The role of English medium instruction in engineering and architecture courses at Anadolu University

Date
2001
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Stalker, James C.
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Bilkent University
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English
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Abstract

This quantitative study was designed to investigate the attitudes of engineering and architecture faculty members in Anadolu University toward engineering and architecture content teaching in English. The study aimed at revealing whether the faculty members preferred English or Turkish, and whether and how they used English or Turkish in their classes. It was also intended to exhibit the problems that faculty members who teach in English encountered in class. The research questions of this study are as follows: 1- What are the beliefs of engineering and architecture content teachers about whether engineering and architecture students need to learn English, why and where they need to learn English? 2- What are the attitudes of engineering and architecture content teachers in Anadolu University toward English medium education in content classes? a) What are their language preferences in their classes and what are the reasons for their language preferences? 3- How the engineering and architecture faculty members report that they use English in their courses and why? The participants were 33 engineering and architecture faculty members of Anadolu University. An attitude questionnaire was developed and administrated to teachers in order to collect data. Data was analysed by calculating the means and percentages. Some of the results of the study as follows: (1) All the participants believe that engineering and architecture students need to learn English in order to be able to read materials written in English. (2) According to the participants English language education should start as early as possible and it should be an ongoing process that should be at required level of proficiency before content education in English. (3) While designing preparatory school curricula, focus should be on speaking, listening and writing skills, as these are the most problematic skills. Reading should also be emphasised since participants assign students to read in English. (4) The largest group of faculty members teaches both in English and in Turkish because students do not have adequate English proficiency and have comprehension problems. (5) Participants who teach content in English do so because they support that most of the instructional materials and main sources are in English. (6) Participants who teach in Turkish do so mainly for educational and political reasons. The students’ difficulty in comprehending the content and protecting the Turkish language are the reasons for teaching in Turkish.

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