Cataloged from PDF version of article.Recent studies show that lectures are moving away from trad... more Cataloged from PDF version of article.Recent studies show that lectures are moving away from traditional style towards more conversational style, where negotiation of meaning and spoken interaction becomes increasingly important. These changes in lecture style require learners to use language more effectively in academic settings. Furthermore, students need to engage in interactions with the content course teachers through questions, comments, explanations or answers. This shift leads content course teachers to expect students to participate in their classes through questions, comments, viewpoints, and difficulties of students in displaying these skills. Language programs should identify expectations of content course teachers about academic aural-oral skills and students’ difficulties in displaying these skills to equip students with the skills that are expected from them in departments. Therefore, this study investigates the perceptions of content course teachers in terms of acade...
Induction for newly recruited teachers is considered an important phase of professional developme... more Induction for newly recruited teachers is considered an important phase of professional development of inservice teachers. Carefully planned and implemented induction can act as a bridge between pre-service and inservice teacher education and foster the effective identity formation of newly recruited teachers. This descriptive study explores the effectiveness of an induction program designed for newly recruited teachers. The data for the study comes from semi-structured interviews with the participants, exploring different components of induction and how useful these components were perceived by the participants. The participants were generally content with all components of the induction and expressed positive views regarding the induction. In further implementation of the induction program, mentoring and teaching observations will be included.
Teachers play an essential role in shaping the future generations of a society. Therefore, prepar... more Teachers play an essential role in shaping the future generations of a society. Therefore, preparing teachers for this noble profession is of utmost importance. Helping teachers with their initial years in which they meet with the challenges of teaching in a real life situation and encouraging their ongoing development are as important as their pre-service training. While each of these training steps are designed with the necessities of the related contexts, there is a longstanding debate on the best possible intersections of these different phases of teacher training programs. This study, therefore, examines whether an internationally recognized teacher certification course (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages-CELTA), which is designed primarily for pre-service teacher training can be useful as a bridge between pre-service and in-service teacher education. In this qualitative study, the aim is to compare the perceptions of 44 CELTA-holder English language...
It has long been assumed that language and culture are strongly linked to each other and an impor... more It has long been assumed that language and culture are strongly linked to each other and an important aspect of learning a foreign language is learning its culture. However, teachers in different classrooms in different parts of the world still ignore the importance of teaching culture as a part of language study. Regarding the need to investigate culture and culture teaching in different context of foreign language teaching, this study proposes an original attempt in a Turkish EFL context by comparing 60 teachers of different educational backgrounds rather than cultural backgrounds in terms of what they think about various aspects of culture and integrating it into their classes. Whether significant differences exist between teachers from different educational backgrounds is also an issue of investigation. The results gathered through a comprehensive questionnaire and interviews have yielded that although there are some differences between teachers of different backgrounds about wh...
Teacher quality has gained importance over the years. To ensure the quality of teaching and teach... more Teacher quality has gained importance over the years. To ensure the quality of teaching and teachers, the pre-service teacher training programs are of great importance to gain the necessary competencies. In many countries, including Turkey, the ‘notion of a graduate who is ready-to-teach is the norm’. Thus, to gain necessary teacher competencies throughout the training programs becomes of great importance. In this study, rather than looking at competency gains of only senior students -which appears to be the case with most recent research into pre-service teachers’ teacher competencies in Turkey- ELT pre-service teachers’ teacher competencies are examined cross-sectionally with 132 pre-service teachers in different years of study at a ELT department of a state university in Turkey within the framework of the updated teacher competences (MoNE, 2017) presented by the Ministry of Education. A survey method research design is utilized in this study. The data for the study is gathered th...
Teachers play an essential role in shaping the future generations of a society. Therefore, prepar... more Teachers play an essential role in shaping the future generations of a society. Therefore, preparing teachers for this noble profession is of utmost importance. Helping teachers with their initial years in which they meet with the challenges of teaching in a real life situation and encouraging their ongoing development are as important as their pre-service training. While each of these training steps are designed with the necessities of the related contexts, there is a longstanding debate on the best possible intersections of these different phases of teacher training programs. This study, therefore, examines whether an internationally recognized teacher certification course (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages-CELTA), which is designed primarily for pre-service teacher training can be useful as a bridge between pre-service and in-service teacher education. In this qualitative study, the aim is to compare the perceptions of 44 CELTA -holder English langua...
