Studies conducted so far have mainly focused on investigating the characteristics of effective foreign language teachers to understand the role of teacher effectiveness in the process of language learning, while there is scarcity of studies focusing on the perceptions of the characteristics of effective foreign language teaching of the students of Department of English Language Teaching (ELT) and Department of English Language and Literature (EL&L) who are the major candidates of English language teaching profession in Turkey. Thus, this study aims to examine the perceptions of prospective English teachers with regard to their department and demographic variables. Effective Teacher Questionnaire [10] was used to obtain data from ELT (n=212) and EL&L (n=192) students. The t test results indicated that there was a significant difference between ELT students' and EL&L students' perceptions of an effective foreign language teacher with regard to the mean scores in favor of the former. Also, the t test results indicated that there was a significant difference between daytime students and night-time students with regard to the mean scores. In the light of the findings, some practical recommendations are provided.
This study aims to reveal EFL lecturers' opinions about intercultural education and classroom practices including teaching materials, classroom activities, assessment, and teachers' role for developing intercultural awareness. To gain insights about the current situation in EFL classrooms at a university level in Turkey, lecturers' opinions and classroom practices have been examined through a questionnaire and an interview. This study, combining both quantitative and qualitative research, was designed according to the mixed method procedure and followed the sequential explanatory strategy. The study covered 172 EFL lecturers from preparatory schools of six state universities, and 12 EFL lecturers selected randomly joined the interview voluntarily. The participating institutions
The aim of this study was to identify the effectiveness of a mobile application in vocabulary knowledge improvement of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. This study adopted a quasi-experimental research design consisting of an experimental and a control group with 73 participants studying at two state universities in Turkey. During the application that lasted for 14 weeks, the experimental group tried to learn 40 collocations via CollocatApp, while control group used worksheets. The data were gathered through Collocation Achievement Test (CAT) developed by the researchers and Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS) (Wesche & Paribakht, 1996). CAT was used for measuring receptive vocabulary knowledge of learners, and VKS was used for testing productive vocabulary knowledge. The findings showed that there was a significant difference between the experimental group and control group in terms of receptive vocabulary knowledge in the post-test. However, there was no difference between groups in retention tests. At the dimension of productive vocabulary knowledge, it was seen that there was no difference between the use of mobile applications and worksheets in terms of productive vocabulary knowledge. Thus, it was concluded that using mobile applications was an effective way of improving vocabulary knowledge receptively for only short-term memory.
Introduction: One of the prominent approaches in language education is Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) due to recent advances in technology. To benefit from MALL effectively and develop it when it is required, it is important to know the perceptions of the ones who use it. Although much research related to students’ and teachers’ perceptions of MALL in primary and secondary education is present in the literature, research related to perceptions of instructors in higher education is limited. Thus, this study aimed at identifying the instructors’ perceptions of utilizing MALL in higher education. Methods: As the perceptions of the participants were aimed to be explored in detail, the qualitative research design was adopted. An open-ended questionnaire was developed by the researchers and administered to 24 instructors working at the English Language Teaching (ELT) departments of different universities in Turkey. The data were analyzed through content analysis. Results: It was found that the instructors defined MALL as using mobile technologies for language learning. Moreover, the participants had positive perceptions about MALL as it had some benefits, such as anytime, anywhere learning, stronger students’ interest, higher motivation and autonomy, individualized and collaborative learning. However, MALL users faced some challenges, such as weak internet connection and battery, time consumption in terms of preparing content for the class, classroom management problems and low digital literacy of both students and instructors. Discussion: The results of the study were parallel to the findings of the previous studies in the literature. This study found that MALL contributed to learning independent of time and place, high motivation and interest, saving time and energy, individualized learning, collaborative learning, autonomous learning, and learning with fun. Limitations: This study is not without limitations. Triangulation of data with in-depth interviews could be implemented to increase detailed information and reliability. Conclusions: The results of the study showed that instructors who had benefitted from technology in their teaching process had positive perceptions despite some challenges. To this end, it is suggested that MALL be utilized in language teaching by minimizing its challenges.
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