Proficiency of Maritime English course: An investigation in Istanbul, Turkey

Effective communication in the sea and ocean can only be achieved through a common language. Maritime professions in Turkey for many years have been seen as an important area of employment. Maritime vocational and technical high schools are also seen as educational institutions that play an important role in this field. In this study, it has been aimed to define the level of general and Maritime English education provided by the maritime vocational high schools, the problems and deficiencies of education, and what must be done to improve the education quality. A questionnaire was conducted to 200 graduates of maritime vocational high schools in order to determine the efficiency, deficiencies and issues that need to be improved. The results of the survey were analyzed by SPSS and made meaningful. For analysis, t-test was used to evaluate numerical data between two independent groups and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test was used to evaluate numerical data between more than two independent groups. After the One-Way ANOVA Test, Tukey Test was used as a complementary Post-Hoc analysis to determine the differences. Finally, Pearson correlation method was used to evaluate the continuous numerical variables used in the research. As a result of the research, it has been seen that Maritime English education in vocational high schools is far from meeting the needs of today's world and the maritime sector. It was observed that the graduates felt this inadequacy heavily on ships and experienced the effects of this deficiency in all of their professional life. As stated in the survey results, it is thought that the Maritime English educators with sea experience will increase the motivation of the students. Programs sourced from the field need to be reorganized. Also, it will be beneficial to rearrange the requirements of the seafarer educators for giving English lessons.