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Flourishing autonomous and well-becoming language learners: Exploring the impacts of a learning advisory-adapted program through the lens of a proposed model in Turkish context
This study examines the experiences and perspectives of students participating in a curriculum-integrated, advising-oriented program that aims to enhance language acquisition and self-regulation skills while promoting a sense of well-being. A program called the Learning Advisory Program (LAP) Club Speaking Classes was devised, based on a multidimensional adapted model known as The Butterfly Model, which incorporated self-determination theory (SDT), PERMA (the five pillars of well-being), and intentional reflective dialogue (IRD) to foster group advising practices. The content was given in accordance with the phases outlined in the equipped-for-future (EFF) framework and standards. This program was created for the LAP unit of AYBU SFL. This research is guided by two primary research questions. Firstly, it investigates the learners' experiences and perceptions of the program's implementation of the six core components of the Butterfly Model. Data from session-end surveys and post-program interviews were analyzed to identify themes related to these components, and the findings were interpreted within the framework of Basic Psychological Needs Theory. Secondly, the study explores learners' experiences regarding the program's contribution to their well-being in relation to the five core elements of the PERMA model. Data for this research question were collected using the PERMA meter questionnaire, and themes related to the five core elements of the PERMA model were identified and interpreted. The study involved an average of 104 students in the LAP Club Speaking Classes over a 7-week academic period. Data collection enabled an exploration of learners' perceptions, motivations, and well-being throughout the program. The analysis focuses on the impact of each component of the Butterfly Model and its relationship to learners' well-being. Overall, this study aims to provide valuable insights into the experiences of LAP Club participants and establish a foundation for the wider and sustainable implementation of similar programs within the institution.
Türkçe ve Türk işaret dili (TİD)'nde hikaye başlangıçları ve karakter tanıtımları: Dil kanalının farklı olması bize neyi gösterir?
The aim of the current thesis is to track the developmental patterns in learning to set the scene and introduce referents in narrations produced by hearing children acquiring Turkish and deaf children acquiring Turkish Sign Language (Türk İşaret Dili - TİD). While narrating events presented in visual modality as in picture stories, spoken language acquiring children need to translate them into sequential segments of verbal output following the linguistic structures of their language (Berman and Slobin, 1994). This is not the case for deaf children who acquire a sign language where space is used to describe events and linguistic structures bear visual resemblance to the real events. The data were collected from three age groups in TİD and Turkish: Younger children between 3;5-6;8 years, older children between 7;2-9;11, and adults. There were 10 participants in each age group in each language, thus a total of 60 people took part in the current study. The participants were asked to narrate a picture story (Balloon Story, Karmiloff-Smith, 1981) to a deaf or a hearing person depending on the language condition. All the data were annotated and coded by deaf and hearing research assistants for the linguistic elements used to set the scene at the beginning of the narration (i.e., who, where, what information for the first picture) and the use of explicit linguistic forms to introduce the referents (i.e., the boy, the balloon man, the balloon). The results of the analyses showed that TİD-signing and Turkish-speaking children reached the adult patterns in learning to use scene setting elements at similar ages: In both languages, older age children, but not younger age children, were similar to adults in how frequently they used different types of scene setting elements. As to referent introduction, even younger children in both languages were adult-like in making explicit referrals to different referents of Balloon Story. Turkish speakers, in general, used explicit referrals to the main and secondary animate and inanimate characters of the story more frequently than TİD signers, which could be an effect of modality or typological difference between two languages.
The effects of being Instateacher on English teachers' professional development and teacher identity
In recent years, especially after COVID-19, it has become popular to use social media as a part of teaching and professional development. Before the popularity of social media, teachers were forced to attend seminars or conferences that were chosen by educational institutions, and the administrators of the institutions used to decide on the professional development programs that teachers would attend. Top-down learning strategies were predominant and common however, with the popularity of social media, bottom-up strategies became popular, and teachers began to use them both for teaching and their professional development. The teachers also find standard-based professional development models ineffective and boring because they can't practice the activities in enough amount of time. Therefore, recently, the individual-based professional development model is much more preferable and popular. Thanks to the bottom-up, individual-based professional model, teachers started to choose the seminars they want to attend. On social media, it is easy to achieve anybody, any information, and any trends. In this current exploratory qualitative research study, the newly popular social media platform, Instagram is observed and the effects and contributions of being an Instateacher on English teachers' professional development and teacher identity are examined. The teachers who use Instagram for educational and developmental purposes by sharing materials, websites, lives, videos, seminars, or workshops are named as "Instateachers" in this study. This is the first time they are names as Instateachers. Interviews were conducted with 9 Instateachers from different parts of the world but mostly from Turkey. Conforming to the triangulation method, interviews were supported with related visuals from the accounts of Instateachers, and peer-editing was done by using initial coding. The findings of the study reveal that being an Instateacher and using Instagram contribute to English teachers' professional development and their teacher identities can be negotiated, changed and new identities can be added. It was proved that using Instagram actively and affectively helps teacher growth and the positive effects emerged in the data analysis with a truthful perspective of the subject matter.
Headway intermediate, headway pre-intermediate, language hub intermediate, language hub pre-intermediate kitaplarindaki yaşam tarzi değişikliği karşilaştirmali çalişmasi
Bu çalışma 1987 ve 2020 yılları arasında yayımlanan dört İngilizce ders kitabındaki yaşam tarzı yansımalarını ve değişikliklerini araştırmak ve karşılaştırmak amacıyla yapılmıştır. Kitaplar yabancı yazarlar tarafından oluşturulmuş olup farklı kuruluşlarda ve İngiliz Dili Eğitimi alanında kullanılmıştır. Bu çalışmanın amacı İngiliz Dili Eğitimi ders kitaplarındaki yaşam tarzı yansımalarını, yaşam tarzı ögelerinin kategorilendirilmesiyle nicel ve nitel olarak araştırmaktır. Buna ek olarak, bu çalışma yıllar içinde İngiliz Dili Eğitimi ders kitaplarındaki yaşam tarzı yansımalarının neler olduğunu ve hayat tarzının nasıl değiştiğini birbirleriyle karşılaştırarak tespit etmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Bu sonuçlara ulaşabilmek için, bu çalışma yedi farklı kategoride incelemeye alınmıştır: a) yiyeceklerle ilgili görseller b) teknolojik ürünler, cihazlar, araçlar ve ekipmanlar c) ırk, etnik köken ve uyruk, d) boş zaman faaliyetleri, e) kıyafetler, f) kadın rolleri, meslekleri ve aktiviteleri, g) erkek rolleri, meslekleri, ve aktiviteleri. Görsel veriler bu kategorilere göre tablolara dönüştürülerek nicel ve nitel olarak analiz edilmiştir. Araştırmanın sonucu ders kitaplarının karşılaştırılmasıyla yaşam tarzı yansımalarının Headway Intermediate (1987), Headway Pre-Intermediate (1991), Language Hub Intermediate (2019) ve Language Hub Pre-Intermediate (2020) kitaplarında büyük ölçüde farklılık gösterdiğini ortaya koymuştur. Yiyecek içecek, ırk, etnik köken ve uyruk, ve boş zaman aktivitelerindeki çeşitlilik Language Hub Intermediate (2019) ve Language Hub Pre-Intermediate (2020) kitaplarında belirgindir. Tümünde, kıyafetlerin ve cinsiyet rolleri çeşitliliği neredeyse paraleldir, ancak kapsamları farklıdır. Hem cinsiyet rollerinin hem kıyafetlerin kapsamı ve öğelerin çeşitliliği konusunda ders kitapları gelişen teknoloji ve globalleşme sebebiyle değişikliğe uğramıştır.
Turkish digital linguaculture: Intertextual practices of a Facebook community
This discourse-based study aims to provide a perspective on online Turkish linguaculture through the practices of a Facebook Specific Interests Group (SIG) and the possible implications of these practices in context. Focusing on posts and comments of the SIG members, the study investigates how the heteroglot practices and intertextual references made through diverse semiotic resources such as text and visuals including GIFs, images, videos and emoticons, and also the original contexts where these references are used and taken from. The analysis draws on the content produced on the SIG in a 3-month data collection period. The findings of the study demonstrate that members' linguacultural practices manifest themselves commonly in their use of figurative language, multimodal resources and English that reflect their multiliteracies. Thanks to these practices, a hybrid digital discourse and the linguaculture of the SIG are constructed through multilayered heteroglot and intertextual relations.
Raising EFL learners` awereness of verb-noun collocations through chunking to extend their knowledge of familiar nouns
Research in vocabulary has received much attention recently due to the recognition of a need that a larger lexicon of L2 is a prerequisite to effective communication. Corpus linguistics such as the COBUILD project has shown us that vocabulary is not consisted only of single words but a much wider part of real language includes multi-word units; polywords, collocations, fixed, semi-fixed utterances etc. The purpose of this study is to see to what extent Turkish learners of English chunk collocations i.e. word partnerships in texts, and whether a focus on these partnerships through an awareness-raising activity makes any contribution to learners' productive/receptive vocabulary use. The study, in particular, aims to prove that frequent verb collocates of familiar nouns escape notice through reading on the assumption that such words are already known and do not need further attention. To this end, a native speaker of English formed two texts including common verb + noun collocations under the topics of Education and Traffic with reference to Oxford Collocations Dictionary (2002). Then, one productive and one receptive test were formed, each comprising 25 items, 13 of which were found in the two texts. The study was conducted with two classes of 36 Upper- Intermediate level students, 18 of them being in the experimental group and the other half in the control group. The results of the study revealed that the experimental group that was trained in chunking collocations in texts scored higher in both forms of posttests. in
Teachers questions: Do they encourage critical thinking?
