Nurdan Gurbuz | Middle East Technical University (original) (raw)

Papers by Nurdan Gurbuz

The current study aims to investigate how Turkish English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers un... more The current study aims to investigate how Turkish English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers understand the cultural component in language classes and the extent to which they feel to have opportunities to raise cultural awareness. The views on and approaches to cultural issues of ten English language instructors teaching at the tertiary level across state and private universities in Turkey have been examined in this regard. A qualitativequantitative mixed-method design using a questionnaire and semi-structured individual interviews has been adopted. The findings revealed that the teachers' opportunities to raise their students' cultural awareness were not satisfactory, and there was a mismatch between their wishes and practices. They felt ill-prepared to include culture and tackle cultural controversies in class. Their conceptualization of culture in English language classes was predominantly modern from a received view of culture yet included elements from which interculturality may develop.

Directed motivational currents (DMCs) are portrayed as highly intense and prolonged periods of mo... more Directed motivational currents (DMCs) are portrayed as highly intense and prolonged periods of motivation oriented to a much-desired goal of personal significance. While we have seen a recent growth in studies examining aspects of DMCs, evidence on the negative side-effects of DMCs remains inadequate to date. In response to repeated calls for research into this area, we conducted a qualitative study to scrutinize the negative side-effects of DMCs as experienced by 5 trainee teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Turkey. The database comprised indepth, semi-structured interviews carried out twice per participant. Interview transcripts were analysed in line with the principles of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The findings suggest that the negative side-effects of DMCs manifest themselves as showing signs of a sense of inadequacy, mental distress, and feelings of sorrow. These side-effects caused temporal setbacks in sustaining goal-directed behaviors, and they resulted from varied sources such as excessive dedication towards goal achievement, occasional deviations from behavioral routines, lack of affirmative feedback on progress made, and engagement with ill-conceived subgoals. Overall, the results offer a more detailed picture of the affective properties of DMCs and add depth to the current conception of this motivational phenomenon. The results also shed some light on the potential risks of deliberately inducing DMCs in language learners for pedagogical purposes.

Based on a multiple qualitative case study design, this study investigated the impact of early la... more Based on a multiple qualitative case study design, this study investigated the impact of early language learning experiences on language teaching beliefs of Turkish in-service EFL teachers and aimed to find out how these experiences influenced their current practices. The participants included three Turkish EFL teachers working in English preparatory programs of different state universities. They were determined through purposive sampling so that they could provide rich and in-depth data for the study. The data were collected in the spring semester of 2014-2015 academic year through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, stimulated recalls and reflection reports. As for the data analysis, qualitative content analysis scheme of Creswell (2012) and the constant comparison method of Strauss and Corbin (1998) were used. The results revealed that the influence of prior language learning experiences was quite noticeable on the participant teachers' language teaching beliefs and practices. It was also demonstrated that the participants had very initial conceptualizations on how languages were learnt and taught based on their language learning experiences in the past which included their teachers, language learning habits and language learning aptitude. Based on these findings, this study calls for further research that will focus on the notion of apprenticeship of observation among EFL teachers.

This study investigated the motivational orientations of Turkish university students in their for... more This study investigated the motivational orientations of Turkish university students in their foreign language learning process. 383, 225 female and 158 male, preintermediate students studying in the English preparatory program of a state university participated in the study. A questionnaire having 30 items was administered to the students and 19 of them were also interviewed. Quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics and qualitative data were analyzed via content analysis. The quantitative results revealed that students had a moderate level of foreign language learning motivation. Besides, it was found that students had a moderate level of integrative orientation and a high level of instrumental orientation. The qualitative findings showed that participants had generally instrumental reasons for learning English and their motivational level fluctuates during the learning process. Finally, it was demonstrated that instrumental orientation and integrative orientation were interrelated phenomenon.

