Özel amaçlı İngilizce öğretmenlerinin mesleki bilgisinin ölçülmesi

Professional knowledge of teachers is an essential precondition for successful teaching (OECD, 2009). It is fundamental to teaching in that when a teacher has insufficient professional knowledge, his/her ability to give effective instructions inevitably gets affected, which leaves him/her incapable and leads to unproductive alternative routes (Darling-Hammond, 2000, Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin, 2011). Teachers, who do not have professional knowledge, generally do not have confidence in their classroom settings either (Rubio, 2009). They by and large are not able to develop a coherent pedagogy, cannot make informed decisions about the progress and achievement of students, get stuck with the contents of the coursebook, and thus unable to cope with the mishaps in the course of teaching. The latest developments and research of the academic associations have led to a more detailed and comprehensive model of teachers' professional knowledge at length. However, though most of the frameworks demonstrate the components of professional knowledge in one way or another, they do not seem to propose a multidimensional model which could be utilized in different settings. Besides, the concepts they demonstrate are similar or connected and fail to include the expanding needs of learners. Nonetheless, only a few studies have tested whether there is indeed a distinct body of identifiable professional knowledge for different subject areas. And, in this respect, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in general and Maritime English, in particular, is a missing paradigm. With recent advances in education, teachers are expected to apply effective procedures of instruction and improve different dimensions of their professional knowledge. To address this issue, this study builds on the theory of the demonstration and the assessment of specific professional knowledge (SPK) sui generis to the teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts. Another aim of the study is to develop a valid, reliable, and data-driven professional knowledge test to measure EFL teachers' SPK. For this purpose, first, the researcher investigated 423 stakeholders including English language teachers, English-trained maritime English (ESP) teachers, subject specialists (maritime-trained maritime English teachers), professionals (former seafarers), students, coordinators, and administrators of ESP programs at Maritime Faculties in terms of their needs for a specific type of knowledge unique to the teaching of Maritime English through a cross-sectional survey. Secondly, follow-up observation checklists were filled out, field notes were recorded, and semi-structured interviews were carried out with 20 ESP teachers to cross-check the identified needs to assure appropriate content coverage and thus bolster the quantitative results to reach fair and precise results on the needs of ESP teachers. Thirdly, the data obtained from the needs assessment of teachers, observation checklists, field notes, and interviews were used to prepare the table of specifications of the test of SPK. Fourthly, after having the test reviewed by experts, it was piloted with 34 teachers, and the necessary revisions were made. The finalized test was administered to 64 teachers and the psychometric properties of the test were determined. On the whole, despite its limitations, the results of the study indicate that there might be a specific type of knowledge (knowledge for specific purposes) unique to the teaching of ESP in EFL contexts and it is observed carefully through the newly developed novel Professional Knowledge of Maritime English Test that ESP teachers are making good use of that necessary knowledge for specific purposes to a great extent in their ESP settings. Finally, possible contributions of the study to the researchers and practitioners in the field are discussed and implications for teacher education programs are explained. Keywords: Professional knowledge, English for Specific Purposes, Assessment of specific professional knowledge, English as a Foreign Language, Professional Knowledge of Maritime English Test