Yabancı Dil Eğitimi

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The relationship between collaboration and professional development : Possible effects of EFL student teacher/supervising teacher dialogue on the beliefs and instructional practices of the EFL supervising teachers
(Thesis (Ph.D.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2001., 2001.) Atay, Derin.; Akyel, Ayşe.
This study investigates whether a collaborative dialogue in addition to knowledge-transmission training between EFL student teachers and supervising teachers would contribute to the professional development of EFL teachers as opposed to only knowledge-transmission training. To answer this major research question the following subquestions were dealt with: 1. What is the nature of the collaborative dialogue between the supervising teachers and the student teachers? 2. Will there be a difference between the instructional practices of the teachers who took only a knowledge-transmission type of training and those who were additionally engaged in a collaborative dialogue based on an assistance-support form of sustained interaction with student teachers? 3. Will there be a difference between the public and private school teachers in terms of benefits in teachers' instructional practices and the nature of teacher and student talk after they have engaged in a collaborative dialogue in addition to a knowledge-transmission type of training, if so how? 4. What are the supervising teachers' and student teachers' attitudes toward participation in a collaborative dialogue as opposed to a knowledge-transmission type of training? Forty English language teachers (twenty from private and twenty from public schools) and twenty student teachers from the Department of Foreign Language Teaching of Marmara University formed the target population of the study. Twenty of the English teachers were assigned to the experimental and the other twenty to the control group. Control group teachers were given a knowledge-transmission type of training about classroom skills, whereas experimental group teachers were additionally engaged in a collaborative dialogue based on an assistance-support form of sustained interaction with student teachers (combined treatment). Quantitative data results obtained from classroom observations indicated that experimental group teachers in both the private and public schools showed statistically significant improvement in most of the teaching practices in comparison to control group teachers in both settings. Moreover, the treatment changed the nature of the talk of the experimental group teachers at a significant level and this change affected student participation in class in a positive way. In relation to teacher talk, Significant changes were seen in all aspects except in teachers' repetition skills. Regarding the nature of student talk, again the majority of the interactive practices showed significant change as a result of the treatment. In addition, the results also indicated that the public and private school experimental group teachers which statistically differed from each other in favor of the private school teachers in several teaching practices and in several aspects of teacher and student talk at the beginning of the study, equally benefited from the combined treatment. Qualitative data results obtained from the semi-structured interviews with supervising teachers and journals kept by student teachers indicated that the student teachers and supervising teachers followed the preconference, observation and postconference cycle based on feedback and reflection. Moreover, they all agreed on the mutual benefits of the process to the professional development of the participants. Hence, the results of the study indicated that supervising teacher/student teacher dialogue based on support and assistance can be utilized as an effective INSET program in both private and public schools.
Construct validation of the reading subskills of the Boğaziçi University English Proficiency Test
(Thesis (Ph.D.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2004., 2004.) Ünaldı, Aylin.; Alptekin, Cem.
The purpose of this study is to present construct validity evidence for the reading module of the Boğaziçi University English Language Proficiency Test (the BUEPT). Following the suggestions of Messick's (1989a) validity framework, the study provides evidence for content, substantive, structural, generalisability and external aspects of construct validity of the BUEPT reading module. Initially, a theoretically sound and practically applicable reading framework (Urquhart and Weir, 1998) that would ensure content relevance and representativeness was chosen and test specifications were developed based on that framework. The tests were piloted and the analysis of score distributions and item performance through classical test theory helped improve the technical quality of the tests minimising the construct irrelevant test variance. Expert judgement was taken using an analysis scheme based on Bachman et al.(1995) and verbal protocols of the test takers were analysed in order to investigate whether or not each item reflects the content defined by each dimension of the reading construct as defined in the framework. The factor structures of the tests were analysed using the Principal Component Analysis and the BUEPT reading module was compared to the IELTS reading test both in terms of content congruence and the correlation between them. The findings from these investigations provided substantial support for the validity of the score interpretations based on the BUEPT reading test. The study generally supports the soundness and applicability of the Urquhart and Weir's (1998) framework.
