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The effect of modeling on the planning process: A study on reading plans of prospective English language teachers
Lesson planning plays a vital role not only in teaching but also in the teacher training process. However, lesson planning is a painful process for novice teachers and especially prospective teachers. In the English Language Teacher Training Program of Anadolu University in Turkey, prospective English language teachers prepare reading lesson plans in their third year. In order to investigate the effect of modeling on the reading lesson planning process, a research using mixed methods explanatory sequential design was conducted. For the research, 22 prospective English language teachers were asked to participate in the modeling sessions, prepare reading lesson plans, report how they planned their lessons and answer questions for the surveys. The quantitative data obtained through the evaluation of the lesson plans were analyzed using one way ANOVA for repeated measures and t-test for paired samples as a post hoc test. These statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS 21. The qualitative data obtained through lesson planning process action lists and surveys were analyzed through Constant Comparison Method. The data revealed the effects of the modeling on the lesson planning process of the prospective teachers.
The relationship between teacher efficacy and technological pedagogical content knowledge within the scope of efl pre-service teachers
The present study aimed to investigate (a) perceptions of Turkish EFL pre-service teachers related to their overall teacher efficacy and its three sub-scales: student engagement, classroom management, and instructional strategies; (b) level of their Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK); and, (c) the relationship between levels of teacher efficacy and TPACK of Turkish pre-service teachers of English language. Involving the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, "Data Triangulation" was employed in this study. The research was carried out in the contexts of English Language Teaching in Educational Faculties in Anadolu University, Marmara University, Yıldız Technical University, and Yeditepe University in 2013-2014 Spring Term. A total of 110 fourth-year students in these universities responded to all of the questions in the instruments. Data were collected through 3 main instruments: (1) English Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale to gather information related to their understanding of their efficacy levels (Chacon, 2005); (2) TPACK-Deep Scale for gaining information about combining technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge in the ways of both learning and teaching processes (Kabakçı-Yurdakul, Odabaşı, Kılıçer, Çoklar, Birinci, and Kurt in 2012); and (3) Open-ended questions to assess their self-report of how efficaciously they integrate and use technology in their teaching experiences during the last part of their undergraduate studies. Additionally, "Teacher's Background Information" part was also used in order to detect the participants' technology use in English language teaching in a more detailed way. Quantitative data were analysed by descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation, correlation analysis, and bivariate regression methods; and, qualitative data were analysed with constant comparison method. The findings of the analysis of descriptive statistics indicated high levels of teacher efficacy beliefs of the Turkish EFL pre-service teachers. Additionally, the participants reported to have high levels of TPACK. Furthermore, correlation analysis demonstrated a meaningful relationship between overall teacher efficacy and TPACK competence. As for the further analysis, the results of regression analysis showed that TPACK has an influence on all three sub-scales of teacher efficacy which are "Student Engagement", "Classroom Management", and "Instructional Strategies". The results of the open-ended questions also supported the relationship between TPACK and teacher efficacy. Thus, quantitative data results were supported with qualitative data. As it was carried out to reveal the relationship between teacher efficacy and TPACK for the first time, this study proved to have valuable contributions in order to improve training process of Turkish EFL pre-service teachers. At the end of the study, there are some implications for educators and educational researchers.
An explanatory investigation on the Turkish EFL teachers' tpack and their attitudes toward the use of interactive whiteboards
The present study aimed to investigate (a) TPACK of Turkish EFL in-service teachers; (b) the attitudes of the in-service Turkish EFL teachers towards the use of Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs) in their classes; (c) the relationship between TPACK and teachers' attitude toward IWB use; (d) the relationship between gender of the participants and their TPACK levels; (e) the relationship between gender of the participants and their attitude toward IWB use; (f) the relationship between teaching experience and TPACK; and (g) the relationship between teaching experience and attitude toward IWB use. The research was carried out in the contexts of 24 Anatolian High Schools in Gebze, Darıca and Çayırova municipalities of Kocaeli at the beginning of the second term of 2014/2015 academic year. A total of 106 in-service EFL teachers from these schools responded to all of the questions in the instruments. Data was collected through two main instruments: (1) Attitude questionnaire; (2) ELT-TPACK questionnaire gathering information combining technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge. Additionally, teachers' demographic characteristics were also used in order to detect the participants profile in detail and to get information for investigating the relationships between the results of questionnaires and some of these variables. Quantitative data were analysed by descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation, correlation analysis, and regression methods. The findings of the analysis of descriptive statistics indicated high levels of TPACK of the Turkish EFL in-service teachers. Additionally, the participants reported positive attitudes toward Interactive Whiteboard use in their classes. Furthermore, correlation analysis demonstrated a statistically meaningful positive relationship between the TPACK levels and attitudes of the teachers. In terms of the effect of gender and teaching experience on TPACK and attitude, further analysis were conducted. The results showed no meaningful relationship between gender and TPACK and similarly between gender and attitude. On the other hand, the analysis of the relationship between teaching experience and TPACK and teaching experience and attitude showed statistically meaningful relationships. As it was carried out to investigate the TPACK levels of the Turkish EFL in-service teachers in a certain geographical area and the attitude of the teachers' towards using IWB in their classes, and additionally exploring the effect of gender and teaching experience on TPACK and attitude for the first time, this study proved to have valuable contributions in getting a complete picture of TPACK levels of EFL teachers in a certain area and revealing the attitudes of these teachers towards using this technology in their classes. At the end of the study, there are some implications for educators, educational authorities and educational researchers.
Foreign language learning anxiety of high school students in Kosovo
Second language learning is a complex process. Learning the vocabulary and grammar structures, even developing the necessary skills for communication may not be enough. You also need to learn about the culture of the foreign language. While this might be found enjoyable for some students, others might find the process threatening and may experience anxiety in the language classroom. Anxiety has a great negative effect on learning a foreign language. This study investigated the degree of foreign language classroom anxiety of Turkish High School Students in Kosovo. Moreover, it aims to find out if there are any differences between the anxiety levels of the learners in terms of their achievement in the foreign language, knowing more than one language and type of high school. This study was conducted with 169 learners of English in four different high school contexts; Technical High School, The High School of Economics, Medical High School and Science High School with 169 students. All of them were the first grade students. The data collected through Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) questionnaire were statistically analyzed to identify students' anxiety levels. The questionnaire was administered to the subjects in their regular class hours in different school settings. Their mid-term grades were gained from their class teachers to identify the relationship between their level of anxiety and their success measured by their course grades. The relationship between learners' anxiety and their language background and their education context was also analyzed statistically. The analysis of the results revealed that students learning English generally experience a moderate level of language anxiety. No significant relationship was identified between students' foreign language anxiety scores and their level of success, between being monolingual and multilingual. Their educational context and their level of anxiety did not correlate either. According to the results of the study, foreign language anxiety cannot be considered a negative psychological phenomena in Kosovo. Keywords: Foreign language anxiety, achievement, language background, educational background
Lexical bundle use of Turkish and native English writers: A corpus-based study
In recent decades, English has been the lingua franca of the academic and students and scholars are expected to produce written works in this global language. However, this creates a pressure on non-native students and scholars since they need to have a native- like proficiency to be able to fulfill their studies and publish their work, and moreover they need to be familiar with the distinguishing features of academic discourse such as words or multi-word combinations. In this sense, many studies have been conducted to identify such type of combinations, one of which is the recurring multi-word expressions, mostly referred to as lexical bundles. Being composed of three or more words, lexical bundles such as on the other hand and as a result of are extremely common and important in shaping academic discourse. Moreover, lexical bundles vary across different disciplines meaning that successful use of lexical bundles typical of a specific academic discipline is important for writers and the absence of such bundles may not sound fluent and native-like. Recent studies (e.g. Adel & Erman, 2012; Chen & Baker, 2010) have revealed that non-native writers produce not only fewer types of lexical bundles, but also less varied ones. Furthermore, they also overuse a restricted number of bundles in their writing. However, they should have a successful and native-like control over the lexical bundles which are commonly used in their discipline. In this regard, there is a need for studies identifying the frequent lexical bundles in a particular discipline and examining non-native writers' texts to see to what extent they approximate native writers in terms of lexical bundle use. The primary aim of this study was to investigate Turkish and native English postgraduate students' and native scholars' use of lexical bundles in a specific academic discipline, that is foreign language teaching, in terms of frequency, functions and structures of bundles. For this aim, a corpus of 150 texts was collected containing Turkish and native English students' MA and PhD theses along with native scholars' published research articles. Four-word combinations occurring 25 times per million words and appearing in at least 5 texts or more were identified as lexical bundles. WordSmith Tools 6 was used to retrieve the lexical bundles in the research corpus. The results revealed that Turkish postgraduate students used far more lexical bundles in their texts compared to both native students and scholars. However, there was a redundancy in Turkish students' texts when the token frequencies were examined, meaning that Turkish students overused most of the lexical bundles. On the other hand, statistical analysis of the bundle lists revealed that Turkish postgraduate students employed different bundles from their native peers and scholars. Finally, the structural and functional categories did not show any statistically significant differences. Keywords: Lexical bundles, English academic discourse, Turkish postgraduate students, native English postgraduate student, native scholars
Araştırma makalelerinde etkileşimsel üstsöylem öğeleri
Bu çalışmanın amacı Türk yazarlar tarafından yazılmış Türkçe, İngilizce, Amerikalılar tarafından yazılmış İngilizce makalelerde üstsöylem öğelerinden iletişimsel boyutunun kullanımını araştırmaktır. Bu amaçla yabancı dil öğretimi alanında yayınlanmış 150 makale, Hyland ve Tse (2004)'ün sınıflaması temel alınarak incelenmiştir. Amerikalı akademik yazarlar ve Türk akademik yazarlar tarafından yazılmış 50şer İngilizce makale ve Türk akademik yazarlar tarafından yazılmış 50 Türkçe araştırma makalesi incelenmiştir. Bu çalışma nitel bir araştırma desenini temel almıştır ve bu nedenle veriler nitel bir çözümleme programı olan NVivo 10'da incelenmiştir. İngilizce araştırma makaleleri uluslararası yayınlanan hakemli dergilerden, Türkçe araştırma makaleleri de ulusal yayınlanan hakemli dergilerden toplanmıştır. Amerikalı akademik yazarların özgeçmişleri kişisel ve kurumsal internet sitelerinden incelenmiş olup, eğitimini (Yüksek Lisans ve Doktora) ABD'lerinde tamamlamış olup bir ünivesitede çalışan akademisyenler seçilmiştir. Veriler Hyland ve Tse(2004)'ün sınıflaması temel alınarak incelenmiştir ve bazı öğe gruplarında yapılan pilot çalışma sonrası eklemeler yapılmıştır. Tüm veriler ek öğelerin ilk çözümleme sürecinde ortaya çıkmasından dolayı iki kez incelenmiştir. Etkileşimsel öğelerin frekansları bulunmuş olup yazarlar arasında anlamlı farklılık olup olmadığını belirlemek için istatistiksel test uygulanmıştır (binom testi). Binom test sonucunda etkileşimsel üst söylem öğelerinin araştırma makalelerinde Amerikalı ve Türk akademik yazarlar arasında farklılık görülmüştür. Amerikalı yazarların etkileşimsel üst söylem öğrelerini Türk yazarlara göre İngilizce yazılan makalelerde daha fazla kullandıkrları bulunmuştur. Türk yazarların bu öğeleri İngilizce araştırma makalelerinde Türkçe araştırma makalelerine göre daha sık kullandıkları gözlemlenmiştir. Alt kategorilerden eminlik, tutum belirteçleri ve ben/biz dili açısından anlamlı farklılılar bulunmuştur. Anahtar Kelimeler: Akademik yazma, araştırma makaleleri, etkileşimsel üstsöylem öğeleri.
