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The role of reading skills on reading comprehension ability of Turkish EFL students
Reading is a part of our daily lives. It is done both for pleasure and information. Reading skills are important for the individuals since they foster comprehension in reading. There does not exit an exact number of reading skills. Researchers have grouped the reading skills in their own terms. If the students do not have the knowledge of reading skills, they cannot be expected to be successful readers. Thus, they cannot achieve comprehension required to pass their exams in their own departments. For this reason, reading skills should be taught in universities. The students will be able to cope with comprehension problems. In addition, they will become active readers. This case study aims to find out whether reading skills has a role on reading comprehension ability of Turkish EFL students. This study is both a qualitative and a quantitative study which lasted 14 weeks. Two groups were selected (experimental and control) among prep classes at KSU. Both groups were administered a pre-test and questionnaire in the beginning of the study to find out if they were aware of reading skills. In addition, 10 Students were chosen randomly and they were interviewed. During the study, reading skills were infused into the curriculum through designing the lesson plans in accordance with the language content and topics for level C students determined by Common European Language Framework. The lessons required the students to use reading skills within pre-, during and post reading. At the end of the study, the same questionnaire was administered. The students were given the post-test and they were interviewed. The quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistics. The obtained data revealed that the students enhanced their comprehension ability provided that they were taught to use reading skills.
Repetitions as communication strategies used by Turkish adult EFL learners: A cross-sectional study
Communication strategies (CSs) are coping strategies that second language learners resort to when they face a problem during their speech in their Interlanguage (IL) system. IL includes the fossilization of first language (L1) and second language (L2) rules. As a result of this fossilization, language learners develop a different system with its own structures and rules apart from their native (NL) and the target languages (TL). Since the utterances produced by second language learners have the potential to be erroneous, these learners make use of CSs to compensate for their mistakes. This notion has attracted many researchers in second language acquisition (SLA) research for the past four decades. This study was designed as a descriptive study aiming to investigate the effects of the duration of exposure to TL on the usage of repetitions as CSs in the oral narratives of 48 Turkish learners of English in the English Language Teaching (ELT) Department of Çukurova University. Twelve students from each first, second, third and fourth year were randomly selected to investigate whether their usage of repetitions as CSs got affected by their amount of exposure to TL during their university education. Making use of cross-sectional analysis, this study revealed gradual differences among types and forms of repetitions across these groups. The findings of this study show that participants resort to repetitions as CSs during communication breakdowns in their oral narratives. Regardless of the year, all the participants used vocalized fillers to gain time and self-repairs to attempt to correct their previous erroneous utterance and pronunciation, to make an explanation and to emphasize a part of speech. These results are also supported by the pilot study which was conducted for this study. The study reveals that there is no systematic effect of sole exposure on the usage of repetitions either as vocalized fillers or self-repairs across groups even though some parts of the results seem to be significant. In addition, exposure by itself has no effect on the repetitions' word classes or types as word-level, grouplevel or sentence-level. The findings of this study have important implications for teaching English as a foreign language in schools or at university level making a reference to the effects of exposure on the usage of repetitions as communication strategies. Key Words: Interlanguge; Communication Strategies; Repetitions; Exposure.
The effect of Web tools 2.0 on critical thinking with a special emphasis on collaborative learning
This study was conducted to find an answer whether Web 2.0 tools have an effect on critical thinking (CT) with a special emphasis on collaborative learning. Thinking skills have a great role in our life. In purpose or not, we are using them in every scope of life. Moreover, they are essential for our professional and personal lives as well. Especially, CT, one of the thinking skills, has been very significant in the twenty-first century because we are being exposed to a large quantity of new information every day and it has been very tough to cope with. A great many of studies have been conducted on CT and it is obvious that it has a great impact on education. However, there are some practical issues on how to integrate CT into curriculum. On the other hand, literature reviews have shown that Web 2.0 tools are effective tools in learning and teaching process. Web 2.0 tools are becoming more popular everyday and we come across new Web 2.0 applications in both daily life and educational arena. Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, wikis, and social networking are very common and they encourage and support the collective knowledge for the 21st century. In recent years, Fatih Project has been put into practice in all schools around Turkey with the aim enabling equal opportunities in education and improving technology in the schools including primary, secondary and high schools for the efficient usage of ICT tools in the learning-teaching. With this project, all schools will be equipped and transformed into computerized classes with the latest information technologies such as tablets, LCD Interactive Boards. In this transformation process, educational e-contents are going to be formed in accordance with the current teaching programs. Therefore, teachers and students should be informed about Web 2.0 tools and some practical issues should be eliminated. Moreover, collaborative learning has a significant role in education. Teachers use this to enliven their classes, increase the communication and so many other reasons. As we use Web 2.0 tools and provide them to discuss, collaborative learning is essential. With all these in mind, the main question is whether Web 2.0 tools instruction can successfully promote CT with a special emphasis on collaborative learning. The purpose of this paper is to find an answer to this question. It also will identify the teaching strategies and instructional designs, which will successfully promote CT in an electronic learning environment. This study is both a qualitative and a quantitative, which lasted ten weeks. 20 8th grade students in Kahramanmaraş, Dulkadiroğlu, Güzelyurt Secondary School were the participants of this study. Critical Thinking Questionnaire (CTQ) and Web 2.0 tools Questionnaire (WTQ) were administered at the beginning of the study to see the preferences of the participants. Furthermore, interviews and minute papers were used to support the study. During the study, CT was infused into the curriculum through prompts in accordance with the language content and topics for the 8th grades that was determined by the Ministry of Education. At the end of the study, the same questionnaires used at the beginning of the study were administered again to see whether there has been an improvement in learners' CT skills. Quantitative data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics as a component of case study. Research findings from qualitative (Interviews, diary and minute papers) data shed light on the quantitative data as well. Key words: Critical thinking (CT), Web 2.0 tools, Collaborative learning.
İletişimsel dil öğretimine yönelik olarak öğretmenlerin tutumları: Bir soran EFL (İngilizce yabancı dil) sınıfları incelemesi
İletişimsel Dil Öğretimi, yapıya dayanan sınıfların daha iletişimsel sınıflara dönüşmesini teşvik etmektedir. Çok sayıda EFL sınıfı İletişimsel Dil Öğretimini kendi bünyesinde geliştirmiştir. Bununla birlikte, İDÖ'nin uygulanması son on yıllık süre içinde İngilizcenin yabancı dil olarak düzenlenmesi konusunda pek çok zorlukla karşı karşıya kalmıştır. Her ne kadar öğretmenlerin tutumları İDÖ'nin uygulanmasında büyük bir rol oynasa da henüz Irak bağlamında konuya odaklanan çalışmalar bulunmamaktadır. Bu karışık yöntemler çalışması Iraklı EFL öğretmenlerinin İletişimsel Dil Öğretimine yönelik tutumlarını ortaya çıkartmayı amaçlamaktadır. Araştırma Irak'ın kuzey bölgesinde bulunan Soran şehrinde gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırmaya katılanlar orta ve lise sınıflarından 58 EFL öğretmenidir. İlk aşamada, beş puanlı Likert skalası anketi EFL öğretmenlerinin İDÖ prensiplerine yönelik tutumlarını incelemek üzere yapılmıştır (Karavas-Doukas, 1996); dil bilgisinin yeri/önemi, grup/ikili çalışma, hata düzeltmenin niceliği ve niteliği, öğretmenin sınıftaki rolü, öğrenme sürecinde öğrenenlerin rolü ve katılımı. Araştırmanın ikinci aşaması, Irak EFL ortamında İletişimsel Dil Öğretiminin uygulanmasını engelleyen veya destekleyen faktörler bağlamında İletişimsel Dil Öğretiminin (İDÖ) uygulanmasının arka planındaki sebepleri incelemek için kullanılan yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmelerdir. Kantitatif aşamanın sonuçları, öğretmenlerin genel yaklaşıma ve İDÖ'nin beş alt ölçeğine yönelik olarak pozitif bir tutum sergilediklerini ortaya çıkartmıştır: genel yaklaşımlar (maksimum= 91.00; minimum 63.65; ortalama= 76.29), dilbilgisinin yeri ve önemi (O = 2.96), grup/ikili çalışmalar (O= 3.33) ve hata düzeltmenin niteliği ve niceliği (O= 2.96), öğretmenin sınıftaki rolü (O= 3.25) ve öğrenme sürecinde öğrenenlerin rolü ve katılımı (O= 3.31). Görüşmeler aşamasının bulguları, Irak'taki İDÖ sınıflarının başarısızlığına ve başarısına neden olan dört ana faktör olduğu sonucuna varmıştır; eğitimsel faktörler, öğretmen faktörleri, öğrenci faktörleri ve İDÖ faktörleri. Araştırmanın sonuçları, İDÖ sınıflarının gelişmesi için eğitim sisteminin ve öğretmenlerin iletişimsel yeterliliklerinin esas olduklarını belirtmektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Irak EFL sınıfları, İDÖ, öğretmenlerin tutumları, iletişimsel yeterlilik.
The relationship between vocabulary learning strategies and vocabulary size of Iraqi EFL learners in terms of receptive word knowledge
This study investigates the relationship between Iraqi EFL learners' vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) and vocabulary size (VS). Participants included 118 EFL learners at Sulaymaniyah University, all of whom were studying in the School of Basic-Education English Department. Two instruments were employed to collect data: a VLS questionnaire designed by Schmitt (1997) was administered in order to determine the range and frequency of VLS use, and a four-level (2000, 3000, 5000 and academic word list) vocabulary learning test (VLT) designed by Schmitt, et al. (2001) was used to measure learners' receptive vocabulary size. In terms of participants' VLS, results demonstrated that they utilize consolidation strategies such as studying the sound of the new word, trying to develop vocabulary knowledge by watching English TV channels, repeating the new word over and over and studying the spelling of the new word more frequently than discovery strategies such as identifying the part of speech of the new word to help learners know its meaning and using a monolingual dictionary. Moreover, these strategies were found to have been utilized most frequently by participants when compared with other types of strategies. In terms of total VLS, results indicated that Iraqi EFL learners employ a wide range of strategies; moreover, they can be considered as moderate VLS users (M= 3.003). The results of correlation revealed that there exist positive, negative and sometimes no relationships between the VLS utilized by Iraqi EFL learners and their vocabulary size. Finally, the findings of multiple regression analysis concluded that the value of R Square is (0.284). That is to say, the predicted variables were able to account for 28.4% of the variance participants' levels of receptive vocabulary size.
