Evaluation of delivery of maritime education and traning in English in Turkey

Abstract

English language is the common language in the shipping industry. A common language in the international maritime world is now even more essential, since most ships are today manned by multinational officers and ratings. This fact motivates and necessitates the learning of the English language by those who would wish to pursue a career path of becoming a seafaring officer. Maritime regulations issued by either international maritime organizations or national legislative institutes clearly define the requirement for certain level of English language skills for seafarers. Because of the growing dominance of English and its universal power, English has also been widely accepted as Lingua Franca for maritime business. Despite the fact that English language is widely accepted as Lingua Franca in maritime environment including education institutes, some of the prominent Turkish professors advocate the need of Turkish language in education. Currently, the general English knowledge level of the Turkish cadets is not fully sufficient to follow intensive Maritime Education and Training (MET) programmes. This fact is apparent from the many difficulties presently encountered by lecturers teaching the students vocational units in English. To enhance the English language skills of the cadets, some MET institutes have already started to deliver regular preparatory English class programmes. In this study, delivery of MET programmes in English is discussed including a survey conducted for the Turkish cadets about the importance of English. The results are evaluated and some proposals are introduced for future studies. © The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology.