Inquiring What to Teach and How to Teach in EVP Classes: A General Overview on English Teaching for Vocational Purposes in Turkey

Authors

  • Gökçe Hilal Sincer Cappadocia University

Abstract

In the 21st century we have witnessed a rise of vocational educational training in Turkey. Millions of people in more than 1000 vocational colleges are being trained in almost 100 different vocations. As a result, English Language Teaching for Vocational Purposes has gained great importance. However, English for Vocational Purposes (EVP) is still a mystery to us. As the debates about what to teach and how to teach in the context of EVP are going on in the world, an inquiry into teaching English at a vocational training context becomes inevitable for us, too. We need to discuss the goals, contents and approaches of EVP and question if we are successful enough in terms of helping our students function well in a workplace at an international level. If English teaching in vocational colleges focuses more on professionalization, practicability and specialization, we need to find an answer to the essential question: What is the best way to provide students with an English course integrated with vocational contexts? A study of theoretical views about EVP will help us inquire our practices of English teaching for vocational purposes in Turkey.

References

British Council and TEPAV project team. (2015). The state of English in higher education in Turkey: A baseline study. Ankara: TEPAV & British Council. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2wUNeZR

Dalton-Puffer, C. (2011). Content-and-language integrated learning: From practice to principles? Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 31, 182-204. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0267190511000092

Fang, X. (2016). Challenges and opportunities for vocational college English teaching in the context of MOOC. Higher Education of Social Science, 10(3), 1-4.

Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987). English for specific purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lindahl, Katarina. (2015). Vocational English in policy and practice. Licentiate Thesis, University of Gothenburg. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2gZ4VTV

Liu, C., & Liu, M. (2010). Teaching ESP in vocational colleges in net-based environment. 2010 National Conference of Higher Vocational and Technical Education on Computer Information, 170-174. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2gY9fmI

Munby, J. (2004). Communicative syllabus design. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Songhori, M. (2008). Introduction to needs analyses. English For Specific Purposes World, (4), 1-25. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2jieheg

Widodo, H. (2016). Teaching English for specific purposes (ESP): English for vocational purposes (EVP). English Language Teaching Today: Linking Theory and Practice, 277-291.

Downloads

Published

2017-11-30

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 2 (2017): International Journal of Curriculum and Instruction

Section

Articles

License

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher. The Editors reserve the right to edit or otherwise alter all contributions, but authors will receive proofs for approval before publication.

Copyrights for articles published in International Journal of Curriculum and Instruction are retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal. The journal/publisher is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work. It is the author's responsibility to bring an infringement action if so desired by the author.