logo logo International Journal of Educational Methodology

IJEM is a leading, peer-reviewed, open access, research journal that provides an online forum for studies in education, by and for scholars and practitioners, worldwide.

Subscribe to

Receive Email Alerts

for special events, calls for papers, and professional development opportunities.

Subscribe

Publisher (HQ)

RHAPSODE
Eurasian Society of Educational Research
College House, 2nd Floor 17 King Edwards Road, Ruislip, London, HA4 7AE, UK
RHAPSODE
Headquarters
College House, 2nd Floor 17 King Edwards Road, Ruislip, London, HA4 7AE, UK
Research Article

Evaluation of the “Speaking” Component of a Curriculum Applied in a School of Foreign Languages: An Action Research in a State University in Turkey

Burak Tomak

Speaking is considered as a challenging skill to improve as it is a productive one which requires the learners to be unique and creative in the way th.

S

Speaking is considered as a challenging skill to improve as it is a productive one which requires the learners to be unique and creative in the way they express themselves. Therefore, teaching speaking takes the attention of the researchers in the field of English language teaching. Therefore, the way “speaking” was integrated into the curriculum of a School of Foreign Languages in one of the state universities in Istanbul was investigated by the researcher to find out whether the speaking component of the program helped students improve their oral language proficiency and to learn both efficiency and sufficiency of it from the perspectives of the students as well as the instructors in that institution. For this purpose, eight students within the program were taken into five different speaking tests in five different weeks sequentially and were interviewed by the researcher afterwards. Additionally, six students who had taken this program of the school previously and were taking their departmental courses at the time of the study were also interviewed to give them the chance to reflect back on their past experiences as learners who applied the knowledge they had acquired from this school. Six different instructors working in this institution were also interviewed. One of them was also observed in her real class environment. Results showed that the program was found “efficient” in some aspects such as the importance given to “speaking” but there were some points that needed consolidation just like the materials.

Keywords: Speaking, program evaluation, school of foreign languages, English language teaching.

cloud_download PDF
Cite
Article Metrics
Views
1497
Download
1599
Citations
Crossref
5

Scopus
0

References

Altmışdört, G. (2010). Yabancı dil öğretiminde nasıl bir ölçme-değerlendirmeye gerek vardır? [What kind of testing and evaluation is needed in foreign language education?]. Journal of Theoretical Educational Science/ Kuramsal Eğitimbilim, 3(2), 175-200.

Bex, A. R. (1994). The problem of culture and English language teaching in Europe. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 32(1), 57-67.

Bilasa, P., & Taspinar, M. (2020). Opinions of the students from foreign language teaching departments about their undergraduate programs. International Journal of Educational Methodology, 6(2), 367-380.

Bogdan, R. G., & Biklen, S. K. (1992). Qualitative research for education (2nd ed.). Allyn& Bacon.

Bonenfant, J. L. (2012). Misusage and misinterpretation of basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS) and cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) in teaching English language learners (ELLS) in first and second grades. Review of Higher Education & Self-Learning, 5(15), 100-107.

Brown, H. D. (2007). Principles of language learning and teaching (5th ed.). Pearson.

Burns, A. (2010). Doing action research in English language teaching: A guide for practitioners. Routledge.

Byrne, D. (1991). Writing tasks. Macmillan Press.

Canagarajah, A. S. (1993). Critical ethnography of a Sri Lankan classroom: Ambiguities in student opposition to reproduction through ESOL. TESOL Quarterly, 27(4), 601-626.

Castro, L., & Villafuerte, J. (2019). Strengthening English language teaching in rural schools through the role-playing: Teachers’ motivations. International Journal of Educational Methodology, 5(2), 289-303.

Charles Darwin University (2019). Observing classroom management. Observation protocol. School of Education. https://cutt.ly/TjYU55B

Council of Europe (2001). Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching and assessment. Cambridge University Press.

Cunningham-Florez, M. A. (1999). Improving adult English language learners’ speaking skills. ERIC Digests. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED435204.pdf

Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2007). Research methods in education (6th ed). Routledge.

Council of Europe. (2001). A common European framework of reference for language learning and teaching. Cambridge University Press.

Crystal, D. (2001). English as a global language. Cambridge University Press.

Cummins, J. (1979). Cognitive/ academic language proficiency, linguistic interdependence, the optimum age question and some other matters  (Working Papers on Bilingualism, 19). https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED184334.pdf

Darmuki, A., Andayani, Nurkamto, J., & Saddhono, K. (2018). The development and evaluation of speaking learning model by cooperative approach. International Journal of Instruction, 11(2), 115-128.

Davies, P., & Pearse, E. (2002). Success in English teaching. Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

Deci, E. (1975). Intrinsic motivation. Plenum Press.

Doğan, Y. (2009). Konuşma becerisinin geliştirilmesine yönelik etkinlik önerileri [Activity recommendations for the development of speaking skill]. The Journal of Turkish Educational Sciences /Türk Eğitim Bilimleri Dergisi, 7(1). 185-204.

Doganay, Y., Ashirimbetova, M., & Davis, B. (2013). Making culture happen in the English language classroom. English Language Teaching, 6(10), 11-16.

Entika, H. S. A., & Ling, Y. L. (2019). The importance of immediate constructive feedback on students’ instrumental motivation in speaking in English. Britain International of Linguistics, Arts and Education Journal, 1(2), 1-7.

Ertürk, H. (2006). İngilizce öğretiminde konuşma becerisinin kazandırılmasında yazılı-görsel öğretim materyallerinin erişiye etkisi [The effect of written-visual materials to teach speaking skill in English on access] [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Hacettepe University

Farrell, T. S. C., & Vos, R. (2018). Exploring the principles and practices of one teacher of L2 speaking: The importance of reflecting on practice. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 6(1), 1-15.

