2019 ve 2021 yılları arasında İngiliz dili eğitimi alanındaki lisansüstü tezlerin metodolojik bir karşılaştırması

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected almost all aspects of life since it broke out in China in late 2019. Scientific research in social sciences has been one of the most affected aspects. Like other fields of social sciences, research in English Language Teaching (ELT) has encountered many issues to deal with. Psychological or physiological complications, lacking in reaching participants of their studies may have been some troubles researchers faced. On the other hand, distance, or flexible face-to-face education in all the educational cycles may have led some researchers to spend more time to conduct their studies. Regarding these possible effects, the main purpose of this study was to explore English Language Teaching researchers' methodological tendencies in their master's theses and doctoral dissertations published pre (2019) and while (2020, 2021) pandemic in Turkey. To achieve this aim, the sample of the study consisted of 934 postgraduate theses and dissertations 806 of which were master's and 128 of which were doctoral. The sample of this study included all the theses and dissertations in ELT published in the National Thesis Center of the Higher Education Institution in 2019, 2020 and 2021. After implementation of a pilot study with 271 theses and dissertations, a checklist including the main and sub-criteria of research methodology and a Microsoft Excel worksheet as data collection grid were developed by the researcher. By using the grid and the checklist, data was collected qualitatively by implementing qualitative document analysis method. The collected data was analyzed quantitatively by using descriptive statistics including mean scores, frequencies, and percentages of sub-criteria. Findings of the study revealed that the number of published master's theses and doctoral dissertations decreased while pandemic in comparison with pre-pandemic. In addition, the findings also revealed that pandemic affected the researchers' tendencies mostly negatively and partly positively in usage and implementation of methodological elements in their master's theses and doctoral dissertations. The study has significance for further researchers in that the findings have shown that they should make their research planning both more adaptable and having alternatives in case of similar unusual situations in large or small scale like the pandemic.