Examining 8th grade english curriculum and course book in terms of vocabulary teaching

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to examine 8th grade English coursebook and English curriculum in terms of vocabulary teaching. In the study, vocabulary which is an important element for language teaching and is a very basic part of a language, is examined by a various data collection tools. Vocabulary affects language teaching directly because it is involved by all language skills and is a significant element for communication. For that reasons, it is important to examine how effective the English course books in vocabulary teaching and how the English curriculum do vocabulary teaching. Method: In the study, 8th grade English curriculum and course book are examined in terms of vocabulary teaching, case study research design has been used. 8th grade language course book is examined by documant analysis. To get a deeper understanding, 15 teachers chosen by convenience sampling and nine students chosen by criterion sampling have been interviewed. While conducting interviews, semi-structured interview forms which are created by the help of the experts opinions are used. The interviews are examined by the content analysis. Results: According to the findings, teachers have thought that vocabulary is an important issue and it affects the communication directly. Both teachers and students have stated that the coursebook is not sufficient for vocabulary teaching and it should be improved in terms of vocabulary activities. Teachers stated that the learning outcomes in the curriculum are written communicative skills oriented but, because of High School Enterance Exam (HSEE), teachers have to make test teaching and neglect the learning outcomes. 8th grade English teaching contents should be cohesive with the teaching contents of previous grades and the contents should spread the whole curriculum. As a result of document analysis of 8th grade English course book in terms of vocabulary teaching within four skills, reading skill is the emphasized skill. Another result is that the vocabulary given in the book is not repeated enough for acquisition. Conclusion and Suggestions: As a result of the study, the vocabulary activities given in the course book should be improved and the number of them should be increased. The learning outcomes in English curriculum affect vocabulary teaching directly. According to the results, the learning outcomes are hard to apply and the contents of the curriculum should be coherent with the previous grades. It is also stated in the results that the vocabulary activities in the course book should be varied and number of them should be increased, with the improvement of the vocabulary, language teaching can be affected in a positive way. Keywords: English Curriculum, 8th Grade English Course Book, Vocabulary Teaching, Language Teaching