Review of doctoral research in English language teaching and learning in Turkey (2009–2013)

Abstract

This article reviews doctoral research into English language teaching and learning completed between 2009 and 2013 at Turkish universities. The 25 dissertations reviewed here fall into these four general categories: (1) instructional variables and designs, (2) learners, (3) textbooks, and (4) development and evaluation. The majority of these dissertations focus on classroom teaching and learning. Half are particularly concerned with the effects of different instructional variables and designs on learning-related issues. The dissertations are presented with a focus on research methodologies to provide the reader with an evaluation of not only the validity of the findings in each study but also their strengths and weaknesses.

Investigating EFL Coursebook Research in Turkey: Trends in Graduate Theses of the 2001-2013 Period

“…The absence of an ideal sample size was another shared finding of the current analysis, but the choice over primary and secondary students as sample groups was unaccustomed in previous reviews of ELT research in Turkey, where there was a tendency to study adult groups, i.e. undergraduate students (İnal et al, 2016;Solak, 2014;Yağız et al, 2016).…”

“…İnal, Özdemir, Kıray, and Oral, (2016) classified 25 dissertations of the 2009-2013 period into four general categories: (i) instructional variables and designs, (ii) learners, (iii) textbooks, and (iv) development and evaluation, whereas Özmen, Cephe, and Kınık (2016) examined 137 ELT dissertations of the 2010-2014 period in terms of: (i) subject areas, (ii) research paradigms, (iii) research contexts, and (iv) sampling methods, and also described macro-(systemic) and micro-level (departmental) problems of the ELT research field in Turkey. There were also three other studies, which surveyed not only ELT theses but also other kinds of publications ranging from research articles to conference proceedings over the last decade.…”

“…Between 2001 and 2013, studies dealing with EFL coursebook evaluations accelerated after MoNE's program modifications and introduction of new coursebooks. The scarcity of textbook studies had previously been documented by several meta-analyses of ELT research in Turkey, and regardless of the number of publications being examined, coursebooks were the least studied area in each case (İnal et al, 2016;Kırmızı, 2012;Özmen et al, 2016;Solak, 2014).…”

“…for "academic garnishing"), the quantitative paradigm became once again the dominant research model in EFL coursebook evaluations (Özmen et al, 2016, p. 1749). Graduate coursebook researchers' avoidance of mixed-method design had also been identified as a common feature of ELT research in Turkey by four other content analyses of doctoral dissertations and research papers (İnal et al, 2016;Özmen et al, 2016;Solak, 2014;Yağız et al, 2016).…”

“…For this reason, the current evaluation of EFL textbook studies also repeated the long-awaited call for experimental research designs, which involves not only exploring broader, more critical issues (e.g. causal relationships between diverse variables) through more sophisticated, more complex statistical procedures but also providing improvement rather than further description of the given phenomenon in the Turkish EFL context (Alptekin & Tatar, 2011;İnal et al, 2016;Özmen et al, 2016;Solak, 2014;Yağız et al, 2016).…”