Embedding social-emotional learning in early EFL education: A curriculum and textbook analysis of grade 2 English in Türkiye

Abstract

Social-emotional learning (SEL) has become a significant component of today’s language education, especially in curricula that focus on holistic education and well-being. In Türkiye, the recently introduced Century of Türkiye Education Model (2025) suggests an explicit integration of SEL skills into English language teaching starting from early grades. Nevertheless, how these skills are employed in the 2nd-grade English curriculum and instructional materials has not yet been explored, as they are new. This study aims to investigate how and to what extent the new curriculum, the 2nd-grade student book, and the workbook represent SEL skills. This study adopts a deductive qualitative content analysis design and analyses the learning outcomes, the visual and textual elements, and the learning activities, looking through the perspective of the SEL framework by the Ministry of Turkish National Education (2024). Comparisons based on frequencies are used to reveal patterns of alignment and divergence across the documents. Findings indicate that the curriculum integrates all SEL skills systematically, moving gradually from awareness to reflection. However, this integration gets narrower and more superficial in the coursebooks, especially in the workbook. While self-awareness, self-regulation and communication are the most prevalent skills, social awareness and responsible decision-making are insufficiently represented, and they are often reduced to just low-level cognitive tasks. The study shows a notable gap between policy intentions and pedagogical implications and puts forward implications for curriculum developers, material designers and language educators who want to foster holistic development in early childhood EFL contexts.