The effects of arcs motivational model on student motivation to learn English
The present study was designed to examine the effects of ARCS motivational model (Keller, 2010) on students' motivation and to identify the perspectives of the students related to activities and the teacher behavior that motivates them. For this purpose, ARCS motivational model strategies were inserted to the instructional design via detailed lesson plans and these plans were applied throughout ten weeks. To find out the effects of ARSC model data were collected using two scales. These scales were Course Interest Survey (CIS) and Instructional Materials Motivation Survey (IMMS) by John Keller, and they were administered to a sampling of 30 preparatory school students at Namik Kemal University before and after the application of lesson plans. To examine the effects of ARCS motivational model on students' motivation CIS and IMMS results were evaluated using Paired Samples t-test. The results of Course Interest Survey indicated a significant increase since students showed higher course motivation based on the overall CIS results at the end of the study. The Course Interest Survey items were evaluated in terms of each ARCS category and a significant difference was observed in all scales. The results showed that the ARCS model inserted language instruction had positive influence on students' course motivation in all categories. To examine the effects of ARCS strategies on increasing students' motivation in terms of instructional materials the Instructional Materials Motivation Survey results were evaluated. A paired samples t-test yielded a significant difference in students' instructional motivation scores. For a deeper understanding, two subscales of IMMS were assessed separately to identify the difference in mean scores and whether the instructional materials based on ARCS strategies were implemented into the classroom instruction successfully. The results revealed significant differences in both subscales. Students' instructional materials motivation increased. Students' comments that were collected through weekly comments sheet also supported statistical data obtained through both CIS and IMMS. The second purpose of the study was to identify course design features that motivated students most. For this reason, students were asked to write weekly comments sheet and to comment on the effectiveness of the instruction and the type of instructional materials and activities motivated them during the class hour. These were collected by the instructor at the last lesson of each week. Students reported that extra materials such as info-gap, problem solving, picture description, picture and sentence matching etc. activities increased their motivation. Especially vocabulary teaching activities supported with games, listening practices such as songs and videos were suggested as highly motivating. Activities that required learner participation such as pair works, group activities, competitions and games were considerably effective in increasing student motivation. Moreover, activities that allowed students use their creativity and their own ideas were other motivating course design features. Besides class materials, instructor behavior was indicated as relatively motivating. Polite, energetic, enthusiastic, caring instructor behaviors were reported as effective in increasing students' motivation to the lesson. Furthermore, providing constructive feedback, giving verbal praise and providing rewards for accomplishing a difficult task or showing effort were other motivating instructor behaviors. In addition, students reported that frequent student-instructor communication helped them focus their lesson and increased their motivation. KEY WORDS: ARCS Motivational Model, CIS, IMMS, Motivation
The effects of presenting vocabulary in different sets on the students' productive vocabulary knowledge
This study was aimed to find out the effects of presenting new vocabulary in thematically related sets and unrelated sets on the receptive and productive vocabulary gains of the students. In other words, here which set led to more receptive and productive gain was investigated through immediate and delayed post test results. The research was carried out with 35 seventh graders during their elective English lessons in Atatürk Middle School. Before starting the treatment the target words were identified carefully and the thematically related and unrelated sets were arranged with essential criteria in mind. The target words were taught to two different groups of students during their two class hours elective English lessons. The treatment lasted for 5 weeks. Each set was consisted of 16 new words and these 16 words were taught in two separate groups. For example thematically related set was consisted of 'party' and 'environment' vocabulary sets whereas the unrelated set included 'set 1' and 'set 2'. Before teaching, the words were pretested in order to find whether the students knew the words or not. According to the pre-test analysis, necessary editing was done with the sets. 8 words were taught at a time and each set was taught in two class hour. After presenting the new words, receptive and productive practises were done. At the end of the lessons, two immediate post tests were given to the students; one to measure receptive vocabulary knowledge and one to measure the productive vocabulary knowledge. The same tests were given as delayed post tests 3 weeks later. According to the findings revealed by the immediate post test results, there was no significant difference between the vocabulary sets when the receptive vocabulary gain of the students was considered. But, when the productive vocabulary gain of the students was considered it was seen that the unrelated set led to more vocabulary gain. According to the findings revealed by the delayed post test results, there was a significant statistical difference between the vocabulary sets when the receptive and productive vocabulary gain of the students was considered. It could be concluded that the unrelated set led to more receptive and productive vocabulary gain. In conclusion, presenting vocabulary in unrelated set was found to be more effective than presenting vocabulary in thematically related set. Key words: Foreign Language Vocabulary Teaching, Thematically Related Sets, Unrelated Sets, Receptive Vocabulary Knowledge, Productive Vocabulary Knowledge
The impact of the explicit instruction of lexical bundles on academic writing skills of turkish EFL learners
The aim of the current study is to investigate the impact of the explicit instruction of lexical bundles through noticing, retrieval and generative activities on academic writing of Turkish EFL students and to reveal participants' opinions on this treatment.The participants of the study were 30 Turkish EFL learners enrolled in School of Foreign Languages at Osmaniye Korkut Ata University. Both quantitative and qualitative instruments were used in the study.The study includes a within group time series design in which participants were involved in one treatment group. The quantitative data were collected through pre-test, immediate post-test and delayed post-test scores of multiple choice test (for measuring receptive knowledge), c-test (for measuring controlled productive knowledge) and argumentative paragraphs (for measuring uncontrolled productive knowledge). The qualitative data were collected through questionnaire including two sections; fifteen closed-ended and three open-ended questions.The results of the study found out that explicit instruction of lexical bundles through noticing, retrieval and generative activities had a significant effect both on achievement and retention of receptive lexical bundle knowledge, and on achievement and retention of productive lexical bundle incontrolled and uncontrolled situations. However, the comparison of immediate post-test and delayed post-test scores of the productive knowledge of lexical bundles in uncontrolled situation showed that there was a significantly decrease in the retention of the participants. The results of the qualitative part of the study showed that participants highly benefited from this treatment, which helped them improve their academic writing quality by using the target lexical bundles. Moreover, after the treatment, they were more willing to use the target bundles in their writing. Keywords: Lexical bundles, Academic writing, Explicit instruction, Noticing,Retrieval and generative activities.
Implementation and outcome evaluation of the Turkish primary school English language teaching program
The present study was designed (1) to reveal the views of the state primary school EFL teachers about their present textbooks and (2) question whether the 4th grade students have reached the goals defined by MoNE in 2013 ELTP in terms of listening skill. The research was carried out in Sincan in Ankara including 50 EFL teachers in 22 primary schools who were asked to reply 46-item Material Evaluation Form to evaluate their textbooks and 10 teachers in 7 schools were interviewed. Then, 20-item listening test prepared by the researcher was given to 650 4th grade students in 5 schools. The results of the teacher questionnaire indicated that the teachers were not satisfied with the textbooks in terms of their general appearance, layout and design, methodology, activities, language skills, language and topic content, teachability and flexibility, and assessment except for a few points. That is to say, they find the font size and type of the book suitable for the students, and think that the methodology implemented in the books is up-to-date. Furthermore, the participants tend to believe that the activities encourage meaningful language use and embody individual, pair and group work. Also, listening activities are thought to be well-recorded and the unit topics draw young learners' attention. This study was carried out to see the outcomes of 2013 ELTP via evaluating the textbooks and 4th grade students' listening skills in a certain geographical area, so it enabled to realize the strong and weak points of the program. At the end of the study, there are some implications for educators, educational authorities and educational researchers. Keywords: Program Evaluation, Outcome Evaluation, ELTPs.
Perceptions of elt students related to learner autonomy in language learning
This study mainly aims to investigate the perceptions of ELT students related to Learner Autonomy in language learning. 73 male and 139 female students, a total of 212 students, participate in the study. A questionnaire is applied in order to identify the perceptions of ELT students related to Learner Autonomy in language learning. The questionnaire is prepared in four main parts: one of them is for background information of the participants and the other three parts are for their perceptions of ELT learners related to responsibilities, abilities, and activities on learner autonomy. In addition, in order to support the quantitative data, and to have a deeper understanding of the perceptions of ELT students, a total of 20 students, five students from each class, are interviewed. The findings gathered are analyzed according to the year of the study (from 1st year to 4th year) and gender of the participants. Mean, independent samples t- tests and One- Way ANOVAs are used for analyzing the quantitative data. Content analysis is done for the qualitative data and the findings of the qualitative data are organized according to the participants' year of study and gender. The results indicate that there are not any statistically significant differences between male and female students in terms of the perceptions of learners related to responsibilities, abilities, and activity choices. In addition, although there are statistically significant differences between the genders in terms of the perceptions of learners related to abilities and activity choices on learner autonomy, both genders have similar perceptions related to responsibilities of learners. The findings gathered from the qualitative data are in line with the findings of the quantitative data. The participants mainly state similar responsibilities, abilities and activities in terms of their year of study. In addition, qualitative data reveal that although both female and male participants give importance to the similar perceptions related to responsibilities, abilities, and activities on learner autonomy, they state different reasons regarding the perceptions of learners related to responsibilities, abilities, and activities. Additionally, participants utter some definitions related to learner autonomy and they prove how versatile the notion of learner autonomy is. Keywords: Learner Autonomy, Year of Study, Gender.
