EFL TEACHERS’ DEMANDS AND PREFERENCES ON IN-SERVICE TRAINING IN TURKEY

One of the significant means of ensuring quality instruction in language classrooms is establishing an effective program of continuing professional development for language teachers. When conducted efficiently as a part of CPD, in-service training (INSET) proves to be a key component in improving teachers’ instructional skills as well as keeping their methodological knowledge up-to-date. Nonetheless, both state-led and private-held INSET efforts in Turkey receive considerable criticism regarding their inefficiency and insufficiency. One of the reasons for any ineffectiveness might be INSET program developers’ negligence in taking into consideration teachers’ actual needs. Thus, more empirical research that explores language teachers’ demands and preferences on in-service training should be carried out in various contexts. Consequently, this study aims to investigate English teachers’ demands and preferences on an INSET program. Descriptive in nature and following a quantitative research design, the present study collected data from 985 state and private school teachers via a scale developed by the researchers. Having ensured construct validity via factor analysis, the scale consisted of three sub-factorial groups: demands on INSET, preferences regarding the content and the trainers, and personal preferences. The findings displayed some statistically significant differences between state and private schools, novice and experienced teachers, and between teachers who had previous INSET experience and those who do not at different sub-factorial groups. The study has implications for policymakers, who are in the process of designing an INSET model for Foreign Language Teachers, as well as teacher trainers who carry out INSET

TURKISH PRE-SERVICE EFL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF CREATIVITY

Creativity is considered one of the key 21st century skills and has received an increasing amount of attention in the field of education. How teachers perceive creativity has a significant impact on their pedagogical practices to stimulate student creativity in the classroom. The present exploratory study, based on a qualitative approach, aimed to investigate pre-service English teachers’ perceptions of creativity. Analysis of data coming from a semi-structured focus-group interview with eight pre-service teachers revealed their perception of creativity as being different and unique, having extraordinary ideas and being able to produce original outcomes. The participants posited that creativity was innate to some extent and environmental factors such as family environment, cultural background and school education contributed to its development later in life. They suggested using open-ended, communicative, and collaborative tasks in English classrooms to foster student creativity. As prospective teachers, they perceived themselves creative to some extent, but felt unprepared to teach creativity. Finally, they all agreed on the facilitative role of teacher education in helping PTs teach creatively and develop an understanding of teaching creativity. 

Percepciones de profesores de inglés como segunda lengua (EFL) de escuelas privadas sobre la evaluación: un estudio de caso en Turquía

Teachers’ selection and use of appropriate assessment methods requires not only their contemplation on lesson objectives, but also their knowledge, awareness and understanding of assessment processes. The present study aims to investigate Turkish private school language teachers’ perceptions, use and understanding of assessment as an integral part of their teaching practices. Using a sequential mixed method approach, researchers triangulated the data to get an in-depth understanding of the phenomena: a 5-point Likert type online survey, participants’ self-reports on assessment terminology as a part of an inservice training session, and participants’ metaphors to explain formative and summative assessments which were collected during the same training. Results revealed participants’ high self-confidence on traditional summative uses of assessment, but moderately low perceptions on using assessment formatively. Findings showed significant inconsistency between participants’ limited knowledge on assessment terminology as opposed to high self-perceptions.La selección y el uso de los métodos de evaluación adecuados por parte de los profesores no solo requiere que consideren los objetivos pedagógicos, sino también que conozcan, comprendan y sean conscientes de los procesos de evaluación. El presente estudio tiene por objetivo investigar las percepciones de los profesores de EFL de escuelas privadas turcas y su uso y la comprensión de la evaluación como parte integral de sus prácticas pedagógicas. A través de métodos mixtos secuenciales, los investigadores triangularon los datos para entender a fondo los fenómenos: una encuesta por Internet basada en la escala de Likert con 5 puntos, autoinformes de los participantes sobre la terminología de la evaluación como parte de una sesión de formación de profesores en ejercicio activo, y metáforas de los participantes para explicar evaluaciones formativas y sumativas recopiladas durante la misma formación. Los resultados revelaron una alta autoconfianza de los participantes en el uso sumativo tradicional de la evaluación, pero percepciones moderadamente bajas sobre el uso formativo de la evaluación. Los hallazgos mostraron una inconsistencia significativa en el conocimiento limitado de la terminología de la evaluación entre los participantes, a diferencia de las altas autopercepciones

