Duygu ÇAKIRCI
cakirci.duygu@metu.edu.tr
ENGLISH IN TURKEY
English has been expanded during “Tanzimat” Reform era in Ottoman Empire. They were curious
how to learn and teach English. Thus, The English Schools which were established by foreign people
had supplied in terms of education (1). However, even if it has been common for many years,
improvement in English has never been elicited because of government which does not attach
importance to English Language Teaching and Learning in terms of educational and social issues.
In education areas, there is no attention to English. Schools do not supply the appropriate English
through students. For example, in first year of high school, there are 6 hours per week. Then, in other
years, there are only 4 hours per week (2). These numbers are not adequate at all to learn sufficiently
and satisfactorily. Not only this happens, but also generally, teachers do not have sufficient
education. They have to be effective and patient as all we know. However, these features are almost
never seen in Turkish teachers related to government. As a result of these, the parents of students
have to send private courses with loads of money. This situation shows that this country had grown
really slow because government should supply this education in order to be important for students’
life.
Moreover, since English is not adequate and this is supported with private courses, there can be
some destructive results. For example; People who have money send their children private courses
easily in order to learn better English but other people who do not have enough money to afford
cannot supply English education for their children. As a result of this, apartheid may occur between
those who are coming from different status. This situation may prevent the improvement of country.
When the government deals with this problem and takes it more serious, something can change. For
example, they can provide teachers who are really...