English Course Teaching Practice

European Journal of English Language Teaching ISSN: 2501-7136 ISSN-L: 2501-7136 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1312308 Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICESi Burcu Okmenii, Abdurrahman Kılıc Duzce University, Duzce, Turkey Abstract: The purpose of this research is to reveal how the secondary school English course comes true and how teaching practices are implemented in line with the opinions of English teachers. In this research, the case study was adopted from the qualitative research designs. The study group consists of two teachers working in the central school, one working in the religious vocational secondary school, two working in the district, and one teacher working in the village. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six English teachers working in different schools and settlements. For this purpose, semi-structured interview forms were used. In data analysis, the content analysis method was used. The obtained data were coded by the same investigator for two months, the resulting codes were collected under the themes and the obtained themes were presented in tables. As a result of the study it was seen that teachers did not prepare annual and weekly / daily plans, did not do enough activities to improve speech and listening skills, and did not teach grammar in an integrated manner in language skills. It was also seen that teachers have importance to reading skills and vocabulary teaching and that they use the textbooks and supplementary materials as basic teaching materials. Teachers think that the lack of a branch system and the lesson time has a negative effect on language teaching. According to the results of the research, a number of suggestions were made. Keywords: English, English teaching, teaching practices 1. Introduction The fact that English is a common language in the economic, social, political, artistic and scientific fields in the world we live in, has led to the intensive teaching of English as a foreign language in our country. According to Phipps and Gonzalez (2004), language is more than skill; are the means by which communities of human beings This research was presented in oral presentation at the 1 st International Symposium on Educational Sciences and Social Sciences held in Bandırma, Turkey, on 03.01.2017. i Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 86 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES communicate with one another, to understand and shape the world. At this point, it can be said that Phipps and Gonzalez emphasize the necessity of learning by creating realistic environments by means of communicative methods. When literature is examined, there is no way to guarantee success in language teaching. Even if the investigations reveal some exemplary activities, rules and suggestions, guidelines and frameworks, and there are some generally accepted principles, there is no information that can be %100 sure about language learning; a perfectly functioning method or activity in one group may fail completely in another (Barnes, 2007: 4). However, it is a fact that in the past 30 years, the focus of language pedagogy has shifted from the teacher to the student center (Young & Sachdev, 2007), as stated in "Western" sources such as America, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Oxford (1990) mentioned that the process that the focus was on the teachercentered teacher-student social interaction as a process of sharply focusing on the subjects, especially the students, on who they are, what they wanted, what they needed and what they thought. The European Language Common Framework Program states that for students to gain fluency and competence at the target level, teaching practices must be genuine, and therefore the use of English language and communication-based applications must be made in the teaching process. Thus, students will be able to see language as a communication tool, not as a subject to be studied (CoE, 2001). In the academic year of 2017/2018, the English Course Curriculum, which was updated and used, emphasizes that communicative method should be used in language teaching (MEB, 2017). The communicative method requires that the target language be used not only as a working object, but as a means of interacting with others. The focus is not necessarily on grammatical constructs and linguistic functions, but on the use of authentic language in an interactive context to produce real meaning (Richards, 2006; Larsen-Freeman & Anderson, 2011). The motivation of the student in foreign language teaching, the dominance of the teacher in the field, the activities performed in the class in line with teaching principles and methods and the variety of applications he uses are the most important variables affecting success (Engin, 2006). In this context, the role of the teacher is very important. According to Stevick (1999), the learning environment and the input provided by the teacher have a great effect on learning the language, using the learners for a long time in memory and remembering when needed. Because of this, teachers have to organize the learning environment and use effective methods and techniques. Richards & Rogers (2001) emphasizes the three main roles of the teacher: The main role of the teacher is to create the main source of comprehensible input on the target language. The teacher should consider the time spent as a process to provide language acquisition and provide regular and continuous input using all kinds of material and activity. The second role of the teacher is to create a safe, interesting and attractive atmosphere away from stress and worry about the class. For this, he should choose the topics they are interested in, and be patient with the level of readiness for their production on target language, knowing that students are in a process of European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 87 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES understanding and conceptualizing-producing without worrying about making grammatical mistakes. The third role of the teacher is to have a very rich activity repertoire and to organize individual or group activities by specifying the topics according to the interests and needs of the students. It is an obvious fact that; the more the student is engaged in the target language in the course of study, the greater will be the contribution to language learning. Another task of the teacher is evaluation. It is very important to know how successful a training application is, whether it is successful, and how well the students are successful. Knowledge of the level of achievement and discovery of failures will help to organize similar educational activities to be carried out later on a more realistic basis (Kıncal, 2002). The purpose of foreign language evaluation is to determine how effectively the student uses the target language. Teachers have to provide students with effective feedback to keep their students informed of their own situation and thus play an evaluator role. Since the purpose of language teaching is to acquire the four basic skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing), the assessment methods must be arranged to measure these skills. Evaluations made only with paper pen exams will not be sufficient to measure speaking and listening skills. The English curriculum emphasizes that all skills must be measured, that peer and self-assessment methods must be used in the process and that process evaluation should be done by preparing a portfolio for the students (MEB, 2017). Teachers need to use communicative teaching method to equally attach importance to the teaching of four basic skills, to use audiovisual materials in learning teaching process and to think and teach as a communication medium rather than a subject to be studied on language in order to achieve the desired success in foreign language teaching. The purpose of this research in this context is to reveal how the secondary school English course comes true and how teaching practices are implemented in line with the opinions of English teachers. Within the framework of this basic objective, the following questions were searched: 1. How does the teaching process of English take place? 2. How are basic language skills taught? 3. How are grammar and vocabulary taught? 4. How is English language teachers' communication with parents, students and administration? 