Evaluating an English Language Teacher Education Program Through Peacock’s Model

Mandates, needs, equitable resources, and current research in English language teacher education: The case of Turkey

“…Two of the four themes that were shared by the overwhelming majority of program directors, were also shared by the majority of teacher candidates. Both groups underscored that teacher candidates join the ELTE programs with inadequate English proficiency, which corroborate the findings of previous research (Coskun & Daloglu, 2010;Kirkgoz, 2007;Sert, 2010). Nonetheless, program directors blamed the grammar-based State admission test whereas teacher candidates blamed their programs for not effectively using the estimated 33 credits of language-study to help them improve their English while in the program.…”

“…A major change was in 1981 when a top-down oligarchic system of higher education, the Higher Education Council (HEC), (in Turkish: YOK) which held a notoriously high level of control over all financial, administrative, and educational functions of Turkish universities, was introduced (Coskun & Daloglu, 2010). Upon the establishment of HEC, the Turkish education system began to experience a high level of influence by Western academics and/or Western-educated Turkish academics.…”

“…In fact, possibly due to the traditional focus on grammar and grammar teaching in ELTE programs, ELF teachers in Turkey have been found to tend to focus on grammar instruction in their classrooms (Balci & Cakir, 2012). As a result of the backwash effect (Hughes, 2003) and teaching-to-the-test preparation efforts, students lack proficiency in listening, writing and speaking skills (Kirkgoz, 2007;Sert, 2010), struggling severely in handling program coursework (Coskun & Daloglu, 2010). Hence, it is no surprise that Mandates, needs, equitable resources, and current research in English language teacher education…”

“…Studies that examined Turkish ELTE program candidates' beliefs reported many candidates believing that the HEC-led curricula neglect linguistic competence in favor of pedagogical competence (Coskun & Daloglu, 2010). Some suggested that current ELTE programs paid little attention to candidates' language use and classroom interactions (Kirkgoz, 2007;Sert, 2010) while candidates in other studies agreed that they received insufficient teaching practice, and demanded more hands-on experiences and elective courses (Altan, 2006).…”

“…On the other hand, program directors and teacher candidates seemed to hold different perceptions about other programmatic strengths and weaknesses. For example, the program directors acknowledged the mismatch between their curricula and the needs of students; however they unanimously held responsible HEC's rigid control over their decision-making, a notion frequently voiced in research (Coskun & Daloglu, 2010) even after some of the latest educational reforms (Çakıroglu & Çakıroglu, 2003;Kirkgoz, 2007).…”