A Contrastive Analysis of Eleventh Grade Curriculum And Coursebook for English Language within Cefr

Abstract

Common European Framework of Reference (henceforth CEFR) was published to define what language learner can do at different levels and to provide a common basis for language practitioners to design content and method of language learning across Europe. Since its declaration, member countries of CoE, including Turkey, have oriented their language teaching programs to the CEFR guidelines and have adapted English language curricula and coursebooks accordingly. Thus, this study aims to explore to how successfully this adaptation process has been carried out in Turkey. B2 level, which corresponds to eleventh grade in the ELC, was chosen as the focus of the study and the objectives of the curriculum along with the activities of the coursebooks were compared to the CEFR. The comparison of ELC and the CEFR revealed that although objectives of the ELC for four skills could reflect B2 levels features to some extent, it is essential that certain objectives be revised, and new objectives be added so that full correspondence can be achieved. Regarding the comparison of the relevant coursebooks with B2 levels, it was found that communicative activities in the relevant coursebooks are successfully designed according to B2 levels to some extent although there are a number of activities that are assigned to upper or lower levels and need certain adaptations. As a result, this study presents to what extent MoNE aligns ELC and coursebooks with target levels of the CEFR by exploiting B2 level as a sample. Besides, current study reveals the missing and problematic parts of the curriculum and coursebook so that necessary adaptations can be done. Finally, it contributes to the research on relating coursebooks to the CEFR levels, which is an underestimated area of research; by presenting a method that can be employed to analyze coursebooks in terms of the CEFR.