Linking theory and practice in an ELT program: An evaluation of materials, testing and practicum courses

Changes and innovations to the English language teacher education undergraduate program in Turkey have taken place quite often over the last two decades, and related research has focused predominantly on the effectiveness of the program, along with the implemented changes. Yet, evaluation studies on the specific components of the program remained scarce. Within this perspective, this study aims to evaluate the testing and materials courses of an undergraduate English Language Teaching (ELT) program offered at a state university through the voices of pre-service teachers, teacher educators, mentor teachers, and graduates. Using the evaluation model for foreign language teacher education designed by Peacock (2009), and the checklist of parameters by Weir and Roberts (1994) as the framework for analysis, questionnaires, interviews and document analysis for data collection, this case study was designed to uncover the theory/practice link among Materials and Testing courses, and the practicum component. The findings indicate a lack of theory/practice link among the components; therefore, suggestions are offered to strengthen the link related to testing and materials and their applications in the pre-service teaching practicum contexts. © 2021 Karadeniz Technical University. All rights reserved

Yabancı dil olarak İngilizce sınıflarında öğretmenlerin ve öğrencilerin dilsel kod değiştiriminin söylemsel işlevleri : Türkiye'deki bir üniversitede durum çalışması.

This study aims to analyze the discourse functions of code-switching used by the students and the teachers in EFL classrooms in a Turkish university. Another aim of this study is to find out the forms of code-switching used by the teachers and students and compare the amount and functions of these code-switching usages in different levels. In the light of these aims, two advanced classes, two pre-intermediate classes and one intermediate class were observed and video recorded. The data obtained from these recordings were transcribed using the transcription software EXMARaLDA and the following results have been obtained: 1) teachers and students use code-switching in the classes for educational and social reasons; 2) the most frequent form of code-switching was observed to be using discourse markers; and 3) there was not a significant difference in advanced and pre-intermediate levels in terms of the amounts and functions of code-switching.M.S. - Master of Scienc

Türkiye’deki ingilizce öğretmeni eğitimcilerinin mesleki gelişim ve yeterlik profilleri.

This study aims to investigate the definition, competence, and professional development profiles of English language teacher educators in Turkey. With this general aim, this study looks into three components; definitions, competences, and professional development of teacher educators. It specifically focuses on how the profession of teacher educator is defined, what professional characteristics and personality traits teacher educators need to have, and what roles and responsibilities university-based teacher educators and school-based mentor teachers assume. Another aim of this study is to define the domains of knowledge that constitute the knowledge base and skills of teacher educators. Also, this study aims to uncover the professional development definitions, practices, outcomes, needs, and suggestions of these English language teacher educators at universities and schools. The participants of this study include 41 university-based teacher educators, 43 school-based mentor teachers, and 193 pre-service teachers from 11 cities in Turkey. The data were collected via face-to-face interviews with the teacher educators, and a survey with the pre-service teachers. The data were analysed using MAXQDA qualitative data analysis software and content analytic approaches. Findings of this study provide detailed definitions of teacher educators’ profession, their competences and professional development profiles. At the end of this study, a professional standards framework for language teacher educators in Turkey is offered, which currently does not exist in Turkey. Findings of the study also provide implications for creating a professional development community for English language teacher educators and mentor teachers, and for developing the practicum component of language teacher education programs.Ph.D. - Doctoral Progra

Exploring English language teacher educators’ professional development through collaborative partnership with pre-service teachers in supervised practicum

This study explores the perspectives of 190 fourth-year pre-service EFL teachers across Türkiye on their definitions of ideal language teacher educators and the professional development of teacher educators based on their experiences during teaching practicum in university and practice school contexts. Data were collected through open-ended surveys and analysed qualitatively via coding (Saldana 2009) using content analysis (Patton 2015). The findings indicate that some pre-service teachers (PSTs) lack trust in their teacher educators at both schools and universities, particularly regarding the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application during their practicum experience. Additionally, the findings suggest that language teacher educators’ professional development is enhanced by collaborating with PSTs. The results imply that language teacher educators should encourage self-reflection on their teaching practices, facilitate collaboration with PSTs, and prioritise the development of PSTs’ professional identity through partnerships with teacher educators