The role of portfolios in EFL student teachers' professional development: a case study
(Thesis (Ph.D.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2006., 2006.) Koçoğlu, Zeynep Banu.; Akyel, Ayşe.; Erçetin, Naciye Gülcan.
The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of portfolio preparation on the professional development of student teachers in terms of reflective thinking, technology competency and attitude towards technology use in education. Five senior students from Boğaziçi University, Faculty of Education, Department of Foreign Language Education participated in this study. Multiple sets of data for thisstudy came from: (a) questionnaires, (b) interviews, and (c) artifacts from pen/paper and electronic portfolios. Collection of data was completed in two consecutive semesters, Fall 2002 and Spring 2003. To answer the 1stmain research question that focused on the impact of preparing portfolios on EFL student teachers̕ professional development, the perspectives of student teachers and their portfolio artifacts were analyzed. In order to find the participants̕ perspectives about portfolios, a contentanalysis of the interview transcripts was conducted by using Miles and Huberman̕s model (1994) to identify conceptual themes. In order to investigate reflective thinking, portfolio artifacts were analyzed by using Hattonand Smith̕s (1995) framework of types of reflection to determine how the participants used different types ofreflection to describe and justify their behaviors. To answer the 2nd main research question, that is whether use of technology in preparing portfolios affects student teachers̕ professional development, both pre-and posttechnology competency level and technology attitude questionnaires were tabulated and analyzed statistically. The student teachers stated that the portfolio allowed them to be reflective and to make connections betweentheory and practice, which helped them think about theirstrengths and weaknesses in becoming a teacher. The student teachers also felt that during the preparation of portfolios they were able to identify ways to improve their teaching practice. Based on the findings, the datasupported Hatton and Smith̕s view of teachers̕ reflective thinking as a hierarchical developmental sequence. The results, overall, showed that the process ofpreparing a portfolio provided a useful approach to enhancing professional development, with a few negative comments regarding the time, positive comments regarding the support and collaboration from the peers, its contribution to their professional development in terms of reflective thinking and self-confidence. In addition, preparing electronic portfolios by using different technological applications also enhanced professional development of student teachers in terms of facilitating technological competence and increasing attitudes positively toward computer use in education.
Computer-mediated communication acts in non-native English speakers' electronic mail exchanges
(Thesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2009., 2009.) Sevingil, Eray.; Bayyurt, Yasemin.
The basic aim of this study is to examine the Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) acts of Turkish non-native speakers of English (NNSsT), native speakers of English (NSs) and non-native speakers of English in different countries (NNSsO) within online e-mail exchanges in English on preset topics between February 2008 and May 2008. This study explores whether NNSsT‟ CMC acts resemble or differ from NSs‟ and NNSsO‟ CMC acts. The study examines what types of CMC acts NNSsT use in their e-mail exchanges when they address NNSsO or NSs in the study. Besides, the perceptions of NNSsT about the contribution of CMC to their cross-cultural communication, understanding and their foreign language learning are discussed. Computer-Mediated-Discourse Analysis (CMDA) was conducted with respect to qualitative e-mail exchanges in the e-mail group. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze quantitative data generated by the CMC acts of all groups. The analyses reveal that the difference between the frequencies of NNST and NNSO CMC acts is not statistically significant. However, there is a statistically significant difference between the frequencies NNST and NS CMC acts. In addition, NNSsT‟ CMC acts addressed to NNSsO or NSs are not statistically significant. NNST regard the use of e-mails as a beneficial tool for Foreign Language Education and intercultural understanding. The findings of this study offer a pragmatic view of foreign language education to develop linguistic, social and cultural competencies in the target language and show how to combine CMC tools and foreign language learning.
High school ninth Grade students' awareness and preferences for the cultural content of the EFL textbooks: a case in Turkey
(Thesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2009., 2009.) Danacı, Seda.; Bayyurt, Yasemin.