L1 Turkish and L1 English writers' use of metadiscourse markers in research articles written in English in applied linguistics
The purpose of this study is to investigate the utilization of interactive metadiscourse markers in the discussion and conclusion sections of research articles authored by L1 Turkish writers of English (L1TW) and L1 English writers (L1EW) within the field of applied linguistics. In order to identify the similarities and differences in the types and frequencies of interactive markers used, a small-sized specialized corpus was compiled with a total of 40 research articles, with 20 research articles selected to represent each group of writers, following certain criteria. These articles were selected from the internationally recognized SSCI-indexed journals published between the years 2018-2022. The analysis incorporates both corpus and manual examination based on the taxonomy offered by Hyland and Tse (2004), as well as utilizing the N-gram feature of LancsBox to identify the bundles that are likely to function as interactive markers. The findings of the study reveal that transitions were the most commonly used type of interactive markers by both groups of writers. While L1TW employed transitions more frequently than L1EW, code glosses, frame markers, and endophoric markers constituted a higher percentage of all interactive markers in the L1EW subcorpus. The findings also revealed a more frequent use of transitions, code glosses, frame markers, endophoric markers, and evidentials in the discussion sections of research articles for both groups of writers. The study's implications extend to pedagogical considerations for academic writing courses, aiming to enhance understanding of metadiscourse use in writing research articles Keywords: Academic writing, research articles, interactive metadiscourse markers
Turkish EFL learners' preference for apology strategies across different social variables
The objective of this study is to examine how Turkish learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) utilize apology strategies. Specifically, the present study aims to describe the apology strategies preferred by English preparatory school students in specific situations that involve social factors like power imbalance, social distance, and the weight of the action. The data was gathered through two separate discourse completion tests (DCTs): (a) the written discourse completion test (WDCT) and (b) the multiple-choice discourse completion test (MDCT). WDCT presents six and MDCT presents ten distinct situations that necessitate an apology act. Each situation in the tests incorporates diverse social variables to enable users to provide a reaction or describe how they would apologize in real-life scenarios. Through these tests, the study compares the use of apology strategies of Turkish EFL learners with that of native English speakers. The study's findings revealed that Turkish EFL learners had a higher frequency of employing indirect apologies, as opposed to native speakers. The study revealed that Turkish English as a Foreign Language (EFL) speakers at the B1 and B1+ proficiency levels employed similar strategies to express apologies to native speakers, as evidenced by the data collected via Discourse Completion Tasks (DCTs). Considering these social factors, Turkish individuals learning English as a second language displayed apology speech acts that closely resembled those of native English speakers. However, Turkish EFL learners employed more indirect strategies than native speakers. The study found that whereas B1 and B1+ non-native speakers used similar methods in broad expressions of apology, they employed negative L1 transfer while apologizing such as the placement of "I am sorry". Keywords: Apology Strategies, Power Differences, Social Distance, EFL
Vocabulary learning through collocations and gamification in EFL classes
The use of technology and gamification tools have been in great use over a few decades in EFL classes, and their popularity has increased considerably during the COVID-19 pandemic period during which online education replaced face to face education completely or partially. Quizlet is one of the most popular applications used in EFL classes to teach vocabulary in a more effective and enjoyable way. Although there have been several studies conducted to seek the effectiveness of Quizlet among students learning English as a second language, there have been only a few studies carried out in Turkey at tertiary level to investigate the effectiveness of Quizlet in terms of vocabulary learning and retention, and also there have been very few studies which investigated the use of collocations on Quizlet both in terms of vocabulary learning and retention. The present study aims to investigate firstly, the effectiveness of Quizlet as well as the effectiveness of using collocations on Quizlet in comparison to traditional methods in terms of vocabulary learning, secondly the effectiveness of Quizlet and the use of collocations compared to traditional methods in terms of vocabulary retention, and finally the perception of the students regarding the use of Quizlet to study new vocabulary. In this study, 60 participants in three different groups studied the same target words over three weeks using different tools. Then, the results of pretest, posttest and delayed posttests of the participants were compared and also a semi-structured interview was conducted to learn about the perception of the participants concerning the use of Quizlet. The results of the study revealed that not only the use of Quizlet, but also the use of collocations contributed to both vocabulary learning and retention of the students significantly. The study also found that the participants regarded Quizlet as an effective, practical and enjoyable tool to study vocabulary. Keywords: collocations, gamification, Quizlet, vocabulary learning
Relationship between coursebook dependency and self-efficacy in Turkish EFL teachers
Teaching materials that are regarded to exert an excessive impact on learners dominate the ELT field for decades. However, some teachers may attribute great importance to them, whereas some others may not. Both views can be problematic in terms of classroom dynamics. In that regard, a critical approach is required to measure the amount of dependence EFL teachers have. The primary aim of this study is to find out the dependency levels of EFL teachers on coursebooks and whether there is any sort of relationship between teachers' coursebook dependency levels and their teacher self-efficacy beliefs, and whether there is a significant difference between coursebook dependency and years of experience, and school levels. The participants of the study were 270 Ministry of Education English language teachers (204 female and 66 male) in Turkey. A quantitative approach was adopted in this study; thus, a coursebook dependency questionnaire and teacher-self efficacy questionnaire were administered to the participants via online platforms. The results revealed that most of the teachers were medium-dependent while the rest is highly dependent. There was no low dependent teacher. Similarly, teacher self-efficacy beliefs of teachers were mostly strong and very strong. Additionally, the relationship between coursebook dependency and teacher self-efficacy showed a positive correlation surprisingly. As for the teaching experience of participants, it showed a parallel increase with coursebook dependency. Finally, coursebook dependency results implied a significant difference with the school levels of EFL teachers concluding that high school teachers were the most dependent group in this study.
A study on the relationship between Turkish EFL learners' willingness to communicate in English, ambiguity tolerance and parental encouragement level
This study aims to investigate Turkish EFL learners' willingness to communicate, tolerance of ambiguity, and parental encouragement levels. Moreover, a possible link between tolerance of ambiguity and parental encouragement levels with willingness to communicate was explored in the study. The research sample consisted of 151 preparatory school students at Hasan Kalyoncu University. A mixed-method research design was preferred in this study as both qualitative and quantitative research methods were utilized. ''Willingness to Communicate Scale'' developed by McCroskey (1992), ''Second Language Tolerance of Ambiguity'' developed by Ely (1989), and ''Perceived Parental Encouragement Scale'' involved in ''Attitude/Motivation Test Battery'' developed by Gardner (1985) were used as data collection tools. SPSS 20.0 was operated to analyze the data obtained from the questionnaires. Frequencies, means, percentages, and standard deviations were calculated through this program. Moreover, independent samples t-test was utilized to detect whether there was a statistically significant difference relating to age, while one-way ANOVA was used to explore if there was a statistically significant difference relating language proficiency with willingness to communicate, tolerance of ambiguity, and parental encouragement levels. Apart from these, Pearson correlation was practiced to investigate the relationship between willingness to communicate, tolerance of ambiguity, and parental encouragement. Afterward, to detect the predictive power of tolerance of ambiguity and parental encouragement on willingness to communicate, multiple regression analysis was achieved. In the qualitative part of the study, 16 students who already took the quantitative part of the study were interviewed. The findings were examined through content analysis. According to the results, Turkish EFL learners showed high willingness to communicate, tolerance of ambiguity and, perceived parental encouragement. Besides, statistically significant results were found relating to the influence of age and gender. Furthermore, it was detected that tolerance of ambiguity and perceived parental encouragement predicted willingness to communicate positively. Finally, some linguistic, affective, contextual, individual factors and, self-perceived communicative competence were found to be influencing elements on learners' willingness to communicate. Moreover, some problems of tolerating ambiguity experienced by learners were detected.
Transforming receptive vocabulary knowledge into productive vocabulary through ict tools and investigation of students' views
Today's world has been continuously changing including education thanks to technological developments. As a result of this movement, teaching strategies have naturally undergone a change. By considering this, the objective of this present thesis is to integrate technology with vocabulary teaching process. Thereby, this study incorporates Quizlet and Word Art in order to improve vocabulary knowledge. This thesis also clarifies the effect of Quizlet on students' receptive vocabulary knowledge. Besides, Word Art has been used to develop students' productive vocabulary knowledge. The researcher also aims to see possible effect of ICT tools on students' lexical densities. All groups learned target vocabulary explicitly within a context and this context was provided by reading texts, listening texts and speaking models but for the first 6 weeks, they practiced all target vocabulary through Quizlet while they practiced all target vocabulary through Word Art for the other 5 weeks. The treatment lasted 11 weeks with 70 students at a state university; one group with three subgroups were created. Mixed method one group research design was used in this thesis. In order to collect quantitative data, pretest and posttest technique was applied in order to see to find out whether there is an effect of ICT tools on students' vocabulary knowledge with the help of SPSS 25. By using SPSS 25, descriptive statistics of pretest and posttest scores were calculated and ANOVA was applied to find out significance value of both tests. Furthermore, the researcher applied pre writing, post receptive and post productive writing tests to identify students' lexical density thanks to http://www.analyzemywriting.com. To check whether students used target vocabulary after Quizlet and Word Art treatments, all writings were again analyzed via AntConc and target vocabulary used by the participants were determined. Finally, interviews were conducted with 10 students in order to collect qualitative data to identify the students' perceptions towards the course and ICT tools. These interviews were analyzed by using content analysis. The results of this thesis showed that ICT tools were greatly effective in developing vocabulary knowledge, and also lexical density. A significant difference was found in posttest scores and lexical density mean scores. Word Art was more successful than Quizlet in terms of using target vocabulary in writing; besides, this study pointed out that students have positive perceptions towards ICT tools and they found ICT tools enjoyable and mostly attractive.
