A study of student teacher experiences and expectations of teaching practice

The aim of this study is to explore the differences in student teachers’ experiences and expectations in teaching practice. For this purpose four questions were formulated to examine student teachers’ experiences and expectations in general and according to gender, type of partner school they attend for teaching practice, and number of sessions they teach during teaching practice. A total of 230 fourth year (senior) prospective teachers from English Language Teaching departments of different Faculties of Education participated in the study. A bipolar 33 item (five-point Likert-type) questionnaire with an attached short information sheet was used for data collection. One-way ANOVA and t-test were the main statistical procedures utilized for data analysis. Findings of the study revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between student teachers’ experiences and expectations, that there was a difference between male and female student teachers’ experiences, but that there were no statistically significant differences according to the number of sessions they teach at practice school they attended.peer-reviewe

A Qualitative Inquiry in the Evaluation of a Pedagogical Course from the Prospective Teachers’ Points of View

Qualitative inquiry has gained importance in the evaluation of educational settings because it provides in-depth information, shedding light on context, situations, or processes. In this study, a qualitative inquiry was undertaken in order to evaluate a pedagogical course from the prospective teachers’ points of view. In this case study, data were collected through focus group interviews with three groups of prospective teachers. The lack of putting theories into practice, the lack of relating the topics to teaching life, the lack of attention and participation, and the lack of a variety of materials appeared to be the most essential problems. In this study, the expressed problems and suggestions were discussed in terms of their implications for the improvement of the course

HELİSEL ANKRAJ PLAKALARININ TABAKALI ZEMİNLERDEKİ ÇEKME KAPASİTELERİNİN İNCELENMESİ

Bu çalışmada, tabakalı zeminlere (kil-kum) inşa edilen helisel ankraj plakalarının çekme kapasitesi laboratuvar ortamında model deneyler yapılarak araştırılmıştır. Deneylerde 50mm çapında helisel model ankraj plakası kullanılmıştır. Model deneylerde tabakalı zeminlerde kum tabakası sıkılığının ankraj plakasının çekme kapasitesi üzerindeki etkisi araştırılmıştır. Kum sıkılığının artması ile ankraj plakasının çekme kapasitesinin arttığı görülmüştür. Ayrıca, model deney düzeneği, sonlu elemanlar yöntemi kullanan PLAXIS 2D bilgisayar programı ile modellenip analiz edilmiştir. Elde edilen deney sonuçları sayısal sonuçlarla karşılaştırılmış ve gerekli öneriler yapılmıştır

English teachers’ perceptions of the middle school English language curriculum

In this study, which utilized survey as the research design, it was aimed tofind out the teachers’ perceptions of the middle school English languagecurriculum which was developed in 2012 and revised in 2016. Targetpopulation of this study included all teachers working in Turkish publicmiddle schools in Ankara, while the sample was composed of 349 teachersselected through clustered sampling method. A questionnaire developed bythe researchers was used as data collection instrument. Findings revealedthat many problems with respect to the components of the curriculumdeveloped in 2012 have been solved, while only a few but most crucialproblems still exist. It was concluded that this curriculum cannot developstudents’ autonomy, communicative competence, and their writing,listening, and speaking skills. More research was suggested to be conductedto find out whether this failure resulted from the design itself orimplementation process

Delfi Tekniği ile Türk Eğitim Sistemindeki Bazı Problemlerin İncelenmesi

Türk eğitim sisteminde, sürekli değişmelerle birlikte çeşitli problemler gözlenmektedir. Bu problemlere çözüm yolları bulabilmek amcıyla beklentiler ve ihtiyaçlar dile getirilmektedir. Çözüm yollarının bilimsel olarak alanın uzmanlarınca ve çok yönlü tekniklerle ortaya çıkarılması ve denenmesi gerekmektedir. Burada önemli olan bir nokta da uzmanların bir uyum içinde görüş birliğine vararak problemlere geleceğe dönük alternatif çözüm yolları sunabilmeleridir. Gerek ihtiyaçların ve problemlerin saptanmasında, gerekse çözüm yollarının önerilmesinde uzmanlardan yararlanılarak kullanılabilecek tekniklerden birisi de Delfi Tekniğidir