Learners' attitudes towards the use of L1 in English classes: A sample of Salahaddin University
Two main opposing approaches exist regarding the impact of first-language (L1) use in the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language (EFL): the monolingual and bilingual approaches. Some linguists assume that students' L1 should be banished from their English classes, whereas others assert that it facilitates the process of learning a target language (TL). The purpose of this study was to investigate learners' attitudes towards L1 use in their English classes, both by the students themselves and by their teachers. The current study also determined which factors caused the learners to switch from the TL to their L1. This study was conducted at Salahaddin University, Erbil, at the end of the first semester of the 2016-2017 academic year. It employed a mixed-method approach of data collection and analysis. Two hundred and fifty-eight EFL learners of both genders participated in the quantitative data collection, which consisted of a two-part: Learners' Attitudes towards L1 Use Questionnaire (LATL1UQ) later analyzed via SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). The qualitative data were collected via face-to-face Semi Structured Interviews (SSI) conducted with eight EFL learners, and content analysis was subsequently employed for its analysis. The findings revealed that participants had a slightly positive attitude towards the use of their L1 in the facilitation of their TL learning. By referring to current theories of TL acquisition and reviewing recent literature, it can be inferred that learners' L1 has a necessary and facilitating role in acquiring a foreign language. Keywords: EFL learning, the use of L1, the use of the target language, learners' views and opinions.
An analysis of the relationship between EFL students' perception of emotional and instrumental support and their motivational and emotional responses: The case of Gaziantep University
Emotional and instrumental support has an all-important role in learning language effectively, because it helps students to have a successful response motivationally and emotionally. It leads to decreasing the students' anxiety and increasing their intrinsic motivation, help-seeking behavior, and effort which are the factors of learning a foreign language productively. Thus, this thesis analyzes the relationships between EFLstudents' perceptions of emotional and instrumental support in relation to their motivational and emotional responses. To conduct the study, 200 students at the School of Foreign Languages in Gaziantep University were determined as the participants of the study. The data were collected in two stages. In the quantitative section, the data were collected through a questionnaire while in the qualitative section, a semi-structured interview was administered. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the result of the questionnaire. Pearson product-moment correlation co-efficient was used to detect the relationships between emotional support and instrumental support with anxiety, intrinsic motivation, help-seeking behavior, and effort. Finally, an independent-samples t-test was administered to find out any statistically significant difference between genders of participants in terms of emotional and instrumental support, anxiety, intrinsic motivation, help-seeking behavior, and effort. The results pointed out that there was a positive relationship between emotional support and instrumental support, a negative relationship between emotional and instrumental support with anxiety, and a positive relationship between emotional and instrumental support with intrinsic motivation, help-seeking behavior, and effort. Furthermore, the results showed that there was no statistically significant difference between male and female students concerning emotional support, anxiety, intrinsic motivation, and effort, but there was a statistically significant difference between male and female students concerning instrumental support and help-seeking behavior. In addition, the findings of the interview supported those of the quantitative analyses in that there was a relationship between emotional supportand instrumental support. Also there was a positive relationship between emotional and instrumental support with intrinsic motivation, help-seeking behavior, and effort. Key words: Emotional and instrumental support, anxiety, intrinsic motivation, help-seeking behavior,effort
Iraqi EFL teachers' and learners' preferences of corrective feedback in oral communication
This study investigates oral corrective feedback in an Iraqi English as a Foreign Language (EFL) setting by comparing learners' preferences with those of their teachers as well as comparing male and female learners' preferences. A parallel questionnaire including 36 items was administrated to 100 EFL learners and 52 EFL teachers. For further study, interviews were also conducted with 10 teachers and 10 learners. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyze the collected data. The quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS, and the qualitative data was analyzed by means of content analysis. The findings revealed that teachers and learners preferred teacher feedback, self-correction, immediate feedback, and students' responsibility for correction. Moreover, the most preferable type of corrective feedback among learners was elicitation. The results also confirmed that there exists a statistically significant difference between teachers' and learners' preferences of corrective feedback in oral communication skills as well as a statistically significant difference between learners' preferences based on gender. These similarities and differences between teachers' and learners' preferences may have a positive effect on language learning. Moreover, matching teachers' and learners' views on corrective feedback is important to the process of language learning because it can enhance the feedback and learning process. Keywords: Corrective feedback, oral corrective feedback, teacher feedback, types of feedback, preferences
An analysis of the relationship among EFL learner autonomy, self-esteem, and choice of vocabulary learning strategi
This study seeks to determine whether any significant relationship exists among Iraqi EFL Learner Autonomy (LA), self-esteem (SE), and choice of vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) as well as whether LA and SE are predictors of these strategies. To achieve these aims, this study employed a descriptive research design. Participants included 157 male and female undergraduate EFL learners, all within the age range of 17 to 25 years. They were studying English within the sub-disciplines of English Literature, Linguistics, and General English at Soran University in Iraq. Participants were administered the following three types of questionnaires adapted by the researcher: a) a 30-item VLS questionnaire based on that of Schmitt taxonomy (1997); b) a 30-item LA questionnaire developed by Sakai, et al. (2008); c) and a 30-item SE questionnaire based on Coopersmith's SE inventory (1967). Upon conducting preliminary analyses of this study's assumptions, the characteristics of the data were proven legitimate via correlation and regression analyses. Correlation analysis demonstrated that a statistically significant relationship existed between EFL Learner Autonomy and VLS, with (r = .555, p < .05), and SE and VLS, with (r = .678 p < .05). Furthermore, regression analysis revealed LA and SE to be significant predictors of VLS. LA predicted 30.7% of scores in the choice of VLS (R = .555, R2 = .307), and SE predicted 45.9% of scores in the choice of VLS (R = .678, R2 = .456). These findings demonstrate that both LA and SE make strong contributions to VLS. The results also reveal the existence of a significant difference between EFL Learner Autonomy and SE in their prediction of VLS. LA and SE contribute to effective vocabulary acquisition, while they also contribute significantly to VLS. Finally, it was proven that the greater the learner autonomy and self-esteem among learners, the more frequent the VLS use. Keywords: EFL learners, autonomy, self-esteem, vocabulary learning strategies, academic achievement
Northern İraqi efl teachers assessment literacy
Assessment has gained more considerations since its critical impact on learning became clearer. Assessment purpose and functions have extended and teachers are required to be aware of the principles of modern assessment, as a result, one of the current trends in literature of education is teachers' assessment. This research applied a descriptive quantitative method to investigate the assessment literacy levels of Iraqi English language teachers in both private and public schools. The survey was conducted by using Classroom Assessment Literacy Inventory designed by Mertler (2005) based on the seven standards of teachers' assessment competence for educational assessment of students (AFT, NCME, & NEA, 1990). The data was collected from secondary and preparatory schools of Suleimani and Erbil governorate. The results showed that Iraqi English language teachers responded less than 15 correct responses out of 35 questions. The findings showed that Iraqi teachers' assessment literacy are much less than satisfactory. Statistically significant differences were not found for teachers' academic attainment and years of experience. Teachers' lowest performance was found in standard seven, which is recognizing unethical, illegal, and otherwise inappropriate assessment methods and uses of assessment information. The highest performance was in standard 4 which is about using assessment results when making educational decisions. Revision of teachers' quality through teacher preparation program and professional training courses is definitely needed. Keywords: assessment literacy, teachers' assessment literacy, educational assessment, teachers' perception, classroom practice.
Lean as an innovative method in english language teaching to increase learner's reading and writing skills
Different methods of teaching have become a controversial topic in English language classrooms as the needs of the English learners should be met. Lean as an innovative method offers an effective language learning method to cater for learning. To exhilarate learning, teachers need to use effective methods of teaching to achieve what target they do want to reach. The current study investigated the impact of applying lean as an innovative method of teaching English on learners' reading and writing skills in English language teaching. A pre-post-test quasi-experimental design was used with a treatment and control group. The experimental group was given the treatment after the pre-test for 12 weeks, while the control group received no lean treatment. The analyses were conducted on 56 students from a coeducational high school participated in the study. Additionally, lean was introduced to the students before applying it as a method of teaching, it was also distributed among the participants to identify their goals. Statistical analyses were carried out using descriptive statistics and t tests. In the results, it was found that the score was significantly different between the two groups in terms of their performances in the pre- and post-tests (t=2.923, df=54, p<.05). The experimental group increased their mean score with an average of 3.7 in the post-test highly more than the control group which was 1.85. In addition, the descriptive statistics showed that the participants in the experimntal group improved better in the reading skill with an average of 2.4 more than the writing skill with an average of 1.71. The result was significantly different in the reading (t= -3.910, p<.05) and writing (t= -4.628, p<05) sections in the pre-post-test scores of the treatment group . In the control group in terms of reading and writing, there were apparent increases between the pre and post tests, reading with an average of 1.7 and writing with an average of .78 increases. It was found that the learners recorded different achievements in each part of the test, which were nine parts. Moreover, the study indicated that the two groups improved in different areas of the test after the treatment period but the use of lean method produced a higher achievement in the experimental group. This study provides evidence that applying lean increases the end-result of the learners of English effectively. These findings indicate that implementing lean method is possible and effective in English language teaching. A new model of lean in education has been shown in the study to increase the end-result of an educational process and finish the syllabus on time. Keywords: Lean, lean method, English as a foreign language (EFL), reading and writing skills, English Learners.
A study on oral corrective feedback preferences and learning styles of Turkish efl learners
The primary aim of this thesis was to investigate the preferences of EFL learners for oral corrective feedback in relation to their learning styles, and to determine whether there was a relationship between these two aspects of language learning. The research sample consisted of 348 preparatory class students who were studying English at A1, B1 and B2 levels at Gaziantep University- School of Foreign Languages in 2016-2017 academic year. A questionnaire was administered to explore oral corrective feedback preferences. The questionnaire included six sections, each of which referred to a sub-dimension of feedback preferences: (a) necessity of feedback, (b) frequency of feedback, (c) timing of feedback, (d) types of errors to be corrected, (e) types of feedback and (d) source of feedback. Learning styles of the participants were identified through Learning Style inventory developed by Kolb (1984). The data collected through these two instruments was analyzed by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 21.0). Frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation values were calculated for the analysis of the data, and a Chi-square test was employed to determine whether there was a relationship between preferences of the students for the six sub-dimensions of feedback preferences and their learning styles. Of all participants included in the study, 61 (17.5%) had diverger, 162 (46.6%) assimilator, 97 (27.9%) converger and 28 (8%) accommodator learning styles. According to the results, students believed that providing corrective feedback is necessary for their learning and they expect their teachers to provide feedback frequently. The participants had the idea that frequent and serious errors should be treated more often. Explicit feedback, clarification and elicitation were found to be the most popular types of feedback among learners. Teachers were the most favored source of feedback. When the learning styles of students were taken into consideration, it was determined that the difference between groups was not statistically significant. Overall preferences for oral corrective feedback were similar to the preferences of learners with different learning styles. This suggested that learning styles did not account for students' preference for a particular feedback type and provide an explanation in terms of learners' varied preferences for feedback. Considering proficiency levels, a significant difference among students with proficiency levels was found only in opinions about metalinguistic feedback and sources of feedback. It was concluded that the concept of learning styles may not work for every occasions and should not therefore be approached from a holistic point of view. Keywords: feedback preferences, language learning, learning styles
The effect of etymological and morphological vocabulary instruction on receptive, productive vocabulary, and written spelling of adult non-native english language learners
This study assesses and evaluates the effect of etymological and morphological vocabulary instruction on the adult non-native English language learners' receptive/productive vocabulary, and their written spelling. 48 adult non-native English language learners were randomly selected and assigned to two groups (24 participants in each), one as the experimental and the other as the control group. Michigan Test of English Language Placement Test (MTELP) was conducted to test both groups' English proficiency level. Two tests were prepared by using Wesche and Paribakt's 1996 Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS) to test receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge of the participants and a paused dictation test was prepared to test both groups' written spelling. All these three tests were given to both groups before and after the treatment. The experimental group's participants received etymological and morphological vocabulary instruction for two months whereas the participants in the control group were taught through conventional school instruction. At the end of the study an open-ended questionnaire was given to the experimental group participants and qualitative data of the study was obtained. The quantitative and qualitative data results revealed a significant and positive effect of etymological and morphological vocabulary instruction on the experimental group members' receptive/ productive vocabulary and their written spelling.
