Correct Pronunciation as Work Ethics in Teacher Education

Abstract

This study aims to determine the self-perceptions of the English teachers in Turkey from the aspect of correct pronunciation as work ethics in teacher education. The vast majority of non-natives fail to achieve native speaker competence and performance in pronunciation. Considering that majority of the English teachers in Turkey are non-native speakers of English and the role models of the non-native learners of English, a necessity to analyze the pronunciation from the aspect of work ethics occurred. For this purpose, a questionnaire with 25 items including the aspects of professional requirements, relations with colleagues, international clubs and foundations and the point of students was developed. The collected data were analyzed using independent samples t-test and ANOVA. The participants were 30 Turkish teachers of English, 21 of whom were familiar with the code of ethics. The findings demonstrated that those who were familiar with the code of ethics and had higher education degree outperformed the other participants although the difference between these groups was found out not to be statistically significant. The most and least scored areas were the professional requirements and international clubs and organizations respectively. It is suggested that an institution be established in Turkey to standardize the code of ethics, familiarize the teachers with its components and guide them during the teaching process.