ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Factors Affecting Students&apos; English Proficiency in a Turkish EMI University: A Phenomenological Study
Author: Hasirci, Bahar
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Foreign Countries,Phenomenology,Language Proficiency,Student Attitudes,Undergraduate Students,Language Acquisition,Language Skills

This paper reports on an investigation of Turkish English-medium university students' perceptions of the change in their language ability and the factors affecting this change. Results revealed that 1) when students are highly exposed to English and are expected to use it productively for their studies, they perceive that there is greater development in their language skills and abilities 2) students think that corrective feedback plays a crucial role in helping them focus their attention on the form 3) speaking is perceived to be the weakest and the least improved skill over the years. These findings suggest insightful implications for English-medium universities in Turkey and all around the world.
Applying EALTA Guidelines as Baseline for the Foreign Language Proficiency Test in Turkey: The Case of YDS
Author: Kavakli, Nurdan
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Foreign Countries,Language Tests,Testing,Guidelines,Professional Associations,Validity,Student Evaluation,Case Studies,Test Construction,High Stakes Tests,Value Added Models,Standard Setting

Within the scope of educational testing and assessment, setting standards and creating guidelines as a code of practice provide more prolific and sustainable outcomes. In this sense, internationally accepted and regionally accredited principles are suggested for standardization in language testing and assessment practices. Herein, ILTA guidelines for good practice proposed by International Language Testing Association (2007), ALTE code of practice by Association of Language Testers in Europe (1994), JLTA code of good testing practices by Japanese Language Testing Association (2002) and EALTA guidelines for good practice by European Association for Language Testing and Assessment (2006) can be cited. Amidst them, the EALTA guidelines have been adopted to 'frame a validity study' (Alderson, 2010: 63) for language testing and assessment practices. In this sense, due to the abundance of guidelines and principles, it is expected to see myriad of practices to be well-implemented and documented. However, documentation on aforementioned practical cases is rare with a few empirical studies conducted (Alderson &amp; Banerjee, 2008; Alderson; 2010; De Jong &amp; Zheng, 2011). Accordingly, in this paper, a practical case study on YDS (foreign language exam in Turkey) is applied regarding the EALTA guidelines with a special concern on the development of tests in national and/or institutional testing units or centers. It is, therefore, aimed to tackle the question whether YDS adheres the principles purported by EALTA with its probable high-stake consequences. Thus, the results have indicated that taking the EALTA guidelines in the course of the test development process as baseline promotes value-added language testing and assessment practices.
Contribution of Corrective Feedback to English Language Learners&apos; Writing Skills Development through Workfolio Based Tasks
Author: Ataman, Dilâra Saziye
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Writing Instruction,Feedback (Response),Writing Skills,Skill Development,College Students,Gender Differences,Student Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,College Faculty,Student Motivation,Portfolios (Background Materials),Instructional Effectiveness

This study investigates the relationship between corrective feedback through workfolio based tasks and English Language learners' writing skills development. The study was carried out with 64 B1 level students at a foundation university in the city of Ankara in Turkey. The study took thirteen weeks during which the experimental group received explicit corrective feedback on their written tasks while the control group didn't receive any feedback. Throughout this process, participants took three progress tests. In addition to the quantitative data, qualitative data were also obtained via interviews with both instructors and participants. While the quantitative data were analyzed in independent samples t-tests through SPSS 20©, the qualitative data were interpreted on. Results from the analyses show that there is a statistically significant difference between the experimental and the control group. The study also found out that while both females and males improved their writing skills, females in the experimental group outperformed the males in the same group. Furthermore, students stated that getting corrective feedback was beneficial for them as they could learn from their mistakes and be more motivated towards the lesson. As for the instructors, they believed that corrective feedback sessions were useful for their students as they were low proficiency learners. To conclude, the results of the study show that corrective feedback does have a positive impact on improving writing skills and helps to motivate students as well.
Students&apos; Out-of-School Experiences, Job Priorities, and Perceptions toward Themselves as a Scientist: A Cross-Cultural Study
Author: Korkmaz, Hunkar
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Middle School Students,Experience,Occupational Aspiration,Self Concept,Scientists,Gender Differences,Cultural Differences,Student Attitudes,Science Education,Cross Cultural Studies,Foreign Countries