This thesis investigates the cultural content of an EFL textbook (i.e. The New English File Elementary) and high school ninth grade students’ awareness of and preferences for the cultural content of this textbook. The study consists of two parts. The first part involves content analysis of the textbook in question. In this part, pictures and reading texts of the book are searched for cultural elements. In this study, culture is examined in terms of target language culture, local culture, international culture and other countries’ cultures. The definition of culture adopted by the study involves four senses of culture (aesthetic, sociological, semantic and sociolinguistic) by Adaskou, Brittten and Fahsi (1990). The content of ‘culture’ concept in the study was determined with a pilot study. The second part of the study involves the investigation of the opinions of high school students with respect to their awareness of and preferences for the cultural content of their EFL textbook. High school ninth grade students from an Anatolian high school in İstanbul, Turkey participated in the study. Data are collected through questionnaires and interviews. Results of the study revealed that the textbook in question represented the international culture and the sociological sense of culture in general. Results of the questionnaire and interviews conducted with the students indicated that participants were highly aware of the origin of the cultural elements in their EFL textbook. Results showed that students were more aware of the origin of cultural elements reflecting the sociological sense of culture while more content with the ones reflecting the aesthetic sense of culture. Results of the questionnaire about their preferences for the cultural content of an EFL textbook revealed that students wanted to see topics about social life more frequently. Most of the students having participated in the interviews stated that they liked the textbook “The New English File Elementary”, target language culture and international culture were represented in the textbook while local culture was not, they would like to change the book and add topics about the local culture. In sum, this study suggests preparing ELT textbooks and materials for a specific group of learners by taking their local culture and preferences into consideration.
Processing wh-dependencies in L2 English : the role of L1 and working memory capacity
(Thesis (Ph.D.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2010., 2010.) Çele, Filiz.; Gürel, Ayşe.
This study investigates online processing of long-distance wh-dependencies in English by a group of Turkish- and Spanish-speakers of second language (L2) English in comparison to a group of native English speakers to explore whether end-state L2 speakers achieve native-like processing in the domain of wh-extractions. The study also examines the role of first language (L1) and working memory capacity (WMC) in on-line processing of whdependencies. To this end, speakers of L1 Turkish as well as speakers of L1 Spanish have been included in the study. Turkish is a wh-in-situ language. Nevertheless, it allows overt wh-movement via scrambling. Therefore, it provides an interesting testing case to verify the influence of scrambling in correctly accepting grammatical wh-extractions and rejecting ungrammatical wh-extractions with island violations. In this vein, the study focuses on the question of whether or not L1 Turkish speakers will be as accurate and as fast as L1 speakers of Spanish, a language with overt wh-movement in processing longdistance wh-extractions. Additional questions investigated in this study are (1) whether there is a subjectobject asymmetry in wh-extractions from finite and nonfinite clauses, and (2) whether there is a relationship between the WMC and sentence processing performance in the L2. An online grammaticality judgment task (OGJT) involved both grammatical whextractions from finite and nonfinite clauses and ungrammatical wh-extractions with island violations and this task was presented in two conditions, namely, the full-sentence condition and the self-paced word-by-word reading in the moving window condition. Both response accuracy and response latency (i.e. reading time) were measured in these conditions. To determine the WMC, all participants were tested on two online working memory (WM) tasks in English: 1) automated reading span (ARSAN) task, and automated operation span (AOSAPN) task. Spanish and Turkish participants also took the ARSPAN task in their respective L1. The accuracy results from the two conditions revealed that Turkish and Spanish speakers were as accurate as native English speakers in correctly accepting grammatical wh-extractions and rejecting ungrammatical wh-extractions with island violations, except for subject extraction from nonfinite clauses, and wh-extractions with that-trace violations. L2 learners were also similar to native speakers in reading patterns. Furthermore, there was no difference between Turkish and Spanish groups in comprehension accuracy and reading time for grammatical and ungrammatical whdependencies in L2 English. This suggests that L2 speakers whose L1 allows overt whmovement (i.e. Spanish speakers of English) do not outperform L2 speakers with a whin- situ L1 (i.e. Turkish speakers of English). The presence of overt wh-movement in scrambled sentences in the L1 (as in the case of Turkish) might be playing a role in accurate processing of wh-extractions in the L2. The results may also suggest that in the end-state L2, speakers achieve native-like processing irrespective of the syntactic properties of their L1.