2. Material and Methods 2.1 Research Model In this research, the case study was adopted from the qualitative research designs. According to Yin (1984), case study is a research method that examines what is researched in its own life frame; the boundaries between case and environment are not clear with certain lines and used when there is more than one evidence or data source available. The case study includes the stages of limitation of the situation, European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 88 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES determination of the research case, investigation of the data set, creation of the findings, making comments and writing the results (Denzin & Lincoln, 1996). 2.2. Working Group Purposeful sampling method was used for the study group. In the purposeful sample, the researcher decides what should be known and tries to find the person who will give the richest information (Bernard, 2002; Lewis & Sheppard, 2006). The selected individuals are those who have knowledge about the research topic, can share this information and can represent the research topic (Seidler, 1974; Bernard, 2002). For this purpose, middle school English teachers working in different schools and settlements were selected for the research. The study group consists of two teachers working in the central school, one working in the religious vocational secondary school, two working in the district, and one teacher working in the village. 2.3 Data Collection Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six English teachers working in different schools and settlements. For this purpose, semi-structured interview forms were used. The purpose of the interview in any qualitative research is to see the research topic from the perspective of the person interviewed and to understand how and why this perspective is coming. To reach this goal, interview generally have the following characteristics: a low building level imposed by the interviewer; the dominance of open-ended questions; rather than abstractions and general views, the focus on the special cases and action sequences in the world of the person interviewed (King, Cassel & Symon, 1994). First of all, the schools where the teachers were working were called and an appointment was made for volunteer teachers. Attention has been paid to adjusting the time of the interviews according to the teachers' free time. The interviews were held in the teachers' room, in the library, in the guidance room or in the empty classrooms, to create comfortable and convenient environments for teachers during the interviews and avoid attitudes and behaviors that could lead teachers. Before each interview, teachers were told that their identity would be kept confidential and permission was given to use the voice recorder. All the teachers who participated in the research allowed the use of the voice recorder. The talks lasted about 35-40 minutes. 2.4 Data Analysis In data analysis, the content analysis method was used. The content analysis provides specific concepts similar to each other and makes the readers to understand and interpret in a style by bringing them together in the framework of themes (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2000). Voice recordings were transcripted by the researcher. The obtained data were coded by the same investigator for two months, the resulting codes were collected under the themes and the obtained themes were presented in tables. Each teacher interviewed was given a nickname and direct citations were made from interviews made using these nicknames. European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 89 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES 2.5 Validity and Reliability In order to ensure the validity and reliability of the research; researchers have been diligently careful to be away from subjective judgments and hypotheses, tried to describe the research process and data in detail, made direct citations of interview data, and kept all the raw data to be examined when necessary. To calculate the reliability, the reliability formula of miles & Huberman (1994) is used “Reliability = Opinion Unit/(Opinion Unit + Opinion Separation)” and the coefficient of correspondence between the coders was 92,3 % . Above 70% compliance coefficient of the researches are accepted reliable (Miles & Huberman, 1994). These result shows that the research is reliable. 4. Results 4.1 English Course Learning and Teaching Processes In this section, it has been tried to show how the teaching and learning process of English lesson is realized. Teaching and learning processes in English language teaching are presented under five headings; "Planning", "Materials Used", "Course Process", "Attitudes towards Language Learning", "Attitudes towards Language Teaching" and "Evaluation". 4.1.1 Planning Process Table 1: Planning Process Annual Plan Weekly / Daily Plan Using the ready annual plan Organizing annual plan according to textbooks Making changes to the ready annual plan (exam date, week days on specific days) Talking about the planning process / exchanging ideas with group teacher Planning the date of exams and the materials to be used with the group teacher Not making a weekly daily plan Not need a daily or weekly schedule because s/he is experienced Planning what s/he will do before s/he enters the class Preparing material and homework related to the topic to be taught according to the annual plan Trying to plan the unit by brain storming on paper before s/he starts the unit Ordering what s/he will do on his/her computer and following it When Table 1 is examined, it is seen that teachers do not prepare annual and weekly / daily plan. Teachers download the ready-made annual plan and make some changes on the exam dates, specific days and weeks. They also change the duration of the achievements in the ready programs according to the student's situation. Ayça teacher describes this situation as follows: "Plans are already ready. There are many beautiful sites on the Internet. I download from there. Then I think my students learn how long this topic is. I adjust according to my student's situation. Elif the teacher: "Are not the plans the same everywhere? I download them somewhere and I use them, it is very well prepared." She stated that he did not prepare the annual plans and he did not need any changes. Some European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 90 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES teachers organize annual plans according to textbooks. Zeynep teacher "I download the program and according to the course book, I organize the places and topics of the units. I will use that book as a result." These sentences reveal this fact. This situation reveals the missing information and misperceptions of the teachers on the annual plan. Some of the teachers stated that they do not need a weekly / daily plan. As a result, Ali teacher says "You know, I do not make a daily or weekly plan because of the fact that some subjects are connected to the routine because of the experience." Tuğba teacher says "I have been in the same classes for years. You know classes and what to teach. You even know what a student will ask. So it is not necessary. They have already said that such a thing is not desirable from us." saying that the experience and the fact that such a plan is not formally requested, they have got rid of the need for daily / weekly planning. Some teachers, though not in a regular format, have stated that they design their work on their heads before starting the unit or entering the classroom. In this regard, Ayşe teacher says "I think I will do a good job to start a new unit. I prepare my materials at home. I have to think about what I will do when I enter the class." On the same topic, Elif the teacher said, "If I am going to start a unit, I get a preliminary paper and write everything that comes to mind about what I can do there. Like a brain storm. At that time, the mind can come up with different things. Then I choose from there. I think it's useful." 