The Role of participant and content of discourse in bilingualism
This study is about people who interact with two or more languages in their everyday life. It deals with how they use their two languages in specific situations and the factors which determine their choice of languages. The samples of the study are six Australian-born bilingual students at the English Language Teaching Department of the Faculty of Education at Çukurova University in Adana, Turkey. They are the children of Turkish-born Australian immigrants who have made a permanent return from Australia to their homeland during the past few years. The aim of the study is to present an introduction to bilingualism - the state of passing by with two or more languages - and to deepen the understanding of areas such as language choice and code-switching in bilingualism. Chapter I provides information on the background of the issue and Chapter II gives a review of the relevant literature. Chapter m contains the nature of the research, the subjects and how the data are collected and analyzed. In Chapter IV, the data is analyzed and categorized and examples are given. In the Fifth Chapter, conclusions are drawn, and limitations and suggestions for further research are stated. Key words: Bilingualism, language choice, code-switching, participant and content of discourse
The Effects of using cognitive learning strategies on reading comprehension ability of Turkish students
THE EFFECTS OF USING COGNITIVE LEARNING STRATEGffiS ON READING COMPREHENSION ABILITY OF TÜRKISH STUDENTS HASAN BEük Ph. D. Thesis English Language Department Supervisor: Ass. Prof. Dr. Felımi Can Sendan September, 1998 217 Pages ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to (1) find out the strategies English-as a-Foreign Language students use in reading comprehension, and (2) enable these students to gain cognitive leaming strategies in order to faciütate comprehension. After clarifying cognitivist approach to learning and its role in reading comprehension through related literatüre it concentrates on cognitive learning strategies in reading comprehension. it first searches into what types of strategies English-as a-Foreign Language student use İn reading comprehension courses. in the next step, with the help of a training programme, this study aims to enable students to gain cognitive learning strategies in order to be successful in reading comprehension course, A reading comprehension lesson plan which was adapted from Jones (1991) was implemented for each lesson. The activities in this lesson plan were organised in a way that helps students use their previous knowledge in what they read. in addition, different techniques were used to stimulate their previous knowledge such asquestioning, semantic mapping, linking known to unknown, selecting the most important. Questionîng is considered an integrally related activity which provide higher order level of thinking. For this reason, in questioning process, the levels in the Bloom's Taxonomy (1956) were used. The results of the study show that there is a close relation between cognitive learning strategies and students success in reading comprehension since the students in the Experimental Group proved to be more successful than those in the Control Group. The results also support that cognitive learning training in reading comprehension enables readers to develop higher order level thinking skills and metacognitive strategies.fc KEY WORDS Cognitive learning Metacognitive strategies Long-term memory Short-term memory Meaningful learning Schenıata Higher level thinking Elaboration Concept ör Semantic mapping Reading comprehension strategies
Dil öğreniminde i̇nanç sistemlerinin etkisi
This study is based on an investigation designed to explore the potential influences of match and mismatch in the beliefs the teachers and students hold about language, and language teaching and leaming on the leaming outcomes in foreign language classrooms. The research context is a language center, Yadim, (where the researeher is a member of teaching staft) providing preparatory English Language instruction to prospective students of various departments at Çukurova University. Forty eight students and fo ur core language teachers were selected for participation in the study based on mateh scores obtained through Statview analysis of the language leaming inventory (Wenden and Rubin 1987) administered to 200 students at beginner level, and 17 teachers. Students and teachers whose beliefs were in agreement, and those whose beliefs did not resemble were assigned to two separate groups. The two groups reeeived the same instruction for a period of two months. The classes were observed, and the observations and the inventories provided a base for subsequent interviews with the teachers and the leamers. At the end of the eourse, the leamers in the two groups were given an achievement test. The test scores of the two groups were compared, and triangulated with observation and interview data.
A Model for effective supervision from the supervisor and the student-teacher`s perspective: A social constructivist approach
A Model for Effective Supervision from the Supervisor and the Student- Teacher's Perspective: A Social Constructivist Approach Gülden İLİN Doctorate Thesis in the subject of ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING Advisor Prof. Dr. F. Özden Ekmekçi January,2003 (395 pages) This study was conducted in order to provide a general description of how the supervisor teachers of the ELT Department of Çukurova University perceive effective supervisory feedback, and how their perceptions influence their practices as supervisors. The overriding purpose is to find out whether feedback sessions lead to a change in the student- teachers' perceptions both in the content and structure. In order to achieve the aim of the study, supervisors' perceptions of effective supervisory feedback were elicited. Their feedback sessions were recorded and the supervisors were interviewed to see whether and to what extent their perceptions influenced their behaviours as supervisors. On the other hand, participating student-teachers were observed during their practice sessions to find out whether they planned their lessons according to the feedback that they received. The data gathered from the student- teachers were triangulated by interviews and their feedback forms. Keywords: Perception, Teaching Practice, Effective Feedback, Feedback SesSlon, Change.
Vocabulary learning strategies employed by preparatory class students at Adana Anatolian Teacher training high school
This study aims to identify vocabulary learning strategies which are known by preparatory class students attending Adana Anatolian Teacher Training High School. Moreover, the second purpose of this study is to observe to what extent students can employ the vocabulary learning strategies they are aware of. In this study, a VLS questionnaire prepared by Marin and think-aloud protocols were used with 90 participants from the preparatory classes of Anatolian Teacher Training High School. After the VLS was completed by the participants, ten students were selected by the researcher for think-aloud protocols. The data obtained from VLS questionnaire were analysed in five categories: determination strategies, social strategies, cognitive strategies, memory strategies and metacognitive strategies. The frequencies and percentages were computed and shown in tables. Then, the protocols of ten students were transcribed and strategies used by the participants were grouped in a taxonomy. The findings of this study indicate that the participants are not successful enough to employ the vocabulary learning strategies which they believe that they know. Key Words: Vocabulary Learning Strategies, Cognitive Strategies, Metacognitive Strategies, Social Strategies, Think-aloud
An action research study on teacher development: A constructivist approach
In this study, firstly, we have explored the nature of seven EFL teachers' perceived needs for change at the outset of the teacher development program. Later, teachers' (in-service) development and their personal theories of effective language teaching have been dealt with thoroughly. We have adopted a problem-centered approach to teachers' development by helping them set up their own agenda for change. We employed a research process where an action research methodology was used. A collaborative and qualitative action research model was used in this study on the basis of Kelly's (1955) personal construct theory as a theoretical and methodological framework. In order to achieve the aim of this study, the teachers' perceptions of effective language teaching were elicited. After the identification of their needs and interests, they were involved in an action research process through input and classroom inquiry phases. After the repertory grid administrations of the teachers, the constructs elicited from them were observed in their classes through notes and checklist. Thus, the content and the structure of the teachers' personal theories, the changes in their theories and the consistency between theIV conceptual and behavioural changes were investigated. The repertory grid data were subjected to Focus, Exchange, Sociogrid and content analysis. Key words: Action Research, Personal Construct Theory, Repertory Grid, In- Service Teacher Development, Teacher Learning and Thinking, Reflective Teaching.
Reflecting on teaching: Interactive thoughts and decisions of experienced and novice EFL teachers
ABSTRACT REFLECTING ON TEACHING: INTERACTIVE THOUGHTS AND DECISIONS OF EXPERIENCED AND NOVICE EFL TEACHERS EBRU ŞİRE Ph. D. Dissertation, English Language Teaching Department. Supervisor: Profc Dr. F. özden EKMEKÇİ May 2004, 361 pages This study is mainly concerned with the instructional decisions EFL teachers make in the class (Le., interactive decisions). It aims to contribute to our understanding of what teachers are thinking about when they make a particular interactive instructional decision. The ultimate purpose is to investigate and compare the interactive thinking and decision making process of experienced and novice teachers. The underlying assumption is that teachers' behavior is guided by their reason based thoughts, judgments, and decisions. Therefore, the study adopts a cognitive and interpretative approach. Four novice and four experienced EFL teachers participated in the study. The data were collected through videotaping procedure, stimulated recall technique, semi- structured interviews, lesson plans, classroom maps, and snakes. The study was conducted at YADIM (Le., Center for Foreign Languages), Çukurova University. In the study, each teacher was videotaped three times in her regular classes, and then she was invited to comment on her in-class behaviors and interactive decisions at the stimulated recall interviews. The findings were analyzed and interpreted both quantitatively and qualitatively.The results indicate that the complexity of teachers' thinking process change in regard to their expertise level. In line with this finding, the interactive decision making process of the experienced teachers is seen to be much more complicated than that of the novices in the study. Moreover, the experienced teachers are observed to employ a wider set of instructional actions in response to the student performance cues. However, both the experienced teachers and the novices are able to recognize student performance cues they observe in the class. Another finding indicates that the novice teachers are much more concerned with the classroom management related issues especially with student off task behavior and develop a good repertoire of coping strategies to deal with such behaviors. In addition, interactive decision making models are proposed for both the experienced and novice teachers throughout the study. The results of the study suggest some significant implications not only for in- service teacher training programs but also for pre-service teacher training programs. Besides, the study also covers some methodological and theoretical implications for future research. KEYWORDS: Interactive Decision Experienced Teacher Novice Teacher Stimulated Recall Technique Student Performance Cue
Efficact of cross-cultural e-mail exchange for enhancing EFL writing: A perspective for tertiary-level Turkish EFL learners
