FELT - Focus on ELT Journal
Not a member yet
96 research outputs found
Sort by
Information and communication technologies in the Chilean English as a foreign language classroom: A systematic review of the literature
Get PDFInformation and communication technologies (ICTs) permeated Chilean schools in the late 1990s with the implementation of Enlaces, a national program including training and technological equipment for supplying school education. Since then, the curricular relevance of ICTs has increased in Chile. Particularly, English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching has benefited from ICTs in adding interaction and using various resources in the classroom. Such importance motivated the researchers of this study to find out what has been researched about ICT in the English classroom in a Chilean context. To attain this, a systematic review of the literature from 2006 to 2022 was conducted. Data was drawn from the electronic databases SCOPUS, EBSCO, Scielo, ERIC, Dialnet, WoS, and complemented with Google Scholar. The selected studies, 13, were analyzed using a six-dimensional framework, focusing on research purpose and focus, outcomes, design and methods, publication frequency, and limitations. Our review has established that qualitative design and methods have been the most predominant approaches, focusing mainly on exploring the implementation and integration of ICTs in the English classroom, as well as examining the effectiveness of applications, websites, and ICTs tools on the linguistic attainment of Chilean school learners. This systematic review has also identified that after 2016 publications have been steady, yet the number of empirical studies exploring the topic is still limited, which constitutes a research gap that future studies could examine. It is also expected that researchers interested in the topic could try out this review in similar EFL contexts
Critical pedagogy in ELT: A scoping review on the studies conducted in Türkiye (2015-2022)
Get PDFCritical Pedagogy (CP) which was introduced by Paulo Freire in 1968 has started to become visible in the context of Turkish ELT, recently. Emergence of CP in this academic field has also accelerated the crucial discussions regarding various ELT components across Türkiye. In this paper, the focus is on CP with the motivation of exploring how it is exploited in numerous Turkish ELT settings and the gap in the relevant field of research. Designed as a scoping review, the research specifically outlines the studies conducted between January 2015 and May 2022. Analyses of a total of 34 publications comprising of theses/dissertations, books/book chapters and peer-reviewed articles display that CP has been used in four research strands (i)beliefs and perspectives about CP, (ii) critique of ELT/Teacher education curriculum, (iii) course content, methodology and material analysis, and (iv) course design. As for the gap, derived from recommendation and implications of the studies, four main suggestions including CP integration into ELT curricula, opening CP-based new courses in teacher education programs, re-designing ELT materials considering CP and the use of CP-based methodologies. Last but not least, studies do not mention what does not work well with the CP-use in context. Also, very few theoretical but no policy papers are found, which might be interpreted that CP as a theory is still not quite in the agenda of the relevant authorities
Raising multilingual learners’ awareness of social justice through translanguaging pedagogy
Get PDFThis paper outlines a small-scale intervention plan designed to assess the awareness levels of multilingual learners in an English for Academic Purposes class concerning social justice issues and to examine the potential for increasing their awareness of injustices through pedagogical translanguaging for social change. This mixed-method study involved 59 participants who were initially assessed using a pretest comprising open-ended questions and a Likert scale questionnaire. Subsequently, an intervention plan was implemented over seven weeks, involving the use of news, videos, and in-class and out-of-class forum discussions conducted in both English and the learners’ native languages. A posttest, with minor modifications from the pretest, was administered to 40 of the participants to assess changes in their perspectives. The findings indicate that more than half of the learners already possessed some awareness of the term; however, engaging in classroom discussions on social issues improved their conceptual understanding and heightened their awareness of diversity, equity, and injustices. Furthermore, translanguaging was found to be an effective tool in facilitating their comprehension and discussions of these topics
‘What Kind of Teacher I Wish to Be’: Exploring Prospective English Language Teachers’ Future-oriented Identities
Get PDFStudies on identity has shown that future-oriented thinking could be a useful framework for studying teacher identity development and in the contexts of language teacher preparation; however, research into the future-oriented dimensions of teacher identity is still rather limited. Therefore, in this case study, how prospective English language teachers envision their possible selves as future teachers were explored. Writings from the 56 participants were used as a method of data collection to provide a more profound analysis of the context-sensitive nature of their future-oriented identities. Following an interpretive analysis of qualitative data, the findings revealed two patterns in the participants’ future-oriented identity work: highly developed and (under)developed possible selves as L2 teachers. Both groups of participants appeared to be quite diverse in the nature of their hopes and fears as well as in their exercises of agency and response to tensions and challenges of language teaching. Also, participants’ possible language teacher selves seemed to be classified into three primary categories (i.e., L2 teacher development, L2 teacher competency and L2 teacher proficiency). Based on the findings and discussions, how future-oriented perspective may inform teacher identity development and teacher preparation in the context of language teaching was discussed. Several recommendations for further research and preparation of prospective language teachers were made
Supporting Teachers’ Engagement in Pedagogies of Social Justice (STEPS): Collaborative project between five universities in Turkey and the USA