4.1.2 Materials Used Table 2: Materials Used Using Only Course Book Never Using Course Book Course Book Using The Course Book With Additional Source Reason For Using Smart Board / Projector Activities Activities Thinking that the coursebooks do not attract children Thinking that the activities in the coursebook are not enough Thinking additional source is necessary Choosing to use additional resources because it has a smart board application Thinking that the course book is not enough because of the exam system Can not reach listening texts in the course book Not using activities s/he does not like in the book Taking an additional source instead of photocopying, If the class hours are more, s/he needs additional sources Thinking additional resources attract more attention from students Using additional resources because the exam system is multiple choice Group teachers decide on additional sources Thinking that s/he is working more effectively when s/he uses the smart board Students have more fun when they use the smart board Online activities are played Song videos are listened Lecturing videos are watched Word games are played Using lecturing videos European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 91 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES Availability of Eba Eba(Education Information Network) Others The Effect on English Teaching Web 2 tools Using word magnets Using copy paper / tests Using a poster Using flashcard / sticker Games are played All children can enter the eba Students with high motivation use eba regularly Students who do not have internet access Can not use eba Thinking it is not very effective in teaching English When Table 2 is examined, it is seen that the materials used by the teachers are collected under four different headings. It is seen that the basic materials teachers use in teaching process are textbooks and additional resources. Some teachers have indicated that they use additional resources besides the course book, while other teachers indicate that they only use additional resources that they have never used the course book. Teachers think that their textbooks are inadequate and students are not paying attention. Elif teacher in this regard says; "I do not know who prepares these textbooks. Very boring. Students do not like either. It is already over.” Zeynep teacher says “The activities in the books are not enough. I do not like some of them anyway. I do not make them. I can not reach the listening activities of some classes.” They expressed their thoughts on this subject. All teachers, except one teacher, indicated that they needed to use additional resources. Attracting the attention of additional resources is considered to be one of the reasons for the use of additional resources, as the activities of additional resources are better and sufficient. Ayşe teacher says "The textbook is not enough. We are photocopying. He does not look too, the boy is losing. It makes more sense to take a book. Students also like these books. It is more colorful. "Ayça teacher says "The test is being asked in the exam, but there are no tests in the books. So I'm forced to add additional resources. There is also a smart board application of additional resources. It's more comfortable if you're reflecting it on the board. They are able to better follow the students.” In addition, Ali teacher says, "Now, in some classes, there are 6 hours of English courses with elective courses, like English. This is not enough for the lesson book. It is over. "He added that he needed to use additional resources in case of excess of class hours. Teachers think that lessons are more fun when they are using the smart board. Smart boards are mostly used for watching narrative videos and playing online games. Eba is said to be unavailable to every student since they have no internet access. While some of the teachers thought that Eba was not effective in English teaching, some also stated that they used Eba only to play games and watch narrative videos of the subject. In addition, English teachers seem to use photocopy papers, tests, posters, and flashcards as learning material. European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 92 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES 4.1.3 Course Process Table 3: Course Process S/he sometimes keep “warm up” long to prepare for class Listening to song or track Starting to teach by speaking English in order to attract attention. Motivation First talking about the context (sports, friendship) Transition to the Starting with the previous unfinished activity Course Doing first homework check Trying to process courses by making students active Not correcting student mistakes directly Course Process Applying whole brain teaching Using a rewarding table (learner, specialist, leader, etc.) After the activities in the course book, s/he is doing activities on the smart board Unit is finished with vocabulary and grammar teaching and Activities activities Using the question and answer method Want his/her students to teach each other what they learn Retelling subject Games are played Group activities are Sometimes done Processing test-weighted course in 7th and 8th grades Result of Exam System Giving importance to solving test Trying to finish subjects S/he often retells subject First speaking in English, if students don’t understand, s/he speaks in Turkish Saying simple guidelines in English Speaking %70 English in course Telling rules and instructions in Turkish There is sequential order in class If there are less students, s/he makes U arrangements Seating Arrangement Trying to sit one by one because students talk a lot in U arrangements Constantly changing the seating arrangement Thinking the Branch system will be more effective Student does not exhibit products because there is no Branch system Can not change the seating arrangement because there is no Classroom System / Branch system Branch System Want Branch system, but s/ he does not want a language lab. There is a reading-game corner in class because there is Branch system Attention Beginning Course/Unit Processing of the Course Using of English in Courses Classroom Environment When Table 3 is examined, it is seen that the lecture process is gathered under four headings. Teachers seem to be speaking English in class to get attention, using the smart board when starting the unit, or sometimes keeping the warm up procedure long. How Elif teacher began to teach is in the following way: "For example, students have come out of the Physical Education class. Then they become very active. Then you need to get the energy. We European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 93 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES do rhythm work, for example. I'm trying to show them that I'm at the same frekans. Then we start classes." "Ayça teacher said "I speak English first and they are looking at it like what it says, then I go to class." It is seen that some of the teachers started to teach a new unit; first of all they talked in context and taught vocabulary. Some teachers start teaching with homework control. Teacher Ayşe says "My teacher, I am doing my first homework check when I start classes. It's already going to 10-15 minutes. I solve all the assignments. Those who do the wrong thing at least see their mistakes like this, correct them. Then I go to other activities." Teachers have stated that they can not teach all language skills because of the lack of class time that almost the unit is finished with grammar and vocabulary teaching and sometimes the students are going to have active activities. Ali teacher says: "My teacher, now there are 3 or 4 hours of English. How can I teach speaking, listening, vocabulary, grammar, and so on? I already give the words. We are playing games about them. They don’t know how to speak without knowing words. Then you need to teach the grammar. We teach grammar. We do not want to do this, but we have to teach him somehow. Then you need to do activities. You already have a look, the time is running out." Teachers seem to feel that they have to make a repetition of the subject or solve the test because of the examination system. Zeynep teacher says: "Now is a test. It is also being asked to test. If I do not teach the child or teach the vocabulary, I will not do it. So every week I test 7 or 8 hours a day to solve the test. "In the words of Eliz teacher," Children will now go to a trial. Directorate of National Education and school administration measure us accordingly. If your learner is full, you are a good teacher. No one is looking at whether your child is coming and talking. I do not understand why English is already in TEOG (the exam which is necessary to pass from secondary school to high school) anyway. I am obliged to do a lot of repetition, I am solving the test." they expressed the pressure on the test system. A teacher points out he speak English 70% rationale. Other teachers seem to speak simple instructions in English, or they first speak English and then speak Turkish. It was seen that only one of the interviewed teachers had a branch system in his school. All other teachers also want to have a branch system in their schools. Teachers stated that they could not use the classes efficiently because they did not have a branch system and they did not change their seating arrangements as they