The purpose of this study was to examine middle school students' out-of-school experiences related to science, priorities related to their future job, perception toward themselves as a scientist. One intact school was assigned randomly from each country. The study involved 479 students (363 Turkish students; 116 American students), aged between 11 and 13. It was used the survey instrument &quot;Relevance of Science Education&quot; was developed by an international team. Results show that for this sample there continue to be significant gender and cultural differences in science experiences and perceptions towards scientists and of careers. It is thought that the findings of this research will contribute to the development of universal education on science, to the researchers studying on comparative education, cultural diversity and also to the international literature on science education. [For the Online Submission version of this article, see ED573891.]
Analyzing Research Tendencies of ELT Researchers and Trajectory of English Language Teaching and Learning in the Last Five Years
Author: Ayan, Erdal
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Technology Integration,Teaching Methods,Learning Processes,Periodicals,Educational Research,Computational Linguistics,Computer Software,Meta Analysis,Age Differences,Bilingualism,Researchers,Comparative Analysis,Cross Cultural Studies

Owing to new advances in language teaching methodologies and integration of high technology tools as well as web applications, much scientific research has been recently published on English language teaching (ELT) and learning (ELL). Yet it is still a significant question to investigate exactly what types of research topics are mostly studied among the researchers from different countries. The current research aimed at finding out the most frequent research contexts and topics in the last five years through analyzing research papers published in leading academic journals in the field, and compare tendencies of the researchers from different institutions and countries in terms of selecting their research context and topics, and to figure out the trajectory for future studies. In this study researchers used a corpus-based detection methodology composed of storing variable data in .txt files and analyzing variables over the concordancer. The corpus-based data from the variables were analyzed by means of a statistical software, known as JASP in order to clear out potential differences among the researchers. A short analysis of the data indicated that the researchers still focus on the key words such as explicit learning and knowledge, implicit learning and knowledge as well as age and bilingualism. It was also observed that meta-analysis is an important topic in the studies conducted lately. Further results of the study could be beneficial for all followers including researchers and learners inside and outside ELT and help people focus on less frequently studied contexts and topics.
Inquiring What to Teach and How to Teach in EVP Classes: A General Overview on English Teaching for Vocational Purposes in Turkey
Author: Sincer, Gökçe Hilal
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Vocational English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Vocational Education,Aviation Education,English Teachers,College Faculty,Teacher Attitudes

In the 21st century we have witnessed a rise of vocational educational training in Turkey. Millions of people in more than 1000 vocational colleges are being trained in almost 100 different vocations. As a result, English Language Teaching for Vocational Purposes has gained great importance. However, English for Vocational Purposes (EVP) is still a mystery to us. As the debates about what to teach and how to teach in the context of EVP are going on in the world, an inquiry into teaching English at a vocational training context becomes inevitable for us, too. We need to discuss the goals, contents and approaches of EVP and question if we are successful enough in terms of helping our students function well in a workplace at an international level. If English teaching in vocational colleges focuses more on professionalization, practicability and specialization, we need to find an answer to the essential question: What is the best way to provide students with an English course integrated with vocational contexts? A study of theoretical views about EVP will help us inquire our practices of English teaching for vocational purposes in Turkey.
Analysis of Young Learners&apos; and Teenagers&apos; Attitudes to English Language Learning
Author: Arda, Seda
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Student Attitudes,Learning Motivation,Foreign Countries,Attitude Change,Developmental Stages,Negative Attitudes,Age Differences,Elementary School Students

Attitudes begin to occur with the child's birth and develop with the effects of his/her parents, peers, and the environment (Brown, 1994). Along with that, the attitudes have a significant effect on how much language learners become interested in learning (Inal &amp; Evin, 2006). That's to say, each language learner has the potential to develop different kinds of attitudes towards language learning. The present study focused on the attitudes of Turkish young learners and teenagers towards English Language Learning (ELL). It aimed to find out whether the attitudes of young learners change when they begin to be teenagers and whether the results correlate with the assumptions. If they correlate, the possible reasons behind that were tried to be named for these changes. Moon (2011) claims that compared to young learners, teenagers are inclined to lose their desire for language learning and they could be less motivated. In line with the statement of Moon (2011), the current study displayed that teenagers began to develop more negative attitudes towards ELL, losing their enthusiasm and motivation for ELL for various reasons. The implications of these results on education settings in Turkey were discussed and commented at the end of the paper.
A Corpus-Based Study of Linking Adverbials through Contrastive Analysis of L1/L2 PhD Dissertations
Author: Günes, Hilal
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Doctoral Dissertations,Doctoral Programs,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Computational Linguistics,Contrastive Linguistics,Form Classes (Languages),Language Usage,Native Language,English,Turkish,Graduate Students,Teaching Methods,Metalinguistics,Computer Software,Foreign Countries

