Papers by Funda ÖLMEZ ÇAĞLAR
International Online Journal of Education and Teaching, 2020
Her research interests include psychology of language learning and teaching, language learner and... more Her research interests include psychology of language learning and teaching, language learner and teacher motivation and language teacher education.
Career motivations as sources of teacher identity in foreign language education, 2022
A wide range of factors impact the choice of teaching as a career and result in entry to the teac... more A wide range of factors impact the choice of teaching as a career and result in entry to the teaching profession. The notion that these career motivations may also be possible antecedents of teacher identity was the rationale behind this study. The present study aimed to determine pre-service English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ motivation for choosing teaching as a career and teacher identities, and to gauge to what extent career motivations predict their teacher identities. The study, therefore, adopted a correlational design, and more specifically, the multiple regression technique. Participants included 271 undergraduate students majoring in an EFL teacher education program of a state university in Turkey. The data collected through a set of scales were analysed statistically. Results obtained using the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT-Choice) model showed that the three major self-reported career motives were altruistic-type social utility values called shaping future of children/adolescents and making social contribution as well as job transferability, a component of personal utility values. Teacher identity levels appeared to display a steady increase in each of the four grade levels from freshman to senior year. Multiple regression results indicated that career motivations accounted for a substantial proportion of the variance in teacher identity. Among career motivations, ability, intrinsic career value and working with children/adolescents appeared to be the three strongest positive predictors of teacher identity, respectively. Following these, time for family and fallback career negatively predicted teacher identity. Based on the findings, educational implications were drawn and directions for future research were discussed.
Language and culture are two interwoven concepts; therefore, intercultural instruction needs to b... more Language and culture are two interwoven concepts; therefore, intercultural instruction needs to be an indispensable component of foreign language teaching. With this in mind, the current study aimed to investigate tertiary level Turkish English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers' attitudes towards intercultural foreign language teaching. Accordingly, data were collected from a total of 100 Turkish EFL teachers employed at thirty different universities in Turkey by means of a questionnaire on intercultural foreign language teaching. Following the data collection, the data were analyzed statistically. Findings showed that the participant EFL teachers exerted a positive attitude in relation to intercultural foreign language teaching. The study also sought for any potential differences among teachers' degrees of willingness about intercultural instruction according to their teaching experience and first-hand experience with foreign cultures. No significant difference was found among the degrees of willingness based on these variables. The attitudinal positivity about intercultural foreign language teaching appeared to be a promising result for the Turkish EFL context. With their positive perceptions on intercultural language instruction, EFL teachers might include various intercultural elements in their lessons. Thus, further research is deemed necessary to see whether these positive attitudes reflect well on the instructional practices of Turkish EFL teachers.
Key Words: Intercultural language instruction, intercultural communicative competence, teacher attitudes, teacher education.
This study aimed to unearth and compare students' and teachers' perspectives in relation to the p... more This study aimed to unearth and compare students' and teachers' perspectives in relation to the perceived importance, use and instruction of vocabulary learning strategies (VLS). A total of 548 ninth grade students studying at ten different Anatolian high schools in Antalya, Turkey and 56 English language teachers working at these schools participated in the study. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire based on Schmitt's (1997) taxonomy of VLS. Following a validation process and conducting confirmatory factor analysis, further statistical analysis was carried out. The results indicated that the students and teachers who ascribed a higher level of importance to VLS used and taught them to a significantly larger extent. The study found no statistically significant difference between the levels of importance attached to the use and instruction of VLS by the students and teachers. However, teachers' frequency of strategy instruction appeared to be significantly higher than students' frequency of strategy use except for cognitive strategies. Therefore, it was concluded that while teachers reported actively teaching a wide variety of VLS, students implemented the strategies to a more limited extent. Based on the results, it was recommended to explore the reasons for this discrepancy between the students and teachers.
Article, 2020
The current study set out to build on the limited research on possible language teacher selves. T... more The current study set out to build on the limited research on possible language teacher selves. The study aimed to develop a possible language teacher selves scale (PLTSS) for English as a foreign language (EFL) student teachers. The tripartite scale intending to measure the constructs of ideal, ought-to and feared language teacher selves was developed in two major stages. Data were collected from two distinct samples of senior Turkish EFL student teachers studying at twelve different universities in Turkey. In a preliminary study, tentative scale items were constructed based on a review of literature and qualitative data collected from a small sample and finalized through expert review and pre-piloting. The initial form of the scale was then administered to 296 senior student teachers of English. Following an exploratory factor analysis, the final form of the scale was constructed. The final form was administered to a different sample involving 274 student teachers. By this way, the scale was further validated through confirmatory factor analysis. The three scales under the PLTSS were checked for internal consistency reliability with both datasets. Findings revealed the sound psychometric properties of the PLTSS in terms of construct validity and internal consistency reliability.
