Sustainability and Feasibility of English-medium Instruction at Turkish Universities

Sustainability and Feasibility of English-medium Instruction at Turkish Universities

Kayaoğlu, M. Naci
Sağlam, Emine Buket

More and more often, universities in Turkey are adopting English as a medium of instruction. In some cases English is the medium for entire faculties while in others it is only used in certain departments. One notable signal of this development is the number of universities offering compulsory one year English prep programs that take place before the student matriculates in to their own department or faculty. More than 110 Turkish universities have turned to English as a medium of instruction to varying degrees, investing a huge amount of capital and human resources. While we recognize that learning to speak and write in English in this age of globalization is of great help and necessity in order to be able to compete in a knowledge-based world, the current situation is not without grave concerns. In many ways it runs counter to the effectiveness and quality of higher Education. Based on a cased study, this paper examines sustainability and feasibility of English medium of instruction.

Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed

2010-06

456