Resolution of structural ambiguities during real-time l2 sentence processing: Evidence from online and offline measures
The investigation of the ways second language (L2) learners process the L2 input has provided valuable insights into the understanding of human cognition and developing instructional interventions that would bring about better L2 learning. In this respect, the exploration of the mechanisms L2 learners employ to process linguistic data has allowed researchers to examine the aspects of L2 acquisition that still remain unresolved. Over the past few decades, researchers have addressed the investigation of L2 processing mechanism by referring to the way L2 learners resolve structural ambiguities real time. This dissertation also aims to draw a clear picture of the L2 sentence processing mechanism by comparing native English speakers and Turkish learners of L2 English at different proficiency levels in terms of their use of varios information sources and effects of transfer during the processing of two different structural ambiguities, namely, the processing of relative clause (RC) attachment ambiguities and prepositional phrase (PP) attachment ambiguities, through a series of offline and online experiments. For each type of ambiguity, the offline experiments tested the attachment preferences of L2 English learners and native English speakers via the use of pencil-and-paper comprehension questionnaires, whereas the online experiments investigated real-time processing of the target syntactic structures through the use of eye-tracking methodology. The offline experiment on the resolution of RC attachment ambiguities revealed that Turkish and English RC attachment preferences differed in that native English speakers preferred to attach the RC to the local noun phrase (low attachment preference), whereas the Turkish participants preferred the nonlocal NP to attach the RC (high attachment preference). Even though the same offline task fell short of detecting an attachment bias for the Turkish participants in the target language, English, the findings from a more sensitive online measure, the eye tracking task, indicated that the Turkish learners of L2 English tended to transfer the Turkish high attachment preference when processing English RC attachment ambiguities. As for the PP attachment ambiguities, the rationale was to investigate L2 learners' attachment preferences in situations when direct transfer effects from the learners' L1 are not probable as the equivalents of the PP attachment test items used in the offline task are not ambiguous in learners' L1, Turkish. This would render the opportunity to exclude the confounding factor of L1 transfer, which indeed substantially influenced L2 learners' processing decisions in RC ambiguity resolution. The results from both offline and online tasks indicated a clear low attachment bias for the native speakers and L2 learners groups, which suggests that L1 and L2 processing are both guided by structure-based processing strategies/biases in the computation of abstract relationships among syntactic constituents and that processing decisions can be made basing on the hierarchically deep structural information. The findings in general were interpreted to offer insights into several issues including how L2 grammatical processing could take place, whether and to what extent the transfer of L1 processing routines could influence real-time L2 sentence comprehension, whether it is possible for L2 learners to achieve native-like processing in the L2 and whether L2 processing mechanism is subject to a change with the increasing proficiency.
Syntactic, lexical and content analysis of children's private speech
This dissertation aimed at investigating private speech of 3, 4 and 5 years olds Turkish preschoolers. The first aim was to explore linguistic properties of private speech, namely its lexical, morphosyntactic and syntactic features which are expected to present features that are different from previous studies in other languages. This study also aimed to reveal content properties of Turkish children's private speech. Another purpose of this dissertation was to study the social origins of private speech by comparing linguistic and content features of private speech with social speech that children produced when they were completing the same task with their mothers. Data for the present study was collected in two stages; firstly, private speech data from children were gathered, secondly data from mother-child interactions were collected. In the first stage, private speech data was collected from 28 children aged between 3;1 and 5;7. There were 8 children in three year olds' group and 10 children in each of the 4 and 5 year olds' groups. In the data collection process, children were video recorded in a separate room in the kindergarten while they were playing with a wooden toy house which has removable household items and toy family figures. In the second stage, 5 of the same children from each group were video recorded while completing the same task with their mothers. Results revealed that self-regulation, planning and problem solving functions of private speech were represented by specific usages in children's language. It is also found out that Turkish private speech is not predicated and syntactically abbreviated in the same way as Vygotsky proposed. Internalization of Turkish private speech was only traced with the increase in the partially internalized utterances with age. Comparisons of private speech and mother-child interactions revealed similarities that demonstrate evidence for the social origins of private speech.
Investigating the first year experiences of novice efl teachers in public and private schools
This study was carried out to investigate the experiences of the first year experiences of novice English teachers in public and private schools on a comparative and longitudinal basis. Since there is almost no literature comparing novice teachers working in private schools and most current studies focus on the first year experiences with the challenges of language teaching of novice teachers, this study- as we stressed above- aims to shed light on the first year experiences of novice English teachers depending on a comparative and longitudinal basis. Covering an educational year (2017-2018), the study was carried out through a case design with four participants, two of whom are from state schools, and the other two of whom are from private schools. The data collection tools of the study are reflective journals and interviews. The data for the study was collected on a longitudinal base and analyzed monthly. Necessary and important excerpts from novice teachers' experiences were investigated and coded. The coding pattern used in the study is the holistic one. The findings of the study revealed that the experiences and challenges of the novice teachers who were within their first year in profession were different to the extent that socio-economic conditions of the regions affected the schools and the pedagogical processes.
A study on the relationship of critical thinking activities and speaking skills of the 6th graders in turkey
The Ministry of National Education (MoNE) paved the way for radical changes in the curriculum of education in terms of meeting the needs of 21st century skills. Concurrent with these changes, stated in the English Lesson Curriculum (2018), "English lesson curriculum has been revised in accordance with the general objectives of Turkish National Education as defined in the Basic Law of the National Education No. 1739, along with the Main Principles of Turkish National Education" (p.3). Moreover, the transition from the 8+4 educational model to the new 4+4+4 model has been arised as a requisite of planned curricula change in Turkish Educational System. The new English language curriculum was designated in accordance with the principles and descriptors of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, and Assessment (CEFR). In line with the principles of (CEFR) within the context of life-long learning objective, 21st century abilities are crucial to keep up with up-to-date curricula in accordance with students' needs in a Knowledge age. Even if teaching these skills in a class environment can be challenging, The Critical Thinking Skills (CTSs) contribute learners an insightful and commonsense guide to become self-motivated and novative learners in foreign language learning as well. There has been a plethora of studies on the positive correlation between the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and CTSs within the concept of tertiary education. Yet, few have been conducted in secondary education. To this end, in this study, a mixed method research design was conducted to find out whether any effect of the Critical Thinking Activities (CTA) on speaking skills of the 6th graders. It was conducted for 16 weeks with 6th graders including the pilot study during 2017-2018 Autumn period of the Academic Year, at İsmail Ayşe Önük Secondary School in Adana, Turkey. The classes were chosen randomly, one of which was assigned as the experimetal group (20), and the other as the control one (21). The quantitative data were gathered from the instruments consisting of a CT Test and an English A Level Speaking Test as pre- and post-tests to track possible alterations in students' speaking and critical thinking levels. SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Science) software version 20.0 was used to analyze quantitative data. As for qualitative instruments, teacher's reflective journal, students' reflective journals, and portfolios were utilized in order to observe the students' feeling and perceptions about the usage of the CTA. The findings of the study indicated that using CTA in EFL classroom enhanced the speaking skills and CT levels of 6th graders conspicuously at İsmail-Ayşe Önük Secondary School, Ceyhan-Adana, Turkey. Keywords: Critical thinking activities, English as a foreign language, Common European framework of reference for languages: learning, teaching, assessment, English lesson curriculum, 21st century skills, speaking skills, mixed method reseach design.
The effect of reading strategies on language proficiency of young adolescent learners
This study was designed to investigate whether a)57 learners from eighth grade in Süreyya Nihat Oral Middle School apply reading strategies b)integrated explicit strategy instruction into English language lessons have an effect on 27 eighth graders' reading strategy use c)integrated explicit reading strategy instruction increase the level of reading strategy use of those learners d) integrated explicit reading strategy instruction have an effect on the results of the exam named Transition from Basic to Secondary Education ( TEOG ) and relatedly their English proficiency of 27 learners in the eighth grade. The study was conducted with 27 learners from eighth graders in Süreyya Nihat Oral Middle School. The present study was conducted with a quasi-experimental research design as the study was implemented with an experimental group exposed to explicit reading strategy instruction in their regular English classes and a control group following a regular instruction model without applying explicit reading strategy instruction. Data were collected through both qualitative and quantitative insturments. A reading strategy questionnaire was used to find out reading strategies employed by learners and the same survey was conducted after the explicit reading strategy instruction to see whether there is a difference between the pre and post study in terms of reading strategy use. Learners' perspectives were evaluated through content analyze of minute-papers.Data gathered from surveys and learners' minute paper were multiplied with the data gathered from the notes of the researcher's diary that she kept through the implementation.The results of the exam named Transition from Basic to Secondary Education(TEOG ) of both control group and experimental group were calculated to see whether there is an effect of integrated explicit reading strategy instruction on learners' English proficiency. To analyze the quantitative data from TEOG results and surveys; means, t-values, and standard deviations were evaluated. In addition, content analyses was used to gain findings from students' utterances on their minute paper. The results of reading strategy questionnaire indicated that eighth graders did not use reading strategies sufficiently before the study, however, findings of the same questionnaire conducted at the end of the study demostrated that learners in experimental group improved the frequency of reading strategies use, those were instructed through the reading strategy instruction, to a considerable extent. The findings gathered from the content analysis of minute-paper including students' evaluations indicated that integrated explicit strategy instruction promoted their English learning process. In addition to this, learners in experimental group, in the frame of mean value, reached a higher score in TEOG exam and, therefore, findings showed that reading strategy instruction and strategy use seemed to have a significant effect on learners' English language learning. Keywords: Reading strategies instruction,reading strategies,integration of reading strategies into the lesson,English language teaching and learning,meaningful learning,awareness of reading strategies use.