The quality of a writing highly depends on cohesion and coherence as they affect the tone of writing to a great extent. Linking adverbials (LAs) are among the types of cohesive devices which help connect ideas in a more smooth way. However, use of linking adverbials is often problematic for non-native speakers of English as they often overuse, underuse or misuse them in their writings (Granger &amp; Tyson, 1996; Lei, 2012). This study aimed to compare LAs used by Turkish native speakers (TNSs) in their English written PhD dissertations with LAs used in PhD dissertations of native English students in terms of frequency of using linking adverbials, and detect if LAs are overused or underused by TNSs. AntConc software was utilized for the quantitative analysis. Frequency counts and log-likelihood calculations were utilized to determine if the frequency differences between two corpora reached statistical significance. The results indicated a significant overuse of linking adverbials by Turkish doctoral students in their PhD dissertations. The study concluded with discussions of overused LAs as well as pedagogical implications and suggestions to improve teaching practices and materials such as implementing extensive awareness-rising activities on LAs and including authentic examples in the ELT materials.
Physics for Teaching High School Physics: Views of Prospective Physics Teachers and Teacher Educators about Undergraduate Physics Study
Author: Azam, Saiqa
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Physics,Science Instruction,Secondary School Science,Teacher Educators,Science Teachers,Undergraduate Study,Preservice Teachers,Student Attitudes,Foreign Countries,Secondary Education,Preservice Teacher Education,College Science

This paper explores the views of pre-service physics teachers and science teacher educators about the initial teacher education (ITE) programs in two Melbourne universities, focusing on their preparation for teaching high school physics. Using a qualitative interview approach, five pre-service physics teachers and three physics teacher educators were interviewed to generate data to develop an understanding of the role of undergraduate physics study in teaching high school physics, and to determine if science teacher educators' views match with those of future high school physics teachers. Both groups of participants identified a number of issues which impact prospective physics teachers' ability to teach high school physics, and offered suggestions to improve the undergraduate physics study. The findings provided insights into the varied needs of future physics teachers with diverse backgrounds, the inadequacy of their undergraduate physics study, the capacity of some other science courses, and suggestions to improve the preparation of high school physics teachers.
The Preparedness of Preservice Literacy Teachers: Viewpoints among Literacy Teacher Educators
Author: Sharp, Laurie A.
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Preservice Teacher Education,Preservice Teachers,Readiness,Literacy,Literacy Education,Teacher Educators,Teacher Attitudes

Much literature has expressed concerns regarding preparation efforts for all aspects of literacy throughout all K-12 teaching areas, yet few studies have investigated preparedness through viewpoints of those who prepare literacy teachers. The purpose for the current study was to determine how literacy teacher educators view current levels of preparation among preservice literacy teachers with the dispositions, knowledge, and skills articulated by professional literacy standards. The current study utilized a cross-sectional, survey research design among 65 survey respondents selected by purposive sampling techniques. Data were analyzed quantitatively using descriptive statistics, and results were reported in the form of frequency counts and percentages. Findings revealed areas of strength and areas needing improvement with specific aspects of the professional literacy standards. Implications from these findings were discussed, as well as limitations of the current study and recommendations for future research.
An Analysis of Effective Support Structures for Novice Teachers
Author: Warsame, Kitty
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Beginning Teachers,Teacher Persistence,Beginning Teacher Induction,Program Effectiveness,Teacher Attitudes,Teacher Administrator Relationship,Mentors,Faculty Development,Supervisors

