The Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has caused disruptions in education in Turkey, as it has in many parts of the world. Faculties of Education that require practice teaching (practicum) are affected as well; due to the shutdown, pre-service English language teachers (PTs) are deprived of the field experience and actual classroom teaching practices in authentic school settings. Practicum constitutes an important part of teacher education and during practicum, "cooperating" teachers (i.e. teachers at practicum schools) and university instructors as teaching practice supervisors play crucial roles in equipping PTs with necessary theoretical and practical skills. The present study took place in the English Language Education program of a competitive state university in Turkey. At the university, all theory-oriented courses moved to synchronous platforms without much difficulty with almost full attendance of the students. As for the practicum, Turkish Higher Education Council let the universities decide for themselves. As researchers working at two different universities, Bahçeşehir University and Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey, we designed an alternative practice to meet the needs of PTs and maintain the quality of the practicum: "e-practicum" under the supervision of the university supervisor who acted as the "e-mentor". The aim was to increase PTs' teaching competence and prepare them for online teaching. A virtual classroom consisting of twenty-five PTs was formed and six PTs performed microteaching to their peers who acted as students by using Zoom. After the e-practicum sessions, peers gave detailed feedback to the teacher PTs. The university supervisor provided e-mentoring right after each session. Then, each teacher PT reflected on e-practicum experience and e-mentoring. The findings revealed that PTs found the e-practicum useful because it helped them overcome online teaching fears.
The major purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of flipped classroom on pre-service English teachers' Advanced Writing achievement. The study also aims at exploring whether flipped classroom approach makes a difference, if any, on the self-regulated learning of the participants. The participants of this study were selected by convenience sampling method and consisted of fifty-five (N=55) pre-service ELT teachers attending Advanced Writing course and studying at English Language Teaching Department (ELT) at a foundation university in the fall semester of 2017-2018 academic year. Two intact classes were selected as control (N=28) and experimental group (N=27). The control group was exposed to traditional lecture based instruction, whereas the experimental group received the flipped classroom approach. In this quasi-experimental study, data were gathered through pre-post-tests of advanced writing and self-regulated learning scale. Mixed ANOVA analysis was used for data analysis. The obtained results demonstrated that the implementation of flipped classroom approach resulted in better writing achievement, yet self-regulated learning showed no significant difference between groups. Based on these findings, the study provides pedagogical implications and suggestions for integrating flipped classroom approach in the undergraduate programs.
<p>The primary aim of this study is to investigate the impact of a mobile flashcards application, Quizlet, on the students’ performance and autonomy in vocabulary learning. The study also attempts to explore the perceptions of students and their teacher about incorporating this application into the teaching, learning and practicing of target vocabulary in English language preparatory classes. To achieve these objectives, a nonrandomized quasi-experimental research design was adopted. The participants were selected from two intact classes of Turkish EFL students enrolled in a language preparatory program at a foundation (non-profit, private) university in Istanbul, Turkey. The data was collected through pre- and post- vocabulary tests, an online survey, student interviews and a teacher’s reflective journal. The findings revealed that Quizlet had a positive impact on students’ performance and their autonomy in vocabulary learning. The overall perceptions of participating students and their teacher about using Quizlet to teach and learn English vocabulary were also positive. Based on these findings, the study provides practical implications and offers suggestions for integrating mobile learning into English language preparatory classes.</p>
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