We can easily underline that today there are two related terms with society:knowledge and technology. Every person living in a society should always thinkcritically in order to cope with a developing technology and knowledge. Besidesanalytical skills, firstly critical thinking abilities should be taught to help students inthe process.Developing individuals who posse critical thinking skills, is one of the mostimportant goals of our education system. Teachers, instructors, and lecturers play agreat role in developing critical thinking. Considering the classroom environment,teachers can do different tasks to promote this; for example, they can start a classdiscussion by which students can have the chance to express their personal opinions.Topics given should ideally encourage students to do research, synthesize the relevantideas and present them in a logical way. Furthermore, teachers can act as facilitatorspromoting students? critical thinking abilities by asking questions which can fosterstudents? ability to analyze, synthesize, reason, and express their ideas freely.Paying attention to the importance of the questions in developing criticalthinking skills, the aim of this study is to identify what kind of questions teachers askat Intermediate level in Listening / Speaking courses at Anadolu University School ofForeign Languages. Moreover, the study aims to find out whether the questions askedby the teachers include High- Order questions or not.The study was conducted in 2005- 2006 at Anadolu University School ofForeign Languages with eight teachers teaching 400 students at Intermediate level.The eight teachers were video- recorded for eight class hours over a week period intheir Listening / Speaking courses. It has to be underlined that from those eightteachers, three teachers were chosen based on their teaching experiences and theirnative languages and the recordings of those particular teachers were analyzed. Thetotal process of recording lasted for three weeks between the 12th of December 2005and 2nd of January 2006.The findings of the study revealed that teachers ask different types ofquestions. Since the focus of the study was the High- Order Questions, the resultsindicated that the percentage of the High- Order Questions asked inListening/Speaking classes is not high.Key Words: Questions, High- Order Questions, Language Teaching,Classroom Discourse
An investigation of cooperating teachers' roles as mentors during the teaching practicum at distance b.a. program in elt at Anadolu University open education faculty
The present study aims to investigate the perceptions of the cooperating teachersand student teachers as to mentoring roles of the cooperating teachers. 1846 4th yearstudent teachers who enrolled to the Distance B.A Program in ELT at the AnadoluUniversity Open Faculty (AUOF) and took `School Experience II and Teaching PracticeCourse? during the 2006-2007 academic year and their 358 cooperating teachersparticipated in the study. `Cooperating Teacher Questionnaire? and `Student teacherQuestionnaire? which were designed in a 5-point Likert scale. The StudentQuestionnaire was a similar version of The Cooperating Teacher Questionnaire. Theitems of the two questionnaires were matched. The analysis of the CTQ indicated thatCronbach alpha value was 0. 928 and the principal component analysis with ten factorsand 43 indicators explained 60.196 % of the total variance. The results of the studyindicated that cooperating teachers often performed their mentoring responsibilities.Moreover, cooperating teachers indicated that they most frequently provided moralsupport and gave feedback on teaching performance and least frequently facilitatedsocialization of student teachers and interacted with other cooperating teachers. Thescores of the cooperating teachers and student teachers for almost all mentor roles were inline. Student teachers and cooperating teachers differed from each other at a statisticallysignificant level in terms of `providing facilitative information to enhance classroomperformance?, providing moral support.As a result of this study, a reliable and valid Cooperating Teacher Questionnairewith regard to their mentor roles was constructed. This questionnaire has been the firstand the only one constructed with regard to the mentor roles at distance English teachertraining context up to now. The results of this study contribute to increased understandingof cooperating teacher support related to mentoring process at the distance BA ELTprogram during teaching practicum. This study has been the only study conducted indistance ELT teacher training practicum to the present. The findings of this study suggestnumerous possibilities for future research.Key words: Teaching practice, practicum, cooperating teacher, student teacher,mentoring
Impact of peer feedback on EFL learners' foreign language writing anxiety and their ideas about peer feedback
The present study aims at researching the impact of peer feedback on foreign language writing anxiety experienced by Turkish prep school students studying EFL and their opinions about peer feedback. To achieve these aims, the participants in the experimental group got training on peer feedback, gave and received peer feedback for nine weeks. 120 participants in both control and experimental groups responded to Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI) at the beginning and end of the study. Besides, 15 participants from the experimental group were interviewed about their thoughts regarding peer feedback and its impact on foreign language writing anxiety. The study revealed that training and practices on giving and receiving peer feedback had a significant impact on decreasing foreign language writing anxiety. The present study highlighted the idea that peer feedback practice needs to be a well-planned implementation supported with a continuous learner training on how to give peer feedback effectively and efficiently. For the participants in the present study, getting and giving peer feedback was helpful in feeling more relaxed and self-confident as they realized that their peers do similar mistakes and have similar worries during writing. As a conclusion, training and practices on peer feedback have the potential to lead learners to believe that they can be successful by reducing foreign language writing anxiety and increasing their awareness about EFL writing.
An analysis of the functional moves in the introduction sections of research articles written by Turkish scholars
English is the main medium of communication among academic researchers. Publishing in international journals may become very challenging for non-native speakers who may have different conventions of writing research articles. In the existing literature, research articles (RAs) written in English and in other languages have been examined in order to explore whether the textual organization in various languages is similar or different. However, intercultural studies of texts produced by L2 writers in English are few in number - in particular studies focusing on the introduction section which is known to be troublesome for novice writers (Ahmed, 2004; Jogthong, 2001). Moreover, while abstracts in academic writing have received attention recently, much less research has investigated introduction sections and there has been little descriptive investigation of their move structure, including interdisciplinary variation. Introduction sections of RAs are of great importance because in these sections writers create rhetorical patterns in each language to claim knowledge. Due to lack of enough research in the introduction sections of RAs, this study aimed to examine research article introductions (RAIs) written in English and Turkish by Turkish speakers across two disciplines- Preschool Education and Special Education, using Swales' (2004) CARS Model to focus on the move and step structures. The analyses of the data indicated the existence of both similarities and also differences. The findings demonstrated that both native and non-native writers are well aware of the functional moves of the introduction sections of the research article proposed by Swales (2004). The results demonstrated that although less than half of the RAIs followed the move sequence of 1-2-3 in both of the disciplines, regardless of the sequence, all of the moves were existent to a high degree in the RAIs. A couple of implications were drawn from the study and some suggestions were made regarding teaching second language writing in general and also teaching English academic writing for Turkish advanced learners and Turkish scholars. Key words: Research Articles, Introduction Sections, Contrastive Rhetorics, CARS Model, Teaching Academic Writing.
Online support application for oral communication skills course: A case study
The purpose of this research study is to explore how first year candidate teachers of English made use of online asynchronous speaking and listening activities outside the classroom as an online support to their EFL oral communication courses. In relation with the purpose of the study, a case study research paradigm was conducted. There were three research questions posed for the study. The first research question explored how the participants used the online support. The data for this research question came from the learning logs and researcher's logs. The second research question targeted at revealing the opinions of the participants. The last research question examined the factors that prevented the participants from using the online support. The study lasted for one whole semester and a total of 21 first year candidate teachers of English participated the study. The findings of the study suggest that the online support has potentials as a supplementary independent study tool to support oral communication courses. Those who used the online support found it useful and necessary to support the oral communication skills course. They reported gains in language proficiency, fluency, and confidence to speak in English. Especially, the feedback they received helped them to realize their weaknesses in grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. They also believed that the activities in the online support helped them to make spontaneous speech and prepared them for unrehearsed speech. Half of the participants thought it helped them to develop their pronunciation, whereas the other half disagreed. Similarly, half thought completing the speaking activities helped them to reduce their anxiety, whereas the other half disagreed. The participants used the activities in the online support mainly to expand the learning that takes place in the classroom and to revise the relevant content. Previewing was another reason to use the activities; however, it was not as common as the other two purposes. However, participants' effective use of the online support depends on availability of internet connectivity and finding suitable study environments. Furthermore, personal factors, such as disinclination, the presence of other required course work and poor time-management, also have a role in participants' effective use of the online support. One last factor that affects participants' decision to use the online support is attitudes towards computer mediated asynchronous communication. Participants who have negative attitudes towards computer mediated asynchronous communication decide not to use the online support from the beginning. Others, who are neutral prior to the implementation, may develop negative feelings towards computer mediated communication in the course of implementation and decide not to use the online support.
