English-medium education in Turkey a myth or an achievable goal? An evaluation of content-based second language instruction at the Middle East Technical University

This study is aimed at examining and discussing evidence for and against the effectiveness of content-based second language instruction at university level in Turkey. It deals with the following central questions: Is the integration of content and anguage teaching the best way to develop students' English language proficiency? Is it really working in Turkey? How does English-medium education affect students' content learning?

The first three chapters of this study set out the problematics of the content-based second language instruction (CBSLI) with reference to Turkey. Chapter one is concerned with the theoretical underpinning of CBSLI. The focus of attention in Chapter two is on French immersion programmes in Canada because of their significant contribution to the spread of immersion programmes to various other countries. Studies of immersion programmes in the Philippines and Tanzania are also taken into consideration in so far as they help assess the transferability of Canadian experiments to other countries in very different socio-cultural and economic circumstances.

Chapter three discusses the implementation of CBSLI in the specific context of Turkey. Special attention is paid to the choice of the language of instruction. Arguments for English-medium education and Turkish-medium education are examined.

The last three chapters are concerned with factual evidence relating to the efficiency of CBSLI in Turkey. Chapter four presents the research design and methodology, working hypotheses and rationale for the study. Chapter five analyses the data obtained from students and teachers' questionnaires under the following three headings: 1)English language and study skill, 2) Academic performance 3) Attitudinal considerations. Chapter six focuses on CBSLI classroom interaction in METU and assesses the extent to which CBSLI principles are being implemented in real classroom situations: whether CBSLI classrooms provide opportunities for the kind of input, interaction and output in the second language which have been deemed essential to promote second language acquisition.

The overall conclusion of the present study is that content-based second language instruction lacks theoretical and empirical support in the context of Turkey. Our findings show that the integration of content and language teaching under existing conditions does not provide the most favourable environment either for second language learning or content learning. There seems to be a case for the use of Turkish as the medium of instruction and for intensive tuition in English as a second language.