Although language teacher well-being has been the focus of growing attention in recent years, the... more Although language teacher well-being has been the focus of growing attention in recent years, there is little known of its dynamic and contextually dependent nature. Integrating the complex dynamic view of well-being with an ecological orientation, this classroom-based study examined the micro-scale changes in pre-service language teacher well-being and the reasons for such changes using data from three pre-service English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers in T€ urkiye. The individual trajectories of well-being were tracked in a particular class over 4 weeks through self-ratings of well-being at 10-minute intervals during the lectures, journal entries, interviews, and stimulated recall sessions on individual microteachings. The findings suggest that the experience of pre-service language teacher well-being in the classroom ecology remains subject to inter and intraindividual variability over time, displaying nonlinear trajectories not only within sequences of single lessons but also from one lesson to another in response to a host of personal and contextual factors. These findings imply that pre-service language teacher well-being is not static, but instead is enhanced and reduced at particular moments in the classroom as a result of the interplay of a myriad of variables. We end with a call for more research into micro-scale changes in teacher well-being within applied linguistics and beyond.

This study aimed to explore the views of pre-service teachers (freshman students) at English Lang... more This study aimed to explore the views of pre-service teachers (freshman students) at English Language Teaching program at a state university in Turkey towards the use of L1 (mother tongue) in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms while also investigating their actual use of L1 during an extracurricular teaching event. It also aims to find out if there is a relationship between participants' educational background in language learning, their views towards use of L1 and their actual use of L1. This study employed a qualitative approach by collecting data through semi-structured interviews and these interviews were supported with field notes taken by the researcher. The findings showed that ELT students mostly favored the use of L2 (target language) in the classroom and stated that it must be used as much as possible; however, some participants also stated that L1 could be used depending on the proficiency of students. The analysis of the interviews showed that there was no relationship between the participants' actual use of L1 and their educational background for the participants. Finally, the study suggests some implications towards the ELT curriculum in line with the findings.

This study investigates the effect of gender on foreign language speaking anxiety and learner mot... more This study investigates the effect of gender on foreign language speaking anxiety and learner motivation. 225 female and 158 male pre-intermediate students participated in the study. Two questionnaires were administered to the participants, and randomly selected 19 students were also interviewed. According to the results of the quantitative data, female students demonstrated a higher level of foreign language learning motivation than male students. The results also showed that the female students get more anxious than the male students while speaking in English in classroom. The results of the qualitative data showed parallelism with the quantitative results.

Short-term study abroad programs can contribute to the multidimensional development of prospectiv... more Short-term study abroad programs can contribute to the multidimensional development of prospective language teachers. However, participants' intercultural sensitivity orientations prior to the mobility period can significantly influence the quality and quantity of the outcomes gained from such programs. Therefore, in this qualitative case study, we explored the intercultural sensitivity orientations of a cohort of prospective language teachers from Turkey who prepared to study at three different universities in Italy. We also explored the participants' perspectives regarding the potential contributions of short-term study abroad to their ongoing language teacher education processes. Following an interpretive analysis of qualitative data, our findings revealed that the participants aligned largely with ethnocentrism although there were individual differences concerning the levels of intercultural sensitivity. Their intercultural perspectives generally lacked complexity and reflected popular, unwarranted discourses surrounding study abroad. Based on these findings and discussions, we made several recommendations for further research and preparation of future participants.

This study examined the main sources of the participant English as a foreign language (EFL) teach... more This study examined the main sources of the participant English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers' cognitions, their classroom practices and the impact of institutional context on these practices. The participants included three Turkish EFL instructors working at English preparatory programs at university level. The data were collected through three semi-structured interviews, twelve hours of classroom observations with follow-up stimulated recall interviews, and reflective journal entries. To analyse the data, grounded theory design was used as a systematic data analysis process. The findings showed that prior language learning experiences, the pre-service education, the years spent as a novice teacher, institutional atmosphere, experienced colleagues in the past and all teaching experiences were the main sources of their cognition on language teaching and their cognitions were also the origin of their classroom practices. The learner profile, institutional factors including the organizational atmosphere, testing and curriculum policies, and the participants' improvisational teaching acts were the other factors shaping their practices. Finally, the study puts forward a language teacher cognition model, Clusters of Language Teacher Cognition, a figurative conceptualization which would guide researchers for further studies and policy-makers for designing the learning-to-teach processes of teachers.