Listening is a multi-faceted process which involves three interrelated processes. The processes i... more Listening is a multi-faceted process which involves three interrelated processes. The processes involved in listening to incoming auditory message are perceptual processing, parsing and comprehension. All these processes have an important role in listening and especially parsing of the incoming message requires both syntactic and lexical knowledge, as well as effective use of listening strategies. In this paper, the aim is to investigate the role of syntactic knowledge, vocabulary knowledge and listening strategy use on listening comprehension. The study was conducted with 73 EFL students at three different proficiency levels assessed by a Michigan Placement Test. In the study, the effects of syntactic knowledge, vocabulary breadth and reported listening strategy use on listening comprehension were investigated using multiple regression analysis. The results showed that vocabulary knowledge is the strongest predictor of listening comprehension. As participants’ vocabulary knowledge ...
This paper explains the process of designing a curriculum based on the Taba Model and the Global ... more This paper explains the process of designing a curriculum based on the Taba Model and the Global Scale of English (GSE) in an intensive language education program. The Taba Model emphasizing the involvement of the teachers and the learners in the curriculum development process was combined with the GSE, a psychometric tool measuring language proficiency in a granular structure to develop a context specific curriculum. The decisions made, the steps taken and the impact of the new curriculum were explained with their rationales in the paper. While the developed curriculum is a context specific one, how the Taba model and the scale were adopted depending on the needs of the context in a bottom up approach can be used as a model for similar language teaching contexts. There might be lessons to take from the experience explained in this paper and similar strategies might be followed in the curriculum development process.
Teachers play an essential role in shaping the future generations of a society. Therefore, prepar... more Teachers play an essential role in shaping the future generations of a society. Therefore, preparing teachers for this noble profession is of utmost importance. Helping teachers with their initial years in which they meet with the challenges of teaching in a real life situation and encouraging their ongoing development are as important as their pre-service training. While each of these training steps are designed with the necessities of the related contexts, there is a longstanding debate on the best possible intersections of these different phases of teacher training programs. This study, therefore, examines whether an internationally recognized teacher certification course (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages-CELTA), which is designed primarily for pre-service teacher training can be useful as a bridge between pre-service and in-service teacher education. In this qualitative study, the aim is to compare the perceptions of 44 CELTA -holder English langua...
Cataloged from PDF version of article.Recent studies show that lectures are moving away from trad... more Cataloged from PDF version of article.Recent studies show that lectures are moving away from traditional style towards more conversational style, where negotiation of meaning and spoken interaction becomes increasingly important. These changes in lecture style require learners to use language more effectively in academic settings. Furthermore, students need to engage in interactions with the content course teachers through questions, comments, explanations or answers. This shift leads content course teachers to expect students to participate in their classes through questions, comments, viewpoints, and difficulties of students in displaying these skills. Language programs should identify expectations of content course teachers about academic aural-oral skills and students’ difficulties in displaying these skills to equip students with the skills that are expected from them in departments. Therefore, this study investigates the perceptions of content course teachers in terms of acade...
Induction for newly recruited teachers is considered an important phase of professional developme... more Induction for newly recruited teachers is considered an important phase of professional development of inservice teachers. Carefully planned and implemented induction can act as a bridge between pre-service and inservice teacher education and foster the effective identity formation of newly recruited teachers. This descriptive study explores the effectiveness of an induction program designed for newly recruited teachers. The data for the study comes from semi-structured interviews with the participants, exploring different components of induction and how useful these components were perceived by the participants. The participants were generally content with all components of the induction and expressed positive views regarding the induction. In further implementation of the induction program, mentoring and teaching observations will be included.
Teachers play an essential role in shaping the future generations of a society. Therefore, prepar... more Teachers play an essential role in shaping the future generations of a society. Therefore, preparing teachers for this noble profession is of utmost importance. Helping teachers with their initial years in which they meet with the challenges of teaching in a real life situation and encouraging their ongoing development are as important as their pre-service training. While each of these training steps are designed with the necessities of the related contexts, there is a longstanding debate on the best possible intersections of these different phases of teacher training programs. This study, therefore, examines whether an internationally recognized teacher certification course (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages-CELTA), which is designed primarily for pre-service teacher training can be useful as a bridge between pre-service and in-service teacher education. In this qualitative study, the aim is to compare the perceptions of 44 CELTA-holder English language...
