Digesting Centralized Curricula in Türkiye: How Literate are English Language Teachers?

One of the most essential competencies for teachers of English as a foreign language in Türkiye is the ability to implement curricula with complete comprehension in their classes, as Türkiye has mandated centralized curricula in schools. In other words, it is the teacher’s responsibility to comprehend the curricula properly; otherwise, what is intended in the curricula may not be fulfilled, affecting students’ learning trajectories. Nevertheless, how they conceptualize a curriculum has received little attention up until now. To fill this niche in the literature, the current study aimed to probe the level of curriculum literacy among English language teachers in state schools. In this quantitative study, data was collected through the Curriculum Literacy Inventory for Language Teachers, specifically developed in line with English language curricula in Türkiye and the Common European Framework of References for Languages by the researchers. After the pilot study, 804 English language teachers participated in the actual study. Based on the findings, the teachers exhibited a moderate level of curriculum literacy, and some significant differences were noted in certain variables. The findings can be exploited to develop interventions to raise teachers’ curriculum literacy by policymakers, teacher educators and researchers.