Get PDF This paper reports the findings of a research project titled Supporting Teachers’ Engagement in Pedagogies of Social Justice (STEPS), in which pre-service teachers from five universities and in-service teachers from Turkey and the US participated in a six-week-long virtual exchange project. The main objective of the study was to promote social justice-informed pedagogies in K-12 schools through professional development and conversations between pre-service and in-service teachers from two countries. The study addressed the following research question: How does a six-week virtual exchange project influence in-service and pre-service teachers’ social justice orientation? For this purpose, we collected quantitative data through a questionnaire based on social justice standards developed by a group of researchers called “Learning for Justice”. Participants completed this questionnaire before and after their participation in the project. Additionally, we asked the participants to write a reflection post at the end of the project regarding its impact, and we treated their posts as qualitative data. At the end of the analysis, we found that the mean scores of the post-test results were significantly higher than those of the pre-test results, which indicated that the project changed the perspectives of the participants in a positive way. Furthermore, analyzing the qualitative data, we found four recurring themes: a) learning through sharing and working in collaboration, b) noticing common concerns with other educators, c) self-awareness and self-evaluation, and d) promise for taking action
Guest Editorial: Preface to the Dedicated Issue Honoring Prof. Dr. Gölge Seferoğlu
No full textWe are very pleased and honored to have edited this special issue of Focus on ELT (FELT) Journal, which has been prepared as a dedicated issue honoring Prof. Dr. Gölge Seferoğlu. We would like to thank Ahmet Başal, who is the Founding Editor- and Editor-in-Chief, Ceyhun Yükselir and Erdem Akbaş, the Editors of FELT, for the opportunity to prepare and edit this dedication issue together with Prof. Dr. Gölge Seferoğlu’s former students. The honor of this dedicated issue of FELT has been bestowed on Prof. Dr. Gölge Seferoğlu and the field of language teaching and learning that she has always loved and fostered through her professional career, which also underlies her teaching and research philosophy: ‘Live to Learn, Learn to Live.’ It is her teaching philosophy, long-standing commitment to training and mentoring, and dedication to professional service that has a tremendous impact not only on her former and current students’ personal and academic life but also on her field of expertise in applied linguistics and technology-enhanced language learning and teaching
EFL teachers’ perceptions of professional development activities and their effects in a non-anglosphere context
Get PDFProviding teachers with adequate professional development (PD) is a central tenet to enhance education quality. In Vietnam, despite the blossoming of PD activities promoted over the past decade, the central question of how effectively these existing activities facilitate changes in teachers’ practice has been under-researched. This mixed-method study responded to the scarcity in understanding the effectiveness of PD activities in the Vietnamese setting by employing a questionnaire administered to 80 high school teachers and six semi-structured interviews. Evidence from the questionnaire and interviews revealed that EFL teachers participated in PD activities on an occasional basis. Institution-internal or in-house professional activities were most common, while joining a professional affiliation such as a TESOL association was the rarest. Also, PD activities have positively reinforced the teachers’ language proficiency, teaching practice, and planning practical lessons to meet students’ learning needs. The discussions and recommendations are made for enhancing the quality of PD activities
EFL teachers’ professional experiences in the southeastern Türkiye
Get PDFAlthough a number of English language teachers commence their professional careers in under-resourced and underprivileged regions, far too little attention has been paid to their experiences as an area of research, particularly in Türkiye. This qualitative study investigates the concerns and challenges that English language teachers experience in the southeastern region of Türkiye. The participants consisted of nine novice English language teachers in different school grades in state schools. Interviews were used as a data collection tool. Participants’ reflections and comments revealed teachers’ sociological and pedagogical negative or positive experiences after their appointment to Şırnak in the southeastern region of Türkiye. The findings of the study revealed context-specific challenges these teachers experience and how they deal with these challanges. Implications are presented in line with the findings to guide administrators, teacher educators, and policymakers
Exploring factors impeding English language instructors from research engagement at tertiary level in Türkiye
Get PDFResulting from the emerging demands of higher education, university instructors’ roles are extending beyond their supervisory positions to those that require mediating changing conditions and keeping up with new developments. On a daily basis, they have to identify various problems, look for solutions and address them swiftly and methodically. New demands necessitate practicing teachers and instructors to become more research-engaged and informed about challenges, which, however, has aroused controversy over the blurring boundaries between teaching and researching. This study thus investigates English language instructors’ research engagement at a state university in Turkey. The data were collected using a survey developed by Borg (2009). 50 language instructors at the School of Foreign Languages participated in the study, 10% of whom (N:11) volunteered for an interview. The data have been analysed to have a better understanding of whether instructors read and do research and how they justify their preferences. As a result, this paper underlines the potential advantages of guidance for language instructors about being a teacher-researcher in the field of language education
Using corpora for language teaching and assessment in L2 writing: A narrative review
Get PDFCorpora have primarily been used in linguistic research, but they have not yet become a pedagogical mainstay of language teaching and assessment practices. Therefore, this narrative review paper aimed to inform practitioners and researchers by examining the advantages and disadvantages of data-driven learning and exploring the use of corpora in foreign language teaching, particularly in writing. Specifically, the goals of this paper include: (1) elucidating what data-driven learning is and its potential to shape the learning experience, (2) explaining and exemplifying how learner corpora can guide EFL learners with particular attention to academic writing, and (3) providing insights into the indirect uses of corpora in teaching and assessing academic writing in L2. The review has met its objectives by presenting evidence compiled from the results of corpus-related studies and references to the use of corpus in language instruction