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Language Proficiency Level of English Language Teacher Trainees in Turkey

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Abstract (2. Language): 
The conduct of this study was motivated by the relative dearth of research in Turkey to investigate the language proficiency of foreign language teacher trainees. To obtain student views about the issue, data were collected through a questionnaire administered to 36 teacher trainees from the 2nd, 3rd and 4th year students each in an English language teacher training program in Turkey. Besides, 36 volunteering teacher trainees from the 1st and 3rd year students each were given the same State Staff Foreign Language Proficiency Exam (KPDS) to shed light on the questionnaire results. The findings point to the participants’ complaint and problem of English decreasing in proficiency level throughout their teacher training process and their attribution of this problem mainly to the curriculum and teaching practices, which should lead every stakeholder, but firstly teacher trainers, to reconsider foreign language teacher education in Turkey.
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