Teachers are leaving the profession at alarming rates. As a result, retaining novice teachers has become a major concern for policy makers, school districts, administrators, and teaching staff throughout the United States. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of novice teacher induction support structures in a southwestern US state. The conceptual framework is based on research examining teacher attrition; this study extends the research by examining school-based and university-based programs. Research questions focused on the perception of novice teachers regarding mentoring experiences at their certifying universities and employing school districts. Three research questions examined school district comprehensive induction support, certifying university support induction programs, and other support services that supported novice teachers' decisions to remain in the profession. The method used to conduct research was a sequential exploratory mixed methods design to gather data. Quantitative research analyzed survey responses through descriptive statistics. Qualitative research utilized semi-structured interviews. The results revealed strong school support can compensate for the lack of university support, but strong university support did not compensate for a lack of school support.
Teachers Professional Development in Schools: Reflection on the Move to Create a Culture of Continuous Improvement
Author: Tuli, Fekede
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Faculty Development,Reflection,Teacher Effectiveness,Foreign Countries,Teacher Educators,Personal Narratives,Professional Continuing Education,Secondary School Teachers,Educational Change,Educational Innovation,Educational Improvement

Professional development of teacher is acknowledged to be centrally important in maintaining and enhancing the quality of teaching and learning in schools. Cognizant of this, nationwide professional development has been designed and enacted since 2003 in Ethiopia. This paper aims to reflect on the practices of teachers' professional development in schools. In so doing, it relied on the narratives of three informants, current literature and the experiences of the researcher as an insider and teacher educator. Methodologically, the study employed narrative research, which is the process of studying and understanding experience through story telling. The findings indicated that the participants found the current teacher professional development problematic and unhelpful to bring the desired change in teachers classroom practice and student learning. The available teacher professional development was narrowly understood, poorly practiced, and orchestrated tightly from the top.
Pre-Service English Language Teachers in Terms of Their Orientations of Motivation in Turkey&apos;s Context
Author: Yütük, Tarik
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Preservice Teachers,Student Attitudes,Language Teachers,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Student Motivation,Gender Differences,Age Differences,Incentives

This paper seeks to investigate motivational orientations of Turkish prospective (pre-service) English language teachers in a descriptive way. In a state university in Turkey, 35 male and 90 female pre-service English language teachers participated in the study. These participants were 38 freshmen, 69 junior, and 18 senior students. A motivation scale adapted from Gobel and Mori (2006) was administered to the participants. The results showed that pre-service English language teachers have a high level of the intrinsic, integrative, and instrumental motivational orientations for learning English except the extrinsic one. Moreover, although the female participants displayed higher motivation than their male counterparts, the difference was not found robust enough excluding the intrinsic motivation. Moreover, it was obtained that the motivation levels of learners showed fluctuations in the course of time, which is congruent with previous studies. Lastly, the findings were further interpreted and elaborated within the discussion part.
Perceptions of Instructors on Using Web 2.0 Tools in Academic English Courses
Author: Balbay, Seher
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Web 2.0 Technologies,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Teacher Attitudes,Language of Instruction,Technical Education,Teaching Methods,Language Teachers,Academic Discourse,Computer Software,Pedagogical Content Knowledge,Technological Literacy,Faculty Development,Educational Technology,Foreign Countries

It is impossible to imagine a university instructor who does not make use of the internet today. The internet provides not only quick access to reliable research data but also certain programs that teachers can tailor to use in their own specific contexts and to interact with their students in practical ways. There might still be resistance to learning new technologies and adapting to them even in the most 'modern' work environments even among the relatively younger teachers. The aim of this study was to explore the ELT instructors' perspectives on the use of Web 2.0 technologies in university level academic English skills courses in an English-medium university, and to test whether a year-long regular training program made a difference in their perceptions and practice of the use of Web 2.0 tools in their teaching. 21 instructors from Middle East Technical University were offered regular training sessions on the practical uses of certain Web 2.0 tools such as, the Google Drive, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Docs, Google Forms, Kahoot, Mysimpleshow, Poll Everywhere, Nearpod, Mentimeter, Edpuzzle, and QR codes. A pretest and posttest to explore the instructors' knowledge of and attitudes towards Web 2.0 tools were administered before and after the series of training sessions to see if there were any significant changes. Also, follow-up interviews were carried out with the instructors who participated in the sessions to obtain a deeper insight into their perspectives. Both the questionnaire and the interview results revealed that there were significant changes in these instructors' attitudes towards the use of Web 2.0 tools.