Turkish EFL Learners Research Articles

Podcasting as a Tool for Developing Oral Proficiency and Self-regulated Learning Strategies: Insights from Turkish EFL Learners

This study examines the impact of podcasts on high school students' English language learning, focusing on speaking performance and self-regulated learning strategies. The widespread adoption of digital communication technologies has transformed education, necessitating the integration of technology to enhance learning outcomes. Using a qualitative approach, the study investigates the general English learning habits of students, their perceptions of using podcasts to improve speaking skills, and how podcasts influence their ability to self-regulate learning. Findings reveal that students actively engage with English-language media, benefiting from enhanced listening comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, and pronunciation. Recording podcasts fosters confidence and fluency in speaking, while also promoting goal setting, planning, and reflective practices. The study highlights the importance of integrating podcasts into EFL instruction to create a dynamic learning environment that supports students' language proficiency goals. The results contribute to the literature on educational technology and underscore the potential of podcasts to improve language learning experiences.

Turkish EFL learners’ knowledge, perception, and production of suprafixes as part of lexical competence

Vocabulary and grammar are essential to language proficiency (Richards, 2015). Some word families and grammatical categories can only be distinguished by prosodic properties such as suprafixes. In English, specific noun/adjective-verb pairs, sometimes called disyllabic words, receive primary stress on different syllables. Typically, nouns receive trochaic stress, while verbs receive iambic stress. Research shows that suprafixes are difficult for language learners from diverse linguistic and prosodic backgrounds. Given the scarcity of research in specific contexts (e.g., Turkish EFL), this study explored Turkish EFL learners’ suprafixational knowledge, perception, and production. Participants were B1-level preparatory school students of a prominent state university. Data were collected through a test of knowledge (n=110), a test of perception (n=80), and a test of production (n=50). Results showed poor knowledge, perception, and production of suprafixes among Turkish EFL learners. Minor variations in suprafixational competence were observed in males and females. Additionally, different noun-verb pairs posed a challenge for both genders. The results were discussed, and recommendations for future research were made. The study concludes that Turkish EFL learners must receive suprasegmental training focusing on suprafixes.

The Effects of Using Google Docs on Writing Skills of Turkish EFL Learners

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of teaching writing skills via Google Docs in a blended learning environment on error correction skills of Turkish EFL learners. In total, there were 50 students from the 10th grade at a public high school in Turkey. The data were collected through a pretest and a posttest in the experimental and control group. According to the statistical results, it was found that there was a significant difference between the posttest scores of the experimental and control group regarding content, organization, vocabulary, grammatical concepts, capitalization, spelling and punctuation, but not in terms of mechanics. In light of the results, using Google Docs in a blended learning environment seems promising to enhance writing skills of language learners by providing immediate feedback and error correction facilities. Anahtar sözcükler: Web 2.0 tools, Google Docs, writing skills, error correction skills

EFL Learners and EFL Teaching in Türkiye: Native English-speaking Teachers’ Views

Many native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) work in Türkiye. NESTs as well as non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) are the major stakeholders, and thus their views and experiences are worth exploring. Despite the ample research on NNESTs’ views, there is a scarcity of those of NESTs. This qualitative case study with four NESTs working at primary and secondary levels of a private school in Istanbul, aims to provide insights into their experiences with Turkish EFL learners and the EFL teaching and learning context in Türkiye. Data collected through an open-ended questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were analyzed qualitatively using the thematic analysis technique. Findings showed that Turkish EFL students are perceived as motivated, respectful, competitive and product-oriented learners, preferring more conventional practices like memorization and individual study. While oral fluency in English is seen as their strength, accuracy and literacy skills are evaluated as areas in need of development. The overall experience of the NESTs and their views about their work environment and colleagues are positive, yet factors such as the management style of the administrators, attitude of parents and their own incompetence in Turkish affect their views negatively and challenge them.

