M.A. Theses
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Browsing M.A. Theses by Author "Akcan, Sumru."
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Item An exploratory study of the progressive ‘–ing’ in a Turkish academic context from an ELF perspective(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2014., 2014.) Nikbay, Çağla.; Akcan, Sumru.In SLA literature every nonstandard use of L2 learners is counted as an ‘error’ causing distraction to communication. Explanations for these errors range from crosslinguistic influence between L1 and L2 to target language input in foreign language classrooms. But, such a monolingual orientation of SLA which takes standard language as the norm against which learners are measured does not comply with the multilingual reality of today’s communities. If the acquisition of English, which acts as a lingua franca (ELF), is in question, this view can be strongly confirmed. There are more nonnative English speakers than native speakers and English is used more between nonnatives, so a fresh outlook on how L2 speakers make use of English language in interaction is needed. This research, as one of the ELF-based studies, investigated the progressive use by the L1 Turkish preservice teachers of English in an English-medium academic context. Individual and group speeches of seventy-three participants and their interactions in a speaking course were videorecorded. The analysis of this spoken data showed that in 88 % of all obligatory contexts the participants used the progressive, which suggests that they know the semantics of this construction and mostly use it accordingly. But, when all progressive uses were examined; there appeared, apart from 75 % standard uses, 25 % nonstandard contexts of the progressive in which it was extended to states, habits and points in time. Therefore, there was also a focus in this study on possible reasons of such a characteristic progressive use in L2 English.Item Program evaluation of an english language teacher education practicum: insights from supervisors, student teachers, and graduates(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2016., 2016.) Celen, Kıymet Merve.; Akcan, Sumru.This study aims to evaluate the practicum program offered at the Foreign Language Education Department (FLED) at an English-medium state university in Turkey to discover (1) the extent to which the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) English language teacher competencies were achieved, (2) its strengths and weaknesses, and (3) the reported needs and possible solutions. Participants of the study were university supervisors, student teachers, and program graduates. Data came from student teacher and program graduate surveys, focus group interviews with student teachers, and individual interviews with university supervisors. For MoNE competencies, the results pointed to an improvement for a better understanding and more use of assessment and evaluation in the classroom and use of activities appropriate for learners with special needs. Higher ratings were elicited for teaching practices and understanding oneself as a professional. Knowledge, skills, dispositions, field experiences and student teaching internship, and quality of instruction were found to be the strengths of the practicum experience in contrast to learner diversity and technology components of the teacher education program. Strengths of the program included experiences in classrooms at various grade levels, seminar discussions and peer feedback, good relationships with cooperating teachers, and involvement and guidance by university supervisors while suggestions pointed to an earlier or more practice or observation, different school contexts, cooperation with cooperating teachers, and improvement in assessment, observations, and technology use.Item The attitudes of secondary school students towards native and non-native english speaking teachers in an EFL context(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2014., 2014.) Meşincigiller, Sema.; Akcan, Sumru.This thesis explores the attitudes of secondary school students studying at private schools towards native and non-native English teachers in an EFL context. In particular, what kind of attitudes these students had in terms of learning English and a good English teacher image were investigated. In addition, the students’ preferences for each group of teachers or both of them were sought besides the reasons for this preference. In order to reveal the attitudes, 680 students were surveyed through an attitude scale followed by an open ended question seeking the reasons for their preferences, six structured focus group interviews, for about 4, 5 hours in total, were held with 84 of them, and two English classes of students were observed both with two native English speaking teachers and two non-native English speaking teachers in a period of three months for 35 lesson hours. The quantitative results were analysed via SPSS by using means, percentages, and a t-test, and the qualitative data were analysed through the content analysis method. The results of the study indicated that these students had positive attitudes towards both their native English-speaking English teachers and their non-native English-speaking English teachers, so they mostly preferred to be taught by both groups of teachers. It was also revealed that the students perceived both of their teachers to be good English teachers but that they favoured their NNESTs in terms of pedagogical teaching skills. The findings also showed that these students mostly recognized their teachers’ different strengths and weaknesses. So, they mostly preferred their NESTs for the teaching of oral skills and vocabulary teaching, and they favoured their NNESTs mostly for grammar teaching and as they provided the use of L1 (Turkish) when necessary