wanted. Tuğba teacher says: "In fact, if I had branch system, I would arrange the class as well as I want. There is something everywhere in English. Such a student is looking at nothing. For example, I make U- seating order". Ayşe teacher says, "We can not change seating order because there is a class system. We can not even use the existing panel. I want to show what the learner does. They keep a little space there, and sometimes they do not. There's trouble.” They say they want a branch system in their schools. European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 94 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES 4.2 Attitude towards English Course Table 4: Attitudes towards the Course Attitude Of The Students towards The Course Love course Not like the class very much Prejudiced against the course due to parents Thinking the lesson is difficult Not understanding course Ashamed of course Bored of course Teachers say that there are students who love English classes, but most of the students have stated that they do not like, embarrass or understand English language classes. Elif teacher says: "If the student does not like it when she is in elementary school, she does not like it at all. So they are not interested in until the 8th grade. They are working compulsively because they have TEOG." Ali teacher on the same topic says: "There are students who do not like it in every class. He's embarrassed, for example. You're asking something. She probably feels weird when she answers in English. He thinks the others laugh." The teachers Zeynep says, "Our children do not know their mother tongue anyway. He does not understand English at all. The rules are not in place. They are reversed." They expressed their attitudes towards the class with their answers. 4.3 Attitude towards Language Teaching Table 5: Attitude towards Language Teaching Attitude Of The Teachers toward Language Teaching Thinking language learning is a matter of talent. Thinking all language skills can not be taught because there are fewer class hours Thinking students will not learn because they are not exposed to language When Table 5 is examined, it is seen that teachers think that language teaching can not be realized due to different reasons. Teacher Ayşe said in his opinion that "I think it is a talent job to learn language. So everyone can not. Think like playing guitar. Can anyone do anything? Very demanding, special interest, need to work. Our students do not want to work, they can not learn." On the same subject Zeynep teacher says: “She does not work when she goes home. It is difficult to learn.” Ayça teacher, “My teacher, how much language can we teach in 3 hours, and the child already forgets when it comes back to the lesson.” They express the desperation about language teaching. European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 95 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES 4.4 Evaluation process Table 6: Evaluation Process Written Exam Exam Testing, filling the blanks, asking for pairing questions Asking grammar and vocabulary questions Giving reading text 3-5 sentences are written Not evaluating speaking and listening skills Word Quiz Trial Exam Types Of Homework Homework Attitude Toward Homework Homework Check Others Project Course and workbook activities Photocopy (testing, puzzles, gap-filling) Writing words Word activities from smartbook Writing activities at the end of the unit Homework on Morpha campus Oral presentation appropriate to the unit Word memorization Some students want homework Some students do not want homework Half of the students can not do the homework Checking all the homework A student checks the homework and runs on the chart Stamping homework and students love it Bringing notebook / dictionary Attendance / attention to the course Respect to teacher Communicating with friends When Table 6 is examined, it is seen that the evaluation methods of teachers are gathered under three headings. It seems that no teacher assesses the ability of speaking and listening in examinations. Written exam questions include tests, gap-filling, matching, grammar and vocabulary questions, as well as questions about reading and writing skills. Teachers give homework such as making activities in course and work book, writing and memorizing words, filling in photocopies. They also give project assignments to students who want to study once a year. All of the teachers stated that they are doing homework control and they turn it into a note at the end of the year. All the teachers stated that they evaluated the situation such as book / dictionary, attendance and respect and they reflected this in the end of the year. When teachers are asked how they evaluate participation in the class, Elif teacher says, "So there is no definite format chart. But you know who participated in the end. "On the same topic, Ayşe teacher says, "I am looking at overall positives. But my teacher, you are also a teacher, so you know who will attend the lesson. Me too. The students who are active every course," indicating that there are no specific criteria for evaluating participation. European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 96 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES 4.5 Teaching Basic Language Skills In this section, it is tried to show how teaching basic language skills is in English class. Teaching basic language skills are presented under 4 headlines: "Teaching of Speaking Skills", "Teaching of Listening Skills", "Teaching of Reading Skills" and "Teaching of Writing Skills". 4.5.1 Teaching Speaking Skills Table 7: Teaching Speaking Skills Pronunciation Placement in Speaking Activity Activities Environment / Process Attitude Of The Student Against Speaking Activity Giving importance to pronunciation Exercising pronunciation Pronouncing the words first, then students repeats A student pronounces words and others repeats Teaching pronunciation with reading activity No doing a lot of speaking activities Doing speaking activity once a month Doing speaking activity mostly in 5th and 6th grades Doing speaking activity mostly in 7th and 8th grades because 5th and 6th grades have difficulty in speaking activities Controlled activities Role play / drama Preparing dialogue Playing in small classrooms Making an individual presentation Students are making sentences in turn Reading activities Teaching pattern Not caring about grammar rules Correcting the rule, but s/he does not force it Informing the students that they will not laugh at each other Students are entertained in speaking activity Students don’t attend speaking activities because they are ashamed When Table 7 is examined, it is seen that the teachers pay attention to pronunciation education, especially when they teach vocabulary and also have pronunciation studies. Teachers also think that reading activity improves students' pronunciation and speaking skills. Tuğba teacher said "I attach importance to reading activity. The student hears what he says. The familiarity with the language is increasing. At the same time, speaking skills are developing." Teachers seem to have not done much to improve speaking skills. Ali teacher says "I can make a speech activity at most once a month. I do not do much in that class because the 5 and 6 are obviously challenging in conversation activity." On the same topic, Zeynep teacher says "I have more speaking activities in 5th and 6th. But I guess I do not think so. I am trying to get a chance to do it.” These sentences show that the teachers do not know or do not really know the English Curriculum. Elif teacher, on the other hand, says: "In fact, students have fun and prepare a dialogue or something. You understand that. Though some are embarrassed, yet the weather in the classroom is different. It is actually necessary to have more European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 97 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES conversation activities." She said that the activities of the conversation attracted the attention of the students and they enjoyed it. Teachers seem to have activities such as controlled activities (changing certain words from existing dialogue and preparing new dialogue), drama, dialogue preparation and sentence formation as speech activity. In addition, the teachers stated that they did not give much importance to the grammar rules during the speech activity and they informed the class that they would not laugh at the ones who made the mistake. 