Theses supervised by Ülker Vancı Osam

Educational technology for English Language teachingEnglish LanguageEnglish Language Teaching (ELT)+5

An Investigation of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) of Pre-service English Teachers: A Case Study

This research attempts to investigate the perceptions of pre-service EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers studying in the English Language department in the University of Duhok, regarding their Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). It also aims to explore their perceptions about how well the program they attend to contributes to their TPACK, as well as the suggestions of the pre-service EFL teachers and the instructors of the department for further development of pre-service teachers’ TPACK. The study has followed a mixed-methods approach utilizing both quantitative and qualitative data. For the quantitative data, Başer et al.’s (2016) TPACK-EFL survey has been used to gather data from 72 pre-service teachers (46 male and 26 female). To achieve the aims of the study and answer its questions, qualitative data were gathered through interviews conducted with ten pre-service teachers and five instructors. The results of the study have demonstrated the participating pre-service teachers’ agreement on possessing quite a bit of all seven TPACK components. When each component of TPACK is considered, the most important components were found to be Content Knowledge (CK) and the least important one was Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). When looked at from the ‘gender’ perspective, the study findings reveal that female participants claim the possession of Content Knowledge (CK), Technological Content Knowledge (TCK), Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK), and Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) more than their male counterparts. Male participants, on the other hand, were found to have the Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) more than female participants, based on their responses to the survey. The findings showed no significant differences between respondents according to their age toward dealing with the TK, CK, PK, PCK, TCK, TPK, and TPACK. Regarding how well the program at the University of Duhok helped the pre-service teachers develop their TPACK, the results indicated that the contribution of the department is usually limited with some tools such as PowerPoint used in class presentations. The participants highlighted the need for more focused training not only for the pre-service teachers but also for the instructors in order to enhance the abilities, skills, and technology awareness of the pre-service teachers. Keywords: Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK), English as a Foreign Language (EFL), Pre-service Teachers of English, University of Duhok

Mohammed Nafie Sadeeq

2020

AccreditationEastern Mediterranean UniversityEnglish Language+6

Will the Ripples Collide? A Critical Look at the Impact of External Quality Assurance Process on an English Language School

In recent years, in order to better cope with the increasing number of higher education institutions in the region and thus, the inevitable competition, the validation of their programs by an external/international accreditation body has become the primary objective for some universities in North Cyprus. The Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) is not an exception to this movement. This research aims to discover the perceived impact of external quality assurance process (run by Pearson Edexcel Assured) on the development of certain pre-defined internal quality management and assurance strategies which are maintained to reinforce organizational learning within the specific context of the English Preparatory School at Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU EPS). To this end, the study focused its specific attention on the perceived impact of Pearson Edexcel Assured accreditation process on the development of core strategic building blocks of a ‘learning organization’ (i.e., ‘clarity of purpose and mission’, ‘shared leadership and involvement’, ‘experimentation’, ‘effective transfer of knowledge’ and ‘teamwork and group problem-solving’) at EMU EPS. Adopting a descriptive case study design, the study aimed to gather both quantitative and qualitative data from three different groups of internal stakeholders: the Leadership team, the EPS teachers who were directly involved in the accreditation process, and the EPS teachers who were not directly involved in the process, by means of a survey and semi-structured interviews. In addition, publicized documentation such as policies and procedures, or documents produced by the Continuing Professional Development working group, which were located on the school premises and the school’s official online communication portal, was used as supplementary qualitative data in order to support the discussions drawn from the data gathered from the participants. For the data analysis, a number of methods were used depending on the sort of the data gathered. The quantitative data were analysed by means of descriptive statistics. For the qualitative data, content analyses were conducted following the guidelines provided by Berg (2001). In this respect, a combination of deductive and inductive reasoning was applied, and the data were thematically coded into categories of emerging patterns of the participants’ views on the core components of a learning organization and the impact of the accreditation process on these attributes. The findings yielded interesting results indicating differences in the perceptions of the internal stakeholders not only as regards the degree of formative impact of Pearson Edexcel Assured accreditation process, but also regarding certain internal quality management and assurance practices such as professional development initiatives. Therefore, it is hoped that the results will serve for a better understanding of the continuing professional development initiatives in the ELT world by providing well-grounded impetus for further in-depth studies. Keywords: Accreditation, academic quality management and assurance, learning organizations, English language teaching.

