M.A. Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Browsing M.A. Theses by Title
Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
Results Per Page
Sort Options
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 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.Item 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.Item 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.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 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.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 necessaryItem 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.Item 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.