The strategies in requests and apologies of Turkish FLED students: a comparison of electronic mails and DCT data
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2011., 2011.) Eliçin, Canan.; Martı, Leyla Mesude.
The aim of this study is to analyze and compare the e-mail messages and Discourse Completion Test (DCT) data of the students at Foreign Language Education Department (FLED) at an English medium university in order to investigate the strategies and categories they use when performing requests and apologies. The study further investigates English L1 speakers’ (EL1) and Turkish L1 speakers’ (TL1) responses to the DCT to make a cross-cultural comparison between the FLED students and the ESP group and to detect cross-linguistic influences from the first language (L1). The data were collected through e-mails from FLED students, and DCTs from the three groups of the participants. The data were coded and categorized so as to display the frequency and the percentages of the strategies for each group. The results of statistical analyses suggest a significant difference between e-mail and DCT data regarding the frequency of the use of request and apology strategies by FLED students. Findings indicate both similarities and differences between the ESP group and FLED students. The ESP group used certain request strategies at a significantly higher/ lower rate than the FLED students. Finally, Turkish FLED students borrowed from their L1 pragmatic knowledge when performing certain request and apologizing strategies.
Exploring the interplay between a non-native English language teacher’s pedagogical beliefs, classroom practices and her students’ learning experiences regarding L2 grammar
(Thesis (Ph.D.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2012., 2012.) Serdar, Hande.; Akcan, Sumru.
The aim of this study is to explore the interplay between a non-native English language teacher’s pedagogical beliefs, classroom practices and her students’ learning experiences regarding L2 grammar using a case study design. For the purpose of the study, a qualitative research was carried out. The study utilized purposeful sampling. Among the purposeful sampling types, convenience sampling was employed. The study was conducted in a preparatory classroom of a private university’s Department of Foreign Languages in Istanbul, Turkey. The tools that were used for data collection were background interviews, semi-structured interviews, classroom observation, stimulated recalls, teacher reflective notes, student academic diaries, written tasks, document collection and supplementary data collection. The analysis of the data indicated that there is a dynamic relationship between the non-native English language teacher’s pedagogical beliefs, her classroom practices and her students’ learning experiences regarding L2 grammar. The participating teacher’s own foreign language learning experience, teacher education she had received at the university and her teaching experiences, were to be seen constitutive of her pedagogical beliefs regarding L2 grammar. On the one hand, the participating teacher exhibited, to a great extent, congruence between her stated beliefs and her observed classroom practices regarding L2 grammar and on the other hand, some of her stated beliefs of were not evident in her observed classroom practices regarding L2 grammar. Analysis revealed that some of the participating teacher’s perceptions about the students’ expectations, and some external factors were overriding her beliefs and causing incongruence between her stated beliefs and observed classroom practices. These external factors were revealed as the element of time and the backwash effect of the exams. The participating students’ L2 grammar learning seemed to be mediated by some common elements. Participating students highlighted that some affective and some instructional factors mediated their L2 grammar learning. The findings of this study underlined that identification of the interplay between a non-native English language teacher’s pedagogical beliefs, classroom practices and her students’ L2 learning experiences enables gaining deeper insights into L2 grammar teaching and learning.
Refusing invitations via email: strategy use in Turkish and American-English refusals
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2013., 2013.) Merdin, Emine.; Bayyurt, Yasemin.