The correlation of metalinguistic awareness of bilingual students with learning English as a foreign language
It has been aimed to investigate the correlation of metalinguistic awareness of heritage bilingual students who have different linguistic backgrounds with learning English as a foreign language. There have been several numbers of studies which have emphasized the role of metalinguistic awareness in some research areas such as comprehension, creative thinking, and some linguistic skills; stating that metalinguistic awareness and skills have been found as developing in early childhood ages. Especially, first language acquisition and learning more than two languages have been lately investigated in certain studies (Bialystok, 2001; Cenoz &Valencia 1994; Lasagabaster, 1998). As one of the distinctive studies, Cenoz (2003) have claimed that metalinguistic awareness has been noted as having the role of mediating factor while learning additional languages. Furthermore, Cummins (1976) has explained the Threshold Level Hypothesis as having linguistic awareness and skills can be accepted as a threshold which is needed to be gained while learning additional languages. In this present study, the difference between heritage bilingual students and monolingual students in terms of metalinguistic awareness in both Turkish and English and learning English as a foreign language have been evaluated. It has been found that there has been a statistically significant difference between the results of both groups and a high correlation of metalinguistic awareness with learning a foreign language. Finally, the opinions of heritage bilingual students on the extreme have been discussed in terms of linguistic knowledge and awareness with semi-structured interviews. According to analyses higher metalinguistic awareness has been found related to higher results and scores in tests.
Utilizing reflective practice as a tool to explore coursebook beliefs and exploitation: A case study
In this qualitative study, two non-native teachers of English as a foreign language working in a preparatory programme at a Turkish state university engaged in a reflective practice to explore their coursebook beliefs and exploitation. A global English language teaching coursebook was used, and lessons that were identical in content (six lessons per teacher) were observed. Addressing recent criticism towards common modes of reflective practice, the teachers explored their practices using a variety of reflective tools encompassing metaphor elicitation tasks, video-supported observation (stimulated recall), reflective conversations, examination of transcripts containing classroom discourse and journal writing through which they responded to the events in the classes observed and the individual and collaborative reflection with their peer and the researcher. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the participants at study beginning and end. To identify adaptations realised in the lessons, a framework with pre-established coding categories informed by the relevant literature was developed. The data coming from the reflective tools and semi-structured interviews were initially analysed with open coding techniques, then the initial codes were assembled into coding categories and later allocate to themes. The study revealed that the two teachers had positive beliefs about coursebooks, and they followed the coursebook by making only minor adaptations. Through the reflective practice the teachers found out that the coursebook exerted greater control over them than they had assumed at study beginning. By and large, the stated beliefs about coursebooks and coursebook exploitation resonated with realised practices. As an important outcome, the teachers' coursebook exploitations were not often grounded in pedagogical content knowledge. Instead, cursory lesson planning along with institutional constraints and routinised coursebook exploitation forced the teachers to stick to the coursebook. Throughout the reflective practice, the teachers noticed a variety of issues concerning their teaching, and arrived at solutions to address critical aspects. However, the two teachers did not greatly modify their instructional practice; accordingly coursebook overreliance was not diminished. The teachers found the reflective practice beneficial for their professional development, but they reported discomfort, in particular related to the video-supported lesson observation. The study emphasises the need to organise coursebook-based instead of coursebook-led language learning programmes because employing coursebooks as the de facto curriculum, as in this context, may deskill teachers as they are invited to follow the procedures in current ELT coursebooks unreflectively. Coursebook overreliance also seems to be promoted through coursebooks providing highly-structured procedures to follow. Moreover, the need to implement professional development opportunities in which teachers can explore their instructional practice is demanded. However, facilitators may need to provide guidance for teachers and cater for instances in which teachers do not feel comfortable while employing certain reflective tools. Keywords: Global coursebook, coursebook exploitation, adaptation, reflective practice, English language teachers, English as a foreign language
The use of tests as social practice: The intentions, effects and consequences of English language teacher recruitment examination in the Turkish context
This current study aims to shed light on the use of the KPSS as social practice especially for English language teacher recruitment in the Turkish context. Based on a multiphase mixed methods research design, the study scrutinizes the use of the KPSS- its intentions, effects and consequences- with specific reference to its power over student teachers of English and the origin of this power in the Turkish context. The significance of the study lies in combining three phases which are documentary study, scale development and implementation and a case study based on Interactive Qualitative Analysis (IQA). The data for this study were collected through various instruments and methods appropriate for each research question sequentially. In the first phase, the documents on the KPSS were analysed. In the second phase, the scale The Power of the KPSS over Student Teachers of ELT in the Turkish Context was specifically developed for this study and implemented. In the third phase which is an IQA case study, IQA focus group sessions and IQA interviews were conducted in order to identify the factors comprising the participants' shared perception of the origin of the power of the KPSS, its effects, consequences and the relationships among these elements in their shared perceptual systems. The findings indicate that driven by power involved in the discourse of the testing, the KPSS has led to a set of unintended effects and consequences. The officially declared intention of the KPSS is to select the ones who get assigned as civil servants and teachers. In fact, the KPSS might not fail in achieving its main purpose, but in practice it has served some undeclared and unintended functions. Overall, considering the fact that in the 21st century, the quality of testing practices is determined not only through their psychometric features but also their social uses, the debates conducted in this dissertation conclude with implication to enhance the quality of the KPSS as a social practice and develop assessment and testing literacy of individuals.
Every voice matters: A case study on the factors affecting the professional development and identity (RE)construction of novice English language teachers
The initial years of teaching are very crucial and challenging for novice teachers fresh from their education programs. It plays a key role in reshaping the meaning of teaching, in reconstructing their professional identities and in promoting their professional development. Novice teacher's identity and future practices are (re)built and (re)constructed by their experiences. Therefore, during their journey of finding meaning in being a language teacher, they fall under the influence of many factors. The present qualitative study aims to explore the factors that affect the professional development and identity formation of four (4) Turkish novice EFL teachers who work at public primary and secondary schools in Gaziantep, a big city in eastern Turkey, as well as to document their voices. The data sources include semi-structured interviews, observations and reflexive autobiographical journaling. The results suggested that teachers' teaching context, their prior and current experiences and biography, their perceptions of job satisfaction, motivation, commitment and self-efficacy are often in interaction with each other and influence the way teachers think and react. In recognition of the struggles that novice EFL teachers inescapably encounter, along with the shock they experience due to the transition from pre-service to real teaching, novice teacher will need some kind of support and more carefully considerate plans and programs that will ease the transition process. Key Words: Novice teachers, language teacher education, professional identity and professional identity, Turkey
An investigation into foreign language anxiety in English-medium higher education: The case of a Turkish private university
The main purpose of this study to investigate the relationship between Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) and English-medium Instruction (EMI). In this regard, the study aimed to reveal FLA levels of students at an EMI university, the sources of their FLA and whether there were statistically significant differences in FLA levels of first, second and third year students. A mixed method concurrent triangulation research method was conducted with 190 students from different undergraduate levels and different departments. Quantitative data of the study was collected through a 5-point Likert Scale, which was adapted from Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) by Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986), and the data was analyzed with SPSS (Version 23.0). On the other hand, a semi-structured interview form that was prepared in accordance with the sub-dimensions of the questionnaire, was used to collect qualitative data of the study. The qualitative data was analyzed via content analysis method. The results of the study revealed a moderate negative relationship between EMI and FLA. Also, a statistically significant difference was found on FLA levels of students according to undergraduate levels. Another finding of the study revealed that students had positive opinions and feelings toward EMI. Although the students are in favor of EMI, they indicated some suggestions to develop the concept of EMI lectures. These suggestions indicate the integration of a short summary of the content in Turkish and some modifications in English Preparatory Programs at universities in order to prepare students for EMI. Keywords: English-medium instruction, Foreign Language Anxiety, Higher education.
An investigation into the acquisition of modal verbs by monolingual and bilingual learners of English
Language acquisition is defined as the process by which human beings acquire the capacity to perceive and understand language as well as to produce and use words and sentences. Modals constitute one of the most important grammatical areas in the English language. This master's thesis aims to examine the process of acquiring the English modal units of monolingual and bilingual individuals. The universe of the research consists of 9th grade students studying in Anatolian high schools in Batman. The research method has quantitative characteristics. The sample of the study consists of 80 students who are selected equally. Half of the selected participants are monolingual and the rest are bilingual. In this study, a test was used to measure the students' recognition and use of modal units. The test consists of two versions, which include the participants' recognition and production items that reveal the modal units. Each test consists of twenty-four items. Both tests were administered to participants who took the English course according to the curriculum of the Ministry of National Education for five years. SPSS 17 was used for data analysis. Data analysis was performed with crosstables, one way Anova, The Mann Whitney U test and Mean tests based on the responses of the participants with the mean of SPSS 17. This study is expected to show whether monolingual and bilingual students differ in learning modal units, which modal units are more challenging for individuals. Moreover, this study is expected to shed light on the role of the first language transfer on the acquisition of English modal units.
A corpus-based study on noun and verb agreement errors by Turkish learners of English as a foreign language
In this study, Turkish EFL learner`s interlanguage noun and verb agreement errors has been investigated. The study has made used of Error Analysis in analyzing the data for noun and verb agreement errors. The present study has made used of the corpus-based techniques to analyze the use of noun and verb agreement in the Turkish EFL learner`s written performance across A1 – A2, B1 – B2, and C1 – C2 CEFR levels of proficiency available in the related corpora of the Cambridge Learner Corpora. Two different research methods were used in this study, both descriptive and experimental method. Two different groups were involved in this study, experimental and the control group. Experimental group were taught noun and verb using the corpus data-driventechniques; and the control group were taught in a traditional way of teaching noun and verb agreement. The result of the experiment was determined by the test on noun and verb agreement taken by the participants after the experiment. In addition, the overuse, underuse and the errors made in using noun and verb agreement by the Turkish EFL learners were analyzed using Log-Likelihood and Log-Dice in investigating and finding out the statistic evidence upon the possible errors committed by the Turkish EFL leaners. In thıs study Turkısh EFL learner's use of noun and verb agreement in their academic writing has been checked and comparison of the result have been made between the control and the experimental group, however the result has revealed that Turkish EFL learner overuse noun and verb agreement in their writings. In addition corpus-based implantation on noun and verb agreement errors has been done to see if the participants could master the rules or not. the result have shown that the both group have improved, but the experimental group overused noun and verb agreement more than their counterpart control group. Firstly Overall frequencies have been identified and analyzed in a tabular form both CLC and the Corpora compiled by the researcher across A1 – C2 proficiency band of CEF. The data were analyzed using the soft wares called Sketch Engine, AntConc, Log-dice and Log-likelihood in order to compare the result. Secondly, the frequencies of all the categories A1 – C2 of the CLC data as well as the corpus compiled by the researcher during his implementation were analyzed respectively, and each proficiency level frequency is shown respectively.
