Papers by Nurdan Ozbek Gurbuz
Teachers play a crucial role in teaching practices of English, what they think about the language... more Teachers play a crucial role in teaching practices of English, what they think about the language is important for teaching the language effectively. Therefore, this study aims to investigate what prospective EFL teachers in Turkey think about the current role of English in the world
We have gone through significant changes in every area of our lives in the last decades due to th... more We have gone through significant changes in every area of our lives in the last decades due to the social, economic and technological advances in the world. This reality is transforming the way we work, the way we live and the way we learn. As the educational and learning needs change at all levels in this transformation process, the educational expectations are increasing and changing, making it necessary for the individuals to gain the 21st century skills. In this connection, this paper will discuss the digital transformation of education and foreign language education by focusing on the following questions:What will be different in the age of industry 4.0 in terms of language learning and teaching practices?How will the roles and responsibilities of learners and teachers change? What could be the benefits and challenges of digital transformation for our field
PLOS ONE
An emotionally charged situation for a teacher of English necessitates hiding certain emotions (e... more An emotionally charged situation for a teacher of English necessitates hiding certain emotions (emotional labor) though using the experience of the event can enable her to benefit from similar encounters in the future (emotional capital). This study is an attempt to find factors that have contributed to the emergence of emotional labor and then investigate whether teachers can gain capital out of such situations. Using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), the study analyzed the diaries and interview data of three teachers of English who had their reflections about daily class incidents. The main themes emerging from the data revealed the existence of emotional labor which, in some cases, the teachers managed to build upon to gain emotional capital. The study suggests diary keeping, teacher bonding communities, and training in order to have emotionally conscious teachers.
Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2021
Culture, a commonly visited concept in English language teaching research, has been integral to l... more Culture, a commonly visited concept in English language teaching research, has been integral to language classes. The present study investigated the place of culture in English as a foreign language classes for ten English language instructors teaching at tertiary level across state and private universities in Turkey. The findings revealed that the English language instructors’ opportunities to raise their students’ cultural awareness were not satisfactory, and there was a mismatch between their wishes and practices. This mismatch was mainly attributed to learners’ lack of motivation/interest and their opportunities for visits abroad. The findings also indicated that the participants’ conceptualization of culture in English language classes was predominantly modern, i.e. either as part of the humanistic (big C) paradigm representing canonical literary work produced via a standard language or sociolinguistic (little c) paradigm representing everyday interaction, communication, and pa...
English Studies at NBU
This study aimed to explore the views of pre-service teachers (freshman students) at English Lang... more This study aimed to explore the views of pre-service teachers (freshman students) at English Language Teaching program at a state university in Turkey towards the use of L1 (mother tongue) in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms while also investigating their actual use of L1 during an extracurricular teaching event. It also aims to find out if there is a relationship between participants’ educational background in language learning, their views towards use of L1 and their actual use of L1. This study employed a qualitative approach by collecting data through semi-structured interviews and these interviews were supported with field notes taken by the researcher. The findings showed that ELT students mostly favored the use of L2 (target language) in the classroom and stated that it must be used as much as possible; however, some participants also stated that L1 could be used depending on the proficiency of students. The analysis of the interviews showed that there was no re...
ELT Research Journal, 2016
Based on a multiple qualitative case study design, this study investigated the impact of early la... more Based on a multiple qualitative case study design, this study investigated the impact of early language learning experiences on language teaching beliefs of Turkish in-service EFL teachers and aimed to find out how these experiences influenced their current practices. The participants included three Turkish EFL teachers working in English preparatory programs of different state universities. They were determined through purposive sampling so that they could provide rich and in-depth data for the study. The data were collected in the spring semester of 2014-2015 academic year through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, stimulated recalls and reflection reports. As for the data analysis, qualitative content analysis scheme of Creswell (2012) and the constant comparison method of Strauss and Corbin (1998) were used. The results revealed that the influence of prior language learning experiences was quite noticeable on the participant teachers’ language teaching beliefs a...
Cogent Education, 2017
This study examined the main sources of the participant English as a foreign language (EFL) teach... more This study examined the main sources of the participant English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers' cognitions, their classroom practices and the impact of institutional context on these practices. The participants included three Turkish EFL instructors working at English preparatory programs at university level. The data were collected through three semi-structured interviews, twelve hours of classroom observations with follow-up stimulated recall interviews, and reflective journal entries. To analyse the data, grounded theory design was used as a systematic data analysis process. The findings showed that prior language learning experiences, the pre-service education, the years spent as a novice teacher, institutional atmosphere, experienced colleagues in the past and all teaching experiences were the main sources of their cognition on language teaching and their cognitions were also the origin of their classroom practices. The learner profile, institutional factors including the organizational atmosphere, testing and curriculum policies, and the participants' improvisational teaching acts were the other factors shaping their practices. Finally, the study puts forward a language teacher cognition model, Clusters of Language Teacher Cognition, a figurative conceptualization which would guide researchers for further studies and policy-makers for designing the learning-to-teach processes of teachers.
Language Teaching Research
Directed motivational currents (DMCs) are portrayed as highly intense and prolonged periods of mo... more Directed motivational currents (DMCs) are portrayed as highly intense and prolonged periods of motivation oriented to a much-desired goal of personal significance. While we have seen a recent growth in studies examining aspects of DMCs, evidence on the negative side-effects of DMCs remains inadequate to date. In response to repeated calls for research into this area, we conducted a qualitative study to scrutinize the negative side-effects of DMCs as experienced by 5 trainee teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Turkey. The database comprised in-depth, semi-structured interviews carried out twice per participant. Interview transcripts were analysed in line with the principles of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The findings suggest that the negative side-effects of DMCs manifest themselves as showing signs of a sense of inadequacy, mental distress, and feelings of sorrow. These side-effects caused temporal setbacks in sustaining goal-directed behaviors, an...
Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 2014
This study investigated the level, major causes, determining factors of foreign language speaking... more This study investigated the level, major causes, determining factors of foreign language speaking anxiety and students’ perceptions of it in a Turkish EFL context. Pre-intermediate students (N=383) of an English preparatory program at a state university participated in the study. The data regarding the level of EFL speaking anxiety were collected through a questionnaire, and then, randomly selected participants (N=19) were interviewed to get in-depth data on speaking anxiety. The quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, and the qualitative data were analyzed via content analysis. Although the results of the quantitative data revealed that students experienced a low level of EFL speaking anxiety, the quantitative data demonstrated that most of the students perceive speaking skill as an anxiety provoking factor. It was also found that pronunciation, immediate questions, fears of making mistakes and negative evaluation are the major causes of EFL speaking anxiety...
Uploads
Papers by Nurdan Ozbek Gurbuz