21st century skills in English Language Teaching (ELT) programs in Turkey: A case study

The rapidly developing technology has affected our lives in many ways. For this reason, there is a need to develop some new skills required by our age in education. The concept of 21st century skills have entered our lives. This study aimed to see, after the latest decision of the Council of Higher Education, Turkey on authorizing Education Faculties to design their own curricula, to what extent the 21st century skills were included in English language teacher training programs; to compare the perspectives of students and academics of the programs and to discuss the effectiveness of the program in terms of gaining the 21st century skills. For this purpose, data were collected by using the triangulation method via document analysis, questionnaires, and interview forms. The programs released on the web pages of randomly selected Education Faculties of 4 different universities were examined using document analysis, the questionnaire was administered to the randomly selected academics and students, and interviews were conducted. This case study adopted mixed methods research design based on both qualitative and quantitative data. At the end of the study, the courses aiming at improving the 21st century skills in English language teacher training programs, the viewpoints of the participant students and academics conducting courses related to the 21st century skills development were determined. Thus, a scientific study was carried out on how effective English language teacher training programs in our country could raise teachers with these skills and have the potential to develop these skills in their students.