Interactional speech modification strategy use of teachers of young EFL learners
In light of the research finding that language learning is facilitated through the interactive and modified teacher discourse in the classroom (Thoms, 2012), this study aimed to examine teacher talk in the context of young English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in Istanbul, Turkiye. With the purpose of investigating the types of specific patterns teachers may use to make input comprehensible and meaningful for the young learners, 10 EFL teachers' interactions with their primary school and preschool students were collected through lesson observations and audio-recordings of teacher talks. For primary school context, data were collected from two sessions of two teachers from each grade (the first to the fourth). This totally makes 16 sessions. Moreover, for preschool context, data were collected from two sessions of two teachers in kindergarten, four-five years old and five-six years old classes, as one lesson from each age group. This entirely equals four sessions. Furthermore, these data were also supported with semi-structured interviews with the same teachers to learn their conceptual understanding of using interactional language with young learners and whether they will report employing specific strategies of meaning negotiation. The study employed a qualitative case study design. The qualitative data collected in the study were analyzed through discourse analysis to learn the purpose of teachers' spoken interactions with their students. Content analysis method was also used for the interview data. Although discourse analysis is inductive in nature, specific patterns from the literature were also used as a guide to create a code scheme for the teacher discourse analysis. The results displayed that EFL teachers implemented various speech modification strategies in their lessons to make the input understandable while teaching their young learners. These strategies were categorized under seven themes: modifying linguistic resources, teachers' echo, teachers' scaffolding, teachers' conversational frames, teachers' interactional feedback, teachers' epistemic questions, and teachers' echoic questions. On the other hand, semi-structured interviews revealed that they consciously employed speech modification strategies in their sessions to make input comprehensible for young learners. Even though teachers' self-reported and actual uses of speech modification strategies did not match completely compared to the observations of the same participants during the semi-structured interviews, these speech modification strategies were mainly about the seven themes: elaboration, simplification, peer assistance, repetition, echoic questions, epistemic questions, and role-play. This study fills a significant gap by exploring the use of interactional speech modification strategies by teachers of (very) young EFL learners in the context of Turkiye. This study also proposed several implications for the field of teacher education and language teaching. Initially, it is clear that teacher talk has a facilitatory effect on language learning; therefore, schools should accept it and all EFL pre-service and in-service teachers of young learners should be supported via teacher talk training programs for their professional development. Secondly, these training programs may serve as opportunities for teachers to gain awareness of the strategy use, thus preventing communication breakdowns between teachers and young learners in the classroom. Hence, modified interactions can support meaning making mechanisms of young learners.
Possible effects of the teaching proficiency through reading and storytelling TPRS) approach on very young learners' l2 vocabulary acquisition
Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) is a methodology developed by an American teacher in 1990s to teach Spanish to adolescent and adult learners. Based on the principles of Asher's Total Physical Response and Krashen's Natural Approach, this methodology aims to provide language learners with considerable amount of comprehensible input through stories for language and literacy development. Although it has already demonstrated high potential with adolescent and adult learners of English, its implementation within the context of young and very young learners and its impact on their language acquisition is an issue that remains to date underexplored. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the possible effects of TPRS on very young learners' L2 receptive and productive vocabulary acquisition. Nineteen four-year-old kindergarten students of a private school constituted a single treatment group of the study. The target vocabulary was selected from five age appropriate storybooks used by the school following the steps of frequency check with an online vocabulary profiler tool and a children's dictionary. The study had pretest-treatment-immediate posttest-and delayed posttest design. For the TPRS treatment that lasted five weeks, lesson plans were prepared by adapting the establishment of the meaning, asking a story and reading stages of TPRS to the context of very young learners. In order to check children's knowledge of target vocabulary prior to the treatment and to measure their immediate recall and delayed retention two weeks after the treatment, receptive and productive picture tests were developed and administered by the researcher in one-to-one sessions with each participating child. The scores obtained on the tests were analyzed using descriptive statistics to evaluate the effectiveness of the method on target vocabulary acquisition. The results of the study show that TPRS has a positive effect both on recall and retention of receptive and productive vocabulary. The study provides guiding implications for language teachers and curriculum developers at preschools who would like to adapt this method to the context of very young learners considering the special needs and characteristics of children at this age. Key words: Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS); very young learners; vocabulary acquisition; receptive and productive vocabulary; using storytelling in vocabulary acquisition.
Comparing the effects of processing instruction and production-based instruction on the regular verb form of English simple past tense: The role of explicit information
Over the last two decades, the importance of grammar instruction for second language (L2) development has occupied a major place in the pedagogy. This dissertation study investigated the effectiveness of processing instruction (PI) and production-based instruction (PBI) on the acquisition of English simple past tense regular verb morphology (-ed). In addition, the role of explicit grammatical information (EI) was examined. In total, 194 EFL university students at the preparatory school of a private university in Turkey were randomly selected to form four instructional groups: PI groups with EI (PI+EI) and without (PI-EI); PBI groups with EI (PBI+EI) and without EI (PBI-EI), and a control group. The performance of all five groups was measured three times throughout the study: a pretest one week before the study, an immediate posttest one day after the instructions, and a delayed posttest three weeks after the instructions. The tests included interpretation (aural and written) and production (oral and written) tasks. A series of 5 × 3 ANOVA with repeated measures were run for the analyses. Firstly, the results revealed that all four instructional groups improved their performance more than the control group from pretest to posttest 1 and posttest 2. Secondly, while PI+EI group outperformed PBI+EI group on the interpretation tasks, both groups performed equally well on the production tasks. Thirdly, however, PI-EI group did not perform better than PBI-EI group on the interpretation tasks; both performed equally well on the production tasks. Fourthly, no statistically significant difference was found for the comparison of PI+EI vs. PI-EI groups, and PBI+EI vs. PBI-EI groups, which thereby showed that EI did not play a significant role in either PI or PBI. This dissertation provides an array of theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical implications to L2 teachers in general and Turkish EFL teachers, in particular. For instance, the study showed that both PI and PBI were effective in helping Turkish EFL learners acquire the target form. But as for the greater effectiveness of the instructions among each other (PI+EI vs. PBI+EI and PI-EI vs. PBI-EI), especially on the interpretation tasks, PI-EI group receiving structured input activities alone did not perform better than PBI-EI group receiving structured output activities alone (PI-EI = PBI-EI). When EI was added as one component into instructional sequence for PI and PBI groups, this time PI+EI performed better than PBI+EI on the same interpretation tasks (PI+EI > PBI+EI), which thereby showed that VanPatten's input processing model needs one more component: Explicit Information (see figure 7). That is, structured input activities per se are not enough. This study partially confirmed VanPatten's processing instruction which helped learners produce as well as learners receiving production-based instruction on the production tasks. However, in contrast to what VanPatten found, processing instruction needed EI to be able to outperform PBI groups on the interpretation tasks. The study also offers some clear directions for future research to L2 researchers, such as the effect of L1 transfer on L2 interlanguage development and the involvement of computer-based tools such as "E-prime" as a methodological instrument to ensure the accuracy of the collected data.
The effectiveness of multiple intelligence activities on vocabulary learning in elementary classes
iiABSTRACTThis study sought to reveal the efficacy of the teaching activities based on theMultiple Intelligence Theory on the pupils? vocabulary learning and retention.In this study; thirty words, including `parts of the body?, `house?, and`members of the family?, were chosen to be taught to the control and theexperimental groups consisting of the fourth graders in two classes, 4-A and 4-B,which were kept intact. While doing so the foreign language syllabus was followedwithout making any changes.The study took place in the Manisa Saruhanbey Primary School. Asmentioned above two classes were selected for the research. There were thirtystudents in each class. The 4-A class was determined as the control group and the 4-B class as the experimental group. The quasi-experimental research design was usedto test the effectiveness of the MI activities on the retention of vocabulary items,since the research was carried out with the two fourth year classes that were keptintact.In order to answer the research question, the pretest-immediate post test-delayed post test design was used. Prior to the onset of the research, a pretest wasadministered to the subjects. The results of the pre-test revealed the fact that thesubjects were not familiar with the selected lexical items as they all scored 0 (zero).The pre-test was administered to the subjects in both groups before thebeginning of the research and the immediate post test was administered during thelast five minutes of the lesson each week to check their learning. The same test wasgiven again after a month as a delayed post test in order to find out the effectivenessof the MIT activities on the retention of the items in the long term memory.The findings revealed that there was a significant difference between the twogroups in achievement tests in favor of the experimental group. In other words theactivities related to the MIT have a positive influence on the pupils? vocabularylearning and retention in the experimental group.
An investigation into the effects of using cooperative learning activities on vocabulary learning in the 10th grade English course
The study aimed at investigating whether the implementation of cooperative learning (CL) activities, in the subject of English classrooms, will have an effect on students? academic achievement of vocabulary learning and recalling levels of the vocabulary. It was an experimental study in which cooperative learning method was compared with traditional learning method. This study was conducted in Ezine Anatolian High School, Çanakkale. The subjects were from the researcher?s two English classes of 10th grade in the second semester of 2011. One class was selected as a control group and the other one was experimental group. The experimental group received teaching method using cooperative learning method and Jigsaw technique which was a cooperative learning technique, while the control group received traditional teaching method. The treatment phase lasted for two weeks period. Data were gathered in this study using types of sources; pre- test, post-test, delayed-post test (VKS) and students? comments on cooperative learning activities. To determine the effect of cooperative learning method on achievement in vocabulary learning and recall levels of students, non-parametric tests were used for analysing techniques. Data analysis revealed that both the experimental and the control groups showed positive performance of vocabulary learning. However after the treatment respondents of the experimental group showed better performance than the control group who did not show similar achievement. The experimental group outscored significantly the control group on post-test showing the supremacy of cooperative learning method over traditional learning method. Furthermore a delayed post- test showed that the recall levels of the students in the experimental group were better than the students? recall levels of the control group. Moreover, the students? comments on cooperative learning revealed that students had positive attitudes towards cooperative learning. Hence, the ultimate result of the study indicated that cooperative learning method was more effective for vocabulary learning of English as compared to the traditional learning method.Keywords: Cooperative Learning, Traditional Teaching, Vocabulary Learning, ForeignLanguage Learning.
