."

Many undergraduate programs and even some postgraduate courses have foreign language courses as part of their basic or graduation requirements. They rightly consider knowledge and skills of a foreign language and culture a crucial part of what every educated person should know. Trimnell (2005:36) suggests that many majors in the arts and humanities, in natural sciences and behavioral and social

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sciences, and in professional fields, also require the study of one or more languages to guarantee achievement in the specific field.

2.5. Being Attracted by the Culture of Target Language

Language and culture go hand in hand. It is impossible to learn about American culture without understanding English or to understand the humor of Dave Chappelle, or the lyrics of Bob Dylan, or the works of Shakespeare without actually knowing what the words mean. It might be possible to do so otherwise, but there's only so much you can learn from a book or a video. To be able to truly understand a culture, we are supposed to know what the people are talking, writing or speaking about. Cultural subtleties and pop culture references might be totally lost without some perception of the local language.

Gallagher-Brett (2004:28) gives a detailed presentation of findings from the responses of a questionnare which is about learners’ attitudes to languages. The findings reveal that language learners are interested in learning about culture. Clear interest in learning about other cultures was expressed in questionnaire responses and an awareness of the significance of appreciating other cultures was also mentioned. Additionally, focus group participants stressed how much they enjoyed the study of related subjects such as history, geography and politics along with the language. A small number of those surveyed emphasized how well languages fit with other humanities subjects, like history. Learning about the culture and history of the target country is an integral part of language programmes but this has not necessarily been the case at a compulsory level. Some language learners are motivated because they experience success and find languages easy, while others seem attracted by the expected difficulty of languages. Contributing causes given in a small number of questionnaire responses were rationales concerning the previous experience of success, to being good at languages, to ease of learning and became evident in the way focus group participants described their early language learning experiences. The experience of success is a key fact while deciding whether to continue language studies. The students who experience more success in languages than in other

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subjects usually prefer to continue their language studies. On the contrary, the widely-known fact that languages are complicated and elitist seemed to comprise a basis for certain rationales produced by language learners who participated in the questionnaire. Students who are motivated to learn a foreign language as they are attracted by the culture of that language described a language as a strong element for cultural transmission.

Viewing one’s value system through the eyes of others is, to put it all in simple terms, quite precious. Monolingual views of the different aspects of the world, culture and life-style of other people that are accepted as universal truths limit the perspective. Other ways of thinking are to be encountered to be able to gain some extraordinary points of view (Tochon, 2009:657).

Multilingualism increases understanding and appreciating other cultures besides increasing tolerance among people. As some elements do not have equivalents in other languages, translation is subject to the interpretation of the translator. This is a fact that encourages people to be interested in learning languages which directly helps one connect deeply with other people around the world.

Trimnell (2005:38) states that

"The many great gardens of the world, of literature and poetry, of painting and music, of religion and architecture, all make the point as clear as possible: The soul cannot thrive in the absence of a garden. If you don't want paradise, you are not human; and if you are not human, you don't have a soul." - Thomas Moore, Irish poet, satirist, and composer.

The best part of the world's literary and artistic works have been written in various languages. The intent, beauty, style, and uniqueness of an original work can never be truly reflected by a translated version. The reason why the interpretation of a translator can be easily included in translation is some elements of langauges

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simply don't have translations in other languages. Word plays, metaphors, innuendoes, cultural references and culturally loaded vocabulary words, and formulations unique to the original language often get lost in translation. To be able to fully appreciate literature, theater, music, and film in other languages, one must learn the languages and access them in their original form.

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CHAPTER III

LITERATURE REVIEW:

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

Globally, language learning and teaching as a comprehensive subject is a quite intricate issue with various complications that might arise during the process. It is a commonly agreed idea that there is no standard remedy to ensure everyone’s success. Some people almost accomplish the native speaker’s level of foreign language competence whereas others do not actually seem to show any improvement beyond basic level. Some foreign language learners improve their skills quite fast and without lots of effort while some others find it quite challenging to make a very slow progress.

It is reported by Bayraktaroğlu (2012:41) that one of the main reasons for the problems faced in foreign language teaching in Turkish universities and higher education institutions is both General Directorate of Higher Education Institutions and executives as well as inspectors' being insufficient in academic fund of knowledge about quality and conditions of foreign language teaching. On the other hand, university administrators do not give enough importance to foreign language education though universities play a vital role in reaching education with international qualifications. Most of the authorities do not even form a strategic plan for foreign language teaching in line with the requirements of universities while activities organized by other faculties and departments take place in management and strategic development plans. This indicates how much importance is attached by university administrators to foreign language education. What’s worse, they do not accept the reality that foreign language education differs from other fields of education in terms of its essence and characteristics and requires life-long continuity and experience.