ABSTRACT EFFICACY OF CROSS-CULTURAL E-MAIL EXCHANGE FOR ENHANCING EFL WRITING: A PERSPECTIVE FOR TERTIARY-LEVEL TURKISH EFL LEARNERS Düek YAVUZ ERKAN Ph.D. Dissertation, English Language Teaching Department Supervisor: Şehnaz ŞAHINKARAKAŞ Ekim 2004, 196 pages The aim of this study was threefold. One goal was to determine whether cross- cultural e-mail exchange enhances foreign-language learners' writing self-efficacy. The second was to test the efficacy of cross-cultural e-mail exchange in terms of improving EFL students' attitudes toward writing and writing classes. The third aim was to investigate the value of cross-cultural e-mail exchange for enhancing EFL students' writing ability. The study design included a combination of descriptive and quasi-experimental research. Data were collected using the following methods: review of existing literature, questionnaire, writing self-efficacy scale, testing of writing ability, semi-structured interview, student reflection form, and researcher's field notes. The participants were two groups of 16 tertiary-level Turkish EFL students who were learning English for academic purposes at YADİM, the Center for Foreign Languages at Çukurova University. The researcher was the sole writing-class teacher for both groups. A 75-hour (15-week) experiment was conducted to determine the efficacy of cross-cultural e-mail exchange for promoting better writing in English. The specific elements investigated were writing self-efficacy, attitudes toward writing and writing classes, and overall quality of writing. During the intervention, one group wrote compositions of different genres and topics to an imaginary person or the teacher usingthe traditional pen-and-paper method. The other group used e-mail to write to a real audience, South Korean key-pals. Each student was evaluated with a writing self-efficacy scale before and after the intervention. The aim was to assess for possible changes in writing self-efficacy linked to exposure to e-mail exchange. The group findings before and after the intervention were analyzed by calculating mean scores and standard deviations, and using a t-test to assess for significant differences. To assess students' positive and negative views and feelings related to writing and writing classes, each participant completed an attitudinal questionnaire before and after the intervention. Responses to the rating, ranking, and open-ended questions in the survey were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean scores, standard deviations, frequencies of responses, proportions of each group with given responses). Responses to the open-ended items were also categorized, and similar responses were identified. In addition to the before/after questionnaire and self-efficacy scale, each of the 32 students completed two timed writing tests prior to the intervention (pretests), and then completed two other timed writing tests after the intervention (posttests). Covariance analysis was used to determine whether the difference between the mean posttest scores for the e-mail group and the control group was statistically significant. After the intervention, each of the e-mail students attended a semi-structured interview with the teacher-researcher. In recording this direct qualitative feedback, the aim was to triangulate the findings from the other data-collection instruments (attitudinal questionnaire results, scores for writing self-efficacy, and writing-quality results). Also, throughout the experimental period, the teacher-researcher took weekly field notes on the progress in the e-mail group, recording all problems and noteworthy events or observations. As well, all 32 participants were required to submit written comments on their experience every 2 weeks. The semi-structured interview responses, teacher-researcher field notes, and these "student reflection forms" were analyzed by content. The results obtained from the self-efficacy assessments indicate that cross- cultural e-mail exchange is a valuable way to improve foreign-language learners' self-efficacy in writing. The teacher-researcher's field notes, the comments on the student reflection forms and the responses of the participants in the experimental group during the semi-structured interviews all confirmed the findings from the writing self-efficacy assessments. The responses to the questions on the attitudinal questionnaire revealed that cross-cultural e-mail exchange help develop positive attitudes towards writing. This finding is supported by the experimental group participants' answers in the semi- structured interview, the teacher-researcher's field notes, and the comments on the student reflection forms. Analysis of the results for the writing ability post-tests revealed no significant difference between the mean posttest scores in the experimental and control groups. According to this finding, there is no significant contribution of cross- cultural e-mail exchange to the overall writing quality in the target language. However, since this type of program increases students' writing self-efficacy and encourages more positive attitudes towards writing and writing classes, the researcher speculates that given adequate time, such effects may translate into improved overall writing quality. KEY WORDS: Writing, Computer-mediated communication, Cross-cultural e-mail exchange, Key- pal, Self- efficacy in English-writing, Attitude.
The impact of an induction program on novice teachers' efficacy beliefs
The first year of teaching experience is overwhelming and stressful for all beginning teachers regardless of the teacher education program they attend, and that over the course of the year they usually experience a decreased strength of belief in their own efficacy and in the learning potential of their students. Therefore, the first year of teaching experience is a crucial period of learning and professional development. It is apparent that there is a considerable need for beginning teacher support programs in order to prepare competent and successful teachers in the field. This qualitative study described the development and implementation of a support program for novice teachers in Turkish primary schools for the 2001-2002 school year. The study involved four beginning teachers with no teaching experience. The first phase of the study included seeking beginning teacher problems in public primary schools in Turkey. The second phase of the study included development and the delivery of the support program around participant teachers' needs. The four sources of efficacy beliefs (i.e. mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion, and physiological and emotional states) were used as a theoretical framework for the support program (NTEP-Novice Teacher Efficacy Program). Methodology included a combination of reflection sheets collected prior to the program and after each session of the program, interviews conducted at the end of the NTEP, and Repertory Grids administered both at the beginning and end of the NTEP. The data gathered through these sources were used to evaluate the program and toinvestigate changes taking place in beginning teachers' perception of an effective teacher and their assessment of "self as teacher at the end of a support program. The findings suggested that there are several key program essentials for providing support for the beginning teachers. The program essentials include: (1) determining beginner teacher needs; (2) identifying benefits to program participants; (3) encouraging collaborative work among participants; (4) creating a non-threatening atmosphere; (5) encouraging participants to reflect on their own experiences and learning; (6) providing beginning teachers with specific and constructive feedback; (7) creating opportunities for beginning teachers to compare and contrast their own teaching practices and beliefs to other teachers; (8) viewing beginning teachers as professionals and incorporating their ideas into the content of the program; (9) instead of loading content knowledge as a recipe, equipping beginning teachers to work on their own problems in their own teaching; (10) establishing the norm of on-going professional development; (1 1) conducting the program in a place which is not associated with participant teachers' teaching context The findings also indicated that the participant teachers felt supported and appreciated in their first year of teaching experience. Considering participants' constructs of an effective teacher, we observed a considerable change both in structure and content at the end of the NTEP. As regards their efficacy beliefs, we observed that the participant teachers reconsidered their efficacy beliefs on the skills and activities, which they ascribe to an effective teacher. That is, while some participant teachers viewed themselves more similar to their perception of an effective teacher, some became uncertain on some features of an effective teacher. KEYWORDS Novice teacher (Beginning Teacher) Induction Program (Beginning Teacher Support Program) Self-Efficacy Theory Teacher Efficacy Repertory Grids
Implementation of neuro linguistic programming NLP into personal and professional development programs of English language teachers
In the field of teaching, the importance of change and/or development İs undeniable. At any stage of teacher development, it is essential to take a more humanistic point of view; that is to take into account the "whole teacher", which covers the teacher's personal and professional life: his/her beliefs, values, emotional states, interpersonal world as well as knowledge, skills, and roles in the society. Hence, within the close relationship of personal and professional life, uncovering one's constructs in accordance is of utmost importance to achieve change and/or development. In this respect, Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) seemed to be promising to contribute to the personal and professional development of teachers. NLP with its underlying techniques and principles tries to explain how a person structures his/her thoughts, and how this affects his/her behavior. Applying NLP techniques enables the teacher to control mental, emotional and physical resources so that a person can reach his/her potentials. Drawing on the argument above, this qualitative study aimed to design a new teacher development program to support both personal and professional development of EFL teachers, implementing NLP techniques. This study also aimed to investigate the effects of NLP techniques on the personal and professional development of EFL teachers and to see whether NLP techniques enable teachers to develop a system to support for themselves to cope with problems related to their not only professional but also personal life. This qualitative study included six non-native, experienced EFL teachers from various Turkish state schools who participated in the NLP-TD program for over threemonths (12 sessions). In order to see the impact of the NLP-TD program, Repertory Grids, follow-up interviews, questionnaires and reflection sheets were employed in the study. Repertory Grids and follow-up interviews were administered at the beginning and end of the study to observe the changes in the structure and content of the participant teachers' personal theories regarding the personal and professional features of an effective teacher. We also searched into the nature of participant teachers' construction of "self ' as teacher and "ideal" teacher in relation to those features. With the help of the questionnaires and reflection sheets, participant teachers' reactions regarding their experiences of the NLP-TD program were obtained to illuminate teacher educators and INSET providers for future implementations of the NLP-TD program. Preliminary data indicated that the current teacher development opportunities in Turkey are very limited and fall short of meeting the needs and interests of experienced EFL teachers. Accordingly, these teachers claimed to be left on their own in regards to their development. Findings of this study maintain overwhelming positive responses to the effectiveness of the NLP-TD program. This program helped participant teachers to support themselves discovering their subjective world within their personal and/or professional life. Findings especially note that the NLP-TD program was different from other INSET programs as to its emphasizing and connecting both personal and professional theories. As regards to the Repertory Grid, findings suggest that participant teachers' personal theories displayed significant change both in content and structure at the end of the study. In conclusion, the NLP-TD program may be an important example for a successful INSET program that supports life-long learning of EFL teachers through school-university collaboration. KEY WORDS Teacher Development Personal Development Professional Development Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) Repertory Grid Technique INSET Constructivism
Syntactic nominalizations in Turkish: A principles and parameters framework
IV ABSTRACT SYNTACTIC NOMINALIZATIONS IN TURKISH: A PRINCIPLES AND PARAMETERS FRAMEWORK Yılmaz YALDIR Ph.D. Thesis, English Language Education Department Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Cem CAN September 2004, 280 + xv pages This study aims to investigate the internal structure of syntactic nominalizations in Turkish within the framework of Principles and Parameters Theory. To do this, it restricts the attention to the prototypical syntactic nominalizations in argument positions of matrix sentences in Turkish. Chapter 1 introduces the major points concerning the problem and provides an outline of the adopted theoretical framework. It also expresses the research questions and the hypotheses of the study. Chapter 2 offers reviews of a number of earlier studies concerning syntactic nominalizations from generative viewpoints as well as other descriptive and typological perspectives. Chapter 3 presents a descriptive survey of major types of embedded clauses in English and in Turkish. Chapter 4 concentrates on the general morphosyntactic characteristics of prototypical syntactic nominalizations in Turkish. It examines various patterns of syntactic nominalizations by comparing them with the corresponding simple sentences sharing the same D-structure representation, supposedly the pure manifestations of thematic relations between the lexical categories. Chapter 5 summarizes the evolution of a particular analysis of noun phrases in the light of the major principles and subtheories of generative syntax, especially, the X-bar Theory. Adopting this analysis, the study suggests that noun phrases are extended phrasal projections containing a series of layered successive maximal projections of functional heads, such as D (Determiner), AGRN (Nominal Agreement) and NUM (Number). Furthermore, it examines the prototypical syntactic nominalizations in Turkish in terms of such functional heads and the nominal TAM (Tense, Aspect, Mood) category. It adopts the view that these functional categories are responsible for transforming a verbal phrase into a referential expression capable of occupying an argument position. Chapter 6 discusses the major findings of the study and concludes it by highlighting the implications of these findings for prospective studies.Keywords: syntactic nominalizations, Principles and Parameters Theory, functional head categories, DP-analysis, Turkish syntax