The Role of Morphological Awareness and Background Knowledge in Turkish EFL Learners’ Writing Ability

The Role of Morphological Awareness and Background Knowledge in Turkish EFL Learners’ Writing Ability

Turkish EFL Learners’ Perceptions and Preferences of Written Corrective Feedback

Written corrective feedback (WCF) has gained considerable attention from both researchers and teachers in the field of English language teaching (ELT). Although a large bulk of research on WCF has focused on the link between different feedback types and language development, more research is needed to understand how language learners perceive written corrective feedback and what feedback practices they favor more than others. Therefore, this study aims to investigate Turkish EFL learners’ perceptions and preferences of written corrective feedback in terms of the feedback strategies employed in their classrooms as well as their revision practices upon getting feedback. 90 Turkish Intermediate EFL undergraduates from a public university in Turkey completed a 21-item Likert-scale questionnaire online. Using descriptive statistics, the questionnaire data were analyzed. The findings showed that the learners’ perceptions and their teachers’ feedback practices mostly aligned, and most learners preferred to receive comprehensive and indirect feedback that focuses on grammatical, mechanical, and lexical errors rather than organization and content. These findings highlighted the importance of learner expectations in relation to the perceived efficacy of feedback practices.

İngilizce Öğretmenim Melek Gibi ve İngilizce Öğrenmek Ayna Gibi: Türk İngilizce Öğrencilerinden Yansımalar

This study sets out to investigate the metaphors created by Turkish EFL learners towards English language teacher and learning English. The researcher uses a self-designed metaphor elicitation sheet with an incomplete sentence from twenty-four participants to gather data by designing a cross-sectional survey. The findings indicate that the participants mostly hold positive images towards both the English language teacher and learning English. Additionally, the learners’ explaining reasons for the metaphors that describe English language teacher and learning English shed light into their opinions towards those concepts, which provides leverage to the teacher so as to construct an efficient learning environment for the language learners.

Self-Regulated Learning and Listening Achievement of Turkish EFL Learners: Does Flipped Classroom Matter After Post Pandemic Recovery

Flipped classroom model has been an important pedagogical tool that has been widely incorporated and researched in recent years. Current studies have scrutinized the effect of the model on the achievement of language learners. The purpose of the present study is two-fold: (i) to examine whether the flipped classroom model has an impact on B1 level Turkish students attending English preparatory program at school of Foreign Languages in a state university, and (ii) to investigate if the flipped classroom model yields different results on the self-regulated learning levels of the participants. The participants of the study consist of 60 B1 level prep-class students attending B1 level Listening course, with 2 classes each including 30 students. Firstly, the students in one class were classified as control group (CG) and the ones in the other class as experimental group (EG). During the 8-week B1 module process, the listening lesson was taught with the traditional method in the CG and with the flipped classroom model (FCM) in the EG. The data were gathered through pre and post-tests of listening skills achievement exam and self-regulated learning scale. As for data analysis, mixed ANOVA analysis was used. The findings showed no significant difference on self-regulated learning levels but on listening skills achievement scores. Suggestions were discussed accordingly.

Investigating L2 Explicit Knowledge and Its Reflection in Written Proficiency of Turkish EFL Learners

Investigating L2 Explicit Knowledge and Its Reflection in Written Proficiency of Turkish EFL Learners

Taking Advantage of L2 Errors in EFL Learners’ Written Language Production

This qualitative study investigates the errors committed by Turkish EFL learners and the rate of spelling mistakes to grammar errors in learners’ paragraphs. In order to examine these issues, 19 participants studying at a private high school in Turkey took part in this study. The qualitative data were collected through students’ paragraphs written in English. A content and a descriptive analysis were employed to analyze the data. The grammar errors were categorized as errors of omission, addition, misformation, and double types throughout the scrutiny. The errors were related to various grammatical elements such as verbs, articles, verb inflections, noun inflections, and prepositions. The most frequent error category was omission, and the grammar elements the students errored most were prepositions. The results also showed that the students’ grammar errors were approximately two times more than their spelling mistakes. Given the results of this study, some suggestions for future studies and pedagogical implications were provided.