Seren Başor Reynolds

2014

English LanguageEnglish Language Teaching (ELT)English as a lingua franca (ELF)+8

ELT Students’ and Instructors’ Perceptions of the Need for a ‘World Englishes’ Course: A Case Study

One of the effects of the global spread of English is the emerging varieties of English, briefly known as World Englishes. In language teacher education programs where the use of British or American versions of English is dominant, there is a need to make the prospective teachers of English become aware of the changing status of English and develop an understanding and view consistent with the sociolinguistic realities of the spread of English as an international language. Although other courses in the curriculum may provide some awareness, there still seems to be a need for a course for the incorporation of World Englishes into the undergraduate program. The purpose of this present case study is three-fold. First, it aims to investigate the beliefs of students and instructors of the FLE Department towards the changing status of the English and its varieties. Second, the study seeks to find out to what extent the current ELT curriculum fulfills the needs, wants and lacks of the teacher candidates in terms of the changing status of English, i.e. World Englishes. Finally, the study intends to obtain perceptual data on the needs, wants and lacks of pre-service teachers as regards the features of the elective course syllabus to be proposed. The study was conducted at the Department of Foreign Language Education (FLE), Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU), in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). In the light of the above-mentioned aims, the study involved 80 pre-service teachers from the undergraduate program of ELT, and 7 instructors currently teaching in the ELT program. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were employed in order to obtain data for the study. For this purpose, Likert-scale questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were conducted both with the pre-service teachers and the instructors. The findings revealed that both pre-service teachers’ and instructors’ beliefs towards the changing status of English and its varieties were positive in many ways. Secondly, in participants’ point of view, the current ELT curriculum of FLE Department is not sufficient to provide information about the changing status of English and its varieties, a finding which supports the statement of the problem. Finally, the responses given by the participants to the needs analysis part of the questionnaire and the interviews showed similarity in terms of goals of the course, content and sequencing, format and presentation, and monitoring and assessment. Based on these findings, an elective ‘World Englishes’ course has been proposed with a 14-week syllabus, hoping that it will contribute to the improvement of the pre-service teachers’ awareness and professional knowledge about the changing status of English, i.e. World Englishes.

Taner Uyar

2017

EFL teachersEnglish LanguageEnglish Language Teaching (ELT)+10

Investigating English Language Teachers’ Motivation in Private Institutes in Iran

Motivation is the main drive behind any course of action which aims success. Considering the fact that teachers are the main agents for the success of an institution, the issue of teachers’ motivation has always attracted great attention among researchers in the field of education. There have been a number of studies conducted in the context of Iran, investigating the teacher motivation and job satisfaction from various perspectives. However, there seem to be no studies conducted on the motivation of English language teachers teaching in private institutes in different cities in Iran. To address this gap, the present study has been conducted in six different private institutes in four different cities in Iran (namely, Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad and Yazd) to investigate the perceptions of the Iranian English language teachers in those institutes regarding teaching, self-efficacy, their teaching context and colleagues. The study also aims to elicit how the participants perceive the motivation-related factors in their job. The study followed both quantitative and qualitative methodology which means a mixed-method. The data were collected from 150 English language teachers working in these six institutes. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 volunteers. The data analysis revealed a general satisfaction of the English language teachers in private institutes of Iran regarding their job as well as their self-efficacy. Considering the factors of English teachers’ motivation, the results highlighted two main sub-themes: intrinsic and extrinsic types of motivating or demotivating factors. The results indicated that Iranian English language teachers’ motivation or demotivation was mostly influenced by extrinsic factors. To increase the motivation level of English language teachers in the context of Iran, this study has a number of implications. It is recommended that managers, as leaders of their institutes, need to be informed about the importance of their role and influence on teachers’ motivation. For this purpose, some leadership courses can be designed, and managers, as leaders of their institute, can be encouraged to participate in these training programs. The participating English language teachers in the study criticize the lack of opportunities for their participation in the decision-making stages of teaching- learning process, and this does not contribute to their motivation. To increase their motivation, weekly or monthly meetings can be organized in which teachers share their ideas with colleagues. This kind of meetings may also help teachers to meet their colleagues, who are another factor of their motivation or demotivation. This study also highlighted the importance of students’ role on teachers’ motivation. Equipping institutes by modern audiovisuals and attractive learning assist tools, which was the mentioned factors for teachers, will not only keep the students motivated but also increase teachers’ motivation. Also, involving teachers and students in supporting programs or conferences may help both to develop their motivation. Finally, financial incentives, good salaries, and regular payment are reported to be important factors in increasing English language teachers’ motivation in private institutes in Iran.