TURKISH PRE-SERVICE EFL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF CREATIVITY

Creativity is considered one of the key 21st century skills and has received an increasing amount of attention in the field of education. How teachers perceive creativity has a significant impact on their pedagogical practices to stimulate student creativity in the classroom. The present exploratory study, based on a qualitative approach, aimed to investigate pre-service English teachers’ perceptions of creativity. Analysis of data coming from a semi-structured focus-group interview with eight pre-service teachers revealed their perception of creativity as being different and unique, having extraordinary ideas and being able to produce original outcomes. The participants posited that creativity was innate to some extent and environmental factors such as family environment, cultural background and school education contributed to its development later in life. They suggested using open-ended, communicative, and collaborative tasks in English classrooms to foster student creativity. As prospective teachers, they perceived themselves creative to some extent, but felt unprepared to teach creativity. Finally, they all agreed on the facilitative role of teacher education in helping PTs teach creatively and develop an understanding of teaching creativity

İNGİLİZCEYİ ANA DİLİ OLARAK KONUŞANLAR İLE İNGİLİZCE ÖĞRENEN TÜRK ÖĞRENCİLERİN KULLANDIKLARI RESMİ ŞİKAYET KALIPLARI ÜZERİNE KARŞILAŞTIRMALI BİR ÇALIŞMA