An action research study on portfolio assessment in a process writing class with seventh grade students in a primary state school
This study aims to search the improvements of the writing skill of the seventh grade students in a state school by using portfolio technique in Process Approach. In this study three questions have been investigated: 1) What are the factors to be considered while teaching writing skill to the seventh grade students? 2) Does the use of portfolio technique help seventh grade students' writing improvement? 3) What are the attitudes of the students to portfolio technique? Key Words: 1. Portfolio Technique 2. Metacognitive Skills 3. Autonomy
İsim/fiil baskınlığı açısından çocukların kelime dağarcığı
Çocukların kelime hazinesi gelişimi hakkında daha bütünleyici bir bakış açısı kazanmak için isim, fiil veya sıfat gibi belirli kelime sınıfları üzerinde birçok çalışma yapılmıştır. Bu çalışmaların amacı, belirli bir kavram yapısının diğerine üstünlük sağlayıp sağlamadığını ve bu yapının çocukların anadil gelişimini nasıl etkilediğini anlamaktır. Birçok araştırma sonucu, temel nesnelerin dilde isim tarafından temsil edilmesinden dolayı, isimlerin, fiillerden daha erken edinildiğini göstermektedir. Bu da isimlerin dil gelişiminde fillere baskınlık kurmasına neden olmaktadır. Bunun yanı sıra, birçok araştırmacı, isimlerin fiillerden önce edinildiği görüşünün, hangi dil olduğu fark etmeksizin, evrensel olduğunu iddia etmektedir. Ancak, bazı araştırmacılar bu görüş açısına katılmamaktadır. Onların görüşüne göre, çocuklar anne tarafından kendilerine yöneltilmiş konuşmada fiille daha çok karşılaştıkları için, fiilleri isimlerden daha önce edinirler. Bu bakış açısı, çocukların kelime hazinesinde isim-fiil baskınlığı tartışmasının diğer ucunu temsil etmektedir. Bu yüzden, görüşler iki farklı uçta yoğunlaşmıştır: evrensel isim avantajına karşılık girdiye bağlı bakış açısı. İsim veya fiil üstünlüğü İngilizce, Almanca, Korece ve Çince gibi farklı dillerde birçok veri toplama yöntemi ile çalışılmıştır. Ancak bu konu, Türkçede boylamsal veri toplama ve sıklık analizi yöntemi kullanarak çalışılmamıştır. İşte bu yüzden, bu araştırma, temelde, Türkçe konuşan çocukların sözcüksel ilerlemesine isim ve fiil açısından odaklanmıştır. Buna ek olarak, bu kategorilerin, Türkçe çocuğa yöneltilmiş konuşmadaki dağılımsal özelliklerini de araştırmaktadır. İsim ve fiillerin, ilerleyen gelişimini gözlemleyebilmek için, veri toplama süreci yaklaşık on beş ay sürmüştür. Beş anne, çocukları ile gündelik etkileşimde iken video ile kaydedilmiştir. Yazılı hale getirilmiş video kayıtları CHILDES çocuk dili analiz programında, sıklık analizi yöntemi ile analiz edilmiştir. Daha sonra, çocukların bireysel olarak isim ve fiil ilerlemesine odaklanılmıştır. Bununla ilişkili bir şekilde, sıklık analizi, annelerin isim ve fiil kullanımları üzerinde de yapılmıştır. Bir sonraki aşama da anneler ve çocukların isim ve fiil sıklıkları arasında ilgileşim analizi yapılmıştır. Bu analiz aşamasına ek olarak, veri toplama süreci içerisinde çocuklardaki aşamalı değişiklikleri görebilmek amacıyla, her çocuğun isim, fiil ve genel sözcüksel ilerlemesi çizgi grafikleri ile de gösterilmiştir. Her çocuğun isim ve fiil ilerleme modeli ile annesinin isim ve fiil kullanım modeli, arada paralellik olup olmadığını görmek amacıyla karşılaştırılmıştır. Bu çalışmanın sonuçları, Türkçe konuşan çocukların erken dönem sözcük hazinesinde isim sıklığının dikkat çekici şekilde fiillerden daha yüksek olmadığını göstermiştir. İsimler çok sınırlı sayıda gözlemde fiile istatistiksel olarak bir üstünlük sağlamıştır. Bu araştırmadaki bulgular isim ve fiil edinimi modeli ile ilgili önemli bir açıyı desteklemiştir. Tüm çocuklarda fiil ediniminin daha aşamalı ve ilerleyici olduğu, ancak isimlerin bağlam faktöründen -fiile kıyasla- daha çok etkilendiği görülmüştür. Bazı çocuklarda, veri toplama sürecinin sonlarına doğru, isimden daha yüksek bir fiil sıklığı görülmüştür. ANAHTAR KELİMELER: isim/fiil edinimi, isim/fiil baskınlığı, isim eğilimi, Türkçe çocuğa yöneltilmiş konuşma
Language learning strategies of 8 th grade students in a state junior high school in Adana
VI ABSTRACT LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES OF 8th GRADE STUDENTS IN A STATE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL IN ADANA Ebru ŞİRE Master Thesis, English Language Teaching Department Advisor: Asst. Prof. Dr. Hatice SOFU March 1999, 95 pages This study is designed to identify individual metacognitive, cognitive, and social/affective strategies which 8"1 grade students employ in or out of class activities. The strategies are studied with respect to the students' degree of success since some strategies may affect the students' degree of success positively or negatively. The students were randomly selected and separated into two groups, namely successful and unsuccessful, on the basis of their English achievement results. A questionnaire with close ended items was administered to 100 students in Adana Ulubath Hasan Junior High School. It was a structured questionnaire which required the subjects to respond to a strategy description, written in Turkish, by choosing among three alternatives (i.e. "Yes", "No", or "Not Sure"). In the analysis of the data, SPSS, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, was used to calculate the chi-square (X2) value of each item. Then, all the data were displayed in crossbreak tables. The results indicated some significant differences in the use of particular strategies between the successful and the unsuccessful students who participated in the study. Kev words: Language Learning Strategies Metacognitive Strategies Cognitive Strategies Social/ Affective Strategies Achievement Results Successful Students Unsuccessful Students
An Ownership approach to teacher development: A constructivist view
The purpose of this action research study is twofold: i) to develop in the teachers a heightened understanding of themselves as teachers and their own situations so as to find solutions to the problems that they identify; ii) ii) to develop in the researcher an understanding of how to design and conduct teacher development courses by engaging in the same process as teachers. To achieve the above mentioned aims, it focuses on the following exploratory research questions: i) Does involvement in an action research cycle help teachers become aware of their own strengths and weaknesses as EFL teachers?; ii) What are the factors (regarding the approach employed and the environment created by the teacher development unit) that affect teacher development?; iii) What is the structure and content of the teachers' personal theories regarding the features that lead to teacher development?; iv) Do changes occur in the content of the teachers' personal theories regarding the features that lead to teacher development?; v) Do changes occur in the structure of the teachers' personal theories regarding the features that lead to teacher development?; vi) What is the nature of the teachers' construction of self and ideal self as teacher in relation to different types of teachers they know?VI The data of the study were collected through Repertory grids, Interviews, Diaries, and Questionnaires. Repertory grid data obtained from the teachers were subjected to FOCUS and Exchange grid analyses using the Rep Grid 2 computer programme. Reflections done in Interviews, diaries, and questionnaires were subjected to content analysis. The conclusions drawn from the study were as follows: i) an action research study helps teachers become aware of their strengths and weaknesses as teachers; ii) teachers learn best through personal experience, problem-solving, and discussion rather being told what to do and how to do it; iii) work-shop-oriented approach adopted in teacher development activities contribute to the up-take of the new information as it creates an open and cooperative environment for learning; iv) teachers gain new perspectives on practice by being involved in writing tasks (e.g., diary keeping, project writing); v) skills of Cooperative Development lay in the teachers the grounds to go through the cycles of action research easily; vi) personal theories are idiosyncratic and they are hierarchically and thematically organised; vii) teachers go through a change process within which they elaborate and/or clarify their existing constructs in light of the new experiences they are involved in; viii) teachers' content of personal theories change only a small degree with regards to the new meanings they attach to the already existing labels; ix) teachers' structure of personal theories change significantly in light of the new experiences they gain. Key Words; Teacher Development, Problem-Solving Approach to Learning, Action Research, Change, Repertory Grid Technique
Sentence combining technique to enhance the syntactic maturity, syntactic fluency and overall writing quality in EFL classes in Turkey
ABSTRACT SENTENCE COMBINING TECHNIQUE TO ENHANCE THE SYNTACTIC MATURITY, SYNTACTIC FLUENCY, AND OVERALL WRITING QUALITY IN EFL CLASSES IN TURKEY GULDEN TUM Ph. D. Dissertation, English Language Teaching Department Supervisor: Prof. Dr. F. Özden EKMEKÇİ December, 2002, 264 pages The basic premise of this study is that students usually lack the ability to express their ideas and thoughts clearly in writing compositions. In order to make them aware of writing skills, the following two questions should be taken into account: How does a sentence function?, How are simple sentences clustered into larger syntactic units to create complex sentences?, and How do these clusters or paragraphs logically communicate thoughts in order to influence the reader in some way? It is assumed that as a result of giving them the SC technique, students can present their ideas and improve their skills by paying attention to a variety of choices. Therefore, the purpose for this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the SC technique in raising awareness in students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) regarding their improvement in writing. Since the SC has a motivating influence on writing for higher level thinking mprocess for students, they were given an eleven-week training on sentence constructions (sentences, clauses, and phrases) focusing on sentence formation and combination of these syntactic units within paragraphs. The reason for studying on sentences, clauses, and phrases stems from the units of grammar in the grammatical hierarchy: sentences, clauses, phrases, words, and morphemes. Since the nature of the study was based on sentence-combining technique, only sentences, clauses, and phrases were taken into consideration for the analysis, not words, and morphemes - based on minimum unit of form. The evaluation of the effectiveness of the SC technique on writing was based on the data gathered from the participating students' writing samples İn two tests, namely Pre-test and Post-test. In this study, the results of the analysis of these tests, namely the Pre-tests and the Post-tests were observed from the point of the contribution of SC technique on the development of students' writing skills. The data analyzed demonstrated that a programmed instruction on the SC technique would enhance syntactic maturity and fluency in writing. In other words, it was observed that students developed a questioning, testing, and transforming emphasis based on critical thinking theory, and raised an awareness of the flowing style and unity in a composition. KEYWORDS Sentence Combining Technique, Syntactic Fluency, Syntactic Maturity, Overall Writing Quality, Coherence, Progress Sheet IV
Cultural significance in foreign learning and teaching with special emphasis on reading comprehension through cultural schemata
ABSTRACT The aim of this thesis is to define the relationship of culture and language through the review of related literature, on one hand» and to show how significant cultural background is in reading comprehension by studying on university students, on the other. Chapter One deals with the statement of the problem, purpose of the study, scope of the study, hypothesis, and the definitions. Chapter Two consists of two parts, and focuses on the review of the related literature. The first part includes the relationship of culture and language. The second one is about the affect of cultural background in reading comprehension, What sort of method was used to test the hypothesis is shown in chapter three. Data gathered from the subjects were analyzed and displayed in tables and graphs in chapter four. In the last chapter, conclusions, the results and the implications reached at were stated. Appendixes, and bibliography are also attached to the end of this chapter.
