The role of student negotiation in improving the speaking ability of Turkish university EFL students: An action research study

Teaching speaking is an area of language education which is frequently neglected in English classes in Turkey. This dissertation reports on an action research study designed to address this problem. The study involved data collection through interviews, questionnaires, and observations, as a way of eliciting students’ views as a means to improve speaking classes and to outline the impact of student negotiation on students’ classroom participation and performance. The research, conducted in the ELT Department at a university in Turkey, comprised three different stages. In the first reconnaissance phase, initial data were collected to understand the classroom context. This informed the second stage, comprising eight weekly-based interventions that involved planning, action, observation and reflection, in which students were given a voice and classroom activities were designed accordingly. In the third stage, the final data were collected to understand the effectiveness of student negotiation. According to the findings, students wanted more opportunities to practise spoken language in class. Student negotiation allowed for the design of classes according to students’ needs and wants, with students becoming more motivated to engage in classroom activities. This led to the development of more positive attitudes towards speaking classes, and more positive perceptions of their speaking ability were reported at the end of the term, together with increased classroom participation, greater willingness to communicate, higher self-esteem, and lower levels of anxiety. The findings also suggested that student negotiation is likely to impact on students’ and teachers’ professional development. The study has a number of implications for both the teaching of speaking and for research: it demonstrates the significance of student engagement in classroom activities, made possible through designing activities which take into account students’ views and perceptions. Student negotiation and attention to students’ needs and wants would appear to promote a high level of student participation, increased motivation and more positive attitudes towards speaking classes. Further research studies, and specifically, more action research, should be conducted in Turkey to generate practical implications to improve classroom practice.Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Universit

Pre-service and In-service English Teachers’ Efficacy Beliefs about Teaching English at Primary Schools

This study investigated pre-service and in-service English teachers’ efficacy beliefs about teaching English at primary schools in Turkey by revealing the teaching aspects that they felt most and least efficacious. The study also attempted to understand pre-service teachers’ views about the effectiveness of pre-service teacher education and explore which major problems in-service teachers encountered while teaching English at primary schools. The quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 170 pre-service and 129 in-service teachers through a questionnaire. The quantitative and qualitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and content analysis, respectively. According to the findings, both groups held similar positive or negative efficacy beliefs about most teaching aspects: while they reported feeling most efficacious in ‘using visual materials’, ‘giving simple instructions’, and ‘using gestures, facial expressions and body language effectively’, they reported feeling least efficacious in ‘using mainly kinaesthetic activities’, ‘managing class time effectively’, and ‘knowing how each language skill can be developed’. Pre-service teachers agreed that the ‘teaching practicum’ was the most ineffective aspect of the programme, followed by ‘lack of practice-based courses’, ‘inadequate number of teaching English to young learners courses’, and ‘language courses’. In-service teachers reported having problems because of ‘limited class hours’, ‘poor textbooks’, ‘lack of technological resources’, ‘lack of learner preparedness’, ‘lack of learner motivation’, and ‘large classes’. In the light of these findings, implications were generated to improve the effectiveness of pre-service and in-service teacher education, which could increase the quality of education for English language students at primary school

An action research study designed to implement student negotiation to improve speaking classroom practice in Turkey

PublishedThis paper reports the second stage of an action research study designed to improve the effectiveness of speaking classes through negotiating the lesson contents with students. The data were collected through interviews, questionnaires and observations as a way of eliciting students’ views. The research, conducted in an English language teaching department at a university in Turkey, comprised eight weekly-based interventions that involved planning, action, observation, and reflection, in which students were given a voice and classroom activities were designed accordingly. Student negotiation allowed for the identification of both structural and affective factors influencing the quality of speaking classes. The teacher’s roles in activities, the number of students in group work activities, the level of control in speaking activities, and the role of input were found to be issues worth considering in designing speaking classes. Issues such as finding the activity ‘interesting’ and ‘useful’, ‘feeling comfortable’ and ‘being competitive’ also influenced the effectiveness of activities. Involving students in this action research study promoted positive attitudes towards classes since students reported feeling valued and important

Exploring language learners’ self-generated goals : Does self-concordance affect engagement and resilience?

Despite the importance that goals have for language learning (Lee & Bong, 2019), little is known about the effects on learner behaviours. Combining individualized (idiographic) and standardized (nomothetic) methodologies, this study investigated whether the self-concordance of learning goals formulated at the beginning of a program of language education affected engagement and resilience at the end of the first year. Following research demonstrating the mediating roles of goal effort and goal progress (Vasalampi et al., 2009), these variables were included in the study design. Participants were 41 teacher education students on a university program in Turkey. Data was collected on four occasions over two semesters. Analyses were carried out using path modelling. Results showed that starting the program with self-concordant goals had positive effects on engagement and resilience later in the year. Effects of self-concordance were mediated by goal effort and goal progress. For engagement, a direct effect of self-concordance was also found. Findings point to an important relationship between the quality of language learners’ goals and L2 learning behaviours. Further, the study highlights the value of idiographic methods in goal-focused research

Selected research in applied linguistics and English language teaching in Turkey: 2010–2016

In this state-of-the-art review, we aim to build on Alptekin & Tatar's (2011) article covering research conducted in Turkey between 2005 and 2009, and survey published research in 31 Turkey-based journals between 2010 and 2016. As the second review paper on Turkey's English language teaching (ELT) agenda, our goal is twofold: first, to introduce the research of those researchers whose high-quality, Turkey-based work may not be known outside Turkish academia; and second, to point to recent scholarly developments that have occurred in Turkey and set these in the context of recent shifts in language teaching research worldwide. This paper presents approximately 140 articles that appeared in locally published peer-reviewed academic journals, and clearly demonstrates that Turkey as an English as a foreign language (EFL) context presents a vibrant research scene in language teaching. The reviewed works cover a wide spectrum of timely topics (e.g., computer-assisted language learning (CALL), the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL), language assessment, affective factors), and present findings that have much to contribute to current discussions in the field. Nevertheless, our review also reveals some concerning trends, including an almost exclusive emphasis on practical concerns over conceptual development; shortcomings in locating research within broader disciplinary debates; and few efforts to bring together and build on local research in a manner that might allow for original and creative influences on the broader discipline. It is therefore the further aim of this article to spark debates on these issues among Turkish scholars and contribute to the strengthening of the local disciplinary community