A Content Analysis of English Curriculum Evaluation Studies in Turkey (Between 2005-2021)

Abstract

Updating and evaluating language teaching programs in Turkey is an important issue, which lead to this issue occupies an important place in the scientific field. This study aimed to examine and determine the research trends in the postgraduate theses conducted to evaluate the English teaching programs prepared and updated by the Ministry of National Education since the year of 2005. The study was based on the document analysis design and included a total of 52 theses aiming to evaluate English teaching programs between 2005 and 2021 years. The findings showed that the majority of the postgraduate studies aiming to evaluate English language teaching programs were carried out in the last five years, and targeted to evaluate 2012-2013 teaching programs especially designed for early age groups (such as 2nd, 4th and 5th grades). Although Eisner’s Educational Connoisseurship model is the most preferred curriculum evaluation model in graduate theses, a great number of theses were based on the elements and the effectiveness of the curriculum in practice. The theses were determined to adopt mixed methods and descriptive survey design while teachers were preferred as the data source and the studies were carried out with a sample size of 1-50 people without using sampling method. The data of the study in postgraduate theses were collected mostly with survey and interview, and were analyzed with descriptive statistics and comparison tests. With this study, the general tendency or framework of studies evaluating language teaching programs, one of the most preferred areas for curriculum evaluation studies, was revealed.

Keywords

• english curriculum
• teaching programs
• curriculum evaluation
• document analysis