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Exploring dynamics between emotions and professional commitment of a language teachers: A single case study
This dissertation examines the dynamics between emotions and professional commitment of language teachers within the Turkish context, an area that remains underexplored in the existing literature. It delves into the complex relationship between language teachers' emotional experiences and their commitment to the profession, addressing a notable gap in the field. As Complex Dynamic Systems Theory recently suggested teachers' emotions are complex and multidimensional in nature, it is important to explore the nested systems and interactions of this complex system that effects teachers' professional careers, beliefs, and teaching practices (Agudo & Azarro, 2018). Furthermore, recent research emphasizes teacher commitment as a dynamic and multilayered aspect of teacher professionalism that influences teaching practices and students' engagement in their learning (Crosswell, 2006). Using Complex Dynamic Systems Theory as a framework, this study examines how teachers' emotions and professional commitment interact as interconnected, dynamic components within the teaching context. The justification for the current study is based on the complexity and interrelation of emotions and professional commitment in language teaching, which interact with other elements of their nested systems. Therefore, the current study aims to explore interactions between emotions and professional commitment of a language teacher. Mainly, the purpose of the current study was to contribute to the field by investigating the interplay between various emotions and the professional commitment of a language teacher in regard to the multidimensional interactions for the purpose of shedding light on the intricacies of the two complicated research phenomena. The current study employed a single case study design, utilizing variety of data collection tools such as narratives, Experience Sampling Method, Idiodynamic method, and stimulated recalls. To reach this aims of the study, the retrospective study of the case is aimed to explore to unravel emotional trajectory of the case to identify the emotional experiences that shaped her career, beliefs, and teaching philosophy. The study further explores the emotional fluctuations of case within the six weeks in the classroom. Next, the fluctuations of emerging emotions and interactions with professional commitment is investigated. Findings of the study provided a more profound understanding of the emotional trajectory of a language teacher, both in retrospectively and in regard to teaching emotions. The findings illustrated the way emotions ground connections between a language teacher's previous experiences and affected her beliefs about her profession. Furthermore, the research uncovered the intricate relationship between emotions and commitment, along with the system components involved. The study revealed a dynamic relationship between emotions and professional commitment, shaped by various influencing factors. The intricate relationship between the two phenomena pointed out resilience as a key component in maintaining professional commitment in the case, emphasizing the interplay of emotions and professional commitment. The study indicates the significant role of acknowledging language teacher emotions and the intricate elements of teaching, such as professional commitment, which ultimately influence their pedagogical practices and enhance educational quality. Moreover, this study underscores the critical role of emotions in shaping and maintaining language teachers' professional commitment, suggesting that supporting teachers' emotional resilience and well-being as key components to fostering long-term commitment to the profession. The study enhances the literature on language teacher emotions by offering profound insights into the intricate challenges encountered by language teachers in their professional careers.
Impact of the gamification tool kahoot! on secondary school students' grammar proficiency
The aim of this study is to examine at the academic achievement of Kahoot! students in 6th grade, which is one of the most essential gamification tools in language teaching and grammar acquisition, as well as their opinions on the Kahoot! application. In the study, the effect of the Kahoot! application on the grammar learning success of the students was investigated and the opinions of the students regarding the application were taken. A total of 80 students, 40 in the control group and 40 in the experimental group, participated in the study. The study aims to find answers to two problem sentences containing both quantitative and qualitative data, and the quantitative data of the research were obtained by quasi-experimental technique and the qualitative data were obtained by semi-structured interview. Reliability and validity studies were conducted, and a pre-test and post-test consisting of 20 questions with high distinctiveness were prepared to evaluate the students' success in the determined grammatical subjects. Both groups were given the pre- and post-tests that had been prepared in advance. During the grammar learning process, traditional method techniques were applied to the control group and Kahoot! to the experimental group for 4 weeks. After the application was completed, a post-test was applied to both groups and it was investigated whether the Kahoot! application and content - based language teaching made a significant difference on grammar learning. Since the quantitative data are not parametric, Wilcoxon Matched – Pairs Signed Ranks Test and Mann Whitney U Test were used in the analysis of these data and the results were interpreted. After the application was completed and the post-test was administered, a semi-structured interview consisting of 5 open-ended questions was conducted with 10 randomly selected students from the experimental group in order to learn their opinions about the Kahoot! application. According to the results of the research, it was seen that the Kahoot! application made a significant positive difference on the grammar learning of the students. In addition, as a result of the semi-structured interviews, it was determined that the students had extremely positive views towards the Kahoot! application as an in-class material. Research findings are in agreement with many other studies in the literature. As a result, it is evaluated that Kahoot! can be used effectively for grammar teaching in the target language and it is suggested that more comprehensive studies can be done on this subject. Key Words: Kahoot!, gamification, computer assisted language learning (CALL), mobile assisted language learning (MALL), student response system (SRS).