A Study on vocabulary improvement through extensive reading
ABSTRACT The main goal in this study is to find out if there is any correspondence between extensive reading and vocabulary improvement through graded readers at YADIM Library. It is assumed that individualized instruction in reading English book outside the classroom increases the range of vocabulary. 100 graduate and undergraduate students of Level 4 will be examined as control groups and experimental groups who will be given individualized instructions to use graded readers or different English materials in the library at YADIM in the 1994-1995 academic year. The materials will be Graded Readers or some English books for extensive reading and the course books, "Wavs of Attaining Study Ski 1 Is.Reading Comprehension. Communication Through Writing. and Project Writing". In order to find out how well the students improve their vocabulary, students will be given a list of vocabulary at the beginning of Level 4. The list will contain the words chosen randomly from their course books. At the end of eight-week term, both groups will be given the identical list of vocabulary in a different order. The results of word list based on the survey will be analyzed and compared. The results of Reading and Writing Sections in the Achievement 3 and 4 and compositions of the subject will also be analyzed and compared.
Clinical supervision: Effects and implications for teacher development and student archivement in preparaty English classes at Çukurova University
The purpose of the present study is to explore the effectiveness of clinical supervision in teacher development and student achievement at university level. The study attempts to find answers to the following basic questions: Will the clinical supervision process, in any way, affect the teachers' instruction in the classroom? If so, to what extent? Is the change in the instructional behaviors of teachers performance-based or competence- based? Will the amount of change in instruction of experienced teachers differ from that of the novice? Will the positive change in the teaching behaviors of the teachers in the experimental group be reflected on the success rate of the students? If so, how significant will be the success? The study adopts a descriptive and quasi-experimental approach, and the research design integrates longitudinal and cross-sectional samples. The data were obtained from the classroom observations of the samples and their students' achievement tests. These data were analyzed by using the distribution of means and standard deviations, and unpaired t-test (2 tail). The overall conclusion of the present study is that clinical supervision has been very effective in improving teachers' instruction in various ways: (a) teachers have become more analytical towards their own instructions in the classroom, (b) It has provided ground on which teachers can discuss the issues related to their instruction with a clinical supervisor and easily get outside assistance whenever they need, (c) Clinical supervision has created self-responsibility and self-confidence in teachers in terms of the preparation, implementation and evaluation of their lessons, and (d) it has also created awareness in teachers towards all the teaching activities taking place in the classroom, after which the teachers have learned to ask themselves the purpose of each activity they are to instruct, (e) It has helped the teachers revise their strategies in teaching four language skills and use educational equipment such as tape-recorder, video, and overhead projector (OHP) efficiently, and (f) also their classroom management strategies, and their roles as a teacher. The other notable finding is that the improvement in the instructions of teachers have been reflected positively on the success ratio of their students to a significant extent. 11
An Investigation on the use of drama methods in literature courses in the Engilish language and literature depertments in Turkey
The purpose of the present study is to see how and to what extent literary texts are accompanied with drama methods in literature courses in English Language and Literature Departments. The study attempts to find answers to the following hypothesis and question: 1) There is a significant difference between the opinions of students and teachers regarding the selection of literary texts and the use of drama methods in the English Language and Literature Departments, 2) How and to what extent are the drama methods used in the English Language and Literature Departments? The study is based on a descriptive approach. The data were obtained from questionnaires and classroom observations. These data were analyzed by using percentage study and chi-square test. The overall conclusion of the present study is that the positive feedback we get from students in relation to the study of literary texts through the utilization of drama methods does not coincide with the present applications. The other notable finding is that students and teachers have different interpretations regarding the application of drama methods in their literature courses.
Effects of portfolio implementation and assessment on critical reading and learner autonomy of ELT students
In this study we have implemented portfolio assessment system in two preparatoryreading classess in the English Language Teaching department to see the effects ofimplementation on critical reading and learner autonomy of these students. The studyalso attempts to explore students? feelings of the change they underwent as a result ofthe implementation. The study was conducted with 43 preparatory class studentsstudying at Çukurova University English Language Teaching Department in theacademic year of 2005-2006.During the study we adopted a constructivist approach. The data collection and dataanalysis was done via adopting a naturalistic/interpretative approach. Data wereobtained from a set of interviews, a focus group interview, written documents, and theautonomy and critical reading checklist.In order to achieve the aim of the study, the students? beliefs about critical reading wereelicited at the beginning of the implementation and at the end of the implementation. Tosee the effects of portfolio implementation on learner autonomy we applied autonomyenhancing activities and through the data collection tools we tried to focus on theimprovement in students regarding autonomy. Also, a comparison between their ideasabout critical reading and autonomy in the checklist and their elicited beliefs was done.It is suggested that the findings of the study may have siginificant implications for theuse of portfolio to enhance critical reading and foster learner autonomy in preparatoryreading classes.Key Words: Reading Portfolios, Critical Reading, Learner Autonomy, Constructivism.
A Comparison of actual and preferred classroom learning environment as perceived by teachers and students at yadim
IABSTRACTA COMPARISON OF ACTUAL AND PREFERRED CLASSROOM LEARNINGENVIRONMENT AS PERCEIVED BY TEACHERS AND STUDENTS ATYADIMRifat GÜRMaster of Arts, English Language TeachingSupervisor: Assoc. Prof Zuhal OKANSeptember 2006, 93 PagesThe purpose of this study is to contribute to the literature on classroom learningenvironment with a specific reference to English Language Teaching contexts. It isdesigned to evaluate the classroom learning environment from students? and teachers?perspective. Therefore, the study asks both students and teachers working at YADIM(Centre for Foreign Languages) at Çukurova University to indicate their preferred andactual perception of their classroom learning environments. A form of Colleges andUniversities Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI) is submitted to ten Englishteachers and also 277 second and third level students at YADIM. To support the datacollected from the questionnaires, ten classroom environments have been observedusing a checklist adapted from the questionnaire. The teachers and the studentsobserved are those who were given the questionnaire (CUCEI) before. The data havebeen analyzed by means of t-test and ANOVA values calculated on the SPSS(Statistical Package for the Social Sciences).Key words: Classroom learning environment, Student perception, Teacher perception,Higher level, Colleges and Universities Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI)
Increasing efl teachers' awareness on global issues in elt classroom
IABSTRACTINCREASING EFL TEACHERS?AWARENESS ON GLOBAL ISSUES IN ELTCLASSROOMSüleyman Sedat ÇAVDARMaster of Arts, English Language DepartmentSupervisor: Assoc. Prof Zuhal OKANSeptember, 2006, 105 PagesThe purpose of this study is to contribute to the literature on teachers? attitudesabout bringing the global issues to their EFL classrooms. It examines the global issuesand values in education through Content Based Language Instruction (CBLI),considering the new approaches and preferences brought to ELT classroom by CommonEuropean Framework (CEF) and aims to increase teachers? awareness of critical globalissues that would lead to an appreciation for the interdependency among nations andraise tolerance levels for differences in others. It also looks for the differences betweenthe beliefs and attitudes on global education, global issues and global values of EFLteachers in Turkey and Greece.The study was conducted with 181 EFL teachers representing Turkey andGreece. 109 of the participants were Turkish high school EFL teachers representingdifferent parts of the country and 79 of the participants were from Athens, Greece.Through a questionnaire and interviews with 16 EFL teachers, the data were collectedand analyzed by means of casual-comperative and t-test values calculated on SPSS(Statistical Package for the Social Science).Key Words: Content-Based Language Instruction, Common European Framework,Global Education, Global Issues, Global Values
Understanding metaphor: A cognitive approach focusing on identification and interpretation of metaphors in poetry
This study aims to investigate metaphor in poetry from a cognitive perspective. Thepresence, interpretation and effect of metaphors in poetry were investigated. Besides, itaimed to find out whether the fourth-year students at the ELT Department of ÇukurovaUniversity can identify the metaphors in two selected English poems. Additionally, itexplored the processes participants went through while they interpreted these metaphorsand the linguistic metaphors they built to express the target domains in Turkish. Whenthe data gathered via `Think and Feel Aloud? and `Interview? techniques, were analyzedit was seen that participants were affected by some factors such as grammatical structure,degree of conventionality, context and cultural background while interpreting themetaphors. Additionally, the view that `Blending Theory? is a more advantageous way tounderstand especially `original? metaphors in poetry was supported with the results.Theresults also emphasized that more importance must be given to understanding metaphorssince it is of vital importance to understand the meaning of metaphors in order to arriveat a sound interpretation.Key Words : Metaphor, Cognition, Poetry
An evaluation of EFL teachers' classroom applications of total quality management princples in state primary schools
Quality in English Language Teaching (ELT) is recently the subject of much concernin many countries around the world. In Turkey, the Ministry of Education started themovement of Total Quality Management (TQM) in all state primary schools in 1990s.In line with this, there is a tendency to ask questions how well EFL (English as ath th thforeign language) teachers having 6 7 and 8 grade learners apply TQMprinciples. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the EFL teachers? classroom applicationsof TQM principles in state primary schools. One hundred and fifty (150) EFL teachersfrom 54 schools located in Seyhan and Yüreğir districts of Adana were administeredscales to find about their views about the classroom applications of TQM principles.Besides, the influence of the two variables (teachers? years of experience and in-service training) on the teachers? classroom applications were investigated. To supportthe data collected from the scales, 10 teachers were observed during their lessons. Inthe light of the data gathered, this study will provide implications concerning the factthat the EFL teachers need a comprehensive training to implement TQM principles ofContinuous Improvement (CI) and Teaching-Assessment (TA) in state primaryschools.Key words: Total Quality Management, EFL (English as a foreign language)Teachers, Continuous Improvement, Teaching-Assessment, State Primary Schools