CORPUS USED AS A DATA-DRIVEN LEARNING TOOL IN L2 ACADEMIC WRITING: EVIDENCE FROM TURKISH CONTEXTS

This study investigated the effectiveness of using corpus as a data-driven learning (DDL) tool to enhance the academic writing skills of Turkish EFL learners. The study also explored learners’ views of the potential use of corpus in L2 academic writing. To achieve these objectives, a mixed-method sequential explanatory design was employed, involving freshman student teachers enrolled in the Department of English Language Teaching at a state university in Turkey. The participants completed four argumentative essay writing tasks. Two tasks employed conventional techniques for error correction, while the other two utilized corpus as a reference tool for error correction. The latter two tasks were complemented by corpus training for the participants. The results indicated that using corpus as a DDL tool had a significant impact on the academic writing skills of Turkish EFL learners, with notable improvements observed in both grammar and vocabulary use. Participants also expressed positive feedback on the use of corpus as a DDL tool in enhancing their L2 academic writing.

Türkiye’de İngilizceyi Yabancı Dil Olarak Öğrenenlerin Yabancı Dil Benlik Sistemlerinin Kesitsel Desenle İncelenmesi

This paper reports the findings of a research, with a twofold aim of investigating L2 motivational self system of Turkish EFL learners and exploring how the constructs of this model interact with each other. To this end, we conducted a mixed methods research with 1168 participants from three populations of Turkish EFL learners, secondary school, high school and university students. The findings show that the tripartite mode of L2 motivational self system explains the Turkish EFL learners’ language learning motivation and that the constructs of this model contribute towards the language learning motivation following different paths for the three groups of learners from secondary school, high school and university. To investigate the possible changes these constructs undergo over time, language learning motivation trajectories of individual learners were also explored. The findings show that there is a dynamic interplay among these constructs. The findings also indicate patterns and emergence of attractor states in these interactions. Finally, it is found that the attractor states themselves also undergo changes over the learners’ trajectories, shaping whilst being shaped by the components of L2 motivational self system.

"Short-Circuit" L1 use in pre-reading activities and its effects on L2 reading comprehension and focus-on-vocabulary learning

This study explores the effect of categorically different pre-reading activities in learners’ L1 on reading comprehension and learning of focus-on-vocabulary. The participants were sixty Turkish EFL learners attending a state high school, and the data was gathered from their achievement test scores. We analyzed the data through one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and implemented t-test statistical procedures. The findings revealed that the treatment group, who were exposed to pre-reading activities in L1, obtained better results both in reading comprehension and focus-on-vocabulary activities than the control group. The positive effect of implementing the ‘’short-circuit’’ L1 use in pre-reading activities for reading comprehension and focus-on-vocabulary exercises was observed. It was also seen that categorically different pre-reading activities enhanced EFL learners’ reading comprehension and vocabulary learning.

An Analysis of L1 Influence of Delexical Verbs Collocations on Turkish EFL Learners’ Performances

Mainly involving congruent and non-congruent collocations across English and Turkish, this study aimed to examine EFL learners’ performances in associating the given delexical verbs collocations between English and Turkish. The study involved a corpus-based selection of delexical verbs collocations. Data were collected from 43 participants who were applied a translation test with 24 items. The findings were examined according to error analysis. Employing a mixed method design, the study involved descriptive analysis of learners' scores, sources of learners’ errors, and an evaluation of L1 influence on learners’ test results. The findings showed that EFL learners’ score was higher with congruent delexical verbs collocations compared to non-congruent collocations. The findings also elicited L1 transfer had influence on EFL learning and assumed similarity might cause errors in associating verb collocations with their target language equivalents. The study offers some significant implications for both the learners and language instructors.

Learner Readiness and Efficiency of Learning English in Online Higher Education Context: Voices of Turkish EFL Learners

Today, online education has become indispensable for many learning environments, including those designated for teaching and learning languages, becoming widespread and revolutionizing how students access education and language learning resources. This shift to online platforms has opened up numerous opportunities for learners, breaking down barriers of distance and time constraints. However, it also brings challenges, especially in the Turkish context. From this perspective, this study aimed to determine the online readiness of Turkish learners of English and the factors affecting the (in)efficiency of their online language education in their universities. In this study, the online learning readiness of 409 EFL learners at the university level in different parts of Türkiye was identified using the questionnaire by Hung et al. (2010), adapted to the Turkish context by İlhan and Çetin (2013). The (in)efficiency of online learning was explored by interviewing 40 EFL learners about their experiences before and after taking online English courses. Results indicated that learners seemed relatively ready for online education. However, they reported several factors for the inefficiency of online learning, such as a lack of real class environment and technical problems, for efficiency, such as learning in the comfort of their homes and having more time for self-development. They also mentioned several challenges and provided some suggestions for improving online learning.

