Secondary & Collegiate English Composition Education in Turkey: a Case Study of History and Present State

Turkey is a nation situated between Europe and Asia with a population of over 80 million. It is literally and metaphorically an embodiment of its reputation as the intersection of East and West, be it geographically, socially, politically, or culturally. Its modern history was significantly influenced by its role as the succeeding state to a collapsed empire and adapting to the ever-changing world it found itself engaged with. This dissertation analyzes the state of English composition education in Turkey at the secondary and tertiary levels, responding to a gap in the literature in examining contexts outside of the United States. English is a significant area of national educational policy in Turkey. There is a dynamic research community within the more prominent field of English Language Teaching (ELT), but this is not the case with rhetoric & composition, which is mainly absent in Turkey. This study focuses on English composition and writing in Turkey in both a descriptive and comparative way. The secondary school period is given particular attention, considering its significant influence on future writing development. Through the implementation of a qualitative case study methodology, this project analyzed university and secondary school curriculums, syllabi, program goals, course objectives, government policy documents and studies, existing literature, news articles, and government and school websites to provide a survey of composition education with regard to outcomes, goals, and limitations. Framed in an interdisciplinary context, this study builds on history, pedagogy, EFL, Linguistics, English studies, and rhetoric & composition literature. It was found that there are various frameworks in place at the secondary and university levels in Turkey to accommodate for English composition education. While the accessibility and quality of this education are varied, writing competencies do hold a place in the generally centralized educational curriculums. Still, a variety of challenges exist with regard to composition education in Turkey, including rigid curricular models, a lack of research and study on writing, and ineffective teacher selection frameworks, and for which a variety of solutions are proposed