Error mapping and remedial intervention regarding English tense – Aspect structures of Turkish EFL learners
On account of cross-linguistic differences, language-specific characteristics, and mainly due to their internal complexity, English tense-aspect system remains to be one such area of language instruction, which presents great difficulty even for advanced level learners. Such a challenge to the acquisition of authentic use of target structures may be ascribed to descriptions of grammatical forms as presented in traditional reference/descriptive grammars. Reasonably often, tense-aspect forms are included in formal basis rather than meaning oriented schemas. Additionally, learners' native language may interfere with the acquisition of such structures. Though many forms included in English tense-aspect system have counterparts in other languages, there is no complete overlap among tense-aspect system across languages regarding how they are licensed regarding cross-cultural and intralingual differences. The descriptive and quasi-experimental design will be structured using both quantitative and qualitative methods. This study, primarily, scrutinized Cambridge English Corpus (henceforth CEC) to discover patterns of tense-aspect use and errors specific to Turkish EFL learners. CEC covers a body of error annotated learner corpora from various native languages. The study also focused on cognitive grammar stimulated classroom instruction in comparison to traditional grammatical teaching of English tense-aspect forms. Precisely, the procedure consisted of pre-test given one week prior to the treatment, and a post-test applied one week after the last treatment session. ANCOVA was carried out to investigate the participants' progress in learning the use of the tense-aspect structures of the target language. As a result of the study, it was observed that in the use of certain tense-aspect structures, differences in learners' level are of primary importance while similar situation is not valid for others. Additionally, regarding the remedial teaching, mean exam scores of students who received cognitive grammar stimulated instruction were significantly higher when compared to students who received traditional grammar teaching in the learning of present simple and present progressive. On the contarary, no statistically significant difference was observed between two groups considering the teaching of past simple and present perfect.
Developing English language teachers' teaching techniques and classroom management based on choice theory
This qualitative study investigates the professional development of English language teachers' classroom management and their teaching techniques through applying Glasser's Choice Theory. Moreover, the effects of this implementation on students' basic needs proposed by choice theory and teachers' perceptions and reflections about classroom management are examined. The population of the current research is Iranian English language teachers. The participants in this research, two female teachers and a male teacher, teach in a bilingual private school in an area with high-income and mostly well-educated families in Tabriz, Iran. The data collection instruments are interviews, field-notes data obtained by audio-recorded classroom observations, post-observation conferences, students' journals written during a six-month period and three questionnaires. Results from the study indicated that application of Glasser's Choice Theory is obviously fruitful in changing and enhancing English language teachers' classroom management, teaching techniques and their perceptions about it as well as meeting students' basic needs proposed by choice theory.
Practicing lesson study with efl teachers: A social constructivist perspective for efl teacher professional development
There is an extensive agreement upon the idea that the professional development process based upon actual classroom practice is a highly powerful means of fostering effective teachers (Lieberman, 1996). However, the issue of how to design types of learning experiences for teachers which focus upon teachers in accordance with their classroom practice (Ball, 1996), and how to provide powerful ways for teachers to examine, discuss, and learn from their daily classroom work (Fernandez, 2002) has not been clarified. In this respect, Lesson Study, a well-established Japanese approach to examining classroom practice (Fernandez, 2002), has gained widespread popularity among educational contexts due to the fact that it holds great promise as a form of professional development. Based upon collegiality among teachers, reflection and actual classroom practice, Lesson Study promotes teacher learning and development by making teachers examine a student learning issue collaboratively; and then develop, implement and reflect critically on novel solutions to the issue by means of a research lesson taught to their students (Tasker, 2014). The present study aims to provide insights into how teachers' beliefs about the qualities of effective teachers are shaped when they take part in Lesson Study practice as a teacher-led, collaborative professional development activity and how teacher learning is structured through the social context and collaboration between colleagues, how that learning leads to perceptual changes in teachers' views of themselves and in their views of Lesson Study model, and lastly how Lesson Study practice contributes to professional development of teachers. To achieve the research aims, the study was carried out for twenty weeks with five EFL teachers working at a School of Foreign Languages. The present study adopted qualitative research methodology and utilized from the qualitative data collection means in accordance with the research aims. The data collection instruments involve interviews with participant teachers (pre- and post), interview with the teacher trainer, teachers' reflective journal entries, field notes of the researcher, video recordings of the teacher workshops, video recordings of the research lessons, rep-grids (pre-and post), research lesson plan, minute papers from the participant students, and finally the lesson observation forms. The participant teachers' pre- and post- repertory grids were analysed through Rep Grid 5 PC-Compatible Computer Program. FOCUS and EXCHANGE analysis program of Rep-Grid Computer Program package were utilized specifically to illustrate the constructs obtained from the teachers. On the other hand, the data obtained through interviews (i.e. pre-, post-, follow-up interviews) were analysed by means of content analysis. The results from repertory grids reveal that the EFL teachers in the study context do not experience a great deal of change in their beliefs regarding the qualities of effective language teachers as a result of practicing Lesson Study model. Nevertheless, they can be claimed to step in the process of change since they are observed to cite constructs related to Teacher-Student relationships and add new constructs under the category of Professionalism in comparison to the constructs which are cited mostly under the category of Personal Qualities at the beginning of the study. Considering the changes in teachers' perceptions of Lesson Study model after practicing it in their own context, it is realized that the teachers had a positive attitude towards LS practice both at the beginning and at the end of the study. Despite the fact that the teachers had some concerns at the beginning of the study and they experienced such a practice for the first time, the practice is observed to meet their expectations; lead to improvements in teachers' knowledge, teaching practices and perspectives; benefit teachers in terms of personal and professional development; and lastly fostered students' enthusiasm and desire to participate actively in learning process. As for the effects of practicing Lesson Study model from teachers, students and the researcher's perspectives, the results indicate that the teachers benefitted from the practice in various aspects such as personal and professional growth, improvements in teachers' knowledge and teaching practices, an increase in teachers' confidence towards themselves, their students, and their teaching abilities, and development of positive attitude towards professional development, students, and teaching profession. Besides, the improvements and changes experienced during the process seem to affect the students in terms of fostering their self-confidence, triggering collaboration with peers, and encouraging active participation in the learning process. Key words: Professional development, lesson study, EFL teachers, repertory-grid, perceptions, teacher learning
The effects of teaching word roots on the long term retention of English vocabulary
Background: Vocabulary learning experience seems to be the most time consuming aspect of language learning. Learners exert considerable energy on words trying to memorize isolate words and sets of exam words which are, in most cases, bound to be forgotten. There are various learning strategies adopted by learners of English to memorize and retain words. Dissecting words into word parts is among these although there are few studies dwelling on the benefits of teaching word roots (Bellomo, 2005, 2009; Karlıova, 2009; Akarslan, 2013). Those few studies highlight the effectiveness of teaching and learning vocabulary through Latin and Greek roots. However, they lack any answers as to how much this strategy works in terms of retention in the long run. Aim: The aim of this study is to show the impact of teaching word roots both on learners' attitudes and the long term retention of newly learnt lexical items. Method: A quantitatively supported descriptive study was administered throughout the thesis. A group of university foundation year students (N=16) were selected in the study. The group, first, selected words they did not know from a list of advanced vocabulary items. The completely unknown words were then shortlisted to be taught in the study. In order to ensure that the students do not know the shortlisted words, they were also required to write down the meaning of these words instead of choosing from alternatives. These new lexical items were introduced to the group with word roots, as well as the English definitions, Turkish equivalents and example sentences. A post-test was administered to observe the short term effects of this method. A post-post test was applied after one month to see if there was any difference in the amount of retention of these words in the long run as well as the learners' attitudes towards the method. For triangulation, the instructor and students were asked to keep diaries. They were provided with open-ended questions to evaluate the learning process of words through word roots. They were also interviewed to see why and how they could or could not retain the words. Key Words: Teaching Latin and Greek Word Roots, Retention of Words, Teaching English Vocabulary
Cross-linguistic patterns of pausing: A case of Turkish, Swahili, Hausa and Arabic speakers of English
Linguists usually investigate grammatical patterns on written outputs while carrying out studies on second language acquisition. However, this usually does not reflect the actual speech performance of the speaker, and thus creates a distance between the text and its producer. In this context, studies on prosodic features yield much information about the nature of actual performance. Although there is ample research on pauses in English, there are not many studies regarding this issue. Since speech is a dynamic process during which various factors interact with each other, it becomes a necessity to investigate this complex relationship within differing contexts. The dynamics of speech, prosodic features in particular, can significantly contribute to gain insights into the underlying mechanics resulting from contextual differences. Duration of pauses in a continuing speech can show the effects of these variables. In this descriptive study, the researcher investigated the read and spontaneous speech pausing patterns in coordinating conjunctions with 40 participants from Turkish, Swahili, Hausa, and Arabic speakers of English. For the read speech, the participants read out a short story, and for the spontaneous speech, semi-structured interviews were carried out. In total, 9318 pauses in 4659 coordinating conjunctions in read and spontaneous speech were measured through Praat, a speech recognition software, and findings obtained from the data were analysed by Paired Samples t-test. The results showed that pauses differed in favour of the preceding position in coordinating conjunctions in read and spontaneous speech of participants. However, differences were observed to be statistically significant since the speakers employed different strategies for pause durations in both cases. It was also observed that speakers from the same mother tongues performed similar pausing patterns which could be an important indicator of a cross-linguistic influence. Characteristics of the speakers' mother tongues were found to be a significant factor for speakers' performance in English. Since findings of the follow-up phase of the research also revealed that prosodic features were mostly neglected in classrooms, the researcher recommended integration of these prosodic characteristics into the ELT curriculum.
An evaluation of an english coursebook titled Moonlight targeting 8 th graders within a Turkish Context
The main purpose of the study is to explore the perceptions and views of English language teachers and 8th graders about the effectiveness of the textbook titled Moonlight in aspects of layout and design, subject and content, aims and objectives, methodology and activities, language skills, language components and general considerations. In addition to these criteria, general perceptions of teachers and students towards major concerns of English Language Teaching (ELT) are also investigated. Within the scope of the study, mixed method research design was conducted in order to obtain both qualitative and quantitative data. The data consists of checklists conducted by 65 English language teachers and 300 8th graders; semi structured-interviews with 15 teachers and focus-group interviews with 10 teachers. The research was carried out in five districts of Adana; namely, Yüreğir, Seyhan, Sarıçam, Çukurova and Ceyhan. SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Science) software version 24.0 was used to analyze quantitative data. Besides, content analysis and thematic analysis were conducted to analyze qualitative data. The results of the study revealed the perceptions and views of students and teachers towards the textbook titled Moonlight. The criticisms generally focused on the heavy vocabulary load, complicated texts, lack of pronunciation studies, grammar-based teaching, irrelevant topics, inadequate cultural considerations and drawbacks on integration and presentation of language skills. On the other hand, some strengths of Moonlight were revealed: the convenient size, attractive cover page and informative workbook activities. In addition to the pre-determined criteria, the findings revealed the suggestions of teachers in major concerns of ELT such as improving the quality of English courses, classroom management, and student placement exams. The study aims to raise awareness of evaluating materials and sharing experiences of English language teaching with institutions and other stakeholders. In this regard, the study revealed that the users of the materials could provide valuable feedbacks and a set of suggestions related to the material and educational procedures. Therefore, to reflect the voices of teachers and students enriched the value of this study.