Investigating the relationship between Turkish EFL instructors' attitudes towards the use of web 2.0 tools and their tpack ability level
Technology integration into English Language Teaching (ELT) has become increasingly popular with the recent improvements in education technologies. The present study assessed the Turkish EFL instructors' attitudes towards the use of Web 2.0 tools and their Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) ability levels and aimed to explore whether there is a significant relationship between them. Data were collected by quantitative method. The instruments of this study are the Web 2.0 Tools Attitude Questionnaire developed by Christina Karkoulia and TPACK Questionnaire developed by Ali Bostancıoğlu. This correlational study was addressed to 141 in-service EFL instructors in a private university in Ankara, Turkey in the 2021-2022 academic year and 108 instructors responded to the survey. Data were analysed with SPSS v. 26. The findings of this study revealed that there is a significant relationship between EFL instructors' attitudes towards the use of Web 2.0 tools in EFL teaching and their TPACK ability levels. There aren't many studies to explore the relationship between these two variables in the in-service Turkish EFL context, so this study might enlarge the current study by relating in-service EFL instructors' attitudes towards web 2.0 tools and TPACK levels by examining the relationship between them.
Karar ağacı analizi kullanarak üniversite öğrencilerinin öğretim elemanı değerlendirme formlarındaki memnuniyetinin yordayıcılarını belirlemek
Student evaluation of teaching is a prevalent method to assess instructional quality and student satisfaction in higher education all over the world. However, there is an ongoing debate as to which characteristics of instructors make them effective. This study aimed to discover which instructional characteristics can predict student satisfaction levels. To this end, a CHAID analysis, a form of decision tree analysis, was conducted on SPSS to reveal the relationships between instructional characteristics of instructors and student satisfaction level measured by a SET form. The study was conducted at an English language preparatory school of a non-profit private university in Türkiye. 4281 forms including 23 Likert-type questions were analyzed. The findings show effectiveness and being supportive are the most significant predictors of student satisfaction. Following them, enabling students to evaluate different perspectives, encouragement to share views, feedback, and positivity are highly valued by students. Less significant predictors are found to be variety of activities, asking questions to encourage students to express opinions, subject knowledge, guidance, encouraging active participation, preparedness, and recommending publications in English. All in all, 13 of 23 items were significant predictors of student satisfaction.
Öğretmen geribildiriminin yüksek öğretimde yabancı dil olarak İngilizce öğrenenlerin yazma becerilerinin gelişmesindeki rolü
The aim of this case study was to explore the main stakeholders' perceptions regarding the role of teacher feedback on improving EFL students' writing ability and investigate the potential commonalities and/or discrepancies among these main stakeholders' perceptions in an English language preparatory program of a university in Turkey. For this mixed-methods study, the quantitative data were collected from 62 instructors and 497 students via a survey. To gather qualitative data, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 instructors and 11 students. The quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics, and content analysis was used for the analysis of the qualitative data which came from open-ended question responses of the survey and one-to-one interviews. The findings of the study indicated some similarities and differences between instructors' and students' perceptions. Both instructors and the students thought demotivation is a significant factor in feedback. Instructors believe they give equal importance to grammar and meaning during their feedback. On the other hand, students reported that they mostly experienced grammar focused feedback although they expect more focus on meaning when they are provided with written feedback.