“As the Twig is bent, so is the Tree Inclined”:Research engagement among pre-service EFL teachers

Teacher research tends to have a low uptake among teachers, which might be due to the fact that they are not generally identified with the role of the teacher as a researcher in initial teacher education programs. Also, as there is little research on the effects of research introduction courses on pre-service teachers, this descriptive study explored pre-service English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ attitudes towards research engagement and the benefits and difficulties they experienced throughout this process. To this end, pre-service EFL teachers (N= 32) from a state university in Turkey, who took a course on research engagement, participated in this study. This study adopted a mixed-methods research design: We triangulated quantitative survey data with the qualitative data elicited through an open-ended survey and semi-structured focus-group interviews. The findings described pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards research from self-efficacious, behavioural, cognitive, and affective perspectives, as well as elicited the perceived benefits and challenges from participants’ responses. Overall, we found that participants developed positive views towards research as part of the course and they felt more self-efficacious and overcame their research anxiety. At the same time, our study also showed that while most participants found the research methodology course important, less than one third of them planned to conduct research when they become in-service teachers. The study concludes by discussing the implications for initial teacher education programs

“As the Twig is bent, so is the Tree Inclined”: Research engagement among pre-service EFL teachers

Teacher research tends to have a low uptake among teachers, which might be due to the fact that they are not generally identified with the role of the teacher as a researcher in initial teacher education programs. Also, as there is little research on the effects of research introduction courses on pre-service teachers, this descriptive study explored pre-service English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ attitudes towards research engagement and the benefits and difficulties they experienced throughout this process. To this end, pre-service EFL teachers (N= 32) from a state university in Turkey, who took a course on research engagement, participated in this study. This study adopted a mixed-methods research design: We triangulated quantitative survey data with the qualitative data elicited through an open-ended survey and semi-structured focus-group interviews. The findings described pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards research from self-efficacious, behavioural, cognitive, and affective perspectives, as well as elicited the perceived benefits and challenges from participants’ responses. Overall, we found that participants developed positive views towards research as part of the course and they felt more self-efficacious and overcame their research anxiety. At the same time, our study also showed that while most participants found the research methodology course important, less than one third of them planned to conduct research when they become in-service teachers. The study concludes by discussing the implications for initial teacher education programs

One Hand Washes the Other and Both Wash the Face: Individuality versus Collaboration in L2 Writing

The aim of this pre-experimental study is twofold: (1) to investigate the comparative effectiveness of individual, pair, and group writing conditions in L2 writing classes, and (2) to explore students’ perceptions about each of these conditions. The participants were university-level Turkish EFL learners studying in the English Preparatory Program of a state university. The data for investigating the effectiveness of these writing conditions came from in-class paragraph writing tasks whereas students’ perceptions were investigated through an open-ended questionnaire and semi-structured focus group interviews. The quantitative data were analyzed by running descriptive statistics analysis, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and the Friedman test, and the qualitative data were content analyzed. As the findings indicated, when the participants wrote in groups they outperformed those who worked individually or in pairs regarding the (a) fluency, (b) accuracy, (c) complexity, (d) length, and (e) overall score of the paragraphs. Besides, perceived advantages and disadvantages of both collaborative writing (i.e., pair and group writing) and individual writing were pointed out by the participants. Based on the findings, some pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research are presented

Digital Literacy Skills and Attitudes towards E-learning

WOS: 000477749800009This study aimed to investigate the attitudes towards e-learning and digital literacy skills of prospective teachers (N = 47) enrolled in the Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology at a state university in Turkey. The study also investigated whether these variables vary in terms of gender and prior e-learning experience as well as the potential relationship between their attitudes and their digital literacy skills. Adopting a quasi-experimental pre-posttest design with an experimental group, this study sought to discover the effects of a five-week treatment on prospective teachers' digital literacy skills and attitudes toward e-learning. The data for the study came from two data collection tools namely, Attitudes towards E-learning Scale (Haznedar & Baran, 2012) and Digital Literacy Scale (Ng, 2012). Findings indicated the effectiveness of the treatment on the participants' attitudes towards e-learning platforms. Furthermore, the findings of the regression tests demonstrated that tendency is one of the most significant predictors of digital literacy skills