Browsing by Subject "English language Study and teaching (Higher) Turkish speakers."
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Item Open Access Academic reading expectations in English for first-year students at Hacettepe University(Bilkent University, 2005) Eroğlu, Nihan AylinThis study explored the Academic reading needs of first-year students from the perspective of content course teachers in English-medium departments at Hacettepe University. The study was conducted with 35 content course teachers and 99 first-year students in English-medium departments at Hacettepe University in the spring semester of 2005. Three sets of data were used for this study. First, a questionnaire was distributed to 35 first-year content course teachers and interviews completed with 18 of the teachers who returned the questionnaire. In addition, samples of required textbooks were collected from the same first-year content course teachers as well as reading samples from the textbook and the final exam in the Prep school. A vocabulary test was given to 99 first-year students in English-medium departments to determine a baseline measure of their ability. The purpose of the questionnaire administered to first-year content-course teachers was to determine teachers’ academic reading expectations for first-year students. The questionnaire consisted of Likert scale items. The follow-up interviews provided insight into teachers’ perceptions, experiences and practices related to their academic reading expectations of first-year students. Reading samples from the firstyear content courses were collected to specify the precise reading expectations of the content teachers. Reading samples from the final exam and the textbook of the Prep School were collected to determine the exit expectations from the Prep School. The vocabulary test was done to explore the vocabulary levels of the first-year students. To analyze the data, mean scores, percentages and frequencies were used in the questionnaire; a coding system was used in the interviews; Flesch-Kincaid readability test and Vocabulary Profiler were used for analyzing the reading samples and the prep exit exam. To determine the students’ levels of vocabulary knowledge, Nation’s (1990) guideline was used. The interviews were conducted with 18 content course teachers who completed the questionnaire. The results reveal that all content course teachers agree on the necessity of being a proficient reader in order to be successful in content courses. Content course teachers also agree that the academic reading curriculum should be revised to include using texts which are taught in content course departments. Based on these results, adjusting the current curriculum in accordance with the expectations of content course teachers is recommended, particularly in the area of more academic vocabulary training. Another recommendation is to adopt an adjunct model approach to link content courses and language courses thereby providing students with both content and language study simultaneously.Item Open Access A case study of one teacher's pedagogical system for teaching listening(Bilkent University, 2002) Özmaden, AlperIt is shortsighted to leave out the actual practitioners in understanding the highly situated and interpretive nature of teaching and learning. As teaching is grounded in local contexts, investigating the factors that play significant roles in teaching through a thorough understanding of how practitioners construct their own theory of actual practice is essential. Teacher self-reflection is one way to achieve this. Thus, listening to teacher’s voices in a non-judgmental way can reveal the connection between their thought processes and their actions. The purpose of this study was to investigate one teacher’s pedagogical system for teaching listening. In particular, the cognitive processes and structures of one teacher in teaching listening was central to this study to provide a thorough picture about teacher cognition and pedagogy. This study investigated the following research questions: 1- What is the teacher's pedagogical system for teaching listening? a) What are the teacher's stated beliefs and personal theories about teaching listening? b) What are the teacher's practices in teaching listening? c) How does the teacher interpret any inconsistencies between her stated beliefs and personal theory of teaching listening and her teaching practices? An ELT teacher from Anadolu University Foreign Languages Department (AUFLD) participated in this study. The participant teacher had six years of teaching experience. The research study was carried out at AUFLD. An initial interview was conducted with the participant teacher to have a general idea about her educational background, her views on L2 teaching, and on teaching listening in particular. The participant teacher was observed and videotaped for four two-hour sessions of teaching. After the observations, the observer and the participant teacher watched the recordings together. She made comments on her teaching and on the factors behind her instructional decisions in particular. The self-reflections, classroom observations, and the initial-interview formed the data of the study. The interviews were transcribed and the data were analysed under the conceptual categories that emerged from the interviews. Data were analysed in detail through micro-ethnographic procedures. The results of the study indicated that the participant teacher’s beliefs, assumptions, and knowledge (BAK) are interwoven and her network of BAK form the foundation of all her reflections and interpretations on her practices. The results also revealed that the participant teacher’s perspective on teaching listening shows similarity with explicitly developed models in literature. Because learners’ particular needs, environmental constraints, and institutional