A Corpus-Based Study of Conjunction Use by the Turkish EFL Learners

The process of language learning includes and follows some stages and skills, such as reading, listening, speaking, and writing. According to scholars, speaking and writing are the most difficult skills to master in English language learning. To date, the studies focused on the importance of these skills and investigated the ways of developing them. All aside, writing skill consists of various aspects and the use of appropriate conjunction use is among them. The present paper tries to illuminate the use and the frequency of conjunction use by Turkish English language learners in their final exam mini-essay writings administering a small corpus-based study. Based on the results, the study discusses the potential reasons behind their preference for conjunction use. In conclusion of the study, “and”, “but”, “because”, and “if” are the most common conjunctions (with the use of over 100) among other conjunctions.

THE EFFECTS OF STRATEGY TRAINING ON THE USE OF GLOBAL READING STRATEGIES: IMPLICATIONS FROM THINK-ALOUD AND EYE-TRACKING DATA

Considering the critical role of readings strategies in L2 reading this study aimed to investigate the impact of strategy training on Turkish EFL learners’ use of global reading strategies. 23 freshmen, enrolled in the ELT Department, participated in the study, and the data were collected through eye tracking and thinkaloud protocols. The results are encouraging for the use of reciprocal teaching, one of the comprehensionenhancing approaches to teach reading, in the EFL contexts. Eye tracking results, hand in hand with the think-aloud protocols’ findings, revealed that the participants utilised global reading strategies more frequently to a statistically significant degree after the strategy instruction. Thus, it was concluded that strategy training was useful for the participants to improve their use of global reading strategies, and a recent technological tool can be purposefully integrated into the data collection procedure of educational research studies. Pedagogical implications on the strategy training for the employment of global reading strategies that would help students improve reading skills need to be given attention by teachers.

Foreign Language Enjoyment among Turkish EFL Learners

Foreign Language Enjoyment among Turkish EFL Learners

Amalgamation of Technology Use and Collocation-focused Tasks in the Expansion of Reading Comprehension Capability of Turkish EFL Learners after Covid-19 Period Biographical Information

Drastic changes in education like depending on remote and online education during and after Corona Virus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) have been undergone globally. As a result, instructors and learners were convinced to pursue their objectives despite the complications of pandemic disease. To this end, this study focuses on the effect of extra-curricular collocation-basedassignments on reading comprehension skill and the utilization of technology in the context of education. Thus, in this quasi-experimental study two homogeneous groups including sixty intermediate students from a state university in Turkey were selected. Reading comprehension instruction was given to both groups who participated in online education run by a Moodle Application.While the experimental group received additional collocation-focused education and assignments, the control group had traditional reading comprehension education without noticing the importance and conducive effect of collocations. To compare the means of the two groups pre and post-tests, and two independent T-tests were used. Ameaningful difference in the means of the groups on the post-test of reading comprehension performance was obvious in the results section. Last but not the least, assignment, as an academic extra-curricular activity, had a considerable impact on Turkish intermediate EFL learners’ foreign language reading comprehension ability after the pandemic lockdown period.

An investigation into the association between student-perceived affective teacher variables and students’ L2-Grit

ABSTRACT This study sought to probe the relationship between perceived affective L2 teacher variables (i.e. teacher support, teacher enthusiasm, and teacher appreciation) and students’ L2 grit. Drawing on a quantitative research design and a sample of 285 Turkish ELT undergraduate students, we employed structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis to identify the interplay among these latent affective L2 teacher variables and their subcomponents, and the way they influence learners’ L2 grit. The results indicated that Turkish EFL learners’ domain-specific grit was significantly influenced by teachers’ appreciation, support, and enthusiasm. Moreover, EFL teachers’ enthusiasm was found to play the strongest predictive role in learners’ L2 grit. This study implies that academically/emotionally supportive, enthusiastic, and appreciative attitudes in language classes can act as strong drives for enhancing language learners’ perseverance of effort and consistency of interest. The findings add to our understanding of teacher-related antecedents of L2 learner grit.