Secondary School English Teachers’ Opinions on Materials Related to Reading Skills in Public Coursebooks

Abstract

Foreign language education is not limited to grammar teaching. Listening, speaking, reading and writing skills should be included equally together with vocabulary and grammar teaching in order to achieve effective and meaningful learning. In countries such as Turkey, the effect of selection examinations dominates the elements in curriculum. Skills such as reading and writing become priority but still, expected achievement cannot be reached. It is seen that English scores are low in selection exams to secondary education. The aim of the study is determined as to examine secondary school English teachers’ opinions on materials related to reading skills in public coursebooks. Also another aim of this study is to reveal teachers’ opinions on students’ efficiency in reading. The research was designed according to the phenomenology pattern, which is one of the qualitative approaches. Participants consisted of 20 English teachers working in private and public schools at the secondary school level in İstanbul. The study group was selected in accordance with the homogenous sampling. The data were obtained through interviews with semi-structured interview questions. The data obtained were analyzed in accordance with the content analysis. As a result, it was revealed that the teachers thought that the materials are not sufficient in terms of reading skills and the reading passages in coursebooks were not authentic, interesting or compatible with grammar subject. They stated that the passages were mostly too easy and too short. The participants stated that students were not aware of the importance of the reading skill and that they are not efficient in reading.