With the establishment of dual degree programmes between Turkish universities and the State Unive... more With the establishment of dual degree programmes between Turkish universities and the State University of New York (SUNY), the number of Turkish students studying in the US has increased substantially. The aim of this qualitative study is to shed light on the impact of the year abroad on student development by focusing on the perspectives of both the teachers and students through the use of questionnaires and interviews. The study focused on the impact of the year abroad on students' personal, linguistic, intercultural and academic development. Overall, the results of the study pointed to a positive impact of the year abroad on students in all four areas. However, especially in terms of students' language development, students and faculty gave conflicting reports. While all students believed that they improved their language skills, the faculty indicated that students had not benefited from the programme as much as they could.

In this study, we investigated Turkish EFL teachers' level of recognition of English accent varie... more In this study, we investigated Turkish EFL teachers' level of recognition of English accent varieties and their attitudes regarding three common domains, status (e.g. educatedness, intelligence), solidarity (friendliness, kindness), and dynamism (confidence, talkativeness). We also explored the English teachers' choices of English accents in various language-using contexts. Through the verbal-guise technique, we were able to evaluate the teachers' language attitudes towards accents, yet we also integrated a questionnaire to further examine the issue for teacher attitudes and ideologies concerning language education. The findings revealed that recognition of English accent varieties was greater with American English and the local accented English. The ratings of status, solidarity, and dynamism showed that speakers' accents had a strong effect on how the language teachers treated them. Few teachers reported to include various English accents in language courses due to the teachers' strong preference for L1 accent varieties in the class. Similarly, the L1 accents were ranked significantly higher in the formal contexts, the teaching model in particular. In sum, the accent matter remains to be a meaningful variable for the production of normative language ideologies in the language education market.

Since concept mapping has been proposed by Joseph D. Novak in the early 1970's, many aspects of h... more Since concept mapping has been proposed by Joseph D. Novak in the early 1970's, many aspects of his implications have been studied. Concept mapping technique is based on cognitive structures and Ausubel's meaningful learning. Concept mapping provides logical relationship between concepts in the learner's mind by creating an active teaching context and providing learners with meaningful learning. This study was done to investigate the effect of using concept mapping on the reading comprehension of physical education students in English for Specific Purpose (ESP). In order to collect data, purposive sampling was used. Participants were 60 university students majoring in Physical Education at University of Farhangian, Nasibeh Campus in Tehran. They were placed in two groups, experimental and control groups. To teach reading, traditional teaching was used for the control group and concept mapping was taught to the experimental group. The effect of using this technique on the reading comprehension of the students was measured by administrating a pretest and a post-test. To analyze the data, SPSS 21 was used. Results showed that using concept mapping had a significant effect on the improvement of the reading comprehension of the physical education students in ESP.

This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.

Developing speaking fluency in a foreign language is a challenging goal especially in countries w... more Developing speaking fluency in a foreign language is a challenging goal especially in countries where English is learned as a foreign language as learners have no natural exposure to the target language. This paper discusses how fluency and disfluency are reflected in English conversations of Turkish students. It is assumed that developing fluency in a foreign language can be an easier task if we can understand the nature of fluency. For that purpose, ten Turkish undergraduate students' conversational English was analyzed to examine how fluency and disfluency are realized in non-native data. The data analyses revealed that fluency is related to a number of factors such as pauses, hesitations and discourse markers and language proficiency level of the speakers.

Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, Apr 1, 2014

This study investigated the level, major causes, determining factors of foreign language speaking... more This study investigated the level, major causes, determining factors of foreign language speaking anxiety and students' perceptions of it in a Turkish EFL context. Pre-intermediate students (N=383) of an English preparatory program at a state university participated in the study. The data regarding the level of EFL speaking anxiety were collected through a questionnaire, and then, randomly selected participants (N=19) were interviewed to get in-depth data on speaking anxiety. The quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, and the qualitative data were analyzed via content analysis. Although the results of the quantitative data revealed that students experienced a low level of EFL speaking anxiety, the quantitative data demonstrated that most of the students perceive speaking skill as an anxiety provoking factor. It was also found that pronunciation, immediate questions, fears of making mistakes and negative evaluation are the major causes of EFL speaking anxiety. Finally, the present study puts forward that foreign language speaking anxiety is a separate phenomenon with its own sources, aspects, variables and effects on learners.

This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.

Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, Apr 1, 2014