Readers emotional involvement in reading L2 short stories
Reading short stories evokes emotions on readers and the readers respond to shortstories with their emotions. These emotional responses get the readers to beemotionally involved in reading. Emotional involvement in reading makes the readingprocess more enjoyable and beneficial for the L2 learners. Thus, this study aims tosearch into the process of the readers? emotional involvement in reading L2 shortstories. Fifty-one (51) student-teachers at Çukurova University, ELT Department,were administered a literary response questionnaire (LRQ) in order to investigate theiremotional responses to short stories in general and their emotional involvement in theprocess of reading L2 short stories. Moreover, three female (3 F) and three male (3 M)student-teachers, out of these fifty-one (51) participants, were administered emotiondiaries, another questionnaire about the stories they read in the study and interviewsfor a thorough analysis of the process of emotional involvement. In the light of thedata gathered, the present research suggests that EFL/ESL teachers should select thereading materials that will promote emotional involvement and design appropriateactivities.Key Words: Emotional response, emotional involvement, empathy, identification,short story
A teacher development program for young learners of English: An action research
In 1999, the Turkish Ministry of Education instituted English as a foreign language intothe fourth and fifth grade curriculum. However, the Ministry of Education (MEB) didnot prepare teachers to teach these grades. As a result, the necessary backgroundinformation, skills, and techniques needed for this new task were lacking in theseteachers.This led the researcher implement a teacher development program entitled ?TeachingEnglish at the 4th and 5th Grades?. Hence, a survey was sent to 220 schools under thejurisdiction of Konya City Directorate of the Ministry of Education. Second, given 120survey results, plus participants? expectations; the researcher conducted a teacherdevelopment program.This study, conducted as an action research, is based on Kelly?s (1955) PersonalConstruct Theory, which considers everyone a personal scientist. The Repertory GridTechnique, the data collection tool of the Personal Construct Theory is the main datacollection tool used in this study.It is used at the beginning of the study to elicit the participants? underlying personalbeliefs on efficient primary grades English teachers. These have been made explicit fortriggering participants change and development. The Repertory Grid Technique is usedat the end of the ?Teaching English at the 4th and 5th Grade? teacher developmentprogram? to determine the changes in the content and structure of the participants?beliefs.The results revealed changes in both the content and structure of the participants?beliefs, regarding the features of English teachers teaching at the grades of four andfive.Key words: Teacher Development, Personal Construct Theory, Repertory GridTechnique, English in the Primary Grades, In-service Teacher Development Program.
The use of hedges in research articles by Turkish interlanguage speakers of english and native english speakers in the field of social sciences
Studies relating to hedging phenomena have often been directed at the analysis of spoken interaction or at language use in general. However, especially from the mid-1980s onwards, the role of hedges in written discourse and particularly in academically and scientifically oriented language use has become a point of considerable interest for researchers.The study examines the instances of various kinds of hedges in the corpora compiled from research articles by native and non-native authors in hte field of social sciences and to determine whether or not variation exists between the two corpora under investigation in terms of occurence and functions of hedges. The questions of the research are:1. To what extent do native and nonnative speakers of English employ the same linguistic means of expressing hedging?2. Do native and nonnative speakers of English show variation as regards the frequency of the use of epistemic modality markers as hedging devices?3. What functional differences in the use of hedges do both corpora display?The study was conducted with 90 research articles written by Turkish inter-language speaker of English and native speakers in the field of social sciences. The corpora were analyzed through Word Smith tool.Keywords: Hedges, Linguistic Variation, Epistemic Modality Markers
A study of the effects of processing instruction on the development of English wh-questions used by Turkish EFL learners
This dissertation has aimed at comparing the possible effects of processing instruction (PI) and traditional instruction (TI) on the development of English wh-questions by Turkish EFL learners, examining whether the possible improved performance would be long-lasting in the long-term memory. For this study, 56 Turkish students attending preparatory program at Foreign Languages Center (YADIM) at Çukurova University were randomly assigned as a) processing instruction group, and b) traditional instruction group. In this study, two different instructional packets, a pretest, and two posttests were administered. The tests were consisted of two parts: comprehension and written-production. In the comprehension part, there was a grammaticality judgement task (GJT). In the written-production part, on the other hand, we had a translation task (TT) and a picture-cued task (PCT). Two weeks before the instructional treatment, the pretest was administered. The instructional treatment and the posttest1 spanned a period of one week. Four weeks after the posttest1, the posttest2 was administered. The raw scores obtained from the pretest and posttests were examined through using two-way ANOVA and the results were presented in tables and figures.The findings obtained from the comprehension task, namely GJT, revealed that both the PI and TI groups resulted in some kind of knowledge gain due to the treatments. However, the results of the posttest2 presented that only the effects of PI were retained over time.The results of the analysis of the written-production data indicated that both the PI and TI groups resulted in some kind of knowledge gain and both the TI and PI had a positive effect on how learners produced the English wh-questions. However, in the posttest2, the TI group was unable to retain the proficiency gains across the postest1 and posttest2 while the PI group?s scores were durable.KEY WORDS: Processing instruction, traditional instruction, wh-questions
Acquisition of English as a second language by a Turkish adult (Case study)
This study aims at investigating the acquisition of English as a second language in its natural setting by a twenty-seven year old Turkish adult. The study focuses on two aspects of her English acquisition: Grammatical Morpheme Acquisition and the preference of her Language Learning Strategies. Except our main data source `Diaries? that the participant sent through e-mails almost everyday, we applied The Michigan Test of English Language Proficiency (MTELP) to conceive her improvement, and Strategy Inventory for Learning Strategies (SILL) to figure out her strategy preference.The analysis of `diaries? gave different results from SILL on the strategy preference. It revealed that Cognitive Strategies were favored the most. Unlike `diaries? the results of SILL showed that our participant preferred the Communication Strategies more than other strategy groups, and Cognitive Strategies were the least group used by her. Though her Morpheme Acquisition Order showed similarities with the general sequence of order studies, unlike them, the first morpheme acquired by our participant was `Aux be? and the second one was `Irreg. Past?. Yet, the results of our study support the current theories of Second Language Acquisition of English.
Using semantic mapping strategy for teaching content words practice in EFL context
The current study consists of two phases as experimental and descriptive.The primary aim hereby is to raise awareness towards lexical semantic relations (LSRs) through semantic mapping as a vocabulary learning strategy. EFL learners' individual and social experiences are intended to provide the necessary knowledge to fill the slots in their lexical schemata. The experimental phase mainly concerned with the extent of the mapping of LSRsin terms of its contribution to the vocabulary learning in an academic EFL context.20 EFL students participated in the treatment procedure.They were asked to follow an individual path first, and a collaborative one in the classroom next. During the individual study, each student composed a personal learner's dictionary based on their real world knowledge. The collaborative part was in terms of compiling such individual data and accumulating them on a web database. Still, no single strategy is enough to meet the whole needs in a language classroom. Therefore, investigating the influence of the other supplementary strategies over semantic mapping was another purpose of the study.A further point that the study also seekedwas on any change in the size of the vocabulary known as well as the vocabulary learned after the practice. The statistical results indicated a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of the treatment group for both the vocabulary learned and known. Besides, there seemed to be no remarkable difference between the impacts of the other supplementary strategies on the process.The participants of the treatment were asked to provide feedback in the descriptive phase. They were directed four survey items online after the end of the semester. The data obtained from the responses were analysed using NVivo10, software to interpret qualitative data. A correspondence between the findings of both phases was evident towards the use of mapping of LSRs as a vocabulary learning strategy. Keywords: Semantic mapping, schemata, lexical semantic relations, vocabulary learning strategies, vocabulary size.
Exploring university teachers' and students' perceptions of intercultural awareness
The global spread of English has resulted in diverse varieties of the language and not surprisingly it has influenced English language education worldwide. Its role as an international language therefore, highlights the need to raise intercultural awareness in English language teaching. The aim of this study is to gain an insight into English language instructors and learners' perceptions toward intercultural awareness at a university prep school in Turkey. In order to broaden the scope of the study, this research employed a mixed-method research design, combining quantitative and qualitative measures. The data consists of questionnaires conducted with 45 instructors including NESTs and NNESTs and 92 learners; semi-structured interviews with 8 instructors, and focus group interviews with 24 learners. The quantitative data was analyzed using the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Science) software version 19.0, and the qualitative data were analyzed using the NVivo qualitative data software version 10.0. The investigation focused on four areas: participants perceptions toward the ownership of English, cultural integration in English language teaching, intercultural efficiency of the ELP program, and suggestions to enhance intercultural awareness. The results revealed that both the instructors and the learners acknowledged the importance of the English language in the realm of intercultural awareness, but both lacked a full understanding of the concept. The findings also indicated that the ELP program could not be considered as successful enough to raise intercultural awareness adequately and a set of recommendations on the issue was provided by the participants. Based on the outcomes of the study, remarkable implications were suggested in order to raise English language teachers' and students' intercultural awareness. The results of the study pointed to the substantial need for in-service teacher training programs and curriculum reflecting intercultural dimension of English language, and extra-curricular cultural activities that promote intercultural awareness. This study aims to contribute to English language teaching by revealing both teacher and student perspectives, which has been seldomly investigated and also offering several recommendations to enrich intercultural perspective in English language teaching.
KPDS ve ÜDS'nin akademisyenlerin dil öğrenimine etkisi: Nevşehir örneği
The influence that a test has on learning and teaching is defined as washback effect. Washback effect can be divided into three categories; positive, negative, or neutral. If a test influences learning in a positive way, it is called as positive washback. However, if it influences the learning process in a negative way, then it is called negative washback. If a test does not affect education in any way, then it is called neutral washback. The purpose of this study is to find out the washback effects of two high-stake tests, KPDS and ÜDS, on the language development of academic personnel. The study was conducted at Nevsehir University. A questionnaire and interviews with academicians were used to collect the data. The questionnaire part focused on 103 academic personnel. For the interview part, two assistant professors and two research assistants were interviewed face to face. To analyze the data a program called SPSS version 19.0 was used. In order to better understand the data obtained from the surveys, descriptive statistics (mean, SD, frequency and percentage) of the data were presented. As for results, it has been found out that KPDS and ÜDS had some positive and negative washback effects on different skills. Reading is the only skill on which these exams had positive washback effect. Most of the participants agreed that they studied to improve their reading comprehension since it was widely tested in KPDS and ÜDS. In addition, KPDS and ÜDS had positive washback effect on vocabulary. Finally grammar is also positively affected by KPDS and ÜDS. As to listening, speaking, and writing, since KPDS and ÜDS do not test these skills, these exams had strong negative effects on these skills. Furthermore, the participants also suggested that if KPDS and ÜDS tested listening, speaking, and writing they would study to improve these skills.