The aim of this study is to analyze the similarities and differences between Turkish and American English in the speech acts of refusal via email. It aims to uncover Turkish and American English refusal strategies employed in emails sent to refuse invitations, and examine whether social distance between the interlocutors has an impact on strategy use by Turkish L1 speakers (TSs) and American English L1 speakers (AESs). It further investigates the content of refusals and the effect of data collection method on strategy use. To this end, the data have been collected through natural emails and discourse completion tasks (DCT) from TSs and AESs. Each refusal in the data has been coded and counted. The data have been analyzed to compare the frequencies of refusal strategies, the effect of social distance on strategy use across groups, the content of refusals, and the effect of the data collection method. PASW has been used to run descriptive statistics and repeated measures of ANOVA. The results show more similarities than differences in strategy use in Turkish and American English refusal emails. Thus, pragmatic failure might be unlikely for American learners of Turkish and Turkish learners of American English. However, the findings also reveal that there are differences that are language-specific and culturally-shaped. The findings also suggest that natural emails tend to be more elaborated in that they have more strategies, thus DCTs may not thoroughly reflect the language in use and should be complemented with methods.
Writer visibility and reader engagement in university students’ argumentative essays
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2013., 2013.) Çandarlı, Duygu.; Bayyurt, Yasemin.; Martı, Leyla Mesude.
This study investigates interactional metadiscourse markers in the argumentative essays of Turkish and American students. It attempts to find out to what extent L1 and L2 essays of Turkish learners of English show the features of writer and reader presence in comparison with the essays of monolingual American students. Learner corpora consist of 48 English and 45 Turkish academic essays written by first year Turkish university students. These corpora are compared with the sub-corpus of the Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays (LOCNESS). Corpus-based textual analysis is carried out to uncover the frequency and functions of first person pronouns, boosters, attitude markers, reader pronouns, directives, shared knowledge references, questions and personal asides. Semi-structured interviews are conducted with 10 volunteer students to gain a more in-depth understanding of their opinions on their own use of metadiscourse items and their general views about selfrepresentation and reader engagement in academic writing. The analysis is done by using the concordance program, AntConc 3.2.4. Additionally NVivo 9, qualitative analysis software program, is used to code the functions of the first personal pronouns and directives as well as the interviews. The results suggest a statistically significant difference between L1 and L2 essays of Turkish students in terms of boosters, attitude markers, directives and questions. There is also a statistically significant difference between the English essays of Turkish and American students with regard to first person singular pronouns, attitude markers, personal asides and questions. Turkish essays have both reader and writer visibility features at the highest level. This study shows that the level of writer visibility and reader engagement of Turkish students’ writing in English is far more close to native English writers than their own writing in Turkish. Textual analysis and interviews have provided evidence for the fact that Turkish students’ writing in English may rely on both their cultural tendencies and English language rhetorical conventions. The results shed light on the interplay of writing instruction, cultural factors and audience awareness.
Hedging in academic writing: the use of “can” in university students’ argumentative essays at an English Medium University in Turkey
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2013., 2013.) Tıkaç, Saadet.; Bayyurt, Yasemin.
This study aims to shed light on the ways of using hedging devices in academic writing by a group of first year university students studying in the department of English language education at a Turkish state university. The main objective of this study is to explore the nature of hedges and modal auxiliaries with a specific focus on the use of “can” as a hedging device in students’ argumentative essays. The secondary focus of the study is to investigate how student writers build their authorial stance in regard to the argument they develop in their texts. The first data set of the study comprises 22 argumentative essays. The data are collected in the English Composition class. The second data set comprises interviews with the aforementioned student writers who participated in the study. The first data set was analyzed both manually and with the “Simple Concordancing Program”. The second data set was transcribed and analyzed with the qualitative research analysis software, “NVivo”. The results of the study revealed that Turkish students had a tendency to hide their authorial stance with regard to the argument they developed in their essays through use of various hedging devices. When the functions of the modal verb “can” were analyzed, it was observed that the frequency of use of “can” as an ability marker was higher than the use of “can” as a possibility marker. In addition, in the interviews, the students stated that they did not receive explicit instruction on different functions of “can” except its use as an ability marker in their earlier English language learning experience.
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
Exploring the role of multimedia glosses and strategy use in second language listening comprehension and incidental vocabulary learning in a mobile environment
(Thesis (Ph.D.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2014., 2014.) Çakmak, Fidel.; Erçetin, Naciye Gülcan.
