Articulation in English Language Curricula: A Systematic Analysis from Basic Education to Secondary Education

Abstract

Despite many studies on English language curricula over the last two decades in Turkey, any analysis of articulation in the curricula has not been found. Articulation, which addresses the inter-relatedness of a curriculum in many ways, both vertically and horizontally, ensures planning of student's development holistically and the transfer of learning from one education level to another. In this study, basic education and secondary education English language curricula published in 2018 were systematically examined in terms of articulation by looking for an answer to the question "To what extent do the English curricula attain the horizontal and vertical across the school levels?" specifically. Guideline Questions for Determining Articulation which were developed through the literature review and expert opinions, were used in the study adopting a document analysis. The data were analyzed according to descriptive analysis. The findings display that the English language curricula from basic education to secondary education reflect the culture of the target language in a very limited way and that the interdisciplinarity of the curricula is weak. Therefore, it is concluded that the curricula have attained horizontal articulation partially. In terms of vertical articulation, although continuity and sequence across the grades are mostly achieved, the study uncovered the problems about the assessment of four skills in an integrated way, the progress of learning outcomes from lower-to higher-order thinking skills, the coordination of the language proficiency aimed as the final outcome at the school levels as well as the assessment of them. Consequently, the study revealed that both the horizontal and vertical (especially across the school levels) articulation of the curricula are not fully ensured. Various implications have been made to strengthen the articulation of English language curricula.