Bu çalışmanın amacı, İngilizce öğrenen Türk öğrencilerin resmi şikayet durumlarında sergiledikleri edimsel dil davranışlarını ana dili İngilizce olanların sözeylem üretimleri ile karşılaştırarak araştırmaktır. Türk öğrencilerin İngilizcedeki dil üretimlerini belirleyip bu verileri ana dili İngilizce olanlardan elde edilen veriler ile kıyaslamak suretiyle 1) Türk öğrenciler ve anadili İngilizce olanlar arasındaki şikayet kullanımlarına yönelik dilbilimsel ve edimsel farkları tespit etmek; 2) yaş, cinsiyet, yabancı dilde yeterlik ve yabancı dil kültürüne maruz kalma süresi gibi Türk öğrencilerin resmi şikayetlerindeki iletişimsel tercihleri üzerinde etkili olabilecek değişkenlerin etkilerini açıklamak; ve 3) Türk öğrencilerin İngilizce resmi şikayet durumlarında kullandıkları edimsel stratejileri doğrudanlık ve dolaylılık açısından belirlemek amaçlanmıştır. Araştırmanın verileri 132 ana dili İngilizce olan katılımcıdan 144 İngilizce öğrenen Türk öğrencilerden, toplamda 276 katılımcıdan toplanmıştır. Üç ayrı veri toplama yöntemi kullanılmıştır: a) Söylem Değerlendirme Anketi (SDA); b) video çekimli canlandırma; ve c) açık uçlu sözlü mülakat. Toplanan veriler hem nicel hem de nitel olarak analiz edilmiştir. Elde edilen sonuçlar, ana dili İngilizce olan katılımcılar ile Türk katılımcıların şikayet üretimlerinde dilbilimsel öğeler ve edimsel tercihler açısından anlamlı farklar olduğunu göstermiştir. Bu sonuçlara göre, Türk öğrenciler şikâyette bulunurken ana dili İngilizce olan katılımcılara kıyasla daha çekingen bir tavır sergilemişler ve dolaylı ifadeleri tercih etmişlerdir. Bununla birlikte, Türk katılımcıların edimsel tercihleri yaş ve cinsiyet değişkenlerine bağlı olarak ana dili İngilizce olan katılımcılara kıyasla anlamlı farklılıklar göstermiştir; bu da Türk katılımcıların kendi kültürlerine ait edimsel özellikleri İngilizce kullanımlarına aktardıklarını göstermiştir. Ayrıca, Türk katılımcılar, İngilizce yeterlik düzeyi açısından kendi aralarında farklılık göstermişlerdir; yeterlik düzeyi yükseldikçe dolaylı ifadeleri sosyal olarak daha uygun bulma eğilimi artmıştır. Buna bulguya göre, İngilizce öğrenen Türk katılımcıların İngilizce anlama ve kullanma yeterlikleri arttıkça, kendi dillerine ait kültürel ve edimsel öğelerden daha çok etkilendikleri ortaya çıkmıştır. Sonuç olarak, bu araştırmanın bulguları, öğretmenler ve müfredat geliştirenler tarafından, İngilizce öğrenen Türklerin, İngilizce iletişimde dilbilimsel ve edimsel olarak sıkıntı yaşayabilecekleri şikâyet durumlarını açıklamak ve bu sayede edimsel yeterliği artırmak amacıyla yeni materyaller ve yöntemler geliştirmek için bir fırsat olarak kullanılabilecektir.The aim of this study is to investigate the pragmatic language behavior of Turkish learners of English in formal complaint situations through the comparison of their speech act performances to those of native speakers. By exploring Turkish EFL learners' speech production in English, and comparing it to the data provided by native speakers, this study aimed to (1) identify linguistic and pragmatic differences between Turkish and native speakers of English in complaining; (2) account for factors such as age, gender, proficiency and length of stay in the target culture that govern the communicative choices made by Turkish speakers of English in formal complaints, and (3) explain what pragmatic choices native speakers and Turkish learner make in their formal complaining attempts in English in terms of directness and indirectness. The data was collected from a total of 276 participants, 132 Native Speakers (NSs) and 144 Turkish Learners (TLs) of English. Three different data collection methods were used: a) a Discourse Evaluation Task (DET); b) video-recorded role plays; and c) open-ended oral interviews. The data was both quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed. The results indicate that native English speakers' and Turkish learners' production of complaints reflects a significant difference with respect to the linguistic components and the pragmatic choices made in complaining. According to the results, TLs are more reserved and indirect in their complaining behavior compared to NSs. What is more, the pragmatic preferences made by Turkish learners differ significantly different from those of native speakers with regard to age and gender, which suggests that the learners transfer pragmatic features from their own cultural etiquette. Finally, Turkish learners differed within the group with regards to proficiency levels; that is, the higher the proficiency level of learners is, the more they perceive the indirect complaining strategies as socially more appropriate, which suggests that the learners are more affected by their own culture and corresponding pragmatic elements as they get more proficient in comprehension and use of the target language. Consequently, the findings of the study can be used as an opportunity by teachers and syllabus designers to explain situations in which Turkish learners of English may fail linguistically and pragmatically; and in turn, to develop materials in order to find more effective ways of promoting pragmatic competence among Turkish EFL learners

İngilizce öğretmenlerinin İngiliz Dili öğretiminde kültürün yeri hakkındaki görüşleri : Ankara'daki dört üniversite üzerinde bir araştırma

This study aims to investigate Turkish teachers̕ opinions and beliefs on the place of target cultural information in English language teaching, as well as their related practices and applications in EFL classrooms in Turkish higher education context. Particularly, it tries to explore three research questions: (a) How do Turkish teachers of English define culture? (b) What are the EFL teachers̕ attitudes towards incorporating cultural information into their teaching? and (c) What role do they allocate to the culture of the target language in their classrooms? Data was collected from 98 randomly selected EFL teachers in the Preparatory (Hazirlik) Programs of four universities (Hacettepe University, Middle East Technical University, Ankara University, and Baskent University) in Ankara. A written survey questionnaire, including structured items, a rating scale and a Likerttype attitude scale, together with a follow-up interview were used as the two data collection methods. The analyses were carried out by frequency counts of the predetermined choices in the items and the related responses that were given to questions of the interview. The study shows that teachers mostly define culture in the sociological sense, such as values and beliefs. Their definition of culture in the framework of ELT slightly shifts towards more visible culture, such as food and clothing. The study also reveals teachers̕ positive attitudes towards incorporating cultural information in their instruction. Teachers incorporate cultural knowledge to increase the learners̕ awareness of other cultures and people for intellectual development, and to improve learners̕ communicative competence.M.A. - Master of Art

