In-service Teachers’ Voices on the Quality of English Language Teaching in Turkey

This article reports a research study designed to explore in-service teachers’ views about the quality of English language teaching (ELT) in Turkey and to understand major instructional problems they experience while teaching English. The study also attempted to reveal teachers’ suggestions for coping with these problems. Data were collected through an online questionnaire that contained quantitative and qualitative items. 2,476 teachers working at primary, secondary, high schools in fifty cities participated in the study. The quantitative data were analysed through descriptive statistics and qualitative data were analysed using content analysis. According to the participants, the quality of ELT in Turkey is low (M = 2.27; SD = 0.91). Negative affective states, large classes, textbooks, lack of materials, limited class hours, examination-driven teaching, and curriculum were reported to be the main reasons for ineffective ELT. Participants agreed that shifting the focus of teaching to listening and speaking, changing textbooks, offering preparatory classes and increasing class hours, improving teacher development and recruitment, providing opportunities to go abroad, changing the focus of examinations, and changing the curriculum could help improve the effectiveness of ELT in Turkey