Maryam Ehsani

2020

English LanguageEnglish Language Teaching (ELT)English Writing+7

Lexical Bundles and Disciplinary Variation in Master Theses: The Case of Native versus Non-native Corpora

Writing academically as a formal skill is an essential requirement that graduate students are expected to acquire; however, the mastery of academic writing skill, especially in EFL contexts, is not an easy task for the graduate students. To be able to write effectively in English, the graduate students are required to acquire the academic discourse of their field of study which is usually a distinct genre with its own special discoursal and linguistic elements. Lexical bundles, as a certain linguistic structure, have been reported to constitute a large percentage of written academic text. Several studies have found that learners experience difficulties while using bundles by misusing, overusing or underusing these bundles in their writing (Adel & Erman, 2012; Hyland, 2008b; Wei & Lei, 2011). Nevertheless, although extensive studies have been done on the use of lexical bundles in various fields, there is still paucity of research into the use of lexical bundles across various disciplines especially in the Iranian context. Therefore, by adopting a corpus-based analysis approach, this study aimed to explore the frequency, structure and functions of lexical bundles across four different fields of study (business and tourism as soft sciences, and mechanical engineering and civil engineering as hard sciences) used by native English speakers and Iranian EFL master students. For this purpose, 120 theses from two corpora of master theses were selected. The first corpus contained 60 theses written in English by Iranian graduate students who studied at Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU), Famagusta, North Cyprus, and the other corpus included 60 theses written by native writers of English at three American universities: California State University, Iowa State University and University of Nevada. The findings of the study revealed that in soft sciences (business and tourism) and in one of the hard sciences (mechanical engineering), Iranian writers used more lexical bundles than their native English counterparts. Moreover, structural and functional differences were reported in each sub-corpus. This study can have several implications for writers of different disciplines to become familiar with different conventions and norms governing different fields of study. Keywords: lexical bundles, corpus, academic writing, master theses, Iranian EFL learners, native English writers

Sonia Jahangirian

English Language-Study and TeachingEnglish Teachers-Teacher IdentityPreservice teachers+4

DoctorateOpen AccessEN

Investigating the Contribution of Blogging Interactions to Preservice English Language Teachers’ Reflection and Construction of Teacher Identity

The purpose of the study was to investigate the contribution of blogging to preservice teachers’ reflection and construction of teacher identity. A blog tool was integrated in the Teaching Practice course in order to address the need for more interaction caused by limited in-class hours. An action research study was carried out in two cycles, in the fall semesters of 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, with a total of 15 preservice teachers studying at the Foreign Language Education Department of Eastern Mediterranean University. Data comprised semi-structured interview reports and preservice teachers’ blog posts (i.e., teaching practice lessons reflection blog entries, movie critiques, final reports and comments). Frequency analysis was conducted to find out about the preservice teachers’ blog participation. The results show that all the preservice teachers in the first cycle took part in the blogging by posting the required blog tasks. However, since participation was on voluntary basis in the second cycle, not all participants posted their blog tasks. Preservice teachers’ interactions with one other on the blog were found to be at different levels. A number of hindering reasons such as lack of participants’ familiarity with and attitudes towards the blog tool, perceived adequacy of written expression, and group dynamics were discovered. An adapted framework was used to reveal the levels of reflections in preservice teachers’ teaching practice lessons reflection blog entries. The results indicated that most of the participants’ reflections were at descriptive level which included their feelings and teaching practice experiences. It should be noted that only a few participants linked these to theories and elaborated on their future plans for improvement. Possible-selves theory guided the analysis of data to understand the contribution of preservice teachers’ blogging interactions to construction of their teacher identity. According to the results, sharing reflections on teaching practice experiences and reflecting on various teacher characteristics influenced how they shaped their concepts about qualities of good teachers. This in turn led to the emergence of expected and feared possible selves. Preservice teachers mostly articulated what kind of teacher they expect to be and avoid becoming, in the areas of interpersonal relationships, instructional strategies and classroom management. Little emphasis on professional qualities was stated. Based on the results, more structured scaffolding and training on reflective practices were proposed. Also, integration of professional qualities into instruction of formal education courses was suggested to promote professional qualities of teachers. Keywords: preservice teachers, blogs, reflection, teacher identity construction, possible-selves theory

Ayşegül Sallı

2018

Educational technology for English Language teachingEnglish LanguageEnglish Language Teaching (ELT)+10

Investigating the Pre-service English Teachers' Perceptions of the Use of Smart Board Technology

