Skills Transformation in Higher Education: Perceptions of Foreign Language Lecturers

Abstract

Utilizing in-depth interviews with 14 lecturers teaching English in foreign language departments at two state and two private universities in Ankara, capital of Turkey, this study aims to discover the direction of skills transformation of these lecturers. The results show that they assumed new roles and acquired new skills, but also lacked some critical skills. Work intensification, inadequate professional development opportunities, exclusion from decision-making processes, and increasing managerial control result in deskilling in both research and pedagogy. The research findings also show that work environment is unable to provide professional development and to increase the motivation of the lecturers teaching English, placing them at a disadvantage in universities. Lecturers who think that their ideas are considered unimportant or ignored tend to lose their motivation to improve some professional skills. This study revealed that the most noticeable issue facing foreign language lecturers in the higher education system is their marginalized and undervalued status.

Keywords

• skills
• proletarianisation
• deskilling
• control
• higher education

Yükseköğretimde Beceri Dönüşümü: Yabancı Dil Öğretim Görevlilerinin Algıları

Öz

Başkent Ankara'da iki devlet ve iki vakıf üniversitesinin yabancı dil bölümlerinde İngilizce öğreten 14 öğretim görevlisi ile derinlemesine görüşmelere dayalı bu çalışma, öğretim elemanlarının beceri dönüşümlerini keşfetmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Bulgular, öğretim görevlilerinin yeni roller üstlendiklerini ve yeni beceriler kazandıklarını, ancak bazı kritik becerilerden de yoksunlaştıklarını gösteriyor. İşin gittikçe yoğunlaşması, yetersiz mesleki gelişim olanakları, karar verme süreçlerinden dışlanma ve artan yönetsel kontrolün hem araştırma hem de pedagojide beceriden yoksunlaşmaya yol açmaktadır. Araştırma bulguları ayrıca çalışma ortamının mesleki gelişimi sağlayamadığını ve İngilizce öğreten öğretim görevlilerinin motivasyonunu artırmayı başaramadığını ve böylece bu kişilerin üniversitelerde dezavantajlı duruma düştüklerini gsötermektedir. Fikirlerinin önemsiz görüldüğünü veya göz ardı edildiğini düşünen öğretim görevlileri, bazı mesleki becerilerini geliştirme motivasyonlarını kaybetme eğilimindedir. Bu çalışma, yükseköğretim sisteminde yabancı dil okutmanlarının karşı karşıya olduğu en belirgin sorunun marjinalleştirilmiş ve değersizleşmiş statüleri olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• beceriler
• proleterleşme
• beceriden yoksunlaşma
• kontrol
• yükseköğretim

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