A study on perceived needs of vocational school students learning English
The aim of this study is to investigate English language needs of students who are studying in vocational schools of health services and learning English as a foreign language. This study is conducted to reveal the perspectives of currently enrolled students, teachers and administrators of the schools in terms of English language education offered in these institutions. The schools that are analyzed in this research are part of Çukurova University, Adana located in the southern part of Turkey. Data are collected via questionnaires and semi structured interviews with the participants. Semi structured interviews are carried out with the teachers and administrators in order to understand their perceptions towards students' language needs. Convenient sampling is used and data are analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. In the light of the results, it is found out that English language needs of the students are not met sufficiently and even if the instructors who teach the courses try to address the needs of the learners, the program is not applied by analyzing needs and in terms of English for specific purposes. To conclude, there needs to be a curriculum addressing the learners' needs. Keywords: Needs analysis, English for general purposes (EGP), English for specific purposes (ESP).
An investigation of the relationship between epistemological and language learning beliefs
What teachers and learners bring into the classroom in their minds has been central to the research about how learning occurs since around 1970s. Among other beliefs, the beliefs about knowledge and knowing, namely epistemological beliefs, have drawn great attention. As well as the research focusing on personal epistemology itself, its relation to other constructs such as learning strategies has been extensively investigated. However, its relation to language learning beliefs has remained relatively unexamined and very few studies have focused on such relationship (e.g. Mori, 1999). The current study attempted to reveal individual beliefs first and examine the relationship between the two types of beliefs. One hundred fifty-five students of both genders from Fırat University participated in the study. The study involved the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. A questionnaire made up of two parts and an interview were conducted to collect data about the students' epistemological and language learning beliefs. The results of the statistical and content analysis showed that the students possessed both naïve and sophisticated epistemological beliefs. The participants also held insightful and detrimental language learning beliefs. The investigation of the relationship between the two types of beliefs proved that epistemological and language learning beliefs were mostly uncorrelated implying the domain generality of epistemological beliefs and the domain specificity of language learning beliefs. Keywords: Epistemological beliefs, language learning beliefs, personal epistemology, knowledge, knowing
Infusion of critical thinking skills into high school 10th grade efl classes
In today's world, there are many changes that we struggle to keep pace with. The technological developments brought about by the century in which we are have led to a serious competition among the countries. This competition has resulted in the necessity for people to have some abilities beyond traditional and ordinary skills. Critical thinking skills are at the forefront of them; and nations shape their education systems according to this necessity. Critical thinking should be considered as one of the inevitable goals of education. Because, thinking skills are very necessary for a society characterized by rapid change. For this reason, educating students as effective thinkers in our world of cognitive development ought to be one of the main objectives of education policy. In recent years, Critical Thinking (CT) and Higher Order Thinking (HOT) skills have been mentioned in the curricula prepared by the Ministry of National Education. However, there are not specific activities and exercises enhancing critical thinking abilities in the textbooks prepared by the ministry and in supportive resources. This leads to a tremendous disadvantage particularly for teachers in getting students to comprehend high – level thinking skills. There are a number of studies in our country in terms of eliminating these deficiencies. However, these limited studies do not provide any applicability to cover all the educational institutions in our country. In order to make up for this deficit, research should be carried out on a large scale. Additionally, curriculum and material development studies should be conducted within the Ministry of National Education. The study covered the 2017 - 2018 Academic Year and 131 10th grade students in Emine Nabi Anatolian High School in Çukurova. The study was an exploratory case study, based on infusing critical thinking skills into the 10th grade English curriculum, doing the lessons according to remodeled unit plans during one academic year and evaluation of the results. At the first stage, students were given a questionairre and their critical thinking levels were determined. Activities and tasks were given to the students in line with the remodeled lesson plans and their level of critical thinking was occasionally observed during classes. With a final questionairre given at the end of the academic year, the level of development in students' critical thinking skills was measured. Data obtained from both the final questionairre and the face – to – face interviews have revealed that the English lessons done in the light of the remodeled lesson plans with critical thinking tasks substantially provided students with critical thinking skills. The results and products of this study have significant importance for language teachers, curriculum and material developers within the ministry. This research also includes implications for similar studies to be conducted on the field. Keywords: Critical thinking, teaching critical thinking, higher order thinking skills, high school English curriculum
Transformation of English language instructors in dynamic assessment: An oral skill teaching experience in university preparatory program
This dissertation describes and analyses the transformative learning experiences of two instructors who engaged in the participatory action research study to critically reflect on their already held beliefs of assessment and instruction and learn about Dynamic Assessment (DA) to be implemented in their classrooms. The central aim of the study is to investigate the process of perceptual change that the instructors experience regarding the discrete relationship between assessment and instruction as they engaged in learning about DA which has an alternative view to that relationship. Based on participatory action research design with a participatory paradigm, this study is significant in terms of empowering the participants through a professional learning discourse in which participants criticise the contextual and individual factors that shape and limit their practices in speaking courses. Drawing on the Transformative Learning Theory and using evidence from verbal data from group discussion sessions, classroom observations, classroom artefacts, and interviews, this study analyses how these two English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instructors experienced individual transformative learning experiences and DA conceptualisation in a social and reflective discourse provided with the design of the study. Furthermore, the changes in the instructors' practices of classroom assessment and instruction were followed after the completion of group discussion sessions as the instructors acted on their experiences. The students' views were also gathered about the effectiveness of speaking instruction, in-class speaking assessment and changing practices of the instructors. The findings indicate that engagement in a participatory action research study contributed to the instructors' awareness of the contextual and individual constraints on their actions in speaking courses. Although participatory action research provided awareness to the instructors regarding these constraints, the verbal data from the discussion sessions and follow-up classroom actions of the instructors illustrated that they could change their perspectives and actions to the extent that they were able to bring critical self-reflection on their currently held beliefs. The students' views on the changing practices of instructors were limited but mostly positive in terms of their development, which might indicate the impact of the instructors' awareness and perceptual change on students' perceived development. The whole process of this participatory action research implied that professional development needs to engage teacher views and their critical reflection on their already set beliefs in order for the integration of research-based alternative pedagogies into teacher repertoires.
Perceptions and practices of English language instructors on elf and elf-related issues in Turkish higher education context
Due to changes and improvements in the world, English has reached lingua franca status, which induced plenty of researchers and scholars to focus on English as a lingua franca (ELF). Hence, the number of studies about ELF and ELF-related issues has increased. However, classroom practices of language instructors about ELF perception have been very few in the area. Therefore, this mixed methods sequential explanatory study investigates perceptions of language instructors based on ELF and ELF-related issues, respectively cultural aspects in English language teaching, Standard English and World Englishes, and the dichotomy of native and non-native speakers. It also aims to observe classroom practices of instructors in an ELF context. The quantitative data of the study were obtained through a close-ended questionnaire from 36 English language instructors working at the preparatory school of Çağ University during the Fall Term of 2017-2018 Academic Year. The qualitative data were collected via classroom observation and semi-structured interview conducted with six volunteer instructors. The findings of the study revealed that most of the participants are familiar with ELF and disposed to integrate ELF in their classes. A good number of the instructors consider the integration of cultural elements into classes is crucial for an effective language learning environment. Plenty of the instructors prefer to use Standard English while speaking although they do not encourage students to use SE. Additionally, quite a few instructors mentioned language learners should be familiar with different uses of English in the world. Their classroom practices were also consistent with their views since they focus on communication rather than native norms and integrate different cultures in classrooms. This study has several implications for language learners, language teachers/instructors, department heads and staff, materials developers and curriculum designers. Keywords: ELT, ELF, ELF related issues, classroom practices.
Turkish efl pre-service teachers' attitudes toward and reflections on digital game enhanced practice
Educational technologies have started to be integrated in educational activities in an increasing rate with recent technological advancements. Digital games, being one of these materials, are thought to be effective in langauge learning and teaching field as much as they are in other educational fields. Previous research has shown that pre-service teachers generally have positive attitudes towards digital games, and the ones who have negative attitudes cannot think of any use since they have not encountered any specific example of application. In this respect, Sykes and Reinhardt (2012) claimed five possible key elements in line with game elements and second language learning, which are goals, interaction, feedback, context and motivation. Starting from this point of view, this study aims; first, familiarizing Turkish Pre-service EFL Teachers who were selected based on their attitudes on digital games as high, medium and low attitude with digital game enhanced language learning activities and collect their reflections for the digital game enhanced language learning application they experienced. Also their insights for positive and negative aspects of these activities were also aimed to be studied. In addition, this study also aims investigating participants' intentions for using digital game enhanced language learning activities in their future teaching practices.
A learner corpus-based study on the use of English prepositional verbs of Turkish efl learners
As learner corpora have presently become readily accessible, it is now practicable to examine interlanguage errors and carry out error analysis (EA) on learner-generated texts. The data available in a learner corpus enable researchers to investigate authentic learner errors and their respective frequencies in terms of types and tokens as well as contexts in which they regularly occur. The need to consider these authentic learner errors in the design of useful language learning programs and remedial teaching materials has been widely emphasized by many researchers (see e.g., Juozulynas, 1994; Mitton, 1996; Cowan, Choi, & Kim, 2003; Ndiaye & Vandeventer Faltin, 2003; Allerton et al., 2004). This study aims at analyzing the errors pertaining to the use prepositional verbs by Turkish EFL learners across six distinct proficiency levels, A1-A2; B1-B2; C1-C2, as defined by Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (henceforth CEFR) (Council of Europe, 2001). Prepositional verbs (PVs) are classified under the category of lexical items called multiword items (MWIs), or multiword expressions (MWEs) according to Baldwin (2005). These lexical items include idioms, phrasal verbs, prepositional verbs, stock phrases, prefabrications, and formulaic sequences. They are built with two or more words in the mental lexicon enabling learners to sound more native-like claimed by Gardner & Davies (2007). The literature in this area highlights the importance of prepositional verbs in L2 learning (Tetreault & Chodorow, 2008; Hong, Rahim, Hua, and Salehuddin, 2011); however, there is a lack of empirical studies of these verbs in ESL and EAP writing. The corpus to be used in this particular study is the Cambridge Learner Corpus (CLC), the largest annotated test performance corpora which enables the investigation of the linguistic and rhetorical features of the learner performances in CEFR proficiency bands. Approach of this study uses the techniques of computer corpus linguistics and has its roots in the Error Analysis framework as proposed by Corder (1973): identification, description, classification and explanation of errors. Keywords: Learner corpus, error analysis, English as a foreign language, prepositionals verbs
The vocabulary learning strategies of high school efl learners
In all schools in Turkey, from primary school until university, English is a compulsory subject for students. Therefore, English is taught for at least two hours a week depending on the school or grade the students are studying at. In spite of this long language education period, the success in terms of being able to speak, write or understand the language is still insufficient to be accepted as an optimal level. In the last two decades, technology has improved, opportunities have increased but the success of learning a language efficiently has not reached to a high level correlatively. Since vocabulary is a generally accepted important aspect of learning a language, the purpose of this study was to investigate the vocabulary learning strategies adopted by 9th grade students, to find which vocabulary learning strategies they used mostly and which ones they used the least. Another purpose of this study was to find whether there were any differences between male and female learners in terms of using these strategies. In the light of these aims, 172 9th grade students took part in this study and they were asked to fill in a questionnaire of 25 vocabulary learning strategy items. Also, a semi-structured interview with ten students was held. After the data was collected, an analysis was made by using frequency, percentages, and means. As a result of the data analysis, it has been found that the mostly used strategies by the students are Social (Discovery) Strategy and Determination Strategy. The least used strategies are Social (Consolidation) Strategy and Metacognitive Strategy. In terms of gender, there was generally no significant difference of strategy use between female and male students. However, when the strategy items are looked into individually, there are some slight differences. It is expected that the findings of this study will contribute the teachers in terms of improving themselves and their students about the instruction of VLSs and by taking the results of this study into account, it will also help the teachers to select more appropriate course books and materials related with the strategy use of their students.