The current case study attempted to investigate the English Language Teaching (ELT) students’ perceptions regarding the use of smart board (SB) technology from two different perspectives: i) as current students and ii) as prospective teachers of English language. The target population of the study was the students enrolled in the ELT undergraduate program of the Foreign Language Education (FLE) department, at Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU). A total number of 100 pre-service teachers of English responded to the questionnaire and 14 students volunteered to participate in the interviews. Moreover, a triangulation of methods was applied to collect quantitative and qualitative data through the use of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The questionnaire consisted of 26 items presented on 5-Likert scale of strongly agree to strongly disagree and included biographical questions and four open ended questions. It revealed a result of 88% of reliability on Cronbach's alpha scale of the SPSS program. The findings suggested that the pre-service teachers of English at the ELT program were positive about the smart board use and would like to integrate the tool in their future careers; however, the students specified their preferences over the tool’s use and identified some shortcomings. The students believed that the smart board can be motivating, interesting, effective, fun, amusing, more convenient and easier to use, but they did not like the excessive use of PowerPoint presentations on the smart boards. Their responses also pointed out a lack of technological knowledge (TK) of both teachers and students to use the smart board and technical issues which caused waste of time during lessons. The study is believed to be a basis for conducting more future research about the utilization of smart board technology inside the university’s classrooms. The study can also provide an evidence for the administrators to invest more in smart board technology. On the other hand, further research can focus on the development of alternative ways to motivate the students and create the appropriate atmosphere for the utilization of the smart board technology to prevent somehow negative or unfavorable perceptions against it. Keywords: smart boards, pre-service teachers, perceptions, teacher knowledge, technological knowledge

Hanya Farag Awad Younis

CT Oriented PedagociesCritical ThinkingEnglish Language+2

A Qualitative Study on Pre-service EFL Teachers’ Conceptualization of Critical Thinking and CT-oriented Pedagogies

ABSTRACT: This research investigates the critical thinking (CT) experiences of fourth-year English Language Teaching (ELT) students from five different backgrounds studying at the BA program in ELT at EMU. This research explores these pre-service teachers’ conceptualization of CT and CT-oriented pedagogy and perception of how the ELT program has contributed to developing their CT abilities. It also highlights some implications on the role of culture, education, and other factors in understanding and developing CT and CT-oriented pedagogies. The research questions focused on examining: 1) the participating pre-service teachers’ educational experiences with critical thinking; 2) their current conceptualization of critical thinking and CT-oriented pedagogy; 3) their perception regarding the BA program and its contribution in developing their CT; 4) their plans to incorporate CT in their teaching within their respective contexts. In order to achieve the aim of the study, qualitative data were gathered by conducting semi-structured, in-depth, 90-minute-long interviews with five pre-service teachers. Data obtained from the interviews were thematically analyzed using ATLAS.ti, a qualitative data analysis software. The rich data obtained in this research yielded many findings. In terms of educational background, the pre-service teachers’ past education was inadequate to develop their CT. Their parents’ involvement also had an impact on their CT development. It was concluded that language proficiency facilitates the expression of CT ability and that culture and education are two factors impacting CT that cannot be separated. In terms of CT conceptualization and the perceived role of CT in ELT, the pre-service teachers displayed a non-operant yet growing understanding of CT. Their approach to CT can be divided into ontological and epistemological approaches. Two of the participants failed to perceive the role of CT in education. This indicated a lack of understanding and misconceptions related to CT on the part of pre-service teachers. Regarding the teacher education received at the ELT program, the pre-service teachers perceived it to lack explicit instruction on CT and CT-oriented pedagogies. Some teaching practices and conditions were also found unsupportive of CT development at the ELT program. Finally, concerning pre-service teachers’ teaching for CT, vague and impractical strategies of incorporating CT in language instruction were observed. CT was reduced to language instruction with an omission of CP in ELT. However, the pre service teachers displayed comprehensive awareness of factors impacting CT and potential challenges in incorporating it into their future teaching. The research concludes with several pedagogical implications, which highlight introducing pre service teachers to CT and CP early on in their training and creating a critical space in the teacher education program to allow pre-service teachers to share their understanding of and experience with CT. Finally, the research findings emphasize the need for instructors/teacher educators to employ explicit instruction on CT and CT oriented pedagogy and for ELT programs to provide ELT-specific CT training as part of their curriculum. The qualitative nature of this study and its focus on pre-service teachers’ conceptualization of CT and CT-oriented pedagogy while taking into consideration the cultural and educational factors involved, sets it apart from the dominant number of quantitative studies available in the literature. Keywords: conceptualization, critical thinking (CT), CT-oriented pedagogy, English language teaching (ELT), Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU), pre-service teachers of English

