Cumulative Vocabulary Teaching: A Comparison of the National Curricula between England and Turkey

Abstract

The word language learning and language teaching usually refers to a foreign language or a second language due to the governmental systems of the countries. Thus, learning a foreign language or acquiring a second language has become an indispensable element not only of the educational system, the business world, but also of daily life in today's global world. It seems that learning a foreign language or a second language is made possible primarily through knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. At this point, pronunciation is just as important as the previous two skills. The cumulative approach to teaching a subject requires systematic repetition. The aim of this paper is therefore to analyze an English textbook by comparing and contrasting it with the cumulative teaching principle applied in the United Kingdom (UK) curriculum. The study uses a qualitative approach and a case study method to describe the two curricula and the textbook. The curriculum has been revised several times over the past two decades in Turkey, but the students’ success is still low at the national and international exam. The study offers that if the curriculum were prepared on the basis of cumulative teaching principle, the outcome would have been successful. It is suggested that the MoE needs to assign qualified academics to develop the curriculum, syllabus and English textbooks.