Responses to an EIL-Oriented General English Course: Views of Internal and External Stakeholders

Y

25

Teaching Methods; English (Second Language); Second Language Learning; Second Language Instruction; Vocabulary Skills; Peer Evaluation; Majors (Students); College Preparation; Undergraduate Study; Comparative Analysis; Course Evaluation; Course Content; Decision Making; Language Variation; Foreign Countries; Student Attitudes; Language Attitudes; Metalinguistics

2541-0229
2541-0237

Teaching English as an International Language (TEIL) refers to teaching English as a truly international medium via exposing learners to diversity, adopting a broad cultural view, fostering sensitivity and responsibility, being sensitive to the local culture of learning, and equipping learners with communication strategies. To put this lately popular paradigm into actual teaching practice, a 10-week EIL-oriented General English course was devised for 53 English-majoring preparatory program students at a public Turkish university as a part of a Ph.D. study. The current report, as the qualitative part of that quasi-experimental Ph.D. study, intended to evaluate the course with all its possible strengths, weaknesses, and ways to improve it for better future use based on both insider and outsider responses. While the data from internal stakeholders (N=25) were drawn from individual retrospective interviews, weekly written self-reports, and a final open-ended questionnaire, the data from external ones (N=2) were gathered from peer classroom observation. The course appears to be a valuable experience as it increased learners' world knowledge, enhanced their oral production in English, and provided an enjoyable and motivating atmosphere yet with some limitations regarding course content, materials, and instructional choices. It is hoped that drawing such a field-tested picture will inspire others to make instructional decisions in line with the changing sociolinguistic landscape of English.

As Provided

2024

EJ1428946