The second grade English language curriculum: Theory-practice congruence

This study aims to provide a deep understanding about English Language Education Program to English teachers, students, curriculum designers and decision makers in Turkey. Recently, the Turkish educational system has gone through a transition from the 8+4 educational model to the new 4+4+4 model, which has led to an immediate need for the redesign of current English Language curriculum. Regarding English language education, in particular, this new system mandated that English instruction should be implemented from the 2nd grade onward. In line with this, the purpose of this study is to conduct a survey research to find out whether the new program has been implemented as planned in terms of materials, activities, and teachers' expected roles using process part of Stufflebeam's CIPP evaluation model. A questionnaire including the standards of the curriculum has been administered to a group of teachers who have been teaching English at the primary schools. Through cluster sampling method, 62 teachers have been selected as the sample. The data have been analyzed through descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that some of the teachers' roles were not congruent with standards of the curriculum, audio-visual materials were not utilized adequately and communicative activities were not applied in accordance with curriculum standards

Alandan ve Alan Dışından Öğretmenlik Sertifikası ile Atanan Yeni Sınıf Öğretmenlerinin Sorunları

The purposes of this study are to understand the problems of classroom teachers in their first three years of teaching, and to scrutinize whether these problems differ according to having regular or alternative teacher certification. The sample of this study was 275 Classroom Teachers in the Public Elementary Schools in districts of Ordu, Samsun, and Sinop in the Black Sea region. The data gathered through the questionnaire were subject to descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. Results of the study indicate that there was a significant difference between alternative certification teachers and regular education teachers; area they graduated from, age, and time of graduation, however, gender, city, and type of classroom do not have an effect on problems that teachers experienced.Bu çalışmanın amacı sınıf öğretmenlerinin, mesleklerinin ilk üç yılında karşılaştıkları sorunları belirlemek ve bu sorunlar açısından alandan ve alan dışından atanan öğretmenler arasında fark olup olmadığını araştırmaktır. Bu çalışmanın örneklemi Karadeniz bölgesi Ordu, Samsun ve Sinop illeri devlet ilköğretim okullarında görev yapan 275 sınıf öğretmenidir. Anketle toplanan veriler betimleyici ve yordayıcı istatistik teknikler kullanılarak çözümlenmiştir. Bu çalışmanın sonuçları, alandan ya da alan dışından atanan, mezun oldukları alan, yaş, mezuniyet dönemine göre öğretmenlerin karşılaştıkları sorunlar arasında anlamlı fark olduğu, diğer yandan, cinsiyet, çalıştıkları il ve sınıf türü gibi değişkenler açısından aralarında fark olmadığı görülmüştür

An Evaluation of ENG101 English for Academic Purposes Program at TED University English Language School

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the newly implemented curriculum for ENG101 course at TEDU to help decision makers to decide whether to terminate, or renew the current program, and present to them what points need to be developed in the program based on instructors and students’ views. In this line, research questions are as follows: 1) To what extent have the students achieved the outcomes of the course? 2) What are main reasons influencing the achievement of the course outcomes? 3) Does the course pack serve the purpose for achieving the outcomes? 4) How well do the program objectives meet students’ needs? Metfessel-Michael’s Evaluation model is adopted in this evaluation study. Their approach is heavily influenced by Tylerian model and elaborates on it suggesting alternative data collection tools that might be used in evaluation process. Moreover, based on Leech and Onwuegbuzie’s typology, a partially mixed concurrent equal status design was followed in this evaluation study. There were 273 students (N = 290) taking ENG101 course in 2016-2017 Spring semester and they constituted the participants of the study. Out of 273, 59% (n = 160) completed the questionnaire. Of enrolled (N = 250) students, 5 students were chosen for focus group interview based on a gender balanced group, and taking the course either first or second time criteria. Also, all 4 instructors implementing the curriculum of ENG101 course constituted the second group of participants. Moreover, TEDU ELS director who is one of the decision makers was another data source. The questionnaire consisting of 50 items under five sections developed by Güntek was used. As for the data collection tools; course evaluation questionnaire for the students, a semi-structured focus group interview form for students, a semistructured individual interview form for instructors, a semi-structured individual interview form for the director were utilized. Students’ final grades were also used. Quantitative data [final grades (reading comprehension, vocabulary, paraphrasing and presentation skills)] and Course Evaluation Questionnaire for the Students were analyzed descriptively and as for the qualitative data gathered via interviews, content analysis was utilized leading to 4 themes identified and named as a) better student success than expected, b) instructors’ flexibility, c) No problem raised in ENG101, and d) Feedback from other stakeholders. As for the main findings of the study; new implemented curriculum in ENG101 has achieved its aims and objectives to a considerable extent. The majority of students got a score of 65 which corresponds to a passing grade. Questionnaire results regarding students’ evaluation of the course outcomes showed that they are moderately happy with the objectives of the course. The most significant result is that students recognized the importance of the course and its connection to their caree