The newspaper article also includes the 49th item of Higher Education Law suggesting that “In Higher Education ınstitutions giving a foreign language education

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partially or wholly, foreign languages preparation for one year is obligatory… Higher Education Institutions take due precautions for improving the foreign language skills of students during their regular education.” However, the continuity of foreign language preparation education can not be provided in a number of higher education institutions with around 40 students in each class. It sounds like a dummy application especially in state universities where even foreign languages curriculum planning is usually ignored by the principals and some instructors.

The common problems with foreign language teaching in Turkey remain on the agenda of all those concerned. The fact that foreign languages are thaught in every stage of education starting from primary school to the universities and higher education instituations indicates how much importance is attached to the issue. However, the desired level in teaching foreign languages has not been reached in most of the education institutions yet. The unsatisfactory results of the time and expense spent on it make it essential to search for ways of solving this issue. In this case, the observations of a foreign expert of language teaching who worked as a foreign language teacher for a few years in Turkey become more of an issue. König (1989) cites from an article written by this foreign expert to share some common opinions of people living abroad about the issue.

The most prominent part of the article seems to be the one that makes a mention of Turkey as the same level as Senegal and Morocco in terms of teaching foreign languages. According to the writer of the article, the main problem is a linguistic nondevelopment state which results from the habit of memorizing literally and mechanically. On the other side; in Western countries, text analysing skills have precedence over memorization skills without any understanding. The same kind of learning methods and skills are usually applied to language learning, which seems to be the reason why language learners have difficulties in transferring their learning into practice. Turkish learners of foreign languages usually find it easy to learn the structures and vocabulary while they complain about the difficulties of keeping their learning in mind and putting them into practice in real life situations.

In addition to these cultural aspects of language learning difficulties; inhomogeneity of people and variety of language learning opportunities can also be

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described some of the reasons for language learning/teaching disabilities. Many biological or conditioned factors affected by nature and unconscious forces affected by past language learning experiences are all and end alls in this issue. The individual differences among people that can be observed are: Gender, age, aptitude, motivation, learning styles/strategies and personality.

These individual differences are intricately interlocked with each other and in totality play vital roles in foreign language learning abilities. They are described by Dörnyei (2005:26, as cited in Zafar & Meenakshi, 2012:82) as ‘enduring personal

characteristics that are assumed to apply to everybody and on which people differ by degree.’

The differences among the ways people enter into language relationships and improve competences in a variety of languages help us realize that these individual differences and cultural aspects of language learning difficulties are some of the reasons for problems with foreign language learning/teaching. Furthermore, the fact that traditional models of language acquisition and competence lack the capacity to explain contemporary experiences is also a significant obstacle for achieving language competence.

As in all parts of learning, the reasons for the inabilities to learn/teach languages can be classified as originating from: the teaching/learning

atmosphere/methodology, the learner, and the teacher. Most of the problems faced

in foreign language teaching are caused by these three main factors. Foreign language teaching/learning is an issue that should be approached in totally different ways from other branches. It is an acquisition process during which learners are supposed to reconstruct their ongoing learning experiences within the structures of the target language. Achieving this process requires the necessary conditions mentioned below to be provided:

1. learning-friendly atmosphere, 2. appropriate physical conditions,

3. psychological readiness and motivation of the learners for learning a new language,

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4. achieving learner-autonomy, 5. improving learning habits, 6. qualified instructors,

7. appropriate use of teaching materials and technology, 8. the quality of schooling / teaching methodology,

9. eagerness of the instructors to teach and guide the learners, 10. raising awareness of life-long language learning,

10. applicable syllabus.

3.1. Physical Situation

The physical properties that are supposed to be created for foreign language teaching settings have been discussed by foreign language instructors for so many years. One of the popular language teaching methods, suggestopedia, developed by Lazanow tends to focus on the style, design and furnishing of the teaching atmosphere, the use of teaching aids, visuals, and musical aid. Learner friendly approaches also focus on the use of teaching aids and materials to foster learning. A foreign language room should accommodate a class library, reference books, visual aids, space on the walls for displaying charts, posters and student prepared materials, thematic learning centers, portable furniture for group/pair work activities, specially arranged seating, background music, and audio-visual materials.

British Council made a research for needs analysis of state schools in Turkey to be able to make some recommendations to the Ministry of National Education in terms of reconstructing in-class foreign language teaching curriculum and activities. British Council (2014:12) reveals some observations about over-crowded classrooms with around 30 students in most of the state schools which directly has a negative influence on curriculum application skills of the instructors. Almost all the classrooms include two-seater desks and the classroom layouts are not actually appropriate for independent, interactional pair-work or group activities. This

Şekil

TABLE 4:  Distribution of the Instructors According to Age
TABLE 7: The Convenience of Course Books from the Students’ Perspective
TABLE  9:  The  Convenience  of  Teaching  Methods  and  Techniques  from  the  Students’ Perspective
TABLE  11:  How  Foreign  Language  Courses  Should  Be  Given;  from  the  Students’ Perspective
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