Ökkeş Aygün Öztürk has worked for eleven years as a German teacher at Turkish high schools. He additionally received a BA in English language teaching in February 2024. He has his own YouTube channel to make language learning an engaging activity for his students (https://www.youtube.com/@okkesaygunozturk1691). In this article, he gives an account of his experiences in teaching German as a foreign language. Email: okkesaygunozturk@gmail.com

 

German in Türkiye: some background information

The German-Turkish friendship goes back a long way, to the friendly relations that started with cooperation between the Ottoman and the German Empires in the 19th century. For many years, these ties have been strengthened in a variety of domains such as tourism, guest workers, immigration and marriage between citizens (Er & Hertsch, 2018). However, German does not currently have the status as a foreign language as English, which - due to globalisation processes - undoubtedly ranks first in foreign language teaching in Türkiye, while German is the second most taught foreign language in Türkiye (Erim, 2018). However, it is not only the dominance of English that imposes constraints on the position of German as a foreign language. Based on my own experiences and with support from scholarly research, I will examine language policies, exams, employment practices and learner views to highlight some of the problematic fields of teaching German.   

 

Teaching German in secondary schools: some observations

Policies

Foreign language policies are determined by the central governmental authorities (Başdemir, 2012). With an education reform carried out recently, German has gained a stronger position in schools. German has started to be taught two hours a week as a second foreign language after English in more than two thousand Anatolian high schools (Er & Hertsch, 2018). In Anatolian high schools, it is aimed for students to reach the A1.2 level at the end of four years. However, two hours of weekly education is very insufficient for teaching a foreign language. In addition, foreign language education given in classes of 30-40 learners creates huge problems. Students cannot allocate enough time for language teaching and do not have the chance to practise the language. Many ambitions remain on paper and the intended goal cannot be achieved.

A more specific, and for the reader may be difficult to believe problem encountered is that the languages taught as second foreign languages differ from school to school. In some schools, German is taught, while in some schools Arabic is taught; this is decided on by the school administration. One of the most frequently encountered challenges is the problem experienced by students changing schools. For example, a student takes A1.1 German courses in the 9th and 10th grades in an Anatolian high school, then transfers to another Anatolian high school in the 11th grade, where the second foreign language taught is Arabic. In this case, the student is expected to continue from the middle of the Arabic course s/he has never attended before. No need to say that this is frustrating and demotivating for learners. Even more confusing is that in some grades in the same school German and in some others, Arabic is delivered. Due to the lack of teachers or preferences of school administrations, 9th graders receive Arabic lessons and 10th, 11th, 12th graders receive German lessons in the same school, or vice versa. Even though not the normal case, such circumstances completely impede continuity required when learning a foreign language.

 

Exams

The Turkish education system is mostly based on academic success as evidenced in multiple choice exams. The grading system in schools, university entrance systems and the exams required to start a career are all focused on this kind of academic success (Başdemir, 2012). The fact that students are not responsible for the German course in these exams and are responsible for other academic courses such as Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Literature, Geography and History reduces the students' motivation towards learning German and makes them see the time they spend on German as a waste. Especially learners in the 11th and 12th grades are instructed on how to respond to multiple choice questions instead of learning German (or English) to communicate. This is the demand of students and parents due to the current education system.

 

Employment practices (and again: exams)

Although there is a need for German teachers in many schools, the employment rate of teachers who graduate from German teaching departments at universities is very low (Erim, 2018). Due to the lack of German teachers in many schools, other branch teachers, especially English teachers, teach German classes. Since it is mandatory to employ German teachers in many private schools, German teachers are employed on paper, and in these German class hours, courses such as Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Literature, Geography, History are taught to prepare learners for university exams. So, what do the German exams of these students who do not actually have German lessons look like? Exam questions are given to these students in advance and they are ensured to get high marks in the exam. This actually causes an injustice between them and the students in the school where German education is really given and assessment is made as a result of this German teaching. It is as if students who receive real German classes are punished. In addition, considering the effect of high school diploma scores on university placement scores, it can be thought that this incident causes inequality among students across the country.

 

Learner experiences and attitudes

When we think about the language learning aspect, different ideas may emerge among students. After seven years of often disappointing English learning experiences until high school (Çolak, 2023), students are likely to look at German with prejudice. One of the most common statements I hear is: "We’ve been unable to learn English in seven years, and now we are supposed to learn German." Students may be distant towards foreign languages because they learn approximately 650 hours of English lessons before starting high school and think that they cannot learn it. But some students motivate themselves by saying, "We couldn't learn English, we are just starting to learn German, at least let's learn German" as they are more conscious in high school.

 

My conclusion

As a result, the current system is not conducive to initiating humanised language teaching. The various problems related to teaching German at secondary schools touched upon in this paper call for solutions that must be initiated by the central government authorities. Obviously, German teachers need to receive more appreciation so that learner attitudes towards German – that already has a difficult status due to the dominance of English – change into the positive direction. That said, the actually strong bond between Germany and Türkiye may be a good opportunity to strengthen the teaching of German as a foreign language in Türkiye. 

 

References

Başdemir, H. Y. (2012). Türk Eğitim Sisteminin Yapısal Sorunları ve Bir Öneri. [Structural problems of the Turkish educational system and a suggestion]. Liberal Düşünce Dergisi, 67, 35-52. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/liberal/issue/48167/609477

Çolak, İ. (2023). ‘‘Bir lisan, bir insan, iki lisan, iki insan?’’ Observations and reflections of an undergraduate student on the situation of ELT in Turkey. Humanising Language Teaching, 25(4). https://www.hltmag.co.uk/aug23/bir-lisan-bir-insan-iki-lisan-iki-insan

Erim, E. (2018). Almanca öğretmenlerine yeni iş olanaklari yaratılmasına yönelik eğitime dayalı çözüm önerileri. [Education-based solution suggestions for creating new job opportunities for german teachers]. Diyalog Interkulturelle Zeitschrift Für Germanistik, 6(2), 183-191. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/diyalog/issue/42128/507239

Er, M. & Hertsch, M. (2019). Förderung von DaF in der Türkei. [Promoting German as a foreign language in Türkiye]. In U. Ammon & G. Schmidt (Eds.), Förderung der deutschen Sprache weltweit: Vorschläge, Ansätze und Konzepte  [Promoting the German language worldwide: Proposals, approaches and concepts] (pp. 741-756). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110479232-045
 

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