The effect of the European Language Portfolio on learner autonomy for young learners
This study was conducted in a private school and the researcher worked with the sixthgrade students. First of all, the researcher investigated the effect of traditional assessmenttools, tests, on learner autonomy were investigated and she found out tests were not sufficientin improving students? becoming autonomous. Later, the researcher investigated the effect ofthe European Language Portfolio (ELP), which the Council of Europe put forward as analternative language learning and assessment tool, on learner autonomy. During the study,constructivism was taken as theoretical framework and the ELP was used as themethodological framework of the study. According to the aim of the study, the program thatthe participants would cover during the study was firstly determined and the ELP was used inEnglish and German lesson without disrupting the program. Throughout the study, thestudents? use of the ELP in the lessons, their attitudes towards the method, their participationto the lessons were observed and their portfolios were used as data collection tool. In addition,at the end of the study the researcher interviewed with the students so as to understand if therewas any change in their becoming autonomous or not. According to the analysis of the data, itwas found out that the ELP was effective in helping students to become autonomous.Key words: Portfolio, The European Language Portfolio, Autonomy, Constructivism
Use of first person pronouns: A Corpus based study of journal articles
Scientific writing is traditionally thought to be impersonal. Therefore, it is notsurprising for academicians to see the encouragement of the use of impersonalconstructions in scientific articles by most of style manuals. This study is based on aninvestigation of the use of first person pronouns in journal articles. In many of suchscientific articles, personal pronouns I and we can both be seen as a choice for authorsto stand their involvement in their writings. In this study, I have made a comparison of16 articles published between 2000-2005 in the Social Sciences Journal of ÇukurovaUniversity (SSJÇ) and English Language Teaching Journal (ELTJ) to determine thefrequency of occurrence of first person pronouns I and we. I have also investigated thesemantic references of these pronouns as inclusive and exclusive according to the waythey are used in these articles. In the light of the results, it is clear that writers of ELTJused first person pronouns more than those of writers of SSJÇ. Among the first personpronouns, I was used more than we by writers of ELTJ whereas we was used morethan I by scientific writers of SSJÇ. Scientific writers of ELTJ mostly preferred usingexclusive we whereas scientific writers of SSJÇ preferred using inclusive we. It isconcluded that pronoun use is an important aspect of scientific writing and should beincluded in the curriculum to raise awareness of learners to use them effectively intheir scientific texts.Key Words: Scientific Writing, First Person Pronouns, Scientific Journal Articles
Acquisition of L2 English inflectional system by Turkish native speakers: Rule-governed or rote-learned
Turkish students learning English as a foreign language are observed to havedifficulty in the establishment of inflectional morphemes. The aim of this study is to explorethe representation of L2 grammatical morphemes by Turkish students learning English andthe way they develop morphological knowledge. The focus is on learning and using past tenseverbs, three -s morphemes (third person singular -s, possessive -s, plural -s),copula, andauxiliary be.This study focuses on the following research questions:1- What aspects of inflectional morphology in English as a second language (L2) causeproblems in learning by Turkish (L1) speakers?2- How do the three -s morphemes: plural, possessive, and third person occur in thelanguage of Turkish speakers in L2?3- Does the order of copula be and auxiliary be change in the acquisition of English byTurkish speakers?4- How is acquisition of past tense morphemes explained in terms of Words and Rulestheory in L2 setting?The participants of the this study are from the elementary level students of Research andApplication Centre for Foreign Languages (YADİM) at Çukurova University. Written andspoken data were collected through free writing tasks, picture telling task and interviews.Key Words: Second Language Acquisition, Inflectional Morphology, Morpheme Order,Rule-Governed or Rote-Learned
The impact of birth order and gender on pragmatic development of Turkish children in l1 acquisition
In the literature so far, there is few study on birth order and gender related effectson language development. Although the literature is suggestive, it has not provided asufficient empirical basis for the consequences of birth order and gender for languagedevelopment. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to discover whether thelanguage development is different depending on gender and birth order and to provideevidence in experience and development that will provide a basis for inferring howthe multiple components of language development make use of language experience.This study asks if there are differences in language use among the children dependingon whether female/male or first/later born. Furthermore, this study asks whethergender or birth order is related to differences among children in their rates oflanguage development, including measures pragmatic development.Key words1. Pragmatic Development2. Speech Act3. Interchange4. Interchange-Speech Act Combination
The Effect of strategies-based instruction on speaking skills of high school students
Effective strategies used to overcome encountered difficulties in secondlanguage learners? (SLLs) speaking skills are of crucial importance. Hence, SLLs mightutilize the strategies on how to cope with such communication difficulties. This studyaims to find out the impact of strategy training in the use of strategies for speaking inEnglish as a second language (ESL) in the context of 9th grade ESL learners attendingan Anatolian High school and to investigate the second language learners? awareness ofthe speaking strategies and their frequent choice of strategies. In addition, theperspectives of the participants in the use of strategy training for speaking skill isexamined in this study.After addressing the issues of terminology and definitions, the theoreticalunderpinnings of the Language Learning Strategy concept are concentrated on. Afterclarifying these issues, through related literature it focuses on speaking strategies(Communication strategies) and strategy training for developing speaking skill. Thisresearch uses Vygotsky?s sociocultural theory (1962, 1978) to explore the effects ofstrategy training in the use of speaking strategies on learners? oral production.The study examines two groups of ESL learners during two semester period. TheExperimental group members received strategy training in the use of strategies forspeaking, whereas the Control group members did not receive any treatment.The results were measured using four different instruments: Pre-Post-speakingstrategy questionnaires, Pre- Post-speaking tests, Language learning diary, andstructured interview. The data obtained from the Pre-and Post- speaking strategyquestionnaires and Pre-Post- speaking tests were analysed by using descriptive andinferential statistics. The Pre-and Post-speaking strategy questionnaires were analysedthrough chi-square statistics. The Pre- and Post-speaking tests were analysed throughWilcoxon Signed Rank test and Mann-Whitney U-test. The results of the data showedsignificant differences in strategy use of the Experimental group. Research findingsfrom both the quantitative and qualitative data shed light on the efficacy of traininglearners in the use of speaking strategies and raising their awareness through strategytraining.Keywords: Language Learning Strategies, speaking strategies, strategies-basedinstruction for speaking, learners? awareness of speaking strategies.
A study on the passivisation errors of Turkish learners of english as a foreign language
The aim of this study is to find out what kind of errors Turkish learners ofEFL make in passivising the verbs. We focus on the sources of errors in passivisationand find out whether Turkish learners of EFL make more errors in passivising certainverbs. We analyzed the grammatical and semantic characteristics of the verbs whichare passivised incorrectly.The participants of the study are selected from pre-intermediate level studentsat YADİM in Çukurova University.In Chapter One, the statement of the problem, background to the study,research questions, hypotheses, operational definition, assumptions and limitationsare presented. Related literature on passivisation in English and Turkish is reviewedin Chapter Two. Chapter Three provides the research design, subjects, materials andtasks, data collection and data analysis. Chapter Four contains grammatical andsemantic analyses of the errors on passivization. Conclusion is drawn in ChapterFive.Key Words: transitive, intransitive, passive, unergatives, unaccusatives
An evaluation of on-line language course at Adana vocational school of Çukurova University
This study explores whether the e-language learning programme offered in ÇukurovaUniversity Adana Vocational School meets the commonly accepted standards for e-learning.In addition, it investigates what the recipients think about the effectiveness of this programmeand the problems they encounter as well as offering solutions from the students? point ofview.In order to achieve this aim, various instruments were used. First of all, students were askedto send messages to the researcher and comment on the effectiveness of the e-languagelearning programme, and then a questionnaire by which the students evaluate the programmefrom different perspectives was administered. Next, they were interviewed to identify theweaknesses and strengths of the programme. Finally, the messages which the e-learners sentto the student affairs forum throughout the term were analyzed.The results reveal that the students face certain problems such as lack of interaction andcommunication with their teachers and school administrators, supplementary materials thatwould enhance their learning process, audio-visual aids together with problems regardingexam procedures and cargo servicesKey Words: E-learning standards, e-language learning programme, e-learners.
Gender ideology in 6th, 7th and 8th grade coursebooks published by the Turkish Ministry of National Education
This study aims to investigate the gender ideology presented throughfemale and male representations in 6th, 7th and 8th grade coursebooks publishedby the Ministry of Education and taught in 2005-2006 Year of Education,considering that language use is a social process that ideologies aretransmitted (Fairclough, 1998).The reason for the investigation of these coursebooks is that the ages ofthe students of these grades constitute a critical period as children enteradolescence, a period which starts at the ages of 13-15 in Turkey (Gençay,n.d.). In this period, children categorize concepts of gender and undergo aprocess of gender construction (Erdoğan, n.d).Although there are many studies conducted in Western countries whichdemonstrate that gender ideologies are transmitted through language, studiesregarding this subject in Turkey has been limited.In this study, both verbal and visual data have been collected. ContentAnalysis and Discourse Analysis have been applied to the data and the resultshave been analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively.Keywords: Gender, Gender Roles, Gender Stereotyping, Discourse Analysis,Content Analysis.