The effect of using contextual vocabulary learning strategies on developing productive vocabulary knowledge of university preparatory class students
The aim of this present study is to investigate the effect of using contextual vocabulary learning strategies such as guessing or inferring technique on developing active, productive, vocabulary knowledge. It aims to focus on whether guessing technique to learn new vocabulary items is helpful to use them actively in writing, as well as recognizing when encountered in a text.This study was applied with 40 pre-intermediate level students; 20 for experimental, and 20 for control group; who were at preparatory class at a state university to learn English as a foreign language. Descriptive statistical values were interpreted and a t-test was applied in order to see whether there was significant difference between the experimental and the control group.In this study, 4 reading texts were chosen in the coursebook and the students in the experimental group were encouraged to guess the meaning of unknown words by referring to certain clues in the text after the training sessions about contextual vocabulary learning strategies. However, the ones in the control group learnt the words with other traditional techniques such as memorizing or listing. At the end of each reading texts, the students were asked to write a short text with a parallel topic as a post-reading activity. The writings of the students were analyzed to see whether they used the newly-learnt words or not.According to the analysis of the results, the students who learnt new vocabulary items with contextual vocabulary learning strategies are more able to remember and produce them actively in a written context. However, if they consult to traditional techniques such as listing the words with their first language definitions and memorizing, they become less successful while using the same words. Key Words: Language teaching, vocabulary learning strategies, guessing technique, productive vocabulary, active words
A study on error correction to reduce learning anxiety in oral communication in EFL classes
The purpose of this study is to investigate EFL students? preferences of error correction strategies in oral communication and the extent to which their preferences are affected by the anxiety levels of the students. This study is conducted at three state universities with the participation of 266 students from the department of ELT in Turkey. Three sets of data were collected through three instruments. The first set of data was collected through the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) questionnaire. The subjects in the study were first asked to complete FLCAS to assess their general language anxiety level. Then they were categorized into three different anxiety levels: low, medium and high. The aim of categorizing the subjects into three different anxiety levels is to determine whether the students? preferences of error correction methods change according to their anxiety levels. The second set of data was collected through Chaudron?s (1988) taxonomy concerning error correction strategies which was a list of 27 error correction methods and the third set of data was collected by two open ended questions with regard to the types of errors that learners preferred to be corrected and person who provides correction. The analyses of the quantitative data reveal that nearly half of the students (43.8%) believe the corrections of pronunciation errors are important for them. Moreover, the results also indicate that the majority (62.1%) of the students prefer their teachers to correct their errors during oral communication. In addition, the results indicate that there is significant relationship between student?s preferences of error correction methods and their anxiety levels. All students with low levels of anxiety prefer to be corrected explicitly, they prefer some correction technique in which the teacher supplies the correct answer. Whereas some students with mediumand high levels of anxiety feel better when they are corrected implicitly, these students prefer the error correction technique in which their teacher shows the place of error and gives a clue about how to correct it. Keywords: Foreign language anxiety, English language teaching, error correction.
The effect of computer assisted and teacher-led storytelling on vocabulary learning of 5th grade students
Beş ana bölümden oluşan bu çalışmanın amacı, ilköğretim beşinci sınıf öğrencilerine kelime öğretiminde bilgisayar destekli hikaye anlatımının mı yoksa öğretmen destekli hikaye anlatımının mı daha etkili olduğunu saptamaktır. Çalışma, 2010?2011 öğretim yılında iki ayrı sınıftan toplam 60 beşinci sınıf öğrencisi üzerinde uygulanmıştır. Her bir sınıf için 10 ders saati alan araştırmayı gerçekleştirmek ve verileri toplamak için Siirt Sancaklar İlköğretim Okulu araştırma yapılacak okul olarak seçilmiştir.Çalışmanın birinci bölümü giriş bölümüdür. Bu bölüm, genel olarak çalışmanın bütünü, temeli, amacı, sınırlılıkları, varsayımlar ve kullanılan yöntem hakkında kısa bir bilgi vermektedir. İkinci bölümdeyse, çocuklar ve özellikleri, öğrenme stilleri, etkili kelime öğretim yolları açıklanarak genel bir bilgi verilmesi amaçlanmaktadır. Ayrıca çocukların kelime öğreniminde hikaye anlatımının ve de bilgisayar destekli dil öğreniminin yerine değinilmiştir. Üçüncü bölümde, çalışmayı gerçekleştirmek için başvurulan metod ve veri toplama aracına ve uygulamalara değinilmektedir. Dördüncü bölüm ise veri analizini ve bunların yorumlanmasını içermektedir. Ön ve son test sonuçları tablolarda gösterilip yorumlanmaktadır. Beşinci ve son bölüme gelinceyse, çalışmanın kısa bir özeti ve elde edilen sonuca dair birtakım önerilere yer verilmiştir. Ayrıca ekler bölümünde, çalışmada yer alan hikaye anlatımına ilişkin tamamlanmış beş ders planı ve ön ve son testler sunulmaktadır.
Designing an in-service teacher training program for english language instructors and identifiying the effectiveness of the program: An implication at Afyon Kocatepe University
It is of crucial importance for teachers of English to develop professionally at this time of rapid change. In order to encourage this aim of the teachers, the institutions should have attempts like having offices responsible for professional development of the academic staff and organizing events for the sake of on-going development. This study was conducted at Afyon Kocatepe University School of Foreign Languages Department and the participants of the study were the 10 newly hired teachers and 12 experienced teachers. In order to meet the needs of the academic staffs? professional development Teacher Training and Development Office was founded and it organized in service teacher training program (hereafter INSET) considering the needs of the participants. To be more helpful and beneficial, needs were analyzed in a comprehensive way. During the implementation of the program different techniques, models, activities like microteaching, peer observation, on the job observation, intensive INSET program were applied to meet the needs of the participants and the effectiveness of these studies was evaluated as a part of this study. The research questions posed for this study investigated to what the novice teachers and experienced teachers? needs are and what aspects affect these needs and to evaluate the effectiveness of the overall program. Two data collection instruments were employed in this study. First, a survey was completed at the beginning and at end of the program. Second, semi-structured interviews with ten randomly chosen participants were conducted after the intense 15-day INSET and after microteaching activities. Generally speaking, the results showed that novice and experienced teachers? needs differ in most of the components, their needs were met at the end of the program, and all components of the program resulted in success.
An NLP-based teacher development program for enhancing efl teachers' communication skills
This qualitative study was conducted with the voluntary participation of five non-native EFL teachers at a state secondary school in Adana/Turkey during the second term of 2009-2010 academic year. The NLP-TD program was conducted on weekly basis, amounting to a total of 16 sessions.The aim of this study is three fold. First it aims to explore in depth the nature of secondary school EFL teachers? personal theories of effective communication. Second, it aims to investigate the impact of Neuro Linguistic Programming based teacher development (NLP-TD) program to see if there are any changes in the development of EFL teachers? personal theories of communication skills. Third, based on the results of the teachers? reflection, this qualitative study attempts to provide EFL teachers with a framework for a new teacher development program based on NLP techniques.Drawing on Kelly?s (1955) Personal Construct Theory, this study used the repertory grid technique as pre and post diagnostic tool. The data elicited from the teachers were analyzed by utilizing the Rep Grid 2 Computer program. In order to find out the structure of participant teachers? constructs, each of the repertory grid data obtained from the teachers was subjected to FOCUS analysis separately. The two grids obtained from the participant teachers at the beginning and end of the study were also subjected to Exchange Grid Analysis to explore the patterns of the changes in the content and structure of teachers? personal theories. The nature of the participant teachers? construction of ?self? as teacher and ?ideal? teacher were also investigated. Follow-up interviews were employed to confirm the data taken from the repertory grid constructs.Throughout the NLP-TD program, reflection sheets were employed for process evaluation. As a third data collection tool, a Course Evaluation Questionnaire (CEQ) was used to triangulate the findings. By means of the CEQ and reflections sheets, participant teachers? views and feedback were obtained to shed light for future implications of the NLP-TD program.The findings of this study indicate that teachers have their own personal theories in terms of their perception of effective communication. In particular, the findings point to positive responses as regards the effectiveness of the NLP-TD program in terms of enhancing the communication skills of the participant teachers. In the light of the Repertory Grid, findings suggest that participant teachers? personal theories displayed change both in the content and structure.In conclusion, the NLP-TD program may be suggested as a new framework of a teacher development program for enhancing non-native EFL teachers? communication skills.