4.5.2 Teaching Listening Skills Table 8: Teaching Listening Skills Placement in Listening Activity Activities Attitude Of The Student Against Listening Activity The listening activity is almost never done All listening activities in the book except the 8th grades are done Listening activities are done mostly in the 5th and 6th grades No infrastructure for listening activity Students express words and phrases in listening texts Listening to song Dialogue-song completion Students answer questions according to listening texts Listening activities in the course book Teacher is reading, student is listening Cartoons are watched Eba and other online activities When Students understand, listening activities are interesting for students The students are happy when they realize they understand When Table 8 is examined, it is seen that some teachers have very little on listening activity. Ayşe teacher says: "I made all the listening activities in the book to the other classes except the 8th last year. But I do not do much outside of it." Tuğba teacher says: “They did not have any listening activities at 7 and 8 because they have an exam ". Ayça teacher said, "I have not been able to reach the listening texts for several months already. Then there are no smart boards, PCs, etc. I can listen to them at school. I'm also downloading the phone. But he is not very good either. " Teachers use Eba and Okulistik as listening activities, listening to songs, filling in blanks, answering questions by part to improve listening skills. At the same time, teachers have expressed that students are happy when they understand during listening activities and are particularly keen to learn songs. European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 98 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES 4.5.3 Teaching Reading Skills Table 9: Teaching Reading Skills Placement in Reading Activity Activities Process Attitude Of The Student Against Reading Activity Mostly reading activities are done Focusing mostly on reading activities Thinking reading activities improve listening skills Thinking that reading activity must be done in order for children to be active Thinking that reading activity increases student's closeness to language Thinking that reading activity has improved the confidence of the student Reading activities are done mostly in 7th and 8th grades Reading activities aren’t done in 5th grades Text-dialogue reading Translating Not want students to translate, wants them to find unknown words Students answer the questions according to the text First quiet reading and then a voice reading Teacher lets students see their mistakes by reading him/herself Trying to not correcting students' mistakes while they're reading Students are willing to read When Table 9 is examined, it is seen that teachers attach importance to the teaching of reading skills. Elif teacher says on this topic, "My teacher, I think reading is very important. In this way, the confidence of the student also develops. There is also a contribution to speaking ability." Zeynep teacher says: "I think I have the most reading in the classrooms. Especially in the 7th and 8th I do the most.” Ali teacher says: "I think that reading is effective for the teacher to be active. I think that if I think about four skills, I can have the most reading besides words and grammar. " Teachers think that students are willing to participate in reading activities. As a reading activity, text or dialogue reading is done. While some teachers indicated that they had made a translation, some teachers stated that they did not make a translation. Ayça teacher "I would like to ask students to look at the texts at home. But I never make a translation. I am against the translation. I just want them to look at the words they do not know." However, Ali teacher says, "We translate readings one by one. So we're repeating the words. They see the sentence patterns." He explained why he made the translation. Teachers stated that they had made voice and silent reading during the course and that they gave pronunciation training while they were doing voice reading. Teacher Ayşe on this topic says: "I first read it to the students and then I read it. So I want them to see the mistakes they made while reading. I do not correct their mistakes immediately during reading.” She explained how she did his reading activity with his sentences. European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 99 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES 4.5.4 Teaching Writing Skills Table 10: Teaching Writing Skills Placement in Writing Activity Tracking Activity Activities Attitude Of The Student Against Writing Activity Giving importance to the teaching of writing skills in all classes Doing writing activity at least Giving writing activity as homework mostly Very few writing activities are done in 5th and 6th grades Students are reading sentences they wrote or teacher is collecting sentences and checks them Paragraphs with 5-6 sentences are written Writing activities in the book are done Teacher wants students to write sentences using the words in the unit. Students write sentences by changing existing words. Students can not make sentences because they think in Turkish When Table 10 is examined, it is seen that some teachers give importance to teaching writing skills, while some teachers do not give much importance to writing skills and do not write much in class. Elif teacher says "Actually, I do at least write. I have very few writings, especially in 5 and 6. I usually give as homework at the end of the unit" Tuğba teacher "I do not make too many writing. I have what it takes in the book. I do not do anything extra. At the end of the unit, I am giving writing essays about the words in the unit." They stated that they did not have many writing activities. It is seen that the teachers give writing tasks as homework in general and they do not give the duty of writing. Generally, students are asked to write their sentences using the words of the unit. Some teachers also stated that students could not make sentences because they think in Turkish. 4.6 Teaching Vocabulary and Grammar In this section, it is tried to show how vocabulary and grammar teaching is in English lesson. Vocabulary and grammar teaching practices are presented in Table 11. Table 11: Teaching Vocabulary and Grammar Look at Vocabulary Teaching Placement in Word Teaching Vocabulary teaching Activities Thinking vocabulary teaching is important Thinking that students should repeat at home Trying to teach all the unit words in the first week. Repeating the words takes 10-15 minutes of each lesson Students are doing concept map Teaching words through game Videos are watched Using flashcard Dealing word activities with photocopies Students are writing words 5-10 times Words on the board are read Words and patterns are written Students write words but not their meanings, then stick pictures of words European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 100 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES Not Teaching Grammar As Before Grammar teaching Teaching Grammar Mostly Trying to build awareness Trying to make sense of the difference between two sentences Trying to show moving or with certain signs while telling the grammar Trying students to guess by making sentences appropriate the context Course book and online activities Telling the rules of grammar Making students watch video First writing rules, then making sample sentences Making sentences according to different sentence structures (positive, negative, question) Students are writing sentences on the board Want student to make appropriate sentences Course book and online activities are done When Table 11 is examined, it is seen that teachers attach importance to vocabulary teaching. Ayşe teacher commented on this subject: "I begin to the unit teaching vocabulary first. Every lesson we repeat vocabulary. If he does not know the word, the child can not do anything." Zeynep teacher says "I spend a lot of time to vocabulary actually. But they can not memorize it because they do not work at home. It does not happen. I am using flashcards as a tutor. I play games both online and in class. But they have to work at home. Or it does not remain true." She expressed the importance of teaching vocabulary. Some teachers think that writing words is effective, and some teachers also think that writing the vocabulary is not effective. Ayça teacher views this issue; "I do not think that words can only be written and memorized. What will happen if you write 10 times. We play games.I'm setting up rumors. I have a concept map." Ali teacher, on the other hand, says, "Now, they say 10 times writing does not work. But I do not think so. I also saw that it is useful. The