structure reshape the participant teacher’s pedagogical system in teaching listening, besides explicitly developed models in literature, her way of approaching teaching listening includes these factors. The results imply that various factors such as pedagogical and curricular issues play significant roles in shaping the participant teacher’s pedagogical system. Reconstructing explicitly developed models in the light of the factors such as pedagogical and curricular issues that influence teachers’ BAKs should be considered in order to minimize the gap between theory and practice. That is, teachers’ own theories of teaching and learning and practices should be examined thoroughly and included while developing models of teaching.Item Open Access The effectiveness of task-based instruction in the improvement of learners' speaking skills(Bilkent University, 2005) Kasap, BarışThis thesis explores the effectiveness of task-based instruction (TBI) in improving students’ speaking skills as well as student and teacher perceptions of TBI at Anadolu University School of Foreign Languages. Control and experimental class data were gathered through questionnaires, interviews and oral tests. Oral pre- and post-tests were administered to both classes comprising 45 students total. The teacher’s perceptions of TBI were explored in pre- and post-treatment interviews, and a post-treatment interview was also conducted with a focus group from the experimental class. Questionnaires were distributed to the experimental group after each of 11 treatment tasks. Data from the oral pre- and post-tests and questionnaires were analyzed quantitatively while data from the teacher interviews and the focus group discussion were analyzed qualitatively. T-tests were run to compare the improvement between groups and to analyze improvement within groups. The T-tests revealed no significant differences in any of the comparisons. The study demonstrated, however that students’ general perceptions of taskbased instruction were positive, and the interview with the study teacher also yielded a positive result. The questionnaire results demonstrated that students had neutral or partially positive reactions to the treatment tasks but found these helpful in developing their oral skills. Findings of this study may inspire teachers teaching speaking to adapt some of the activities in the usual course book according to a more task-based approach, so that students can participate in oral practice of language actively and in turn help them improve their speaking abilities.Item Open Access The effects of student awareness of goals on success in and attitudes towards a reading course at Gaziosmanpaşa University(Bilkent University, 2002) Demir, DursunThe present study investigated the effects of goal setting on students' success in and attitudes towards a reading course. Moreover, the study also revealed the relationship between attitudes towards reading in general and attitudes towards a reading course, attitudes and gender, and attitudes and proficiency level. The study was conducted in the preparatory classes at Gaziosmanpaşa University, Tokat, Turkey. Fifty-two (twenty female, thirty-two male) pre-intermediate level preparatory students participated in this study. The study sought to investigate three research questions. The first research question compared the relationship between the subjects' attitudes towards reading in general and toward their reading course, further differentiated according to gender and proficiency level. The second research question concerned the effect of goal setting on attitudes towards a reading course. The third research question concerned the effect of goal setting on success. Concerning the second and third research questions, two hypotheses were made: 1) Students who set their personal goals will show more positive attitudes than students in the control group. 2) Students who set their personal goals will show higher performance than those in the control group. In order to investigate the research questions and test the hypotheses, two classes, one as the experimental and the other as the control group, were selected. Prior to the treatment both groups took an attitude survey and an achievement test. The survey consisted of forty items. Subjects were asked to indicate their responses to each statement on a 5-point Likert-scale, from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree". The test consisted of fifty questions. The experimental group was provided with the goal list of the reading course every week and required to write down some of the goals to be practiced in the subsequent week, whereas the control group just followed their regular syllabus. The treatment lasted for eight weeks. After the treatment, both groups took the same survey and the same test they took prior to the treatment. The data were analyzed by running t-tests. The results of the presurvey revealed that (a) Subjects had significantly more positive attitudes towards reading in general than they had towards the reading course (p<. 01). (b) Female students had slightly more positive attitudes than male students but the difference was not significant. (c) High proficient students had more positive attitudes than low proficient students and the difference was significant (p<. 