The effects of reading strategies on the improvement of inferential skills
The aim of this study is to reveal whether in reading comprehension, Gazi University Faculty of Education English Language Teaching Department first year students have the necessary knowledge sources and strategies and whether they use them appropriately and strategically in reading comprehension.In in the fall semester of 2006?2007 academic year, the first year students were first administered a 50 item Likert type scale in order to determine the knowledge sources and strategies they utilize. The students scored quite high points on the scale. Thus, although they, as stated in the scale, agreed that they were supposed to have the knowledge sources and strategies and to read the text by using appropriate reading strategies, it was revealed that they are quite poor at basic reading skills and general and inferential reading skills by the results of the pre-test administered soon after the scale.Following the pre-test, each student was applied the Think-alould method to reveal to what extent he uses the knowledge sources and strategies. By the results of the analysis, a parallel result emerged to that in the pre-test; that is, the students cannot benefit from the necessary knowledge sources, and cognitive and metacognitive strategies and they cannot use them appropriately.Thus, based on the results of these three instruments, the students were given strategy instruction in the fall semester of 2007 ? 2008 academic year in order to improve all the aspects of their reading performance. After the strategies instruction, a post-test was administered. Thus, it was revealed how much the students benefited from the reading strategies instruction. As a result, they improved their poor reading performance, and advanced these qualities to a further level. Based on the results, some suggestions were made regarding some aspects of reading comprehension and comprehension instruction.Key Words: Theories of reading comprehension, knowledge sources, stratejic reading, cognitive and metacognitive strategies, inference and theories of inference, reading comprehension instruction, role of L1 and L2 in reading, and good and poor readers.
Student anxiety and the identification of its effect in the speaking compenent of a proficiency test
The aim of the current study is to investigate whether the preparatory school students at a university may have speaking test anxiety. Additionally, it was examined whether there are differences in anxiety levels among students according to gender and the students' departments. To collect data, 126 preparatory school students were given a GEPT (General English Proficiency Test) Scale consisting 3 categories. The 36 items in the questionnaire were subjected to Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) to determine the sub-categories of the scale. Moreover, 33 students were interviewed to get their opinions on how to overcome speaking test anxiety. Both quantitative and qualitative method design was applied to be able to answer the research questions. The data was analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences software (SPSS), version 17.0. The results showed that, preparatory school students were anxious during the speaking test. Also, it was found out that male students were much more relaxed during the speaking test comparing to female students. As for the departments, students in law department were more worried comparing to others. Students also believe they can overcome the speaking anxiety by doing speaking activities, making foreign friends, talking to their native teachers and going abroad. Those results were discussed within the context of relevant literature. Key words: English speaking anxiety, English speaking test anxiety
Comparision of computer adaptive individual video tutoring with whole class video lessons
The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to examine the recent developments in the field of computer assisted language learning/testing and to investigate how these developments can be best integrated with video utilization techniques in a language classroom. The special reason for trying to combine these developments with the use of video for language teaching was that; from the point of communicative approach, video is a motivating and meaningful teaching material which offers more clues to meaning and which can make learning in the classroom more like what occurs outside the classroom. The second purpose of this study -with the light of information gathered and on the basis of students? perspective on video and computers- is to suggest a new model of video tutoring, named as Computer Adaptive Individual Video Tutoring. A software was developed to integrate computer assisted language testing principles with the use of video in language teaching so that video lessons take place as an interactive and student centered learning process based on the principles of Communicative and Cognitive approaches. In order to reveal the effectiveness and pedagogic value of the software, a contrastive study was conducted. Lesson plans, classroom observations, four achievement tests and a questionnaire were used to reveal the difference between traditional whole class video lessons and the computer adaptive individual video lessons.The data collected indicated that computer adaptive video tutoring might have a great positive impact on enhancing learning and retention of knowledge as well as dramatically increasing student motivation, participation and engagement.
The role of formulaic sequences in speaking fluency in intermediate English as a foreign language classes
This study investigates whether the students at preparatory classes at Foreign Language Teaching, Implementation and Research Center (FLTIRC) at Gazi University are taught formulaic sequences (FSs) or not. Also, it explores the role of the conversation gambits, a type of FSs, in speaking fluency of the students at FLTIRC preparatory classes at Gazi University.The data were obtained from the questionnaire results given to 93 students (75 of them were composed of the ELT Preparatory Classes (ELTPC) and 18 of them were from General Preparatory Classes (GPC)) at FLTIRC and from the results of pre and post oral tests. The oral tests were applied to 20 GPC students; ten of them comprised the experimental group and the other ten ? the control group. The objective of the study was to explore the role of conversation gambits in improving speaking fluency. The results of the pretests of both groups were recorded in order then to compare with the posttest with regard to changes. The list of 38 useful conversation gambits and activities containing these gambits were prepared. The students of experimental group took treatment lessons, which were based on these activities containing conversation gambits. After a month, the oral posttest was conducted. The fluency of the students was measured according to 6 variables picked up from the previous studies in the literature. As a result of the measurement it was found that the students in both groups improved their performances in almost all of the variables, but the students of experimental group seemed to have improved more than those of the control group.It was concluded that explicit teaching of conversation gambits, if applied more often and longer periods, can provide students with confidence and can enhance their speaking fluency.
An EFL coursebook evaluation study for vocabulary teaching in reading texts a case study: New Bridge To Success
The study was conducted with 21 English teachers and 185 students from 7 different Anatolian High Schools in Ankara during March 2009. Two sets of data were used for this study. First, a questionnaire was distributed to185 students and to the 21 teachers of the 9th grades of 7 Anatolian High Schools in Ankara, who follow the NBS as the only coursebook. Then, the correspondences and discrepancies between the teachers? and students? reports were determined and the coursebook is investigated according to these findings. In the questionnaires how the students and the teachers evaluate the coursebook according to reading skill, how they evaluate the reading texts according to vocabulary teaching aspect, the techniques the teachers use to teach vocabulary while reading, the techniques the students use when they meet an unknown word and the techniques the students use to learn new vocabulary are investigated. The data in the questionnaires was analyzed by calculating the mean scores, percentages and frequencies. Flesch-Kincaid readability test was administered to randomly selected seven reading texts in terms of determining the readability.The results revealed that both the teachers and the students felt negative about the most of the characteristics of the reading texts and vocabulary aspects of the coursebook. Majority of the teachers mentioned that the reading passages needed to be simplified in terms of both vocabulary load and structures. It was also mentioned that the book needs revision and during revision special attention should be paid to the vocabulary teaching/learning aspect.Key words: Textbook Evaluation, Teaching/learning Vocabulary, Reading skill and vocabulary, New Bridge to Success (Elementary)
Expectations of young learners and teenagers in terms of language teaching materials
This study analyses the material expectations of young learners and teenagersin English lessons. When the characteristics of each age group are identified, theimportance of choosing right activity types for each group is highlighted as well. Ifthe activity types and choice of materials appeal to age groups appropriately,language learning will become an enjoyable, memorable and interesting experience.The work is composed of five chapters and the first chapter aims to give thepurpose of the study. However, the second chapter informs readers about the relatedstudies made in the field. After identifying young learners, the ideas of philosophersand educational psychologists are presented chronologically about how childrenlearn. Then, teenagers and the way they learn are defined. Finally, language teachingmaterials and their characteristics are introduced in detail.In chapter three, methodology, data collection and analysis techniques aredescribed. Pre- test results gathered from both groups are analyzed and sample lessonplans which are followed by post- tests analysis of students and observers areexemplified. This chapter ends with a conclusion section.Chapter four consists of suggested activity types and materials for younglearners and teenagers.The last chapter includes conclusions which are derived from the findings.The study has six appendices; full version of the questionnaire so called pre-test -one in Turkish and one in English, the post test with English and Turkish translationand finally the one for observers which is in English and in Turkish again.
Reflective foreign language teacher development: A case study
This dissertation describes a piece of action research conducted with three English Language Teaching university instructors looking for a way to develop themselves professionally while continuing with their normal workload. The data, which consisted of the transcribed post-observation conferences held between pairs of participants and the entries in the personal reflective journals, were coded by the researcher; and the sections relevant to the research questions were analysed statistically to find how the reflective codes identified by the researcher clustered around the variables of role and context of reflection. There were three types of findings that emerged from this study: those of the qualitative analysis, those of the statistical analysis, and those of the action research process. The qualitative analysis produced a list of reflective modes that each participant was engaged in, and a list of categories that describe the content of their reflection. The findings of the statistical analysis show that certain reflective categories occurred more frequently in particular contexts, that each participant had different patterns of reflection, and that there was no linear relationship between their private and collaborative reflections. The findings of the action research process shows that each participant achieved change mostly at the level of awareness, although one participant noticeably changed. The findings are significant in that they show how and on what aspects of their practice instructors reflect; that collaborative reflection can provide alternative reflection patterns to private reflection; and that they present a simple framework for instructors to engage in self and collaborative development.
An analysis of the awareness levels of the state school efl teachers on reflective teaching:a case study
The aim of this study is to identify the awareness levels of the state school EFL teachers on Reflective Teaching and whether they prefer using reflective teaching in their profession or not. The study consists of five chapters. These are introduction to the study, literature review part, the methodology of the study, data analysis and interpretation, conclusion and suggestions. Chapter 1 consists of introduction, the problem, aim and scope of the study, methodology and assumptions. Chapter 2 consists of the literature review section. In this chapter, models of reflective teaching; the background of reflective teaching, the definition of reflective teaching, types of reflection, forms of reflective teaching practice, strengths and pitfalls of reflective teaching are intoduced. Chapter 3 contains the methodology of the study. The introduction to the methodology is introduced in a detailed way.The subjects, materials and procedure of the study are described in the third chapter Chapter 4 contains data analysis, interpretations, result and discussion. Chapter 5 includes the overall conclusion of the study, teacher training and development, and suggestions to improve teacher development are introduced.
