TEACHER EDUCATORS' EVALUATION OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING PROGRAM: A TURKISH CASE

Abstract

This study explored the perceptions of teacher educators regarding the changes in the English Language Teacher Education Program introduced by the Turkish Higher Education Council (HEC) in 2006. Employing a qualitative design, open-ended questionnaires were administered to 18 lecturers working at five different state universities. The analysis of the data yielded that while teacher educators found some of the changes appropriate, such as the addition of some courses, they raised far more serious concerns with the new program regarding the sequence, content, structure, procedure and removal of courses. In addition, the top-down and centralized program restructuring movement, disregarding the opinions, experiences and the practices of the end users of the program, such as teacher educators, teachers and teacher trainees, was also criticized heavily by the participants.

Keywords

• Teacher training; innovation; improvement; program evaluation

TEACHER EDUCATORS' EVALUATION OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING PROGRAM: A TURKISH CASE

Öz

Bu çalışma 2006 yılında Yüksek Öğrenim Kurumu (YÖK) tarafından gerçekleştirilen İngiliz Dili Öğretmeni Yetiştirme Programındaki değişikliklerle alakalı öğretmen yetiştiricilerinin algılarını incelemektedir. Nitel bir dizayn kullanarak, beş farklı devlet üniversitesinde çalışan 18 öğretim görevlisine açık uçlu anketler uygulanmıştır. Veri analizi ortaya çıkarmaktadır ki öğretmen yetiştiricileri her ne kadar bazı derslerin eklenmesi gibi değişiklikleri uygun bulsalar da onlar sıralama, içerik, yapı, prosedür ve bazı derslerin kaldırılması gibi konularla ilgili olarak çok daha ciddi eleştirilerini dile getirmektedirler. Ayrıca, öğretmen yetiştiricileri, öğretmenler ve stajyer öğretmenler gibi programın nihai kullanıcılarının fikirlerini, tecrübelerini ve uygulamalarını önemsemeyen yukarıdan aşağı ve merkezi program yeniden yapılandırma hareketi katılımcılar tarafından şiddetli bir şekilde eleştirilmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Öğretmen yetiştirme; yenilik, gelişim; program değerlendirme

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