05). Post-survey results indicated that setting goals does not foster more positive students attitudes thus, the first hypothesis was rejected. Posttest results indicated that setting goals does not increase students success thus, the second hypothesis was rejected, also. The findings of this study indicate that although setting goals fostered slightly more positive student attitudes towards a reading course and slightly increased their success in the same course, the changes were not statistically significant. However, it is difficult to make generalizations about the findings of the current study because of limitations of time and treatment.Item Open Access The impact of choice provision on students' affective engagement in tasks : a flow analysis(Bilkent University, 2005) Alperer, SelinThis study was designed to investigate the impact of choice on students’ affective engagement in 19 tasks in an EFL classroom. The choice provision techniques for the tasks included student-generated choice, teacher-assigned choice and no choice. The study was conducted with one group of 26 students who were taking the English 102 course offered at Middle East Technical University (METU). Data was collected using a survey of student affective engagement completed immediately after each task. Individual student means were used to investigate the motivational potential of tasks, and the number of participants in flow and apathy for each task. Data was further analyzed using ANOVA tests for choice and interactional pattern, a MANOVA test for the impact of choice, interactional pattern, and their mediating effect on the three flow dimensions, and t-tests for English proficiency and gender. The analyses indicated that both choice and interactional pattern significantly contributed to students’ affective engagement in tasks, but that interactional pattern played a more important role. Results showed that provision of choice did produce a significant positive difference in affective engagement compared to no choice, but that there was no distinction between student-generated and teacher-assigned choice. The findings also showed that an interactional pattern of group work produced significantly better results, followed by individual work, and a negative trend for whole-class interaction. A MANOVA test showed that while choice had a significant effect on task control and task appeal, interactional pattern showed a significant effect for all three flow dimensions, including focused attention. Moreover, the findings revealed a significant interaction effect between choice and interactional pattern for students’ perceptions of task appeal. Lastly, it was concluded from t-test results that neither English proficiency, nor gender significantly related to affective engagement in tasks.Item Open Access Impact of dialogue journals on language anxiety and classroom affect(Bilkent University, 2005) Köse, EvrenThis study explored the impact of using dialogue journals on language anxiety and classroom affect. The study was conducted with one control group and one experimental group at Zonguldak Karaelmas University in the spring semester of 2005. In total, 48 students and one teacher participated in the study. Following a workshop on the implementation of the dialogue journal, the teacher taught her class as usual and added dialogue journal use. Dialogue journal use was not part of the instruction for the control group. Data were collected through questionnaires and interviews. The questionnaires were administered to both groups before and after the six-week treatment. The questionnaires consisted of Likert scale items from (1)-Strongly Disagree to (5)-Strongly Agree. Interviews were also conducted with the teacher and selected students after the treatment. Questionnaires were analyzed by t-tests and ANOVA tests. The results revealed that no significant differences after the treatment were found between the control group and the experimental group students’ anxiety levels as measured by FLCAS. However, data collected in teacher and student interviews suggested that dialogue journal implementation had positive effects on attitudes towards English courses.Item Open Access Implementation of the components of critical thinking in an English 101 course in the First Year English Program at Bilkent University(Bilkent University, 2002) İrfaner, SemihCritical thinking has been a controversial topic in the field of education over several decades. The idea behind it is that in order to become more valuable members of society, students have to be encouraged to think and be taught how to use the information gained in classes. Courses should include not only content to be learned but also the opportunity for students to question what they learn. Students should be able to implement the learning, not only within the academic atmosphere but also in the larger society. The objective of this study was to investigate one teacher’s implementation of the components of critical thinking through written assignments in one Eng 101 class offered in the First Year English Program (F.Y.E.P). at Bilkent University. The study investigated to what extent the instructor was able to understand and implement the components of critical thinking included in the F.Y.E.P. curriculum and to analyze the students’ implementation of those components in their essays. Interviews were conducted with the course instructor, two students, and the director during the spring semester of the 2001-2002 academic year at Bilkent University. The course instructor and the students were interviewed eight times, and the director was interviewed once. The focus of seven of the instructor and student interviews were essays written by the students in the course. The purpose of the instructor interviews was to elicit her definition of the components of critical thinking, and her subsequent evaluation of these in the student essays. The purpose of the student interviews was to elicit their understanding of the expectations for each writing assignment in regard to the components of critical thinking, how well they felt they had met the critical thinking goals in each assignment, and the process they went through while completing their assignments. The purpose of the director interview was to collect the F.Y.E.P. departmental goals for critical thinking. In addition to the interviews, the course instructor was given a form whose aim was, first, to record the