The purpose of the current study was twofold. The study primarily aimed to develop a possible lan... more The purpose of the current study was twofold. The study primarily aimed to develop a possible language teacher selves scale (PLTSS) and a motivation for teaching English scale (MTES) for senior English as a foreign language (EFL) student teachers. It also aimed to explore the relationships among their possible language teacher selves, motivations for teaching English and self-efficacy beliefs. To do this, a multiphase mixed methods study was designed and conducted in a total of four phases with distinct samples of senior Turkish EFL student teachers studying at twelve different universities in Turkey. Data were collected through a composite survey form with scales on each matter of issue, written forms and interviews. While the quantitative data were analyzed statistically, qualitative data were subjected to content analysis. Findings revealed sound psychometric properties of the PLTSS and the MTES. Student teachers of English were found to have highly developed and clearly-structured ideal, ought-to and feared language teacher selves as well as high levels of autonomous motivation and self-efficacy, and a moderate level of controlled motivation for teaching English. A path analysis of these constructs highlighted that ideal and ought-to language teacher selves were strongly and positively associated with one another. Stronger ought-to selves predicted greater controlled motivation for teaching English, which predicted greater autonomous motivation in turn. In a similar vein, stronger ideal selves predicted greater autonomous motivation for teaching English, and increased autonomous motivation predicted higher levels of self-efficacy. Therefore, the results underscored the overarching impact of student teachers’ possible selves.
In English language teacher education (hereafter ELT) programs of Turkish universities, teaching ... more In English language teacher education (hereafter ELT) programs of Turkish universities, teaching practicum has a critical value due to its pivotal role in equipping student teachers with the necessary competences and preparing them for the teaching profession. Practicum experience turns out to be of greater importance for the graduates of other English language departments (hereafter non-ELT) such as English Linguistics, English Language and Literature or American Culture and Literature who attend pedagogical formation certificate programs offered by faculties of education. These student teachers do not have as much opportunity to observe teachers and practice teaching as ELT department graduates. Therefore, reflections on the teaching practicum experiences of these student teachers might provide insights into the nature of the aforementioned intensive teacher education programs, and the special needs of non-ELT department graduates who decide to become teachers of English and attend these programs. The present study aims to examine non-ELT student teachers' practicum experiences and put forward some practical suggestions in order to improve their teaching skills. Data were collected from ten randomly selected non-ELT student teachers enrolled in a pedagogical formation certificate program at a state university in Turkey using three major sources: observations of video recordings of student teachers' teaching practices by means of an observation form, the university supervisor's reflections on these teaching practices and the teacher candidates' self-reflections. Initially, the teaching performances were analyzed statistically, and the qualitative data gathered from the remaining two sources were separately subjected to thematic analysis. The results were then integrated. The study revealed that non-ELT student teachers need more practicum opportunities in the classes of truly expert and experienced teachers and supervisors to develop their English language teaching abilities.
Professional identity constitutes a central concept for the teaching profession. Due to their eno... more Professional identity constitutes a central concept for the teaching profession. Due to their enormous impact on the learners as well as on the whole process of learning and teaching, professional identities of teachers are worth being researched especially in the field of foreign language education where teachers' identities are also influenced by the linguistic and cultural aspects of a foreign language. Departing from the constituents of teachers' professional identity, this study aimed to investigate the professional identities of Turkish EFL instructors. The study was conducted at a major state university in Turkey in the fall term of 2015-2016 academic year. Data were collected from a total of 32 Turkish EFL instructors (28 female; 4 male). A questionnaire developed by the researcher based on the theoretical framework and expert opinion was administered to the instructors. The gathered data were subjected to statistical analyses. The results revealed that the participant instructors have highly developed professional identities. Among the dimensions of professional identity, pedagogical expertise was reported to be the most developed, followed by didactic expertise, subject matter expertise and continuation of professional development respectively. The study found no significant difference between the levels of development of professional identities based on the instructors' undergraduate area of study, latest graduation degree and teaching experience. As the present study showed that the instructors have well-developed professional identities by means of self-report data, further studies may investigate to what extent these perceptions reflect their actual professional identities and the way these identities affect the teaching practices.
This study aimed to investigate the relationship between learners' motivation towards reading in ... more This study aimed to investigate the relationship between learners' motivation towards reading in a foreign language and their reading achievement on a chosen reading task. For this purpose, 114 freshman students enrolled in English Language Teaching department of a major state university in Turkey took part in the study. Data were collected through a scale on foreign language reading attitudes and motivation, and a reading comprehension test. The data gathered through these two instruments were subjected to statistical analyses. Based on these analyses, the question as to the types of reading motivation dominantly favoured by the learners, as well as whether there was a significant relationship between students' motivation and attitudes towards reading in English and their reading achievement were answered. The statistical analysis indicated that the learners were primarily motivated to read in English due to the linguistic utility of texts, followed by extrinsic utility value of reading, intrinsic value of reading and their own reading efficacy respectively. The study did not identify a significant correlation between students' reading motivation scores and reading achievement scores. Since situated reading motivation appeared to be a more probable indicator of reading achievement, a call for further research was made to explore reading achievement in relation to situational interest.
Book Reviews by Funda ÖLMEZ ÇAĞLAR
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Papers by Funda ÖLMEZ ÇAĞLAR
Key Words: Intercultural language instruction, intercultural communicative competence, teacher attitudes, teacher education.
Book Reviews by Funda ÖLMEZ ÇAĞLAR
Key Words: Intercultural language instruction, intercultural communicative competence, teacher attitudes, teacher education.