Impact of a PhD ELT program on academic development of students at a Turkish state university

Year 2014, Volume: 3 Issue: 3, 111 - 139, 28.11.2014

Recep Bilican

Abstract

A doctoral program is a lengthy process lasting at least four years which requires students having a great deal of commitment and perseverance to acquire the intended and unintended learning outcomes for the sake of being competent researchers. However, there has not been any attempt as a scientific inquiry into evaluation of any ELT PhD program in Turkish context.  To fill this research gap, the present study was conducted to evaluate the ELT PhD program at a Turkish state university with an explicit focus on its learning outcomes. To do so, a questionnaire was administrated to 24 students and a focus group interview was conducted by 7 students. According to the results of the study, the program was perceived to be successful in developing analytical and critical thinking skills in conducting research. It was also found out that more comprehensive course materials, and more timely and intensive feedback should be provided by the course instructors for the improvement of the program.  

Keywords

Learning outcomes, program evaluation, scientific inquiry, program improvement

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