instructor’s plans for implementing the departmental critical thinking goals within the lessons and then the accomplishment of these planned activities during the lessons. The data collected through interviews and instructor forms were analyzed through categorization based on the course instructor’s understanding of the components of the critical thinking and her expectations of student use of these components of critical thinking. The data results indicate that the instructor does not have a fully developed definition that she can express but rather operationalizes her internal understanding through expressing expectations for student performance. The instructor’s final list of components of critical thinking compiled for discussion during the interviews was more extensive than the one given in the initial interview but contained the same components as those listed by the Director and in curriculum guidelines. The results also indicated that the students appeared to understand what some of the critical thinking components were and the main instructor expectations for each assignment, showing convergence through a series of drafts in terms of implementing them in the writing assignments. Students were able to use some of these critical thinking components in their assignments while performing the task assigned. At the end of the semester, the instructor reported satisfaction with the level of student use of critical thinking components in completing their assignments.Item Open Access The inter-rater reliability of two alternative analytic grading scales for the evaluation of oral interviews at Anadolu University School of Foreign Languages(Bilkent University, 2002) Karslı, Ece SelvaOf all language exams, the accurate testing of speaking is regarded as the most challenging to prepare, administer and score because it takes considerable time and effort to obtain reliable results (Madsen, 1983; O’Malley & Pierce, 1996). Since subjective types of tests (e.g. interview ratings) require the judgment of the raters, inconsistency in judgments, which may affect the rater reliability adversely, may occur. This research study investigated the inter-rater reliability of two alternative speaking assessment criteria designed for Anadolu University, School of Foreign Languages. The perspectives of the participants on the scales were also analyzed with the help of the interview records. Two types of data were used in this study: raters’ scores using both of the scales and raters’ opinions of the rating scales. The participants in the study were five English instructors currently employed at Anadolu University School of Foreign Languages. The teachers attended the training and norming sessions for the four-band scale and then graded 36 elementary level students’ oral performance using the scale. Then the teachers were interviewed as a group. They were asked to express their opinions about the scale. Six weeks later, same procedure was followed for the fiveband scale. The training and norming sessions for both of the scales were held by the researcher. Then inter-class correlation for both of the scales was calculated using the scores assigned to 36 elementary level students. The result of the statistical analysis revealed that the four-band scale is more reliable than the five-band scale. The results of the interviews indicated that the raters have common problems in assigning the scores to students’ oral performances while using both of the scales. The problem that the raters faced in the scoring procedure while they were using the five-band scale is that two terms used in the descriptors are not clear. The common problems faced by the raters while they were using the four-band scale are as follows: 1) one term used in the descriptors is not clear, 2) students’ performance may not fit into the bands, 3) the number of bands in each category is not enough, and the highest band in vocabulary needs to be more detailed 4) the lowest band is unnecessary, 5) there is a big difference among the bands in terms of the value assigned to each band. After an analysis of the two speaking assessment scales, the four-band scale is recommended to assess oral performances of elementary level students’ at Anadolu University School of Foreign Languages. Since nearly all participants stated problems concerning the descriptors in both of the scales, the descriptors need to be reconsidered and paid more attention to during training and norming sessions. In addition, the scale is open to revision in terms of weighing because the participants had problems with it. Finally, it is recommended that teachers who are going to take part in the assessment of learners’ oral performances need to attend training and norming sessions before they take part in the actual scoring procedure.Item Open Access An investigation into the requirements of discipline teachers for academic English language use in a Turkish medium university(Bilkent University, 2002) Arık, SonerThis study investigated the English language use requirements of content course teachers at Niğde University (NU). Niğde University is a Turkish medium university, at which English is taught as an integrated skills service course for matriculated students. Students at NU take an exemption test at the beginning of their first year at university, and have to enrol in a language course in their first year of education if they fail the exam. This study aims at finding out what the teachers in the content courses of different disciplines actually require in terms of academic English, in hopes of being able to make well-based curricular recommendations for English language courses at NU. The needs analysis in this study attempted to find answers to these research questions: 1. What are the academic English language use requirements of content course teachers for their students at Niğde University (NU), which is a Turkish medium university? 