Mariam Elhadi Mohammed Haghegh

2021

BurnoutEnglish LanguageEnglish Language Teaching (ELT)+7

An Investigation of Burnout and Coping Strategies among English Language Instructors in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region

Teaching is one of the occupations where burnout can be quite prevalent, because it is a hard and arduous journey which requires a lot of demand on teachers. Stressors coming from the students, colleagues, administrators and the teaching environment may affect their inner feelings and their performance negatively. This study was conducted in seven universties in the Iraqi Kurdistan region to investigate the level of burnout and its causes among English language instructors in those universities. The study also aimed to find out how those instructors were coping with their burnout. The current study followed a mixed-methods approach, which means that both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 100 English language instructors working in these seven universities. In addition to the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educator Survey (MBI-ES) which was applied to 100 participants, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 volunteers. Data analysis revealed that burnout was prevalent among the instructors of English who participated in the study. Both emotional exhaustion subscale and depersonalization subscale were found to be moderate among those instructors. However, personal accomplishment subscale was low, indicating the existence of burnout. Regarding the causes of burnout, the results highlighted four main themes, namely, education system-related causes, government-related causes, teacher-related causes, and causes related to students. The participants also expressed the coping mechanisms they used to deal with their burnout. In addition, they suggested other coping strategies that the university administration should deploy to help the instructors cope with burnout. This study has a number of implications both for the English language instructors and the university administrations. It is recommended that the sense of low personal accomplishment must be addressed among instructors to avoid burnout. Also, the coping strategies pointed out by the participants might be helpful for other instructors who may be unaware of those strategies. Finally, the university authorities should highlight this issue in their future plans and help instructors to avoid frustration and be able to cope with burnout. Keywords: Burnout, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal accomplishment, English language instructors, coping strategies, Iraqi Kurdistan region.

Basta Nazar Mohammad

CurriculaEFLEnglish Language+12

DoctorateOpen AccessEN

An Evaluation of A Suggested Instructional Writing Model in Freshmen English Writing Classes in Iran

The curriculum for teaching undergraduate university students in Iran majoring in English generally includes paragraph writing during the third semester and essay writing (4-5 paragraphs) during the fifth semester. In spite of their titles, the firstyear ‘Grammar & Writing (I & II)’ courses offered in the first and second semesters cover grammar only and rarely go beyond sentence-level writing in support of the newly taught grammar. This policy has created a gap between writing and other language skills, making it difficult for these students to deal with the demanding writing tasks such as extended writing assignments and projects later in their academic or professional life. In addition, the syllabus for writing courses, offered during the second and third years, is product-based, which has deprived students of the opportunities to engage in meaningful writing activities and to receive effective and efficient feedback on their work. The current study, however, challenges the delay in teaching writing as well as the use of traditional approaches in writing classes, describing and evaluating a teaching intervention within the process genre approach in freshmen English translation writing classes. Both quantitative and qualitative data collection instruments including pre- and posttests, pre- and post-intervention questionnaires, timed writing tasks, semi-structured interviews, and observation notes were employed during different phases of the study to gain insights into students’ engagement with this instruction, and to triangulate the data collected from different sources. The instruction for each semester (16 weeks) was designed based on a three-session (modeling, composing, and feedback) modular instructional model that focused on helping students write within four rhetorical modes: descriptive, narrative, process, and cause and effect. The analysis of data from different sources revealed that students made a significant development in the fluency, accuracy, and quality of their writing over the course of the study. The results also indicated a significant change in students’ attitudes towards writing as well as their acquisition and use of effective writing strategies at both paragraph and essay levels. In particular, students perceived feedback, the incorporation of samples and authentic reading materials, and portfolio writing as the most successful elements of this instructional writing model. The findings of this study highlighted the effectiveness of a writing intervention in first-year writing classes, and suggested that postponing writing instruction per se until the second year is questionable and that applying an eclectic approach to writing pedagogy may better compensate for students’ needs and contextual deficiencies. In addition, the findings imply that the use of more post-product writing approaches can promote the integration of reading and writing skills and therefore support learning other language learning areas such as vocabulary, grammar, and reading. These findings could inform similar EFL contexts with respect to the consideration of a writing curriculum and pedagogy commensurate with students’ real needs in academic writing. Keywords: instructional writing model, process genre approach, curriculum design, writing pedagogy, writing assessment, feedback, portfolio writing, EFL, Iran

Bakhtiar Naghdipour