ORTAÖĞRETİM VE YÜKSEKÖĞRETİMDE ÇALIŞAN İNGİLİZCE ÖĞRETMEN EĞİTİMCİLERİNİN MESLEKİ BİLGİ VE YETERLİKLERİ AÇISINDAN BİR PROFİL ANALİZİ

Bu çalışmanın temel amacı Türkiye’deki üniversitelerin İngilizce Öğretmenliği bölümlerinde çalışan hizmet öncesi öğretmen eğitimcileri ile Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı’na bağlı okullarda çalışan hizmetiçi İngilizce öğretmeni eğitimcilerinin mesleki gelişim yöntemlerini, ihtiyaçlarını ve görüşlerini inceleyerek ortaya bir “öğretmen eğitimcileri profili” çıkarmaktır. Türkiye'nin çeşitli şehirlerindeki üniversitelerdeki İngilizce Öğretmenliği bölümleri ve bu bölümlerin öğretmenlik deneyimi ve uygulaması dersleri için anlaşma yaptıkları Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı’na bağlı okullarda görev yapan İngilizce öğretmeni eğitimcilerinden seçilecek olan İngilizce öğretmeni eğitimcilerine ulaşılması hedeflenmektedir. Çalışmada, değişik ülkelerde var olan öğretmen eğitimcisi yeterlik ve profil çerçeveleri, ve daha önce alanyazında var olan araştırmalardan yola çıkılarak yüz yüze mülakatlar aracılığıyla veri toplayarak, bu verilerin nitel ve nicel analiz yöntemleri kullanılarak analiz edilmesiyle gerçekleşecektir. Proje sonunda Türkiye’deki üniversitelerde ve okullarda görev yapan İngilizce öğretmen eğitimcilerinin öğretmen adaylarına nasıl daha faydalı olabilecekleri araştırılıp, öğretmen eğitimi programlarından mezun olan öğretmen adaylarının daha nitelikli öğretmenler olarak yetişmelerine katkı sağlanacaktır. Oluşturulan İngilizce öğretmen eğitimcisi profili, Türkiye'de İngilizce öğretmen eğitimcisi standartları ve yeterlilikleri oluşturulmasına zemin sağlayabilecektir

Discourse and educational functions of students’ and teachers’ code-switching in EFL classrooms in Turkey

Code-switching (CS) is frequently used in English as a Foreign Language classrooms (EFL) serving different discourse and educational functions. This paper reports on a case study investigating the forms and functions of code-switching used by the students and the teachers in EFL classrooms in a Turkish university, where the language of instruction was English. Data were gathered from two advanced classes, two pre-intermediate classes and one intermediate class through video-recordings. The data obtained from these recordings were transcribed and analysed using the transcription software EXMARaLDA. The results suggest that the most frequent form of code-switching was observed to be using discourse markers. Both the teachers and students used code-switching in the classes for educational and communicative reasons, in particular, to achieve better communication, to deliver content, and to deal with classroom management problems. Implications of the findings for educators and language learning contexts are also discussed

Molecular prevalence of canine hepatozoonosis in owned-dogs in central part of Turkey

Canine hepatozoonosis is a tick-borne disease caused by Hepotozoon canis and Hepotozoon americanum. H. canis is widespread almost all over the world, while H. americanum exists only in the continental of America. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of canine hepatozoonosis from blood samples of 150 owned-dogs in central part of Turkey using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Sixty seven out of 150 (44.67%) samples were PCR positive for Hepatozoon spp. Five out of 67 positive PCR products were sequenced to determine Hepatozoon species. Partial nucleotide sequences of 18S small subunit ribosomal RNA gene were compared to Hepatozoon spp. sequences registered in GenBank. Nucleotide sequencing resulted in three samples of the Hepatozoon spp.; two samples were determined to be H. canis. Five nucleotide sequences detected in this study were deposited in GenBank under accession numbers MW350127, MW350128 (Hepatozoon canis), MW350129- MW350131 (Hepatozoon spp.). In this study, canine hepatozoonosis infection rate was found to be very high (44.67%), resulting in a high rate of infection among the owned-dog populations in the study areas. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first study on the etiology and epidemiology canine hepatozoonosis in Sivas province in Turkey