The perceptions of students studying at a vocational school on the role of English in their lives and their reasons to learn English

Türkçe

English as a foreign language has been learnt and taught in Turkey for many years. Although the role of English in students’ lives is the subject of a number of studies, there is little research on the perceptions of students studying at vocational schools. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of students studying at a vocational school about how English affects their professional and their social life. Considering the purpose of the study qualitative research method was applied. Ten volunteer students studying Tourism and Hotel Management and Accounting and Tax Application participated in the semi-structured interview. Data gathered from interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results revealed two themes which were the perceptions of students towards learning English and their reasons to learn English. The first theme consists of positive attitudes and negative attitudes and the other theme has three codes which are as follows: profession, communication and entertainment.