The cognitive and cultural aspects of metaphor in the comprehension of columns
This study aims to find out whether metaphors are culture specific and the typesof reading strategies students use while reading texts, also whether there is one-to-one correspondence between the meaning of metaphors assigned by languages.Chapter 1 presents the background to the study, problem, aim of the study, themethod and the assumptions of the study.Chapter 2 presents the review of literature which consists three parts.The first part presents reading comprehension.The second part presents everything about metaphor.The fird part presents what culture is and shows how culture and metaphors areconnected.In chapter 3, the methodology that the present study makes use of is explainedwith reference to the subjects that participated in the study, the instruments used, andhow data are collected.Chapter 4 includes the analysis and the interpretation of data collected from thestudents.Chapter 5, which is the conclusion part of this study, summarizes the study,further highlights the importance of metaphor in reading and discusses the importanceof metaphor understanding and interpretations for foreign language teaching.
Promoting learner autonomy through activities at Gazi University preparatory school
The aim of this study is to promote learner autonomy through the activities to beexploited at Gazi University, Preparatory School. Since the prep school education is vital forthe learners who have just commenced their education in terms of acquiring several aspectswhich will aid them in their future education, this study focused on this point.In order to reach this aim, two classes, the former of which was the experimentalgroup and the latter of which was the control group, were appointed randomly. They were thelearners studying English from various faculties at Gazi University. Prior to theimplementation phase, Learner Autonomy Questionnaire, consisting of three parts abackground questionnaire, LAQ 1 and LAQ 2, was administered to the learners in bothgroups so as to reveal how much autonomy each group possessedWhereas the experimental group was instructed with the autonomy implementation,the control group continued their education with no change. After the 12-weekimplementation stage, the same questionnaire was administered to both groups one more time.The results from both groups were gathered and analyzed by the use of student t-test andpaired sample t-test so as to reveal whether any change would exist between the groups.At the end of this process, the statistics results were commented on. The resultsdisplay that the learners in the experimental group scored higher than those in the controlgroup, and showed more autonomy than the control group with a few exceptions. Moreover,the results from the experimental group were compared with those from the control groupitem by item. Total results were statistically shown in the tables.In the following chapter of the study, the conclusion and summary of the study wasmade with pedagogical implications and suggestions for further studies included
Vocabulary teaching to the second year cadets in the army academy to improve listening and reading skills within the framework of MI theory, in Turkey
Bahaeddin Özkişi who was born in İstanbul in 1928, to taked part in 20. centuryTurkısh Literature with his stories and novels; he succeeded to capture to a stylespecial to him with his expression and choosed subjects.The writer, used a comprehensible and net expressions, to loaded impressivemeanings to details that we eve neglected usually and he dealed with the eventspsychologaclly. Bahaeddin Özkişi who grewn with comprehensive Sufism culture,reflected this to his works. So, his works ?novels and stories- is like his mirror.Bahaeddin Özkişi is a writer and however he is an artist who signed to differentbusiness. He made the models of old İstanbul houses? and he gilded on the glass.
The relationship between learning strategy choice in reading comprehension and academic success
ABSTRACT Considerable research has been done on foreign language learning process in recent years. Accordingly, more and more importance has been given to the improvement of the quality of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teaching and learning. Students learning a foreign language approach the language learning task in different ways. And it is a fact that some students are more successful than others. There comes the question "What makes a good language learner?" It is impossible to claim that one single method, technique, book or type of teacher is the cause of achievement in language learning because the reasons for varying learner performance cannot be explained only as a direct result of the factors such as teaching methods, instructional tecniques, classroom environments or teachers. Learner success is also dependent on learner based factors. Self-direction is essential in the active development of learners' abilities in learning. It is especially important for language learners to be self-directed since it is impossible to give them direct guidance or instruction when they use the language outside the classroom. It is obvious that learners need to be empowered with a wide range of learning strategies to achieve competence and autonomy in learning the target language. In this study it is aimed to find out whether there is a relationship between learning strategy choice in reading comprehension and academic success or not. In order to prove that such a relationship exists a questionnaire was applied to two groups of students consisting of 1 5 students who are at the same level of English profiency and were attending to a nine-month English course at Air Force Language School at the time of the study. The questionnaire was applied for the first time at the beginning of the study and it proved that all the students' have alow level of frequency of language learning strategy use and their results were nearly the same because of their being unware of the learning strategies. Then a six-week training on language learning strategies was given to the second group of the study. After this training the questionnaire was applied for the second time to both of the groups in order to find out whether there is a change in the students' frequency of language learning strategy use. It was discovered that the frequency of language strategy use of the students of the second group was higher than the students of the other group. After that, both groups of students were asked to take an achievement test of reading comprehension which is compulsory for the couse. The students of the second group were successful than the students of the other group in their achievement test. To sum up, both students and teachers should be aware of the importance of the language learning strategies both in learning and teaching. It can be said that after a certain amount of practice and use, students will know how and when to use learning strategies and their use of language learning strategies will effect their success positively.
A study on metacognitive strategy needs of Gülhane Military Medicine Academy students on reading medical texts
11 ABSTRACT This study aims to determine the metacognitive strategy needs of a group of Turkish medicine academy students in reading medical texts. The study is composed of six chapters. The first chapter offers a background to the study. The aim and scope of the study are given in this chapter along with the method and assumptions. The second chapter presents literature review. This chapter provides a brief history of reading skill and mentions strategies for reading comprehension. It then discusses the position of reading skill in learning a foreign language, and informs about reading models and reading strategies. Chapter three deals with the research methodology, whereas chapter four presents the data analysis and discussion of the results. Chapter five includes suggestions, pedagogical implications and a sample lesson plan. Chapter six, the conclusion, provides a brief summary of the study and the results.
Handling the problems in mixed-ability classes
in ABSTRACT This study aims to shade light on the difficulties in a mixed-ability class and to suggest solutions for how to manage them. The study has five chapters. The first cahapter presents the introduction part, background to the study, the problem, aim and scope of the study, the method and the assumptions of the study. In chapter II, the rewiew of literature is presented including three theories related to diversity of students, the classification of learner styles and their impact on education. In chapter HI, the analysis of the data collected from the students through an inventory and from the lecturers through an interview is stated. Also, this chapter gives information how the data is collected, analyzed and interpreted in detail. Chapter IV suggests lesson plans which include activities based on learner styles and levels. Chapter V, which is the conclusion part of the study, summarizes the study.
The impact of personalization on the lexical competence acquisition
People learn a language to understand the others and to be understood by other people. As a result of this, communicative competence of the learners must be developed. In communicative competence, there are other kinds of competences such as grammatical, lexical, strategic, sociocultural competence, etc. The most important of them is lexical competence, which is the ability to use words and phrases correctly in the suitable context.Without words, meaning cannot be conveyed. As both teachers and learners are aware of this fact, they put an emphasis on the lexical items. Teachers use various techniques for the presentation of them. However, this is not adequate for the learners. Practice is highly necessary because it shows whether they have comprehended the target lexical items or not. Moreover, learners can learn to use the lexical items in the correct context while practicing.Personalization is a kind of lexical practice technique which requires to make a connection with your life and the meaning of the lexical item. In the present study, the aim is to find out the impact of personalization on the lexical competence acquisition. The study was designed as quasi-experimental. The participants were 60 senior students from the English Language Teaching Department at Dokuz Eylul University. Before the treatment, they did the lexical achievement test to see whether they had known 30 target lexical items or not. The intervention and control groups were chosen randomly. For 4 weeks, the same techniques were used for the presentation, but the practice part was different. While the intervention group practiced the target items through personalization, the control group practiced by answering the general questions. Two weeks later, the post-test was conducted on them to find out their achievement levels. According to the comparison of pre- and post-test results, it is seen that each group developed their lexical competence. However, the comparison of post-test results showed that there was not a significant difference between the groups. The effect of personalization was also investigated in terms of gender, the cumulative GPA and the high school type. Nevertheless, no significant effect was found. Three weeks after the post-test, the delayed post-test was conducted on the participants to investigate the long term effects of personalization. There was a decrease in the retention of the lexical items in the control group. However, the groups did not outperform the other according to the delayed post-test results. Keywords: personalization, lexical acquisition competence, communicative language teaching Keywords: personalization, lexical acquisition competence, communicative language teaching
Education in utopia and anti-Utopia
The essence of mankind is optimism. Therefore, he has always dreamed of a better future and a better world since the existence of humanity. Utopias are the establishment of this ideal society and order created by human consciousness. However, as being creations of a perfect place, not only do they reflect our desires and hopes about the future, but also criticize the periods and therefore the societies in which they are written. On the other hand, anti-utopias are literary works depicting a society or a place which is much worse than the existing one. Therefore, by portraying a darker future, they satirize the existing conditions and unlike utopians they express their fears and try to warn the reader about the dangers awaiting them.One common point shared by all utopian and anti-utopian works is that they have a message to send. The writers of both types, as citizens of their society, are influenced by the events that surround them. Thus, they base their works on various themes such as education which is a central concern to many utopian and anti-utopian writers. In their works they describe the features of an ideal educational system and emphasize the importance of such education in the creation and maintenance of a desired society and a perfect life. Anti-utopians, on the other hand, indicate the wrongdoings in education and serve as a caution for people to avoid these actions which would result in a worse life and a worse world.In this dissertation utopian and anti-utopian works written in different centuries and which deal specifically with the subject of education have been chosen: Thomas More?s `Utopia? (1516), Jonathan Swift?s `Gulliver?s Travels? (1726), Samuel Butler?s `Erewhon? (1872) and Aldous Huxley?s `Island? (1962) have been studied in terms of aims and principles of education, education of children and adult education. The aim has been to analyze the similarities and differences in the studies of these works written during different periods and an effort has been exerted to analyze their views on education.Key Words: Utopia, Anti-utopia, Education.
