Examining 8th Grade English Course Book and Educational Programme about Vocabulary Teaching: Teacher's Views

The aim of the study is to reveal the teachers' view about 8th grade English Course book and educational programme about vocabulary teaching. The study is valuable for examining 8th grade English teaching programme and course book in terms of vocabulary teaching and revealing the current situation in the programme and the course book. Vocabulary is the first step of language teaching. For that reason, teachers' presenting opinions to reveal problems or deficiencies as appliers of the programme and course book will contribute literature. Moreover, data about vocabulary teaching which affects communicative skills directly and is a main object of language teaching will be revealed. The research was carried out by the case study research design, one of the qualitative research methods. The research group isn't identified, all secondary schools in city-centre of Odunpazari-Eskisehir, were informed. 15 teachers from 11 different schools volunteered to take part in the study. Interview as a tool for collection of qualitative data was used for the study and the interview protocols presented to experts and the questions was revised according to their ideas. The collected data was examined by the descriptive analysis techniques, one of the qualitative analysis techniques. The categories and codes were formed after analysis. According to the results of the study, the teachers found the vocabulary as a key concept of language. The evaluation of the teachers shows that the book activities in vocabulary teaching are not sufficient. Vocabulary affects all four basic language skills; reading, writing, speaking, listening. When views about the learning outcomes in 8th grade English Language Teaching Programme examined, the outcomes are higher than level of students. Because of that High School Entrance Exam is applied at the end of 8th grade, communicational purpose of the program is neglected. The programme contents are not cohesive and progressive with the previous grades. While teaching 8th grade vocabulary contents, the teachers preferred the educational and digital games more than other teaching techniques and methods. As a result of the study, these suggestions are made: the teaching contents in course book should be increased, the learning outcomes in educational programme should be appropriate for the student's level and progressive. The contents should be spreaded the previous grades and the course book should be supported by the digital tools.