EFL teachers' perceptions on task-based language teaching in the context of a preparatory school

This study was conducted to investigate the perceptions and practice preferences of teachers who teach English as a foreign language in a university preparatory class, about task-based language education, and to reveal their ideas about the task-based approach and preferences about using this approach in their classrooms or not, along with the reasons. In order to achieve these goals, the teacher questionnaire developed by Jeon and Hahn (2006) was applied to fifty teachers who participated in the study. The results were analyzed using IBM SPSS 22.0. Interviews were conducted with five people selected on a voluntary basis among the participants, and the results were analyzed by thematic analysis method. According to the results obtained from the quantitative and qualitative data, it was revealed that the majority of the teachers participating in the study had positive views about task-based language education and applied it in their classrooms. According to the other information obtained as a result of the analysis, it was understood that the most common factors preventing the implementation of task-based language education in classrooms were the high number of students in the classrooms and the inadequacy of course materials for task-based language education. Among the implications of the study, there are the reasons for not preferring task-based language education can be eliminated as a result of the improvements that can be made in the curriculum and materials proposed by the existing education system and the solution of the infrastructure-related problems of the university. Keywords: English language teaching, task, task-based language teaching, approach