Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Novitas-Royal, cilt.14, sa.1, ss.39-51, 2020 (Scopus)
English language teachers play a major role in enhancing the development of students’speaking skills. However, only if teachers are proficient in speaking English, may they support theirstudents in improving their oral proficiency. This qualitative case study aims at unearthing preserviceEnglish as a foreign language teachers’ (henceforth PSEFLTs) perceptions with respect tothe reasons for their low level of oral proficiency, exploring the current initiatives PSEFLTs taketo improve it, and finding out their suggestions concerning the improvements for the initial Englishas a foreign language (hereafter EFL) teacher education program they are enrolled in to assist themin the endeavors they have been making. The results obtained by administering a survey and a semistructuredinterview with freshman PSEFLTs indicated that they did not deem their level of oralproficiency adequate, and lack of emphasis on teaching speaking and the pressure placed on themby high-stakes testing in their prior English language learning experiences adversely affected theiroral proficiency. The findings also revealed the necessity for offering all courses in initial EFLteacher education programs in English. Teacher educators, policy makers and researchersinvestigating the reasons lying behind PSEFLTs’ and/or EFL learners’ low level of oral proficiencyand probing distinct ways of increasing it could benefit from the findings of this study.