It has long been assumed that language and culture are strongly linked to each other and an impor... more It has long been assumed that language and culture are strongly linked to each other and an important aspect of learning a foreign language is learning its culture. However, teachers in different classrooms in different parts of the world still ignore the importance of teaching culture as a part of language study. Regarding the need to investigate culture and culture teaching in different context of foreign language teaching, this study proposes an original attempt in a Turkish EFL context by comparing 60 teachers of different educational backgrounds rather than cultural backgrounds in terms of what they think about various aspects of culture and integrating it into their classes. Whether significant differences exist between teachers from different educational backgrounds is also an issue of investigation. The results gathered through a comprehensive questionnaire and interviews have yielded that although there are some differences between teachers of different backgrounds about wh...
Teacher quality has gained importance over the years. To ensure the quality of teaching and teach... more Teacher quality has gained importance over the years. To ensure the quality of teaching and teachers, the pre-service teacher training programs are of great importance to gain the necessary competencies. In many countries, including Turkey, the ‘notion of a graduate who is ready-to-teach is the norm’. Thus, to gain necessary teacher competencies throughout the training programs becomes of great importance. In this study, rather than looking at competency gains of only senior students -which appears to be the case with most recent research into pre-service teachers’ teacher competencies in Turkey- ELT pre-service teachers’ teacher competencies are examined cross-sectionally with 132 pre-service teachers in different years of study at a ELT department of a state university in Turkey within the framework of the updated teacher competences (MoNE, 2017) presented by the Ministry of Education. A survey method research design is utilized in this study. The data for the study is gathered th...
Teachers play an essential role in shaping the future generations of a society. Therefore, prepar... more Teachers play an essential role in shaping the future generations of a society. Therefore, preparing teachers for this noble profession is of utmost importance. Helping teachers with their initial years in which they meet with the challenges of teaching in a real life situation and encouraging their ongoing development are as important as their pre-service training. While each of these training steps are designed with the necessities of the related contexts, there is a longstanding debate on the best possible intersections of these different phases of teacher training programs. This study, therefore, examines whether an internationally recognized teacher certification course (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages-CELTA), which is designed primarily for pre-service teacher training can be useful as a bridge between pre-service and in-service teacher education. In this qualitative study, the aim is to compare the perceptions of 44 CELTA -holder English langua...
Listening is a multi-faceted process which involves three interrelated processes. The processes i... more Listening is a multi-faceted process which involves three interrelated processes. The processes involved in listening to incoming auditory message are perceptual processing, parsing and comprehension. All these processes have an important role in listening and especially parsing of the incoming message requires both syntactic and lexical knowledge, as well as effective use of listening strategies. In this paper, the aim is to investigate the role of syntactic knowledge, vocabulary knowledge and listening strategy use on listening comprehension. The study was conducted with 73 EFL students at three different proficiency levels assessed by a Michigan Placement Test. In the study, the effects of syntactic knowledge, vocabulary breadth and reported listening strategy use on listening comprehension were investigated using multiple regression analysis. The results showed that vocabulary knowledge is the strongest predictor of listening comprehension. As participants’ vocabulary knowledge ...
This paper explains the process of designing a curriculum based on the Taba Model and the Global ... more This paper explains the process of designing a curriculum based on the Taba Model and the Global Scale of English (GSE) in an intensive language education program. The Taba Model emphasizing the involvement of the teachers and the learners in the curriculum development process was combined with the GSE, a psychometric tool measuring language proficiency in a granular structure to develop a context specific curriculum. The decisions made, the steps taken and the impact of the new curriculum were explained with their rationales in the paper. While the developed curriculum is a context specific one, how the Taba model and the scale were adopted depending on the needs of the context in a bottom up approach can be used as a model for similar language teaching contexts. There might be lessons to take from the experience explained in this paper and similar strategies might be followed in the curriculum development process.
Teachers play an essential role in shaping the future generations of a society. Therefore, prepar... more Teachers play an essential role in shaping the future generations of a society. Therefore, preparing teachers for this noble profession is of utmost importance. Helping teachers with their initial years in which they meet with the challenges of teaching in a real life situation and encouraging their ongoing development are as important as their pre-service training. While each of these training steps are designed with the necessities of the related contexts, there is a longstanding debate on the best possible intersections of these different phases of teacher training programs. This study, therefore, examines whether an internationally recognized teacher certification course (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages-CELTA), which is designed primarily for pre-service teacher training can be useful as a bridge between pre-service and in-service teacher education. In this qualitative study, the aim is to compare the perceptions of 44 CELTA -holder English langua...
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