student also wants to write. He's got time at home. He repeats it again. I am writing at home 5 to 10 times so I say words," He explains his thoughts about writing in vocabulary teaching. Some teachers have emphasized the importance of teaching grammar, while others have stated that they do not give much importance to teaching grammar as in the past. Elif teacher says, "When I start the unit, I teach the vocabulary and then I give the grammar. How is the language to learn without knowing how to do it. I explain the rules. First I set up example sentences, then, I set them up." He spoke of his practices on teaching grammar. Ayşe teacher "I am teaching grammar. First I tell. Then I watch videos of narrative videos from the smart board. Then we are doing exercises." In the words, Zeynep teacher says," I do not really touch it like in the past. Go to the board. I do not explain it as positive or negative. But I'm trying to raise awareness. I want them to find the difference between the two sentences. Or if I teach the present time, for example, I move it. The student already understands. They are able to make their own sentences according to example sentences." They explained how they did grammar teaching. Some teachers teach grammatical rules and structures by directly explaining and writing, while others try to teach them to find rules themselves. It is seen that teachers teach grammar by establishing rules according to the rules, making online activities or book exercises and writing rules. This situation European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 101 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES suggests that some teachers are doing unsuitable practices in the English Language Teaching Program, trying to teach grammar as a separate skill rather than integrated language skills. 4.7 English Teachers' Communication with Parents, Students and Administration In this section, it is tried to show how English teachers communicate with parents, students and administrations. Table 12: English Teachers' Communication with Parents, Students and Administration Parent Student Administration Thinking parents are relevant. Thinking parents are irrelevant. Attitudes Towards the Thinking parents are prejudiced. Course Thinking some parents criticize whether they give homework or not. Informing when the student forgets the material Calling and informing them about students memorising Communication Reason words Proposing parents to encourage students Being together with students in breaks Keeping in touch through social networking sites Students want to talk to the teacher outside of class Students meet with the teacher to solve more questions Not keeping in touch through social networking sites because students do not have Being together with students ın meals, social activities Can not see many students because s/he works at different schools Want administration to transition to the branch system. Thinking that administration supports English teaching Not need to communicate about language teaching Thinking that administration prevents exhibition of products in order to prevent damage to the walls. When Table 12 is examined, it can be seen that some of the parents are concerned and some of the parents are unconcerned and prejudiced. Teachers communicate with parents to help them do students’ homework and to encourage them to learn English, as well as to inform students when they forget their material. Tuğba teacher says: "The parents are unconcerned. There are parents whom I never seen and I do not speak. Some just criticize it. You are giving a lot of homework or you do not give it at all." Ayça teacher said," I think notes are important to parents. In other words, they will not be interested if they are not in TEOG." They stated that the parents were unconcerned. Teachers are involved in events such as breaks, picnics and meals with students. Students with Internet access are also communicating via social media. Ayça teacher says "They are coming to solve more questions in breaks. We are always with them and outside of the class." Tuğba teacher said "I come to this school for two days. I go to the other school for two days. That's why I can not see many students. When they see me they come, to me immediately, and they starts to ask whether they have homework or not, how it was. Perhaps if we were always in the same school, the students talked more often with the words" They could not communicate much with the students and expressed the discomfort that they felt. European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 102 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES It seems that teachers do not feel the need to communicate with their administration on their own teaching of English and they want to go to the classroom system as support. Ali teacher says: "I do not meet with the administration very much. But I would like to go to the classroom system." Ayşe teacher says “I do not meet with the administration. I do not even have the need. We're telling them to go to classrooms at meetings. It remains like that. "And Elif the teacher said: "The administration does not even use the walls so that it will hurt. What I want from the administration." They expressed the level of communication with the school administration. 5. Conclusion, Discussion and Recommendations This study was carried out in order to show how the teaching practices of English lessons are realized and the following results are reached: Instead of preparing the annual plan, the teachers download the ready-made annual plan and make some changes on the exam dates, specific days and weeks. Teachers also express that they do not need a weekly / daily plan. This suggests that teachers have lack of knowledge and misconceptions about preparing an annual plan and a weekly / daily plan. Planning is very important in terms of enabling teachers to follow the teaching activities in an open and predetermined order without leaving them by chance (Hesapçıoğlu, 2008). However, teachers usually perform planning because they make legislation compulsory, so plans are often made in a formal way to meet the demands of school administrators and inspectors, but not to plan teaching activities in a real sense. Teachers use these plans for years without making any significant changes (İşman and Eskicumali, 2003). Rather than carrying out their own planning, teachers transfer the contents of the curriculum and the planning foreseen in the textbooks to their own plans (Yıldırım, 2003). According to Can's (2009) research, it is seen that the majority of the teachers think that program development is the task of MEB and they think that they are not responsible in this matter. It is seen that the basic materials teachers use in their teaching process are textbooks and additional resources. Most of the teachers expressed their need to use additional resources and they pointed out that the supplementary resources attracts the attention of the students compared to the textbooks and that their activities were better and more satisfactory. Smart boards are mostly used to watch narrative videos and play online games. Other materials used by teachers for language teaching are photocopy papers, tests, posters and flashcards. Textbooks are the most basic material that bridges the program with the student and gives an idea about the other dimensions of any program affected by the program (Küçükahmet, 2003). However, the teachers think that the textbooks are not enough and that the students are not paying attention, so they are looking for additional resources. The use of smart boards installed in schools within FATİH project is seen to be limited. Pamuk et al. (2013), they have reached the conclusion that even though the teachers have used intelligent boards with the purpose of enriching the lesson, these efforts usually do not go beyond the presentation of presentations and documents to the board. This situation supports the result of this research. European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 103 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES It was seen that the teachers used English in order to draw attention to the lesson, they used the smart board at the beginning of the unit, they continued the previous activities, and some teachers also divided part of the course into homework control. Some teachers seem to keep the warm up part of the lesson too long. The two main functions of the activities in the introduction part of the course are; motivate the students to learning and prepare them to new learning (Oktar and Bulduk, 1999). Gagne, Briggs and Wager (1992) list