Academic Summary

English Language Classroom Activities and 

Problems in Turkish Primary School

Arikan (2011) in “A Small-Scale Study of Primary School English Language Teachers’ Classroom Activities and Problems” propounds an analysis of classroom activities to “identify what happens in English language classrooms in Turkey so that further action takes place to improve the quality of teaching and learning” (Arikan, 2011).

It is stated that the aim of the study is to identify the types of English language teaching activities carried out in Turkish primary schools along with the problems teachers face while teaching. A number of 46 primary school English language teachers participated in the study by answering to an online questionnaire.

According to Arikan (2011), results seem to suggest that vocabulary, speaking, and pronunciation are considered as the most important domains and skills in Turkish classrooms. This fact is supported by teachers’ reports on specific types of activities, such as filling in the gaps or students reading aloud which outnumber other tasks like watching videos, or project work, for instance.

In contrast, students’ knowledge of culture, writing, and grammar appear to be considered of less importance. Arikan (2011) states that students’ activities like rhymes and poems, creative and free writing have received the lowest scores in teachers’ reports. This implies students continue to be passive learners in Turkish classrooms (Arikan, 2011 ).

Regarding teachers’ needs to improve their teaching, Arikan (2011) proposes in his paper that poor physical conditions lessen the quality of their classroom teaching. The highest mean scores for teachers’ needs are having smaller classes to teach, followed by having new technologies such as computers or DVDs.

Arikan (2011) concludes that Turkish teachers want their students to be competent in vocabulary and speaking. However, participants’ answers show that students continue to be passive learners who learn through teacher-centered activities. Lastly, he questions the importance to culture of the language learned and taught.

Reference

Arikan, A. (2011). A Small-Scale Study of Primary School English Language Teachers’ Classroom Activities and Problems. 2nd International conference on new trends in education and their implications, 27-29 April, 2011. Retrieved from http://www.iconte.org/FileUpload/ks59689/File/053.pdf.