The School of Foreign Languages (SFL) provides the students studying at METU with English language education at international standards by coordinating and monitoring the academic work in its departments, namely Department of Basic English (DBE) and Department of Modern Languages (DML). The primary goal of the SFL is to enable the students at METU, where the medium of instruction is English, to follow their departmental courses, to access and effectively use all kinds of resources related to their academic studies and to use English in their professional lives by communicating in written and oral contexts. The SFL also aims at equipping each METU student with language skills that will enable him/her to carry out similar tasks in other foreign languages. Additionally, SFL contributes to the quality of English teaching and learning in the whole country by offering language courses of high standards to the community.

Within the framework above, the SFL is also responsible for

I) preparing and administering the METU English Language Proficiency Exam, through which undergraduate and graduate students who are to be newly admitted to METU, students who want to transfer to METU from other universities, and special students who want to take courses at METU can demonstrate their level of proficiency in English. The METU English Language Proficiency Exam is administered three times each year.

II)  enabling the smooth operation of the Academic Writing Centre, which provides free consulting services to graduate students and the METU faculty through face-to-face tutorials. The mission of the Academic Writing Centre is to help individuals improve their writing skills and critical thinking skills and thus become more confident and effective writers.

III) overseeing its other service units, i.e. the Teacher Education Unit, Self-Access Center, and the Reseach and Development Unit.

IV) offering courses of high standards to the public and private sectors.

Among these courses are

a.  the SFL Foreign Language Certificate Program, which is a special intensive program designed with the purpose of improving the English language proficiency levels of university graduates in Turkey,

b. weekend language courses and evening language courses, both of which are offered to the public,

c. language and teacher training programs specifically designed for institutions upon request.

V) operating as a TOEFL IBT Test Center.