Yonca Özkan

Speaking assessment perceptions and practices of English teachers at tertiary level in the Turkish context

Abstract Teaching speaking is one of the challenging dimensions of teaching English as a foreign language. In the Turkish educational setting, students are exposed to English from second grade at the primary level until the first grade at tertiary level. Although the exposure to English is intensive, it is observed that students are unable to solve language-related problems even at tertiary level. A recent British Council report (2015) revealed that students recruited at Turkish universities have an inadequate level of speaking proficiency relative to the standards of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). The reason may be multi-faceted; however, investigation of assessment practices of English instructors may shed light on this problem. This study aims to investigate tertiary-level English language teachers’ perceptions and practices of speaking assessment. Personal Construct Theory (PCT) forms the basis for this case study. The data was collected via repertory grids, semi-structured interviews, and classroom observation. Focus grid analysis was conducted to analyze and interpret the data. The findings of the study reveal that the participants do have individualized beliefs regarding assessment of speaking, which necessitates training for teachers on classroom assessment to raise their awareness regarding commonality of practice in in-class speaking assessment.

İngiliz Dili Eğitimiânde Blog Tabanlı Yürütülen Yöntem Dersi

Egitimde teknolojinin kullanimi, tartisilmaz bir olgudur ve bu alanda gunden gune teknolojinin artan etkisi gorulmektedir. Bu calisma, boyle bir etkinin Ingiliz Dili Egitimi ve ogretmen yetistirme alaninda ne duzeyde oldugu ve ogrenciler tarafindan nasil karsilandigini temel almaktadir. Bu calismayi yuruten arastirmacilar ve katilimcilar blog platformunu temel alarak Cocuklara Yabanci Dil Ogretimi dersini islemislerdir. Bu calisma, Ingiliz Dili Egitimi Bolumu ogrencileri tarafindan kullanilan bloglarin, ogrencilerin akademik ve sosyal hayatlarina ne gibi etkileri oldugunu ve bu konudaki deneyim ve goruslerini dikkate almaktadir. Betimsel bir desen cercevesinde olusturulmus bu calisma, 2010-2011 egitim-ogretim yilinda, blog temelli Cocuklara Yabanci Dil Ogretimi dersini alan 36 katilimcinin destegiyle gerceklestirilmis olup, 341 blog girdisini icerik analizi cercevesinde sunmaktadir.