2. According to the English language use requirements of content course teachers, which English language skills have the most priority for the students studying at NU? 3. Are there different English language use demands of the content course teachers from their students at NU in terms of: a. Different schools, i.e. faculties or vocational schools. b. Whether teachers have Ph.D.s or M.A.s. c. Different sciences, i.e. hard-pure (HP), soft-pure (SP), hard-applied (HA), or softapplied (SA). If so, what are they? Data were collected from the content course teachers at NU. In order to collect data for this needs analysis, a questionnaire was prepared, and delivered to the 320 content course teachers at NU. The 177 completed questionnaires were then analysed using descriptive statistics, ANOVAs, t-tests, Scheffe tests, and one-way chi-square tests. In this thesis, the main results of the needs analysis can be summarised as showing that the teachers find English fairly important for their students. Nevertheless, only a small number of teachers reported that they ever required specific academic English skills from their students. Among the responses of those teachers who did report requiring some English usage, 'reading' was shown to be the required skill given most priority. When the data were analysed in accordance with science classification, needs for reading, speaking, and listening skills were realised. With respect to science, school, and educational background (teachers with/without Ph.D.s), teachers at faculties, teachers from the HP sciences, and teachers with Ph.D.s were shown to require more academic English use than their colleagues.Item Open Access Native English speaking teachers and non-native English speaking teachers in İstanbul : a perception analysis(Bilkent University, 2005) Ezberci, EbruThe purpose of this study was to investigate the differences between the career perceptions of native English speaking teachers (NESTs) and non-native English speaking teachers (NNESTs) working at universities in Istanbul, and the two groups’ perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses of NESTs and NNESTs. This study was conducted with 172 participants working in 10 different institutions in İstanbul. Data was collected through a questionnaire consisting of four parts. The questionnaire contained multiple-choice items, open-ended questions, and Likert-scale items. In addition, 15 participants were interviewed. Quantitative data analysis techniques were used to analyze the data from the questionnaires. To analyze the data, frequencies, percentages, means, correlations, and ttests were calculated. The data from the interviews was analyzed using qualitative data analysis techniques. The results reveal that a great majority of the respondents view English language teaching (ELT) as a career or profession. When the two groups were compared, the percentage of the NNESTs who view ELT as a career or profession is higher than that of NESTs. While indicating similar viewpoints between NESTs and NNESTs regarding their views of ELT, the study found differences in the perceptions of the important qualifications of teachers, and the strengths and weaknesses of NESTs and NNESTs. Overall, the findings suggest that the ‘native speaker fallacy’ may still have validity even though both groups of participants refrained from publicly accepting it.Item Open Access Needs assessment of academic reading tasks and close analysis of academic reading texts for reading difficulty and vocabulary profile(Bilkent University, 2005) Şahbaz, Zehra HerkmenThis study explored the Academic reading requirements and text features of first-year, first-term subject area instructors in English-medium departments at Anadolu University. The study was conducted with 20 subject area instructors in English-medium departments at Anadolu University in the 2004-2005 fall term. Three sets of data were used for this study. First, interviews were conducted with 20 subject area instructors, and questionnaires were distributed in the interviews. Thirteen of the questionnaires from twenty participants were returned and used in this study. In addition, fifteen samples of required textbooks were collected from the same first-year, first-term content course teachers as well as four reading samples from the textbook in the Preparatory School. The purpose of the questionnaire administered to first-year, first-term subject area instructors was to determine instructors’ academic reading and text type requirements of first-year students. The questionnaire consisted of Likert scale items. The follow-up interviews provided insight into teachers’ perceptions, experiences and practices related to their academic reading requirements of first-year students. Reading samples from the first-year subject area courses were collected to specify the precise reading requirements of the subject area instructors and to analyze the text features in terms of knowledge structures, readability levels and vocabulary frequencies. To analyze the data, mean scores, percentages and frequencies were used in the questionnaire; a coding system was used in the interviews; Flesch-Kincaid readability test and Vocabulary Profiler (Nation & Heatley, 1994) were used for analyzing the reading samples. The results reveal that all subject area instructors agree on the necessity of being a proficient reader in order to be successful in subject area courses. Subject area instructors also agree that academic reading abilities and vocabulary knowledge of students should be supported at Preparatory School. Based on this result adjusting the current curriculum in accordance with the expectations of subject area instructors is recommended.Item Open Access Portfolio implementation at Turkish university preparatory schools, and teachers' perceptions of