Boş zaman etkinliklerinin okuduğunu anlama ve okumaya yönelik tutumlar üzerindeki etkililiği
Yabancı dil hazırlık öğrencilerinin boş zaman etkinliklerine katılım sıklığına göre İngilizce okumaya yönelik tutumları ve okuduğunu anlama başarılarının karşılaştırmalı olarak incelendiği bu araştırmada amaç, çeşitli boş zaman etkinliklerinin okuduğunu anlama ve okumaya yönelik tutumlar üzerindeki etkililiğini tanımlamaya çalışmaktır.Çalışma, öğrencilerinin boş zaman etkinliklerine katılım sıklıklarına göre İngilizce okumaya yönelik tutumları ve okuduğunu anlama başarılarını betimlemeyi amaçladığından araştırma betimsel bir araştırmadır. Araştırmanın örneklemi Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Yabancı Diller Yüksekokulu İngilizce Hazırlık programına devam eden orta düzey lisans öğrencileri arasından oranlı örnekleme yöntemiyle seçilmiştir. Örnekleme seçilen öğrenci sayısı 306'dır.Araştırmanın verileri Boş Zaman Etkinlikleri Anketi, İngilizce Okuduğunu Anlama Testi ve İngilizce Okumaya Yönelik Tutum Ölçeği ile toplanmış, elde edilen verilerin çözümlenmesinde ise ortalama, standart sapma, t testi, varyans analizi ve Scheffé testi kullanılmıştır.Araştırmanın sonucunda, öğrencilerin İngilizce okumaya yönelik tutumlarının ve okuduğunu anlama başarılarının cinsiyetlerine, mezun oldukları lise türlerine, devam edecekleri fakülte türlerine ve birinci ya da ikinci öğretim öğrencisi olmalarına göre anlamlı farklılık göstermediği saptanmıştır. Diğer yandan, sıklıkla kitap okuduğunu, sanatsal etkinliklerle ilgilendiğini, internette İngilizce sitelerden yararlandığını, interneti İngilizce okumayı geliştirmek amaçlı kullandığını ve orijinal seslendirmeli ve altyazısız yabancı filmleri, İngilizce yayın yapan televizyon kanallarını tercih ettiğini belirten öğrencilerin İngilizce okumaya yönelik tutumları diğerlerinden daha yüksek bulunmuştur. Bunun yanında, sıklıkla gazete okuduğunu, bilimsel bir dergiyi takip ettiğini, Türkçe seslendirmeli yabancı filmleri tercih ettiğini ve üniversite veya üniversite dışında düzenlenen bilimsel toplantı, seminer, panel ve konferans gibi etkinliklere katıldığını belirten öğrencilerin İngilizce okuduğunu anlama başarıları diğerlerinden daha düşük bulunmuştur. Son olarak, kahvehaneye gitmediğini belirten öğrencilerin hem İngilizce okumaya yönelik tutumlarının hem de okuduğunu anlama başarılarının diğerlerinden daha yüksek olduğu bulgusuna ulaşılmıştır.
A comparative postcolonial discourse in The God of Small Things By A. Roy and Things Fall Apart By C. Achebe and its incorporation in elt multicultural literature curriculum
This dissertation examines the transcultural forms, the colonial heritage, and language in the postcolonial India and Nigeria depicted in Arundhati Roy?s The God of Small Things and Chinua Achebe?s Things Fall Apart. Roy?s and Achebe?s portrayal of the covert and overt ways on transcultural forms, colonial heritage, and language and their impact on the characters? lives will be a major focus in constituting a hybrid identity in postcolonial discourse. This study aims to do a postcolonial discourse on these two different texts in order to find the different methods chosen by each author in his or her representations of the space in which the colonial subject develops and his or her reaction to the changes brought by colonization.The dissertation consists of seven main parts. The introduction overviews the world of each text in terms of the transcultural forms, the colonial heritage, and language. The first chapter examines postcolonial theory and its reflection in literature. The second chapter looks at the life and works of the two selected authors. The third and forth chapters consists of a textual analysis of selected novels which will be an analysis of the interaction between indigenous people and their colonizers as well as the struggle between tradition and modernity. The fifth chapter explores the need and the ways of incorporating postcolonial texts in the curriculum of ELT Departments. The conclusion compares and overviews the process of colonization portrayed in the two texts resulting in cultural and linguistic hybridization.
Yabancı dil olarak İngilizce sınıflarında öğretmen-öğrenci bireyler arası ilişkilerinin öngörücüsü olarak öğretmen iyi oluşu
This study aimed to explore the impacts of teacher wellbeing on teacher student relationships. In this respect, the study investigated how the wellbeing of Turkish teachers is reflected in their verbal immediacy behavior while interacting with learners and the classroom climate in relation to the verbal immediacy in tertiary level language classrooms in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) setting. Five themes were focused on in terms of teacher verbal immediacy behavior: sharing personal examples and experiences, asking questions, use of humor, praise, and criticism. The researcher collected data through a questionnaire, classroom observation, interviews, and an inventory. Teacher Wellbeing Questionnaire adapted from Collie, Shapka, Perry & Martin (2015) was conducted with 43 teachers and the researcher selected four teachers who scored highest and four teachers who scored lowest to observe their lessons. A Verbal Immediacy Framework was developed based on Gorham's (1988) Verbal Immediacy Items to be used during observation. After the observations, the students of eight participant teachers were asked to complete a Classroom Climate Inventory (CCI) adapted from Fraser, Treagust, and Dennis (1986) and Mcber (2000). Finally, follow-up interviews were conducted with the eight participant teachers in order to supplement the data gathered from the classroom observations and CCI. Data obtained through three instruments were triangulated. The qualitative data collected from classroom observations and interviews were analyzed according to Braun and Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis whereas the data coming from CCI were analyzed quantitatively using SPSS. The findings revealed differences between two groups of teachers in three of the pre-determined aspects of verbal immediacy and classroom climate. The data analysis indicated that teachers who are at a more positive wellbeing level tend to use more personal examples and experiences, use more humor, and praise their students more frequently while interacting with their students in the classroom compared to those with negative wellbeing. However, there was no significant difference between the numbers and types of the open questions asked by the two groups of teachers and the criticism used by participants. These findings helped draw the conclusion that teacher wellbeing has a role in establishing immediacy, which leads to a positive or negative influence on interpersonal relationships between teachers and students as well as the classroom climate. Therefore, the study implied that the wellbeing of language teachers can be considered as the predictor of interpersonal relationships between teachers and language learners in EFL classrooms.
Türkiye'deki üniversite hazırlık sınıfı öğrencilerinin geçmiş yabancı dil öğrenim deneyimleri ile yabancı dil kaygıları arasındaki ilişki
This study mainly investigated the relationship between past language learning experiences and the foreign language anxiety levels of university EFL learners. It also aimed to find out the extent to which language learning background factors have an impact on foreign language anxiety. The study was conducted in the English preparatory programs at Bilkent and Pamukkale Universities, with the participation of 285 students from three proficiency levels (pre-intermediate, intermediate and upper-intermediate).Data were collected through questionnaires and interviews. The questionnaire administered to students included two main sections. In the first section, demographic information about the participants was collected. In the second section, the translation of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) questionnaire by Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986 was given to the participants. Questionnaires were analyzed by using t-tests and ANOVA tests. Afterwards, using the results of the analyses involved in the quantitative part, participants who demonstrated high and low levels of anxiety were selected for participation in the qualitative phase. Through the use of in-depth interviews, actual accounts of past language learning experiences and university students? current anxiety levels were explored.The analysis of the quantitative data revealed that students? prior history of visiting countries, having had a native teacher, having studied another language besides English were all related to the prediction of foreign language anxiety.The interview results showed that for both high and low anxiety students the role of previous language learning experiences has an impact on forming their current anxiety levels.
Türkiye'deki üniversite hazırlık okullarındaki portfolyo uygulamaları ve öğretmenlerin portfolyoyu algılamaları ve portfolyo uygulamalarında yaşanan problemler
This study seeks to investigate portfolio implementation at Turkish university preparatory schools and the reported aims of portfolio use as targeted by these schools. The study further examines teachers? perceptions of portfolio use, specifically, the problems they experience with portfolio use, possible sources of these problems and their suggestions on how portfolio use can be improved.The study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, data on portfolio use and aims of its use were collected through a questionnaire administered at seven university preparatory schools. In the second phase, data on teachers? perceptions were gathered through a second questionnaire administered to 126 teachers at five of the seven preparatory schools.The results reached in the first phase of the study revealed that portfolios are mainly used for the writing component of the preparatory programs. The analyses of the data also revealed that certain key features of portfolios, such as student participation in the selection of portfolio content, self assessment, and student reflection, are not generally included in portfolios at preparatory programs. Regarding the aims of portfolio use targeted by schools, the results indicate that in order to achieve the intended aims, the missing key elements of portfolios should be included.The results reached in the second phase of the study indicate that teachers perceive portfolios as an appropriate tool for assessment purposes. When the results regarding teachers? experiences with portfolio use are examined, the outcomes indicate that the problems experienced with portfolio use are in large part felt to be related to students? attitudes towards portfolios, which are themselves caused by students? study habits and previous educational backgrounds. It was also revealed that problems related to portfolio entries and institutional practices create some challenges in portfolio implementation at schools.