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Difficulties of learning English in Turkey Turkey is a country in Europe and Asia. The educational system in Turkey is different compared to Europa, for example. I am a person who is born and raised in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, there is a theoretical and practical study. In Turkey, this is missing, and there is only an academic education with minimum practice. English is a universal language; that's why English is essential in Turkey. When studying at a university or working abroad, but also at home, communication in English is necessary. But why is it difficult to learn English efficiently in Turkey? From my perspective, I can say that many aspects play a role. The main elements are the educational system in Turkey, economic, and political effects. Educational System In Turkey, learning English can start at kindergarten, but this is only suitable for children who are going to a private school. In general, teaching English begins at primary school 2nd class. Which is mostly the very beginning of English. Mainly by the end of this year, the students have learned a few essential words and the alphabet. During the following years, the students can involve his English, but this is very minimum. A student always has to follow an extra course to determine a higher level before his university years, for example, the B2 CEFR level. Secondly, in Turkey, there are private and public schools. In public school, students only have two lessons per week, compared to a private school they have at least eight lessons, which makes a difference in learning English because when a student has more lessons, he will be able to learn it better. Next to this, the English language is not used very often with students. They only speak English when they are at school/work. A student has to involved as much as possible with the language that he wants to learn. For young learners, an effective way is television. But this is also only in Turkish. They translate the movies and series. Thirdly, the educational level in Turkey is very high. The students focus mostly on mathematics, Physics, Science, and Turkish. In Turkey, there is a test before going to university, this test is challenging, and consists of different parts, and English is not one of them. Only an English teacher has to take an English test. I think this plays a crucial factor. In Turkey, the universities have an education mostly based on theory and not on practice. In Turkey, a student gets his practical knowledge after his school period. Some skills of teaching English as a teacher cannot be learned with theory only, and practice is a must. When preparing a language, for example, the pronunciation cannot be determined only with a method. A teacher has to pronunciation correctly. In the Netherlands, for example, an English teacher has to study abroad for a specified period (6 to 12 months) to get his Bachelor's. But this way of an internship is not applicable in turkey. Pronunciation is a significant difficulty for Turkish people because Turkish is a phonetic language, and English is not. Also, Turkish students are used to pronouncing every word they see in the written word. Mostly pronunciation of the silent letters in a word is a problem and the articulation of ing- words. In my opinion, Turkish teachers have to improve their articulation; their grammar is sufficient. Economic effects A student that wants to learn proper English has to have an average/good financial situation or has to be very smart to be eligible for a scholarship. Students that are going to a private school have a better English education because the teacher gives more attention and has more lessons. A student that can effort an English course also has a benefit. But, most people in Turkey can afford an English course but not a private school. That's why it always takes time for a person to achieve a high level of English. Political affects Politic plays an important role. The education system, which is long and continuing, must be planned carefully by policymakers in a country. Which requires careful planning, systematic checking, and assessment. In Turkey, there are two governing bodies of education policy, MEB (Turkish Ministry of Factional Education) and YOK (Higher Education council). There are communication and coordination problems between these parties, and when they make changes, this affects the education system.
