Evaluation of 7.th grade English language curriculum according to Stufflebeam's CIPP model

The main purpose of the study is to evaluate the 7.th grade English language curriculum, that came into effect gradually from the years 2007-2008, based on Stufflebeam's CIPP Model according to views of the teachers who are the practitioners and students who actively participate in this process. Within the framework of this purpose, sequental mixed method design was used and English teachers and students' views were taken by qualitative and quantitative studies. In the study there are two types of population. The first population consists of 130 English teachers who work in secondary schools of Aydın district in 2012-2013 academic year, and the second population consists of total 3739 7th grade students who are studying in these schools. The sample of the study was done in 2 steps as quantitatively and qualitatively. For the quantitative research, the first sample consisted of 125 English teachers and 850 seventh grade students chosen by cluster sampling method from schools with different socio economic levels. The qualitative data were gathered by seventh grade curriculum evaluation student and teacher questionaries designed as seperate forms, and frequency (f) and percentages (%) were calculated by SPSS 11.5 packet program. Whether English teachers'perception of program evaluation changed according to socio economic levels of the schools they work in Kruskal-Wallis H test and also Mann Whithey-U test were used for finding where the difference lies. Qualitative data for the sample of the study were chosen by maximum variation sampling method. The interviews were conducted with total of 30 teachers and 30 students who were chosen from the schools which represent three socio-economic levels as lower-middle-upper. And also 24 hours observation was made in three different schools with 7th classes. Interviews and observation forms were analysed by content analysis. 7th grade English curriculum, English course book and project-performance works of the students were analysed with document analysis. Qualitative and quantitative findings were examined seperately in the first phase, then all the results were combined and given according to 4 components of CIPP Model. According to Context evaluation results, it was found that 7th grade English curriculum meets the needs according to its aims; it meets the needs of grammar but it has deficiency in developing speaking and listening skills. For this reason it was concluded that the curriculum meets the students and the teachers's needs respectively. In addition to these findings, the physical environment of the curriculum revealed that the application can not be equally conducted in every schools with the same levels. Also, significant differences were found in many questions of all the components among the opinions of the teachers working in different socio economic levels on behalf of higher socio economic levels.Input evaluation results revealed that the majority of the teachers and the students have negative opinions about the course books and materials. It was seen that the program can not meet the expectations of input variables for many reasons.Process evaluation results revealed that for both teachers and the students, the process is not as efficient as expected. It can be said that the intensity of the course, time constraints, inadequacy of the materials and different levels of the students were some of the reasons for the negative opinions.Product evaluation results revealed that in general, the evaluation system of the 7th grade English curriculum is based on summative evaluation. And it was seen that since project, performance works and also students' efforts during the process are scored, process evaluation is done in some respects with summative evaluation. Additionally, different from the aims, it was found that with the current curriculum, the student's grammar knowledge improved much more than their communicative skills at the end of the year.It can be said that the quantitative and the qualitative results support each other, and the 7th grade English curriculum is useful for the philosophy, the aim and the skills that are expected to be acquired. But as a whole, it is seen that the components of the curriculum is not compatible with each other. It was found that test results are assumed to be student achievement measure as curriculum objectives are ignored, and process goes according to evaluation although it should continue in accordance with the objectives before it is evaluated. So, it is suggested that the program should be revised with some minor changes according to teachers and students' opinions. Keywords: Stufflebeam's context-input-process-product (CIPP) model, 7thgrade English education curriculum, program evaluation