A Contrastive Qualitative Evaluation of Two Different Sequential Programs Launched at the School of Foreign Languages of a Turkish University

Abstract

In a year-long preparatory English class in a state university in Turkey, students are expected to develop knowledge and skills related to language including grammar, vocabulary, listening, reading, writing ,and speaking. In this context students and teachers are challenged in considering how much accuracy should be emphasized in the learning and teaching process, which leads to rethinking and reframing to what extent and how grammar teaching/learning should take place in the language program. Having been challenged with these questions, this paper presents an evaluation of two different regimes of grammar teaching, one that follows its own language content and another that follows the language content of the main course. To determine the value of the programs, the administrator, 5 instructors and 36 students were interviewed with one-on-one and group interview techniques and 6 classroom hours were observed and relevant exam results and attendance records were compared. It was found that the program following the language content of the main course is favored much more strongly as a positive step in the course of producing the desired learning outcomes