Inclusive education in efl classes of Turkish secondary schools: a case study

For the last decades, the issue of inclusive education has been at the top of the agenda of governments, universities, educators, governmental and non-governmental organizations, researchers and all stakeholders. In the literature, there are a great number of studies investigating inclusive education in terms of various factors; yet, with very few focusing on foreign language teaching/learning and inclusive education in Turkey. Therefore, this study, based on mixed methods approach, was designed as a descriptive study which aims to investigate inclusive education in English classes at Turkish secondary schools from the perspectives of English teachers, typically developing students and students with special needs. As participants, 111 English teachers, 21 typically developing students and four students with special needs took part in this study. "The Opinions Relative to Mainstreaming Scale" which was developed by Antonak and Larrivee in 1995, and adapted to Turkish by Kırcaali and Iftar in 1996, semi-structured interviews and classroom observations were utilized as data collection tools in order to collect in-depth data. Findings of the study revealed that while most of the typically developing students and students with special needs were positive about inclusive education, English teachers held negative attitudes towards inclusive education. In addition, it was found that students with special needs supported the idea of inclusion in English classes. However, preferences of English teachers and typically developing students regarding inclusion in English classes were negative. Furthermore, advantages and disadvantages of inclusive education were discovered as they were elicited from the participants. The study did propose some significant suggestions as to how to cope with problems stemming from educational situations where students with special needs were integrated. This study by its nature has significant implications for education institutions, administrators, teachers and students requiring special needs. Key Words: inclusive education, English as a foreign language, students with special needs, typically developing students, English teachers.