Operation of power in classroom interaction in the EFL context
There is a great number of studies on classroom interaction adding to the naturalistic portrayal of classrooms as social places. Although these studies have clarified a wide range of aspects of classroom interaction in English as a Second Language (SLA) and English as Foreign Language (EFL) settings, there are numerous aspects that have not been searched enough in these settings. One of these aspects is the power mechanism in the classroom. Power, as a structure embedded in the fibre and fabric of everyday life, is inescapable in the classrooms as well, for these sites are social places in which complex relationships (including power relationships), meanings and practices are co-constructed dynamically. Inspired by the scarcity of research on power in the classroom in Turkey, this study aims to explore power at an English preparatory school at a Turkish university. The study has been designed to analyse teachers' and students' discursive strategies in terms of power construction within the classroom interaction. Therefore, it aims to arrive at meanings about power based on the frequency distribution of student and teacher-initiated exchanges, the discourse patterns in these exchanges, the forms and functions of discourse acts that are found in students' and teachers' initiation moves as well as teachers' turn allocation strategies. The data for the study were collected through audiotaped and video-recorded teacher-student interaction in five classrooms at total. The data were analysed by adopting Discourse Analysis approach through descriptive statistics and by analysing the excerpts from data on a turn-by-turn basis. The findings of the study revealed that in the classrooms under investigation in English lessons there was the abundance of teacher-initiated exchanges and related to discourse patterns, it was also found that Initiation by teachers, Response by students and Follow-up by teachers (IRF) was the prevalent structure. On the other hand, when discourse acts and their functions were taken into consideration, the abundance of elicitations and directives in teacher initiations uncovered the fact that teachers are dominant in classroom discourse. Yet, when looking at the discourse acts and their functions in student- initiations, it was seen that students had a say in the classroom. Furthermore, when looking at the excerpt analyses it was seen that student used power mechanisms such as providing initiations, follow-ups, interruptions and corrections for other participants' remarks. While overall results indicated that teachers dominate the classroom discourse, it was seen that classroom power was dynamic and negotiated by students and teachers.
Exploring pragmatic competence of preschool children with a specific reference to the speech act of apology in Turkish
Apologies are regarded as one of the most important speech acts since they have the function of redressing damaged relationship and restoring social harmony between the interactants following a violation of a social norm. Existing research in the relevant literature points at the existence of variations as well as universals across languages in the conceptualization and realization of this act. Thanks to these studies, conducted mostly in the field of interlanguage or cross-cultural pragmatics, adult-usage has grown into a well-defined area in various languages including Turkish. However, the same does not hold true for children's perceptions and productions of apologies with a relatively narrow range of studies in a small number of languages. Hence, the aim of this descriptive study was to explore Turkish preschool children's pragmatic competence with regard to their apology realization patterns. Firstly, children's meta-pragmatic knowledge of apologies was tested and then two different age groups (4;0-4;11 and 5;0-6;0) were compared to trace possible developmental trends with increasing age in terms of complexity of patterns, variety and types of strategies. Additionally, all the participant children were grouped according to such sociolinguistic variables as gender, parent's level of educationi, and preschool experience in order to detect the potential effect of such factors on children's apologizing behaviors. Finally, the range of children's socio-pragmatic skills was tested, which was evidenced by sensitivity to a number of contextual variables regarded by scholars (e.g. Fraser, 1981; Brown & Levinson, 1987) as influential on speakers' manner of apologizing. These parameters were severity and type of the offence and the social status relationship between the interactants. In order to fulfill these aims, eight offence scenarios were designed by manipulating the abovementioned contextual parameters and implemented in the form of Oral Discourse Completion Task (ODCT). Thus, the data obtained for the study consisted of 100 preschool children's (aged between 4;0 and 6;0) responses to these scenarios presented to them orally. The responses were then transcribed, classified into categories relying on the taxonomy chosen for the study, and analyzed statistically. Results pointed at children's meta-pragmatic knowledge of apologies traced in their provision of appropriate responses in terms of the need to use apologies when an offence was involved distinguishing among other speech acts. Regarding the developmental patterns, younger children were observed to have a marked tendency to rely on single strategies with a significantly higher usage rate. In parallel, children's productions were found to become more elaborate with increasing age. When it comes to sociolinguistic variables, no significant gender effect was observed in terms of the complexity of patterns. There were only slight differences in female and male choices of strategies and strategy-combination categories. Similarly, parents' level of education and preschool experience did not emerge as decisive factors on the complexity of patterns although the results pointed at significant differences in certain strategy preferences. However, the children were found to display socio-pragmatic skills to a certain extent as they could distinguish between minor and serious offences and adjusted their patterns accordingly. The same was the case for the effect of interlocutor's social status as they were found to utilize more complex patterns for the offences committed against friends rather than their teacher. Finally, the results indicated children's sensitivity to the type of offence as well, which was reflected in their employment of more complex patterns and diverse strategies for right violations. All in all, the findings of the study have some important implications for foreign language teaching in addition to the first language acquisition in many respects.
A mixed method study on self-regulated learning strategies based intervention to improve the self-efficacy beliefs of the 9th grade Turkish EFL students
The main purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of using self-regulated learning strategies on self-efficacy beliefs of the the 9th grade Turkish EFL students. The study also aimed at identifying if there was any improvement in self-efficacy beliefs of the participants who underwent SRLSs (Self-Regulated Learning Strategies) based intervention. This SRLSs based intervention was supported with a SRSD (Self-Regulated Strategy Development) model and two sessions of NLP (Neoro Linguistic Programming) seminars on self-concepts. Through this research, it was intended to investigate the impact of a SRLSs based intervention in English learning. Furthermore, the study also explored the reflections of the students towards each step of SRLSs in their language learning processes. The study was carried out with a convenience sampling of 49 the 9th grade Turkish high school students in Uzunpınar 70. Yıl Çok Programlı Anadolu Lisesi in Pamukkale/ Denizli. A mixed method of quasi-experimental and qualitative research design was employed in this study. Throughout the study, while the experimental group participants (N=32) underwent a ten-week SRLSs based intervention integrated with a SRSD model, the control group participants (N=17) followed their usual flow of English language instruction as specified in the MoNE (Ministry of National Education) curriculum. The quantitative data of the study were collected using the Self-Efficacy for Self-Regulated Learning Questionnaire as pre and posttest. The data were analyzed by using SPSS 22.0 statistical package software, and the results were compared by using Normality and Equal Variance Assumptions and Independent Samples t-test analysis to find out how groups differed from each other in accordance with the objectives of the study. As for the qualitative data of the study, the structured interviews were held with a subset group of the experimental group participants (N=12). Additionally, the same group of students kept weekly diaries so as to provide more in-depth information about their views on each SRLS step and their effects on language learning. Both the interviews and diaries were analyzed descriptively to investigate whether the findings of these tools support the questionnaire findings and whether they also support each other or not. The results revealed that SRLSs based intervention had substantial effects on improving and strengthening self-efficacy beliefs of the the 9th grade Turkish EFL students. Morever, it was determined that the participants who took the intervention benefitted most from the "Rehearsing & Memorizing" and "Seeking Social Assistance". Regarding their further educational and career lives, the participants expressed that such a SRLSs based intervention would be most beneficial in these issues: "Interacting with Foreigners/Tourists" and "Travelling to a Foreign Country/World Tour". In the light of the results of this study, it can be said that SRLSs should be incorporated into foreign language teaching in order to improve students' self-efficacy beliefs and self-regulation skills. Likewise; SRLS interventions should integrate a SRSD model together with NLP seminars on self-concepts, which may be helpful for students in becoming autonomous learners not only in language learning but also in any kind of subject learning throughout their educational lives. Key Words: Self-efficacy, self-regulated learning strategies, self-regulated strategy development, strategy based instruction
A multifaceted approach to challenges faced by nnests: A comparative case study of a private and a state secondary school in turkey
As English has become a global language, dichotomy of NESTs (Native English speaking Teachers) and NNESTs (Non-native English speaking Teachers) has become a controversial issue. Although previous studies focused on strengths and weaknesses of two groups, few studies have focused on challenges of being a NNEST and how NNESTs overcome those challenges. Therefore, this mixed-method comparative case study does not only investigate the causes and outcomes of the difficulties encountered by NNESTs, but it also highlights how contextual and individual factors influence the way those challenges are experienced and handled. Sample of the study consists of 10 NNESTs from two highly reputed secondary schools in Hatay; one state school and one private school. The quantitative data were gathered by use of a close-ended questionnaire administered to participants at the spring term of 2018-2019 academic year. Classroom observations and semi-structured interviews were conducted with each participant in order to obtain qualitative data which was also obtained from the open-ended questions included in the questionnaire. Quantitative findings were analyzed by use of SPSS version 22 while thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. The findings indicated that both group of NNESTs mostly experienced student-related challenges. However, teacher-related challenges and institution-related challenges were found higher in state school part. When compared with state school teachers; private school teachers were found much more effective in dealing with the challenges they face, which was associated with contextual differences between two schools as well as individual differences among the participants. The study has important suggestions as to how the NNESTs working in Turkey can be empowered based on the findings obtained. Keywords: NEST, NNEST, challenges, contextual factors
Investigating instructors' and pre-service teachers' intercultural sensitivity in foreign languages department
The aim of this study is to measure the intercultural sensitivity levels of prospective teachers and teaching staff in English, German and French teaching departments.156 prospective teachers studying English, French and German programs at the Department of Foreign Languages of the Faculty of Education at Çukurova University and a total of 26 faculty members teaching in these departments took part in this study. Intercultural sensitivity levels of teacher candidates have been examined according to gender, grade level, known foreign languages, age, and type of education, foreign countries and duration variables. The intercultural sensitivity of the lecturers will be examined according to variables such as gender, seniority, age, academic title and the department studied. This study is a descriptive study in the screening model and it can be said that it was planned according to mixed design. Intercultural sensitivity levels of pre-service teachers and teaching staff in the English, French and German departments were measured by the "Intercultural Sensitivity Scale developed by Chen and Starosta (2000) and adapted to Turkish by Üstün (2011). In addition, 26 faculty members teaching currently at Çukurova University Foreign Languages Departmenthave been asked open-ended questions with a semi-structured interview tool. Keywords: Intercultural sensitivity, intercultural communication, English German and French departments, pre-service teachers.