This study seeks to investigate the effects of multimedia glosses on second language listening comprehension and incidental vocabulary learning in a mobile environment. The study also explored the strategies used by second language learners as they interacted with listening and multimedia glosses. Based on the multimedia principle of Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (Mayer, 2001), three types of gloss conditions were tested (textual-only, pictorial-only, textual-plus-pictorial). Two other conditions with no glosses included; one of these conditions allowed the learners to regulate their listening through an audio control tool as in the gloss conditions, the other did not allow any kind of control to the learner, except starting the audio file and restarting it. A listening application for mobile devices was developed and optimized for mobile phones. 116 participants with a low-level proficiency level in English were randomly assigned to one of these conditions. To assess their L2 listening comprehension and incidental vocabulary learning, immediate free recall and unannounced vocabulary tests were administered. The participants’ interaction with the listening text and glosses was tracked in order to examine the strategies they employed. The findings indicated that access to glosses facilitates recognition and production of vocabulary with the type of gloss having a nonsignificant effect. On the other hand, glosses had no effect on L2 listening comprehension. The results also indicate that when glosses were available, analytical listening strategies were employed more often than global listening strategies. When no glosses were available, students showed an equal tendency for either analytical or global listening. In addition, the participants preferred to use the available glosses simultaneously, i.e. as they interacted with the text. The study concluded that while access to glosses promoted vocabulary recognition irrespective of gloss types, gloss use did not have a significant effect on overall L2 listening comprehension.
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.
A case study of a Turkish English learner in an EFL setting: investment, imagined community, and identity
(Thesis (Ph.D.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2014., 2014.) Ersin, Pınar.; Bayyurt, Yasemin.; Nelson, Gayle,
The present study investigates the learner identity construction of one particular learner. More specifically, the study aims to examine the relationship between a learner‟s English language learning and her learner identity. The key participant was a 19-year-old learner, Gamze (pseudonym), enrolled in a one-year intensive English language program at a state university in Istanbul, Turkey. Qualitative data sources for this single case study were interviews with the key participant, interviews with the key participant‟s instructors, the key participant‟s language journal, video recordings of the key participant‟s classes, stimulated recall protocols with the key participant and researcher journal. Thematic analysis was applied to the data in order to categorize emerging themes. The analysis revealed that initially the key participant seemed to invest in English language practice in and outside the classroom to become a member of her imagined community. However, her investment appeared to decrease gradually, throughout the semester. Thus, her decreased investment seemed to be reflected in her shifting learner identity construction. In conclusion, Gamze seemed to improve less and slower in the class because there were multiple reasons that kept her from investing enough, which influenced her learner identity along her language learning journey.
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.
Second language learning-induced enhancement of executive functions in an instructed language learning context
(Thesis (Ph.D.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2020., 2020.) Akıncı, Mehmet.; Erçetin, Naciye Gülcan.
This study probes the effects of L2 experience on the enhancement of executive functions (EFs) and the predictive validity of EFs for L2 success from a domain-general perspective in a longitudinal pre-test/post-test design. Participants in the experimental group were 165 Turkish high-school graduates receiving intensive L2 instruction in a university setting for six months (600 class contact hours), and the ones in the control group were 103 freshman students taking undergraduate courses in their first language. Two visual complex span tasks (symmetry and rotation) to measure working memory, antisaccade and flanker tasks to measure inhibition, and one standardized English proficiency task were administered before and after the instruction. Multivariate and univariate repeated measures ANOVA results indicated that both instruction types led to the enhancement of EFs except for flanker performances, yet no group differences were observed. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that complex span task and antisaccade performances had loadings on the same factor, named as executive attention, whereas flanker performance was independent from this dimension. Regression findings demonstrated that, albeit little, flanker but not executive attention could explain L2 success. Prior L2 experience was found to be the best predictor. The study concluded that L2 experience can contribute to the enhancement of EFs, yet executive attention might not play a significant role in L2 success at the end of a six-month intensive L2 instruction.

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