Analyzing the alignment between the primary school official English curriculum and the taught curriculum

The aim of this research is to analyze the alignment between the official primary school English curriculum and the taught curriculum. In accordance with this purpose, concurrent equal status design was adopted in this mixed method research. To collect data questionnaires, semi-structured and unstructured interviews, teachers' reflective diaries, research diaries and documents were used. The participants of this study were the teachers who were conducting English classes in primary schools in Kütahya in 2016-2017 academic year. The quantitative data collected was analyzed by using descriptive statistics analysis and the qualitative data was analyzed with inductive analysis. The result of this study showed that there is an alignment between the primary school English curriculum and the yearly plans of teachers. The study also showed that the English teachers can align the curriculum in terms of its goals and content. However, they cannot fully align the curriculum in terms of some parts related to the teaching-learning process and assessment dimensions of the curriculum. In addition to these results, the study also found out the classroom teachers can align the curriculum only partially and the multigrade class teachers cannot ensure the alignment between the official and the taught curriculum to a significant extent. The factors affecting the alignment are the lack of technological equipment and materials, unique features of multigrade classes, teachers' competencies and beliefs. Keywords: Curriculum alignment, Primary school English curriculum, Curriculum fidelity, Yearly plans, Mixed-method research.