portfolios and problems experienced with portfolio use(Bilkent University, 2009) Kılıç, EmineThis study seeks to investigate portfolio implementation at Turkish university preparatory schools and the reported aims of portfolio use as targeted by these schools. The study further examines teachers‟ perceptions of portfolio use, specifically, the problems they experience with portfolio use, possible sources of these problems and their suggestions on how portfolio use can be improved. The study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, data on portfolio use and aims of its use were collected through a questionnaire administered at seven university preparatory schools. In the second phase, data on teachers‟ perceptions were gathered through a second questionnaire administered to 126 teachers at five of the seven preparatory schools. The results reached in the first phase of the study revealed that portfolios are mainly used for the writing component of the preparatory programs. The analyses of the data also revealed that certain key features of portfolios, such as student participation in the selection of portfolio content, self assessment, and student reflection, are not generally included in portfolios at preparatory programs. Regarding the aims of portfolio use targeted by schools, the results indicate that in order to achieve the intended aims, the missing key elements of portfolios should be included. The results reached in the second phase of the study indicate that teachers perceive portfolios as an appropriate tool for assessment purposes. When the results regarding teachers‟ experiences with portfolio use are examined, the outcomes indicate that the problems experienced with portfolio use are in large part felt to be related to students‟ attitudes towards portfolios, which are themselves caused by students‟ study habits and previous educational backgrounds. It was also revealed that problems related to portfolio entries and institutional practices create some challenges in portfolio implementation at schools.Item Open Access The role of writing portfolios in increasing learners' confidence in writing and promoting their attitudes towards writing(Bilkent University, 2006) Bayram, FatmaThis study investigated the role of writing portfolios in increasing learners’ confidence in writing and possible attitude changes towards writing. The study also examined the attitudes of students and teachers towards using writing portfolios as a self-assessment tool. The study was conducted with 60 pre-intermediate level students, one experimental and two control groups, and their classroom teacher in the Preparatory School of English at Zonguldak Karaelmas University in the spring semester of 2006. The data for the study were gathered through two questionnaires, interviews, reflection papers, and peer- and self-assessment sheets. A six-week portfolio implementation was started for the experimental group after the administration of pre-questionnaires to all groups. After the implementation, the experimental and the control groups were given the same questionnaires as post-treatment. The interviews were conducted with the experimental group students and their instructor. The results of the analysis of the questionnaires revealed no significant differences after the treatment in the students’ confidence level in writing. However, there was a significant increase in the experimental group students’ attitudes towards writing. The analysis of the qualitative data supported this increase and suggested that both the students and the teacher were positive towards using writing portfolios as a self-assessment tool.Item Open Access State-supported provincial university English language instructors' attitudes towards learner autonomy(Bilkent University, 2005) Özdere, MustafaThe purpose of this study was to investigate state-supported provincial university instructors’ attitudes towards learner autonomy and towards sharing instructional responsibilities with learners regarding aspects of students’ own learning. The study was conducted with 72 English language instructors working at Afyonkarahisar Kocatepe University, Akdeniz University, Balikesir University, Mugla University, Nigde University, and Zonguldak Karaelmas University. Data were collected through a questionnaire including Likert-scale questions. The preliminary section of the questionnaire gathered data about the instructors’ educational background and teaching experience. The thirteen items in the questionnaire investigated instructors’ ideas about how much instructional responsibility learners should share in accordance with learner autonomy. Respondents were asked to indicate their opinions on a five-point Likert-scale, with ‘not at all’, ‘little’, ‘partly’, ‘much’, and ‘very much’ for each item. Additionally, the interviews were conducted with 10 instructors from participating universities. The results of the data analysis revealed that participating instructors are neutral to slightly positive toward learner autonomy in their formal teaching environments and consider some areas of teaching and learning as more suitable than others for the implementation of learner autonomy. The outcomes also showed that the participating instructors’ attitudes towards learner autonomy change depending upon the facilities they are provided by their universities and the opportunities for authentic language use in their environments. Moreover, the findings highlighted that an in-service training for the instructors, and systematic and planned adjustments in the curricula might contribute to the promotion of learner autonomy in these universities.Item Open Access Students' and teachers' attitudes towards the use of computer-mediated communication voice & text chat as an instructional resource to improve speaking skill(Bilkent University, 2005) Aykaç, MüzeyyenThis study