Private School EFL Teachers’ Perceptions On Assessment: A Case Study In Turkey

Teachers’ selection and use of appropriate assessment methods requires not only their contemplation on lesson objectives, but also their knowledge, awareness and understanding of assessment processes. The present study aims to investigate Turkish private school language teachers’ perceptions, use and understanding of assessment as an integral part of their teaching practices. Using a sequential mixed method approach, researchers triangulated the data to get an in-depth understanding of the phenomena: a 5-point Likert type online survey, participants’ self-reports on assessment terminology as a part of an inservice training session, and participants’ metaphors to explain formative and summative assessments which were collected during the same training. Results revealed participants’ high self-confidence on traditional summative uses of assessment, but moderately low perceptions on using assessment formatively. Findings showed significant inconsistency between participants’ limited knowledge on assessment terminology as opposed to high self-perceptions.La selección y el uso de los métodos de evaluación adecuados por parte de los profesores no solo requiere que consideren los objetivos pedagógicos, sino también que conozcan, comprendan y sean conscientes de los procesos de evaluación. El presente estudio tiene por objetivo investigar las percepciones de los profesores de EFL de escuelas privadas turcas y su uso y la comprensión de la evaluación como parte integral de sus prácticas pedagógicas. A través de métodos mixtos secuenciales, los investigadores triangularon los datos para entender a fondo los fenómenos: una encuesta por Internet basada en la escala de Likert con 5 puntos, autoinformes de los participantes sobre la terminología de la evaluación como parte de una sesión de formación de profesores en ejercicio activo, y metáforas de los participantes para explicar evaluaciones formativas y sumativas recopiladas durante la misma formación. Los resultados revelaron una alta autoconfianza de los participantes en el uso sumativo tradicional de la evaluación, pero percepciones moderadamente bajas sobre el uso formativo de la evaluación. Los hallazgos mostraron una inconsistencia significativa en el conocimiento limitado de la terminología de la evaluación entre los participantes, a diferencia de las altas autopercepciones

Surgical repair of the anomalous aortic origin of the coronary arteries: A single-center experience

OBJECTIVE: Anomalous aortic origin of the coronary artery is a rare congenital cardiac anomaly. The aim of this study was to present our experience with patients who underwent surgery for the anomalous aortic origin of the coronary artery. METHODS: This was a retrospective review of our experience with patients who had anomalous aortic origin of the coronary artery from 2019 to 2022. RESULTS: Seven patients were managed for anomalous aortic origin of the coronary artery, including five males and two females. The median age of the patients were 16 years (IQR, 14.5-26 years). Five patients had anomalous aortic origin of the right coronary artery and two patients had anomalous aortic origin of the left coronary artery. Five patients were treated surgically, one patient refused surgical treatment despite myocardial ischaemia symptoms, and the other one was not operated because she had no symptoms. Two patients underwent pulmonary root anterior translocation and left main coronary artery unroofing procedure, one patient underwent right coronary artery unroofing procedure, one patient underwent pulmonary artery lateral translocation procedure, and the last patient underwent right coronary artery osteal translocation procedure. The post-operative mortality or myocardial infarction was not observed in any patient. Patients were followed for a median of 10 months (IQR, 6.75-20.5 months) after repair. CONCLUSION: The data suggest that surgical repair of anomalous aortic origin of the coronary artery can be performed confidently and can be very effective for relieving myocardial ischaemia symptoms. Different surgical techniques can be used in anomalous aortic origin of the coronary artery according to the course and origin of the coronary arteries. To the our knowledge, pulmonary root anterior translocation and coronary artery unroofing procedure were performed for the first time in the literature