Gall, M. D., Gall, J. P., & Borg, W. R. (2003). Educational Research. Pearson.

Goh, C. C. M., & Burns, A. (2012). Teaching speaking – A holistic approach. Cambridge University Press.

Gömleksiz, M. N., & Özkaya, Ö. M. (2012). Yabancı Diller Yüksekokulu öğrencilerinin İngilizce konuşma dersinin etkililiğine ilişkin görüşleri [The perspectives of the students in School of Foreign Languages in terms of the efficiency of speaking lessons]. Turkish Studies- International Periodical for The Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic, 7(2). 495-513.

Gumperz, J. J. (1972). Sociolinguistics and communication in small groups. In J. B. Pride & J. Holmes (Eds.), Sociolinguistics: Selected Readings. Penguin.

Harsch, C. (2017). Proficiency. ELT Journal, 71(2), 250-253.

Hedge, T. (2008). Teaching and learning in the language classroom. Oxford University Press

Hoffman, D. (1989). Language and culture acquisition among Iranians in the United States. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 20(2), 118-132.

Hudson, P. (2013). Desirable attributes and practices for mentees: Mentor teachers’ expectations. European Journal of Educational Research, 2(3), 107-119.

Hymes, D. H. (1972) On communicative competence. In J. B. Prideand & J. Holmes (Eds.), Sociolinguistics: Selected Readings. Penguin.

Ihsan, M. D. (2016). Students’ motivation in speaking English. Journal of English Educators Society, 1(1), 31-48.

Jones, J. F. (2004). A cultural context for language anxiety. English Australia, 21(2), 30-39.

Kemmis, S., & McTaggart, R. (1992). The action research planner (3rd ed.). Deakin University Press.

Khan, N., & Ali, A. (2010). Improving the speaking ability in English: The students’ perspective. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2, 3575-3579.

Khan, R. M.I., Radzuan, N. R. M., Shahbaz,M., Ibrahim, A. H., & Ghulam, M. (2018). The role of vocabulary knowledge in speaking development of Saudi EFL learners. Arab World English Journal, 9(1), 406-418.

Kingsley, L., & Romine, R. (2014). Measuring teaching best practice in the induction years: Development and validation of an item-level assessment. European Journal of Educational Research, 3(2), 87-109.

Knight, B. (1992). Assessing speaking skills: A workshop for teacher development, ELT Journal, 46 (3), 294-302.

Kramsch, C. (1993). Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford University Press.

Krippendorp, K. (2004). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology. Sage.

Larsen-Freeman, D. (2008). Techniques and principles in language teaching. Oxford University Press.

Leeds, D. (2003). Power speak: Engage, inspire, and stimulate your audience. Career Press

Lightbown, P. M., & Spada, N. (2006). How languages are learned. Oxford University Press.

Liu, X. (2010). Arousing the college students’ motivation in speaking English through role-play. International Education Studies, 3(1), 136-144.

Lynch, B. K. (1996). Language program evaluation: Theory and practice. Cambridge University Press.

Maslow, A. (1970). Motivation and personality (2nd ed.). Harper & Row.

Ministry of Education (2006). Foreign language teaching program. http://ogm.meb.gov.tr/belgeler/ispanyolca.pdf.

Miller, K. S. (1999). Teaching speaking. In K. Johnson & H. Johnson (Eds.), Encyclopedic Dictionary of Applied Linguistics (pp. 352- 358). Blackwell Publishing.

Nelson, P., Pearson, J., & Titsworth, S. (2007). Public speaking, a guide for the engaged communicator. McGraw Hill.

Pennycook, A. (1995). The cultural politics of English as an international language. Longman.

Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic imperialism. Oxford University Press.

Poole, D. (1992). Language socialization in the second language classroom. Language Learning, 42(4), 593-616.

Rao, P. S. (2019). The importance of speaking skills in English classrooms. Alford Council of International English & Literature Journal, 2(2), 6-18.

Ryan, P. M. (1994). Foreign language teachers’ perceptions of culture and the classroom: A case study [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Utah

Saville-Troike, M. (1996). The ethnography of communication (2nd ed.). Blackwell.

Taylor, O. L. (Ed.). (1986). Nature of communication disorders in culturally and linguistically diverse populations. College-Hill Press.

Taylor, O. L., & Clarke, M. (1994). Culture and communication disorders: A theoretical framework. Seminars in Speech and Language, 15(2), 103-13.

Thornbury, S. (2006). An A-Z of ELT. Macmillan Books for Teachers.

Ur, P. (1996). A course in language teaching. Cambridge University Press.

Usman, B., Champion, I., Muslem, A., & Samad, I. A. (2018). Progressive peer evaluation: Important but absent in EFL speaking classes. Studies in English Language and Education, 5(2), 308-327.

Wasser, J. D., & Bresler, L. (1996). Working in the interpretive zone: Conceptualized collaboration in qualitative research teams. Educational Researcher, 25(5), 5-15.

Weiner, B. (1986). An attributional theory of motivation and emotion. Springer.

Widdowson, H. G. (1997). EIL, ESL, EFL: Global issues and local interests. World Englishes, 16(1), 135-146.

Wilson, J. A. (1997). A program to develop the listening and speaking skills of children in a first grade classroom. ERIC – Education Resources Information Center. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED415566.pdf

Zuber-Skerritt, O. (1996a). Introduction. In O. Zuber-Skerritt (Ed.), New directions in action research (pp. 3-9). Falmer Press.

Zuber-Skerritt, O. (1996b). Emancipatory action research for organizational change and management development. In O. Zuber-Skerritt (Ed.), New Directions in Action Research (pp. 83-105). Falmer Press.

...