explored teacher and student attitudes towards use of computer mediated communication (CMC) in support of teaching speaking skills. Data were collected through the questionnaires distributed to 20 Tourism students and 60 English instructors at Muğla University and through interviews conducted with 12 CMC-experienced international EFL instructors. The questionnaire for students investigated students’ feelings about the four L2 skills generally, their computer use and their opinions about use of voice-text chat for developing speaking skills. The questionnaire for Mugla English instructors aimed to discover their personal background, computer background, attitudes about use of communication technology for teaching L2 and potential problems that they foresaw in using voice & text chat in their EFL instruction. The interviews with CMC-experienced international EFL teachers aimed to explore international English instructors’ perceptions about teaching speaking skills, use of voice chat as an instructional source for speaking instruction, and instructional advantages and disadvantages of voice chat. Findings gathered from students’ questionnaires revealed that students perceived speaking as the most important skill but had problems with both speaking itself and classes in speaking. Both sets of EFL teachers and students were positive in support of use of CMC in support of speaking instruction, although teacher responses indicated anticipation of some problems – fit to the curriculum, computer access, finding appropriate international partners – in implementing classroom CMC. All respondents indicated the need for appropriate training and administrative support to make the implementation of voice and text chat successful in the Tourism Department at Muğla University.Item Open Access Successful and unsuccessful readers' use of reading strategies(Bilkent University, 2005) Uzunçakmak, PınarThis study was designed to investigate (a) generic reading strategy use as reported by the students and (b) the extent to which successful and unsuccessful readers differ in their use of reading strategies. The study was conducted with 112 upper-intermediate level students at Middle East Technical University (METU), Department of Basic English (DBE) in the spring semester of 2005. Data were collected through two questionnaires and two stimulated recall tasks. The first questionnaire was given to 112 students to investigate generic strategy use as reported by the students. The second questionnaire, administered to 17 successful and 17 unsuccessful readers, chosen from among the 112 students, provided data about how much previous strategy instruction successful and unsuccessful readers recalled. Stimulated recall tasks done with two successful andtwo unsuccessful readers provided insight into the reading strategies these students reported using while performing the reading tasks. To analyze the data, means, frequencies, and standard deviations were calculated. In addition, t-tests were run to explore the possible differences between the responses given by successful and unsuccessful readers. The results indicate that the students overall made frequent use of 12 reading strategies. However, successful and unsuccessful readers did not differ significantly in their reported use of reading strategies and recall of strategy instruction. In the stimulated recall of reading task performance, however, successful and unsuccessful readers differed in their strategy use. Successful readers reported using more strategies, more top-down strategies and more DBE-instructed strategies than did unsuccessful readers.Item Open Access Teachers' understandings of projects and portfolios at Hacettepe University School of Foreign Languages Basic English Division(Bilkent University, 2002) Subaşı, M. PetekIn the last 40 years, traditional approaches in writing instruction and assessment have moved towards alternative instruction and assessment. Many institutions are going through changes to keep up with the developments in the field of ELT. Changes are generally undertaken to improve the quality of teaching both for the teachers and the students. Teachers play an important role in the changes proposed by institutions. These changes may require a change in the teachers’ practices. Teachers’ understandings of these practices play a vital role in the innovations proposed to be undertaken. The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers’ understandings of using projects and portfolios during the implementation of the new writing program at Hacettepe University School of Foreign Languages Basic English Division. By finding out the understandings of teachers towards the new writing program, its instruction and assessment tools, necessary improvements and changes can be prepared for the future of the program. iii Data was first collected through questionnaires distributed to 34 teachers in the School of Foreign Languages Basic English Division. The 40 questions in the questionnaire aimed at discovering the teachers’ interest in teaching writing, and their understandings of traditional writing assessment, projects, assessment of projects, the portfolio, and assessment of the portfolio. Secondly, in order to gather more in-depth information about the teachers’ understandings of the projects and the portfolio, interviews were conducted with five teachers and the director of the writing program. During the interviews, questions investigating the participants’ general and institutional understandings of the projects and the portfolio, and their views on the new program were asked in order to collect more in-depth information. Data collected through the questionnaire was analysed by employing descriptive statistics, such as frequencies and percentages. In order to support the results, the chi-square value of each question was also calculated using