Teachers' views on problems encountered in foreign language teaching at primary schools

The main aim of this study is to determine the views of English language teachers and class teachers about problems encountered in English lesson at primary schools. This study is a screening model and it is a descriptive study. In this study, the data was obtained from a questionnaire form consisting of 58 items. The population of the study consists of English language teachers and class teachers working at primary schools in Viranşehir District, Şanlıurfa Province in 2016-2017 academic year. The participants of the study consist of 201 teachers, 176 of them are class teachers and 25 of them English language teachers who were selected by random sampling method in Viranşehir District, Şanlıurfa Province. SPSS 22.0 program was used in order to analyse the data obtained in the study. Arithmetic mean, frequency and (%) were used for data analysis. Furthermore independent samples t test and variance analysis were performed in order to determine whether there is a significant difference between the views based on demographic data. According to the results of the study; among the teachers participated in the study 19,4% of them find themselves sufficient, 44,3% of them find themselves partly sufficient and 36,3% of them find themselves insufficient for English language teaching. Moreover, class teachers have problems about lack of time and find it difficult to reach the learning outcome targeted in English lesson at multi-grade classes. According to the results of the study, English language teachers provide an environment for students to make speaking activities with each other in the classroom more than class teachers do. English language teachers communicate with students in English during the lesson time at primary schools more than class teachers do. Furthermore, class teachers have problems about lack of time for completing the learning outcomes in English lesson at primary school more than English language teachers have. When compared to class teachers, English language teachers think the curriculum of English lesson at primary school is more convenient for the students' age level in terms of their foreign language development and they think that the number of English lesson hours is needed to be increased in the curriculum of English lesson. Female teachers participated in the study teach other lessons such as Turkish and Mathematics during the English lesson time at multi-grade classes more than male teachers teach. Other studies can be conducted about the problems encountered in English language teaching at primary schools by considering the four basic language teaching skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) used in foreign language teaching. A case study can be widely conducted in order to determine whether English lesson must be taught at first grade at primary schools with the views of a large group of participants including students, teachers, administrators, academicians and parents. Key words: Primary school, English Language Teaching, Class Teacher, English Language Teacher, Foreign Language Teaching,