Abstract:

English language teaching, as a foreign language, has been introduced to the 4th and 5th classes of the primary schools in 1997 in Turkey. Even though it was in principle decided that English language teachers should carry out the task, it has been seen from time to time that teachers of various other disciplines and generalist class teachers handled the responsibility, due to English language teacher shortages. This situation causes complicated practices and thus constitutes a major problem in the effective teaching of English. It is suggested in this article that this situation may disappear given that the generalist class teachers take responsibility for teaching English in the 4th and 5th classes. The advantages and disadvantages of English language teachers and generalist class teachers are evaluated through “literature review model” in this context. The most apparent advantage of English language teachers stems from their expertise in linguistic knowledge. The most apparent advantage of generalist class teachers on the other hand stems from their expertise and experience in primary pedagogy as well as from the strong relations with their students. If the skills and competences that the generalist class teachers need are restricted with the aims of the 4th and 5th class English language curriculum, effective results can be obtained in a short time. Most of the generalist class teachers working in Turkey today already possess certain levels of English. This is a source that has to be fully exploited. As in most of the European countries, generalist class teachers, if needed, should take responsibility for the teaching of modern foreign languages and scientific research on this topic should speed up

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