the teaching activities in the learning teaching process in 9 basic steps. From these steps; (1) drawing attention, (2) explaining learning goals to students, and (3) reminding students about previous learning behaviors. In this case it is a good idea for the teachers to speak English in order to draw attention, to use the smart board and to keep the warm up part wide. But, being half-done of the activities shows that the planning of activities is incomplete. The homework check in the introductory part of the course and then the beginning of the lesson indicate that the entrance activities are not used. Teachers stated that they could not teach all language skills because of the lack of class time, that they were almost finished with grammar and vocabulary teaching and that students often did not make activities that will make them acive. This shows that practices are made in contrast to the communicative method proposed by the curriculum. The English Curriculum emphasizes the use of communicative method in foreign language teaching. Communicative method has 3 main components. These are communication, task and meaning. The student will be active in the process by taking part in activities within the group, using it as a means of language communication in the process, and finally, any expression that the student will use will be meaningful to him (Richards & Rogers, 2001). It is not possible for students to improve their communication skills in a foreign language course where grammar and vocabulary teaching is predominant. There are researches that determine that there is a negative effect of less time on improving communication skills of students (Gürlen & Cihan, 2013; Can & Can, 2014; Çavuşoğlu et.al 2016). The only place where the student is exposed to a foreign language is the class. Therefore, 3-4 hours per week of foreign language lessons negatively affect the acquisition of foreign language skills. Teachers feel obliged to make a repeat or a test due to the examination system. This suggests that the current test system has a negative effect on language teaching. The aim of foreign language teaching is to teach four language skills. For this reason, measurement and evaluation applications must be prepared at such a level that these skills are measured. However, exams that measure with multiple choice questions such as TEOG (the exam which is necessary to pass from secondary school to high school) and the like measure only the reading skill, vocabulary and grammar competences of the students. According to the results of the exams, both the teacher and the student are evaluated as successful or unsuccessful. For this reason, teachers have expressed the feeling that they have to make the students solve tests in class to be able to evaluate successfully. This situation negatively affects foreign language teaching. However, due to the current testing system, teaching grammar or test-oriented lessons European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 104 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES does not bring success to teaching language as teachers predict. In the study by Ökmen and Kılıç (2016), the language teaching methods used by the English teachers examined the students' effects on the TEOG achievement and it was seen that the students of the teachers who used the Active Teaching Method - Four Basic Skill Focused method were more successful in the results part of the research. This suggests that if effective language teaching is done, students are also successful in multiple-choice exams. Teachers were not able to use classrooms effectively because they were not in their own classrooms, and they did not change their seating arrangements as they wanted. Teachers think that the classroom system will have a positive impact on language teaching. According to Niemeyer (2003), the arrangements of the classes should be carefully planned both visually and in hardware to increase the efficiency of both students and teachers. If the classroom system is applied, each classroom will be equipped with the relevant material and visuals. This will enable the students to get a new classroom for each lesson, a new atmosphere for that lesson; each lesson will have different seating styles and a rich learning environment with different methods, thus increasing interest and motivation towards the lesson (İbret, Bayraktar & Kocaman, 2011). In the class system, the seating arrangement is ordered. This makes cooperative activities difficult in the course. When the classroom system is switched on, each teacher will have the opportunity to arrange the class as he / she wants whenever he wishes. It is seen that teachers think that language teaching is not possible due to the reasons such as limited numbers of lessons and so the students not being exposed to language. In addition, teachers have indicated that most students do not like English lessons, have difficulty in English lessons and do not understand the lesson. Attitude is one of the most important variables affecting students' language learning. The success in learning to use a foreign language depends on the student's attitude (Savignon, 1983). Students with a positive attitude toward the target language learn the target language more effectively than those who have a negative attitude toward the language (Gardner, 1985). For this reason, in-class activities should be arranged according to the level of the student, interests and needs. Teachers should observe why their students are bored, where they are having difficult and what they do not understand, and organize their teaching practices accordingly. It should be emphasized that English teachers have the thoughts that foreign languages can not be taught and can not be learned. It was observed that teachers did not make an assessment to measure their speaking and listening ability and evaluated the students taking into account such factors as written exams, homework, notebook / dictionary, attendance, and respect. Assessment in foreign language teaching is aimed at controlling what learners can and can not do with language (Abbott & Greenwood, 1985: 172). The Middle School English Language Teaching Program prioritises to teach speaking and listening skills. For this reason, speaking and listening skills need to be included in the assessment process. In addition, the program recommends the use of classical paper pens exams as well as portfolio, peer and self-assessment, project evaluation methods (MEB, 2017). It is known that problems can be seen with paper and pen exams that is appropriate to European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 105 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES traditional method (Korkmaz & Captain, 2005) and the skills gained in learning teaching processes based on contemporary educational approaches can not be measured by paper-pencil tests (Gömleksiz & Kan, 2010; Gao & Grisham-Brown, 2011). For this reason, it is considered important for teachers to take care to use contemporary measurement and evaluation approaches. Teachers give homework to the students such as making activities on the course and workbook, writing and memorizing words, copying, and project homework to the students who want once a year. This shows that the students are not given any duties to actively use the language. Folster (2000) states that one of the purposes of assigning homework to students is to build a bridge between home and school. This will make it easier for learners to transfer what they have learned to real life stories. Teachers can direct students to real learning environments through assignments, and students can learn and reinforce their knowledge in real-life situations. This is why it is important for English teachers to assign tasks to students when they are doing homework, so they can use and reinforce the target language. Teachers seem to be very interested in pronunciation education but have not done much to improve their speaking and listening skills. This shows that the teachers do not know or practice English Curriculum. Teachers stated that they did not attach much importance to the grammar rules during the speech activity and informed the class that they would not laugh at the ones who made mistake. Teachers use Eba and Okulistik to improve listening skills. It is emphasized that learning a foreign language should start with speaking and listening skills as it is at the native language (Pinter, 2006; Davies & Pearse, 2000). The conversation is real-time and is usually dialogue. The person decides how and when and where he will speak and sets up his sentences (Martinez-Flor, Uso-Juan, & Soler, 