This study examines the antecedents and outcomes of classroom engagement of 412 Turkish English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Grounded in self-determination theory and the self-system model of motivation, this mixed-methods study examined the relations between context (perceived autonomy-support from the instructor), self (basic psychological needs), action (behavioral, emotional, agentic, and cognitive engagement), and outcome (achievement and absenteeism). The results of structural equation modeling supported the hypothesized model and showed that learners' perception of their teachers' autonomy-support within the classroom predicted their need satisfaction, which in turn predicted self-determined engagement. Engagement predicted achievement and absenteeism within English courses. Semi-structured interviews showed patterns consistent with the quantitative results, and also that students felt their engagement would best be supported in classes with a positive social atmosphere. As well, their comments underscored the important role of language teachers in supporting learners' psychological need satisfaction, classroom engagement, and positive academic outcomes. The findings suggest strategies for English language educators to bolster students' engagement within the classrooms, including students who seem to be unmotivated, reluctant language learners.

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This study aimed to explore pre-service English teachers' perceptions of teaching speaking in Turkey, the importance they give to this language skill, and their self-evaluation of their speaking competence. With case design and maximum variation sampling approach, seven pre-service English teachers' beliefs about speaking skills were gathered in regard to motivational orientations based on Self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan 2002) and the data was analyzed according to interview questions. Findings revealed that the subjects, whether they were intrinsically or extrinsically motivated to speak English, had negative ideas about speaking instruction in Turkey though they all agreed that it was the most important language skill. The findings also showed that they felt incompetent in oral communication though they had different motivational orientations about speaking English. The findings are significant for understanding speaking instruction in English language classrooms from a motivational perspective and helpful for enhancing learners' speaking ability with intrinsic motivation.

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 paper following a mixed-method research design investigates the role of L1 use in L2 teaching from the perspectives of Turkish prospective English teachers. Data were collected from 374 Turkish prospective teachers in ELT department of four state universities in Turkey through a questionnaire. It was aimed to obtain a general view about whether Turkish should be used in teaching English; and if used, to what extent it should be used in the situations specified in the questionnaire, and for what purposes Turkish should be used in these situations. According to the results of the study, some of the participants proposed that L1 use should have no place in language learning/teaching since it exists as a barrier to the process of language learning and hinders the exposure to L2 and the chance to practice it whereas a great majority of them (N=243) considered L1 use as a contributing factor to ease the process of language learning and comprehension of learners.