SPSS. Data collected through the interviews were analysed qualitatively through categorization. The categories were based on the research questions and grouped as teachers’ understanding of projects in general and in the institution, teachers’ understanding of the portfolio in general and in the institution, and teachers’ suggestions to improve the current writing program. The analysis of the data revealed that the teachers believe the new program is a good beginning; however, there is no clear understanding of the new writing program’s instruction and assessment tools, the project and the portfolio, or a consistent implementation of it among the staff. However, as this a new beginning, things can be improved through more in-depth teacher training.Item Open Access Writing portfolio assessment and inter-rater reliability at Yıldız Technical University School of Foreign Languages Basic English Department(Bilkent University, 2005) Türkkorur, AsumanThis research study investigated the use of writing portfolios and their assessment by raters. In particular it compared the inter-rater reliability of the portfolio assessment criteria currently in use and the new portfolio assessment criteria proposed for Yıldız Technical University, School of Foreign Languages, Basic English Department. The perspectives of the participants on the portfolio assessment scheme and the criteria were also analyzed. This study was conducted at Yıldız Technical University, School of Foreign Languages, Basic English Department in the spring semester of 2005. Data were collected through portfolio grading sessions, focus group discussions and individual interviews. The participants in the study were seven English writing instructors currently working at Yıldız Technical University, School of Foreign Languages, Basic English Department. The instructors scored twelve student portfolios on two different sessions using the criteria customarily used in the institution and the new analytic criteria. Focus group discussions were held before and after the grading sessions. At the end of the grading sessions, instructors were interviewed individually. Grading sessions, focus group discussions and interviews were audiotaped and transcribed. The inter-rater reliability for both of the criteria types was calculated and found to be marginal. The results of the statistical analysis revealed that there was no difference in results of inter-rater reliability between the groups in both of the grading sessions. However, analysis of the focus group discussion and interviews indicated that instructors would appreciate some form of more standardized, analytic and reliable criteria for portfolio grading.Item Open Access The writing strategies of three freshman students at Middle East Technical University(Bilkent University, 2002) Alpaslan, ÖzgeOne of the baffling areas for the designers and instructors of EAP programs is that of academic writing. What academic writing exactly includes, what parts of it and how it should be taught, are issues that have been much debated on. Another issue in the teaching and learning of languages, learning strategies, also much debated, has gained popularity in recent years and has found its way into the classroom. The combination of these two concepts, the teaching of academic writing and learning strategies are the two broad topics in this study. If learning strategies are to be considered in writing instruction, the strategies students use outside and beyond the English class seem to be a good source to look at to derive insights and implications for the design of writing programs. In light of these thoughts, this study aimed to discover the writing strategies used by three freshman students at Middle East Technical University (METU). The main concern of the research was to derive implications for the writing instruction carried out by the Department of Basic English (DBE), which serves as the preparatory school for the university. Data were collected from two freshman students in the Department of International Relations and one in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, all of whom were former DBE students. During the study, the participants were all enrolled in a course called Introduction to Politics, in which they had to write five essays in response to the assigned reading articles. The participants were interviewed midway through the period in which they were trying to complete the task. The participants were also provided with small notebooks in which they were asked to report on a daily basis what they were doing to complete their writing assignments. The texts that they produced, the essay prompts that they were given, and the assigned reading articles which the participants were expected to base their writing on were other sources of data. For the analysis of the data, a framework of writing strategies expected to be evident in the oral and verbal reports of the participants (interview transcripts and notebooks) and in the written texts that they produced was created. The framework was based on the goals and objectives of DBE as stated in their curriculum. The results of the study indicated that although the participants had similar characteristics, there was variety in their strategy use. Looking at the strategies the participants used, it is possible to say that some of the strategies taught at DBE, though not taught under the name strategy, are being used, and therefore, DBE might consider continuing to teach them. In addition, DBE might consider teaching more strategies. In a broader sense, the data suggest that EAP programs would benefit from adopting an approach which combines reading and writing instruction as a means for reacting to input. Such an approach is believed to equip the students for the academic tasks that they will be faced with in their content courses, beyond the English class.