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The aim of the present study is to develop a valid and reliable scale evaluating the effectiveness of language preparatory programs in the acquisition of language skills. In the development of Foreign Language Skills Scale (FLSS) in this study, research sample consisted of 326 preparatory school students for the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and 350 preparatory school students for the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Based on the data obtained from the first sample, an EFA was carried out on the FLSS. EFA has identified that 27 items of the scale have factor loads between 0.519 and 0.729, while they explain 65.376% of the total variance and are distributed under five factors. These factors are named as writing skill, speaking skill, listening skill, core skills, and reading skill. A CFA was applied on the data obtained from the second sample that consisted of 350 students. As a result of the CFA, it was confirmed that the FLSS consisted of 27 items and five factors. For all the items in the scale, item-subscale, item-test correlation coefficients and mean differences between the upper and the lower 27% of the participants were calculated, and it is determined that each item is consistent with not only the subscale it is under but also the whole test. In addition, the Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficients of the total scale's and five sub-scales' internal consistency is quite high. The FLSS is expected to offer a comprehensive evaluation of the acquisition of four language skills in foreign language teaching programs.

This study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of planned focus on form method in the acquisition of target language forms in English. The study specifically examined the planned focus on form method and the teaching model in the textbook of the 5 th graders in terms of the attainment of the objectives of the target unit 'Health'. The participants of the study were 5 th grade learners (n= 60) studying at a state secondary school in Milas in the district of Muğla province in Turkey. The research was a quasi-experimental research design in which two intact 5 th grade classes were assigned as experimental and control groups. The data collected from pre-test, progress achievement tests, and the post-test were analysed using the SPSS 17.0 statistical programme. The progress achievement test scores and post-test scores of the subjects were analysed through independent samples t-test in order to analyse which instructional treatment was more effective in reaching the objectives of the unit. Repeated measures ANOVA test was also administered in order to measure the effects of the treatment in time, which indicated that both treatment types were effective in increasing the learners' scores from pre-test to post-test. The statistical analysis of data indicated that planned focus on form was significantly more effective than the regular instruction according to the results of the progress achievement tests [t(58)= 2.67; p=0.010]. The results of the post-test did not indicate a statistically significant difference between the two groups [t(58)= -1.058: p= 0.294], the experimental group (M=60.86) performed better than the control group (M=55.06) in the post-test, though.

The aim of this study is to investigate a group of prospective English language teachers' competency as to the application of sentential stress patterns in English prior to their graduation from an English Language Teaching (ELT) department in the Turkish context. In the study fifty senior pre-service students completed a self-perception questionnaire, and nine of them received training on sentential stress patterns in English for four weeks. Pre-study self-perception questionnaire results showed that prospective English language teachers in this particular context needed to learn more about sentential stress patterns in English. The experimental study which was conducted to this end with a group of nine pre-service teachers of English proved positive contributions to their competency in sentential stress patterns in English.