Challenges facing the Turkish EFL teachers working with students with a migration background: The case of Syrian refugee learners
As of 2019, there are 5,631,155 Syrians in total who fled the country; and 3,606,737 people, or 64% of all the displaced people, are currently residing in Turkey (UNHCR). Since 45.1% of the refugee population is under the age of 18, it is crucial that they have access to education; as schooling enables the refugee children to normalize their lives and gives them hope for the future (Beste, 2015). The objective of this study was to identify the challenges the teachers face in teaching classes with students with migration backgrounds so that the issues stemming from those challenges can be analyzed, and hopefully solutions can be suggested. The study, which was conducted in alignment with qualitative research methodology, reached 11 English Language Teachers working in the Gaziantep province of Turkey. The data were collected through structured interviews, classroom observations and post observation interviews. The collected data were analyzed through content analysis. It was found out that the feelings and opinions of the participating teachers in the face of paradigm shift in their classes following the arrival of the students with migration backgrounds tend to be on the negative side since the in-service training they had received was not sufficient in meeting their needs. As for the challenges they face, it was found that the teachers were confused about medium of instruction, had low awareness in material selection and use, needed assistance in employable methods and techniques, were prone to employing summative assessment techniques that do not favor students with migration backgrounds due to their low proficiency of Turkish and were struggling to deal with the high tension in their classes. In order to face the challenges, the teachers are trying to come up with strategies on their own; however, they are feeling helpless and overwhelmed. It was suggested that a comprehensive diversity training that addresses includes practical classroom applications be provided for the teachers in addition to institutional changes so that the system can be more egalitarian. Keywords: Syrian refugee learners, EFL teachers, challenges
The differential effect of explicit and implicit instruction on secondary school learners' collocational knowledge
The aim of this thesis is to investigate the effect of two types of instruction on the adjective + noun collocational knowledge of secondary school learners. The study employs a quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test, and delayed post-test research design. Initially, The Second Version of Quick Placement Test developed by Oxford University Press and University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (Syndicate, 2004) was used in order to determine the level of English of the students. Two groups were formed as experimental and comparison. The experimental group comprised 7 girls and 14 boys, totalling 21 participants. In the same way, the comparison group was composed of 10 girls and 11 boys, totalling 21 participants. Later, two groups of secondary school learners, a comparison and a experimental group were provided instruction of adjective + noun collocations. In this collocational relation, the adjectives in the specified units in the students' course book were taken as basis and their collocation with head nouns were targeted at. The first group (comparison) was given implicit instruction while the latter (experimental) was administered explicit instruction regarding the use of the said construction. More specifically, the attention of the learners in the first group was attracted to adjective + noun collocations, whereas the attention of the learners in the second group was directed to the same collocational patterns, which the study aimed to raise the learners' awareness of. The study was based on a 10-week program comprising six weeks instructional period with four hours a week + comprising one week pre-test, one week post-test, and a delayed post-test two weeks later. Prior to the instruction, the learner group were administered a pre-test. Immediately after the instructional intervention terminated, both groups were given a post-test to measure the learning gains of the lexical collocations under focus. Two weeks later, the same groups were administered a delayed post-test to measure to what extent they had retained the new knowledge that they had been exposed to. In this research study, the non-parametric alternative Friedman Test was applied in order to find out if there was a significant difference within groups and Mann-Whitney U test was utilised to find out whether there was a difference between groups regarding the intervention. Based on the results of the non-parametric alternative Friedman Test, no statistically significant difference was found in the comparison group while student gains were statistically significantly different between pre to post-test and pre- to delayed post-test in the experimental group. It can be said that the students in the experimental group benefited from the explicit collocational instruction. This is also confirmed by the finding obtained from the comparison between the post and the delayed post-test. The fact that there was no statistically significant difference between post and delayed post test indicates that students mostly retained the newly gained knowledge. However, according to the comparison of the obtained findings from Mann- Whitney U Test, it was found that there was no statistically significant difference in collocational knowledge score between the comparison and the experimental group. The study was concluded with implications as to the enhancement of the secondary school learners' vocabulary knowledge, and suggestions to improve the vocabulary instruction at secondary schools, and further research for the generalizability of the findings presented in the study. Key words: Explicit instruction, Implicit instruction, Collocations, Vocabulary retention
English for specific purposes (ESP) program evaluation of an engineering faculty at a private university in Turkey
This thesis aims to evaluate the English for Specific Purposes (ESP) program at the engineering faculty at Toros University in Turkey. The research was based on Hutchinson and Waters' (1987) framework for ESP, and multiple sources of data collection were used. The participants of this study were 66 engineering faculty students and six ESP instructors. The study demonstrated that the main objective of the ESP program is to develop personal strategies for reviewing new related vocabulary, to use vocabulary in a variety of academic speaking, listening, writing and reading activities. The students' needs were grouped in three categories which are occupational, social and educational. The main need of the engineering students is expansion of vocabulary because they are unfamiliar with the terminology of their future professions. The majority of the students believed they were competent in grammar but needed to develop their vocabulary. Most of the students wanted to use a textbook prepared specifically for their major study area. This thesis contributes to the knowledge of the ESP branches employed at the engineering faculty of Toros University. It also contributes to language instructors who are preparing to practice teaching in this area and to researchers who are willing to conduct research about this field. Keywords: English for specific purposes, ESP, ELT, Needs analysis
Perceptions of 8th graders and EFL teachers concerning L2 vocabulary learning strategies
Although vocabulary is an indispensable part of foreign language learning and it is acknowledged that it is of paramount importance in language learning and teaching, it is still learnt and taught by some traditional vocabulary learning strategies. As the learning process requires not only learners' but also teachers' efforts , the current study gathered both of their perceptions about vocabulary learning strategies under a single roof. Hence, it aimed to investigate and compare the perceptions of teachers and learners regarding the importance and application of vocabulary learning strategies. In this study, mixed methods sequential explanatory design was applied . The research group consisted of 398 8th grade EFL students and 26 EFL teachers from 15 different secondary schools in Hatay. In order to collect quantitative data, student and teacher version of VLS questionnaires which were based on Schmitt's taxonomy of VLS were conducted at first. Then, semi-structured interviews with 9 volunteer teachers and focus group interviews with 45 volunteer student participants were carried out in order to obtain qualitative data. The quantitative data were analysed via Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) edition 22. In order to anlayse and interpret the qualitative data, thematic analysis was utilized. The findings of this study revealed that EFL learners and teachers attribute a great level of importance to vocabulary learning and teaching. As for application of those strategies, it was found out that the strategies that are given most importance were applied on a larger scale by learners. However, teachers seems to have difficulty in implemeting the strategies that they consider more important. Some factors such as intensity of the curriculum, the course book that insufficient in meeting the needs, exam-oriented instruction to 8th graders, limited weekly course hours, lack of equipments and indifferent learners to learning were determined to restrain teachers to instruct different kinds of VLS. Furthermore, the strategies instructed by teachers were found to be utilized widely by their students. Keywords: Vocabulary learning, vocabulary learning and teaching strategies, strategy instruction, learner and teacher perceptions
Investigating social-emotional language learning competences of English language and literature students with regard to demographic factors
The world is becoming increasingly interconnected with trade, culture, technology, tourism and people. This globalization necessitates a common language to communicate effectively. Language studies carry utmost importance in this context. Language learners need to use this common language successfully and effectively. What makes a student successful? Teachers used to evaluate the success by tests and performance. Yet, in the century we live, it is realized that getting A+ from a language test does not show success. The students need to be self-aware and socially aware, get the ability of self-management, make responsible decisions and manage healthy relationships in terms of the target language and the society. The items written are the social-emotional foreign language learning competences for students. The present study indents to investigate the social-emotional foreign language learning competences of English language learners who are enrolled in English Language and Literature Department. This study also aims to reveal if there are statistically meaningful differences in SEFLL competences of the participants in terms of demographic factors. Gender, GPAs, the year of the study and the students' being monolingual or bilingual L2 learners are the demographic factors in this research. To measure SEFLL competences, "Social Emotional Foreign Language Learning Scale", which is developed by Zaimoğlu (2018), was utilized. The study was implemented in Mustafa Kemal University with 173 undergraduate students. The results revealed that gender and GPAs affected some of the SEFLL competences. The participants' being monolingual or bilingual L2 learners and their year of the study did not form a statistically meaningful difference in SEFLL competences.
Comparison of conventional and online corrective feedback in EFL writing
The rapid dissemination of computer and Internet use has brought about noticable changes in many fields and even in life itself. Language education is a place where we can apply the upsides of this change. Internet usage, which is not limited to computers, is seen in every area of life with many devices such as smartphones and tablets. In fact, the use of new forms and jargon in speech and writing language is instrumental in our lives. This study aims to examine the effects of technology and Internet usage on writing ability that affects our daily life. In this study, participants, all tertiary level students, performed writing tasks on two different platforms: conventional and computer-based. Similarly, the instructor provided conventional and computer-based feedback to participants regarding idiosyncrasies in the writing tasks. Following the feedback, errors produced in texts rendered via the two platforms were compared in terms of nature and frequency. This process was repeated three times: at the beginning, mid and end of the spring term of the 2016 academic year. The participants who created the texts in a computer environment were asked to submit their texts electronically and thus received feedback through the same method; and when they submitted their tasks conventionally, the feedback reached them in the same manner. Before the initiation of the process, the participants were introduced to error correction symbols employed by the instructor to facilitate understanding of modified language material. The results which were obtained after this process was repeated three times in both platforms (conventional and online) were compared in terms of the number of errors on both platforms, the types of errors and the correction of errors according to thefeedback given. Students' opinions and evaluations about the process were examined. The findings of the study showed that online feedback was more effective in terms of error correction rate than conventional feedback regarding nature and frequency of errors. Besides, the informal interviews conducted with participants illustrated that participants held positive views towards online writing and online corrective feedback. Keywords: feedback, conventional corrective feedback, online corrective feedback, English as foreign language, English writing.