AN INVESTIGATION OF THE SPECIFIC ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEEDS OF TURKISH NATIONAL ATHLETES

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: TED Üniversitesi, Eğitim Fakültesi, Yabancı Diller Eğitimi Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2023

Tezin Dili: İngilizce

Öğrenci: Kardelen Kaya

Danışman: Erdem Aksoy

Özet:

The present research is to evaluate the specific English language needs of Turkish

national athletes training for the Olympics and voluntarily enrolling in a Sports English

course funded by the government and a private association. To examine this goal, a

qualitative case study using a descriptive research technique was performed. As a

result, three distinct groups of participants were interviewed: six Turkish national

athletes, four coaches, and five English instructors. Volunteers were asked semistructured

interview questions on the English language needs of Turkish national

athletes. On the basis of the replies from all three participant groups, special English

language needs of Turkish national athletes have been determined. Course designers

and material designers, as well as English language teachers and ELT professionals

would benefit from this research in terms of designing a Sports English course to

support Turkish national athletes in enhancing their English language skills. According

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to the study's findings, the two language abilities required for Turkish national athletes

are listening and speaking. Furthermore, Turkish national athletes struggle the most

with listening and speaking skills. "Saving time to do more training," "representing

their country in the Olympics," and "playing in a foreign country and communicating

with other coaches" are the top three reasons for Turkish national athletes to learn

English.