2006). Students' grammar and pronunciation mistakes should not be corrected immediately in the teaching of speaking skills. This allows students to communicate without fear of making mistakes (Willerman, 2011). Listening is one of the ways of acquiring knowledge and utilizing previously gained experience (Calp, 2007: 151). The objective in teaching listening is to enable the student to understand and respond to what they hear on the target language. In this context, speaking and listening skills are a part of each other. In the current curriculum, the importance of teaching two skills in foreign language education is given. Ökmen and Kılıç (2016) examined the language teaching methods used by English teachers in their research. As a result of the research, it is seen that teachers use a high level of Grammar-Based Method and at a low level they use Speech Based Method and Listening Based Instruction Method. This situation supports the result of this research. It is seen that the teachers attach importance to the teaching of the reading skill and the reading activity and they think that the students will improve their pronunciation and speaking skills. Teachers think that students voluntarily participate in reading activities and have text or dialogue reading as a reading activity. While some of the teachers have made translations, some teachers have stated that they do not have translations. European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 106 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES Grabe and Stoller (2002) define reading ability as a way of deriving meaning from a readable text and interpreting it. According to Richards and Renendia (2002), reading skills have an important role in foreign language teaching. The loud reading activity can improve students' pronunciation but there is no relationship between reading skill and speaking skill as teachers say. Even Kieffer (2012) revealed that speaking skills are not a predictor of reading ability in a research. While some of the teachers attach importance to the teaching of writing skills, some teachers do not attach much importance to the writing skills and do not have much writing activities in the lessons. Teachers generally give writing activities as homework and do not provide long writing tasks. In addition, the teachers stated that they can not make sentences because they think in Turkish. According to Nunan (2003), writing is expressing ideas and expressing them in the form of sentences and paragraphs are presented to the reader. It is a difficult and time-consuming process to acquire writing skills in the foreign language learning process as well as in the native language, and it is also time-consuming for the students to acquire this skill. It is seen that teachers have shows importance to teaching vocabulary. In addition, some teachers think that writing words is effective, while others think that writing is not effective. Wilkins (1972) states that without sufficient vocabulary in foreign language education, students will not be able to convey a message, will not understand the content of the course, and will not be able to express themselves on target language. Coady and Thomas (1997) expressed the importance of vocabulary in foreign language teaching with the sentence "When you reach enough vocabulary knowledge on the target language, you have completed communication and understanding". Care must be taken to ensure that words are taught in a context during vocabulary teaching. Writing words repeatedly, making sentences with unfamiliar words, or presenting more than ten new structures to learners at once is not effective for vocabulary teaching (Demirel, 2013). Some teachers have emphasized the importance of teaching grammar, while others have stated that they do not give much importance to teaching grammar as in the past. Some of the teachers teach grammar rules and structures by directly explaining and writing, while others try to teach grammar by asking students to find rules. It is seen that teachers have been trying to teach students grammar by setting up rules according to the rules and having online activities or book exercises. This demonstrates that some teachers practice on the contrary to the English Curriculum and that the grammar is taught like a separate skill rather than integrated into language skills. There are different opinions on teaching grammar. Calkins (1986) sees grammar instruction as a "way to escape" for teachers, and notes that teachers can not spend as much time on other skills because of grammar. Taylor (1986), on the other hand, believes that the language the students have learned over the years does not help them at all in language production. According to the communicative methodology, sociocultural and pragmatic elements should be taught unconsciously, along with the four basic skills of language, not independently. Grammar should be presented in European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 107 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES meaningful contexts (Nunan, 1998), followed by activities in which communicative grammar can be used by learners (VanPatten & Sanz, 1995). It is seen that teachers think that some parents are concerned and some parents seem to be unconcerned and prejudiced. Teachers communicate with parents and students to help them do their homework, to encourage them to learn English, and to inform parents when they forget their material. The gains achieved in the family are a decisive factor in the development of the child's qualifications during the school-based education process. Because the education that started in the family continues in the school. It is a proven fact by many researches that family play a very important role on the child. The academic success of children who are interested in the child, who have good communication with the teacher and the child, who motivate and encourage their children, is seen to be higher in their academic achievement (Hakan, 2001; Akın, 2009; Vural, 2004,). For this reason, it is very important for the teachers to communicate with each other in the process, to establish the parent-teacher and parent-student communication in a secured way. Teachers are involved in events such as breaks, picnics and meals with the students. Students with Internet access are also seen to have communication via social media. Some teachers were found to have difficulty communicating with the students and having to own the school. The interaction of the teacher with the students plays an important role both in increasing the quality of the learning-teaching processes and in making positive changes in student behaviors (Gökçe, 2003). Participating in activities outside of class time; is important for students to improve their entrepreneurial skills, help them acquire skills that can freely express their opinions, develop community awareness, sense of responsibility and leadership, help them discover their interests and skills and evaluate their free time(Karaküçük & Yetim, 1999). For this reason, by arranging extracurricular activities and ensuring student-teacher communication, both the students' personality development and the motivation of the students towards the books and lessons will be increased. Teachers seem to feel that they do not need to communicate with the administration on the basis of English teaching and that they only want to switch to the classroom system as support. The fact that teachers do not need to communicate with school heads, who are the teaching leaders, is a matter to be considered. One of the roles of school principals is instructional leadership. instructional leadership is defined as the behavior of the schoolmaster in order to increase the success of the student in the school, whether he or she realizes it to be accomplished by others (Şişman, 2002: 58). It has been observed that some school principals did not respond to some of the teachers' educational demands in the research. Instructive leaders, on the other hand, are tasked with ensuring the provision and formation of quality teaching materials and experiences that will respond to different student needs and teaching methods (Gümüşeli, 2001: 10). According to the results of the research, the following suggestions were developed: European Journal of English Language Teaching - Volume 3 │ Issue 4 │ 2018 108 Burcu Okmen, Abdurrahman Kılıc ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES      English teachers should be supported in preparing plans, teaching language skills, developing materials and evaluation. 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