Why is it difficult for Turks to learn English?

In Turkey, English has been taught as a foreign language since the beginning of Turkish Republic. In spide of this long teaching period, Turkish students have difficulty in learning English Language at school. They can not understand while listening to someone; they can not speak in target language fluently and; they can not write even a sentence even after a long learning period. What is the real problem they face while learning English?

In deed students learn the grammar in the lessons but they can’t get the knowledge in the long run. This may be because of the method we run at schools. Especially students in public schools can do better in grammar than the private ones. Hovever they can not produce anything in the target language. There are plenty of reasons we can number on why they have self expression difficulties. As I mentioned above, the methods applied in the carricula in public schools may not meet the students’ needs in real World. That is, we should design the carricula and the teaching methods globally with less grammar subjects and more productive activities. Moreover because English is a Western language, the grammar is opposite of Turkish grammar. This may also lead difficulty.

Another considerable reason in learning difficulties may be the students’ neglect on the culture of the target language. Since cultural contents are very important things in learning a foreign language efficiently and permanently, one should search, apply an even live exactly the culture of the target language. Students can do these in a variety of ways like listening to traditional songs, preparing Christmas cards, celebrating national or religious festivals, reading about culture and history, etc.

We can handle the lack of practising the sentence patterns with our partners as the last statement . Students don’t usually notice the importance of practising the language learnt so far. They think that the data they received will be stored in their brain for a long time. Whereas practicing the information obtained from the language lessons in a way is the only way to learn the target language literally and permanently.

All these mentioned facts prove the importance of a new point of view and an effective teaching method at public schools including the culture, life styles and more interactive practices.