This research investigates whether students&amp / #8217 / motivation improves when thematic syllabus is employed in the classroom. This is the first time a theme-based integrated skills syllabus is employed at Atilim University Departmental English Language Studies Unit. With the outcome of the questionnaires conducted by the administration, it was realized that content is an important motivating factor and employing a theme-based syllabus can have a positive effect on students&amp / #8217 / motivation. For this research, firstly an interest survey was employed to identify the areas students would like to focus on. After the quantitative analysis of the interest survey, a five-week theme-based syllabus was designed and employed for five weeks in the classroom. At the end of the semester, interviews were carried out with twenty six students. From the point of view of the students, proposed syllabus was much more interesting and motivating than the common one employed in the first ten weeks of the semester. This study showed that if a theme-based syllabus reflecting students&amp / #8217 / interests is employed in a classroom, student motivation improves. Thus, they can develop positive attitude towards the course and language learning.

This study aimed at investigating the effect of educational ideologies on teacher&amp / #8217 / s perceptions of and attitudes towards curriculum change. The sample consisted of 184 primary and secondary school teachers working in Kulu, Konya. Data were gathered from the participants via two inventories, Educational Ideologies Inventory and Perceptions of and Attitudes towards Curriculum Change Inventory. The first inventory developed by William O&amp / #8217 / Neill. The second inventory was developed by McAttee &amp / Punch (1979). The researcher translated them into Turkish, made necessary alterations and pilot tested. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized to analyze the data. Mann-Whitney U Test was employed to investigate the effect of educational ideologies on teacher&amp / #8217 / s perceptions of and attitudes towards curriculum change. Results of the study indicated that there is no significant difference between teachers&amp / #8217 / educational ideologies and their perceptions of and attitudes towards curriculum change. Furthermore, some background variables were also not found to affect the teachers&amp / #8217 / perceptions of and attitudes towards the new curriculum.

ABSTRACT EVALUATION OF AN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING PROGRAM AT A PUBLIC UNIVERSITY USING CIPP MODEL TUN&Ccedil / , Ferda M.S. Department of Educational Sciences Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cennet Engin DEMiR January 2010, 110 pages This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of Ankara University Preparatory School program through the perspectives of instructors and students. To this end, the CIPP (context, input, process, and product) evaluation model developed by Stufflebeam (1971) was utilized. 406 students attending the preparatory school in the 2008-2009 academic year and 12 instructors teaching in the program participated in the study. The data were gathered through a self-reported student questionnaire and an interview schedule which was designed for the instructors. Besides, in order to obtain more detailed information about the preparatory school, written documents were examined. While the data based on the questionnaire were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics, content analysis was carried out to analyze the qualitative data. Multivariate Analysis of Variances with Pillai&rsquo / s Trace test was employed to investigate whether the significant differences among dependent variables across independent variables existed. Results of the study indicated that the program at Ankara University Preparatory School partially served for its purpose. The findings revealed that some improvements in the physical conditions, content, materials and assessment dimensions of the program were required to make the program more effective.

The aim of this study is to reveal the teachers

The aim of this study is to evaluate the Turkish Language Teaching Program for Foreigners at Minsk State Linguistic University in Belarus. The study aims to answer the following two main questions: 1) what are the discrepancies between the current status and the desired outcomes of the Turkish program at MSLU? 2) What aspects of the Turkish program should be maintained, strengthened or added? In order to answer these questions, data were collected from students who were attending the program in the 2002-2003 academic year, instructors who were teaching in the program in the same academic year, the graduates of the program, former instructors of this program, the parents of the students who were currently attending the program, the authorities at the institution, the employers of the graduates of this program in Minsk. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected in the study. The quantitative data were collected through questionnaires. The qualitative data were collected through interviews and written document analysis. The results of the data showed that the Turkish Language Program at Minsk State Linguistic University partially meets the needs and demands of all the involved parties. However, it was observed that enthusiasm and interest for the Turkish language among the current students, graduates and the University authorities were high. Some changes and additions could be made in the program to make it better suited to the needs and demands of its under goers and institution.

Science communication, as a multidisciplinary field, serves to transfer scientific information to individuals to promote interest and awareness in science. This process resembles science education. Rooted in science education and science communication studies, this study examines the 4th and 5th grade students` usage of prominent science information sources (SIS), the features of these sources, and their effective and ineffective uses and processes in communicating science to students. Guided by situated learning and uses and gratifications (U&amp / G) theories, this study is a phenomenological qualitative inquiry. Data were gathered through approximately 64 hours of classroom observations / focus group and individual interviews from four elementary schools (two public, two private schools) in Ankara, T&uuml / rkiye. Focus group interviews were conducted with 47 students, and individual interviews were carried out with 17 teachers and 10 parents. The data were analyzed manually and MAXQDA software respectively. The results revealed that students used various SIS in school-based and beyond contexts to satisfy their cognitive, affective, personal, and social integrative needs. They used SIS for (a) science courses, (b) homework/project assignments, (c) exam/test preparations, and (d) individual science related research. Moreover, the results indicated that comprehensible, enjoyable, entertaining, interesting, credible, brief, updated, and visual aspects of content and content presentation of SIS were among the key drivers affecting students` use of SIS. The results revealed that accessibility of SIS was an important variable in students` use of these sources. Results further shed light on the connection between science education and science communication in terms of promoting science learning.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the implementation process of the present and newly introduced instructional techniques in new elementary school mathematics curriculum in sixth grade through the reports of teachers, which has been piloted in some specific schools. Moreover, it was aimed to find out the effects of several parameters on implementation, like city where school teachers are working is located, teachers&amp / #8217 / gender, teaching experience and number of students in the classroom. In addition, difficulties faced by teachers during the implementation process and teachers&amp / #8217 / general opinions about the new curriculum are examined. The sample consisted of 80 teachers working at elementary schools located in Ankara, Istanbul, Bolu and Kocaeli (Izmit). The Teacher Questionnaire was administered to participants in the 2005-2006 academic year. In order to investigate the differences in Teacher Questionnaire&amp / #8217 / s sub-scales&amp / #8217 / scores (Learning-Teaching Process, Material Usage, Evaluation Techniques) of the participants with respect to city, gender, teaching experience, academic level and number of students in classes, separate Multivariate Analysis of Variance were run. The results of this study indicated that teachers&amp / #8217 / implementation of the new methods and techniques highlighted in the curriculum can be interpreted as at high level. MANOVA tests indicated that teachers&amp / #8217 / implementation of the new methods and techniques were not affected by number of students in the classrooms, gender and teaching experience. According to the results of the study, teachers&amp / #8217 / usage of recommended educational equipments was found as at average level and MANOVA tests indicated that teachers&amp / #8217 / usage of recommended educational equipments was affected by teaching experience but not by gender and number of students in the classroom. The results of this study also showed that teachers&amp / #8217 / implementation of new evaluation techniques was at average level and MANOVA tests indicated that teachers&amp / #8217 / implementation of new evaluation techniques were not affected by gender, teaching experience and number of students in the classrooms.

This study examined the impact of learner-centered teaching and learning process on pre-advanced first year medical students&rsquo / performance, attitudes, and retention in medical English through a pre-test/post-test experimental research design.The sample of this study included 180 first year medical students of a state medical university, Gazi University, Medical Faculty, Ankara, Turkey. The subjects were assigned to experimental and control groups. Before the experiment, an achievement test and an attitude test were given as pre-test to both groups. The subjects in the control group (n=90) continued with traditional instruction while the subjects in the experimental group (n=90) studied using the learner-centered instruction. The treatment lasted 14 weeks. At the end of the treatment, the same achievement and the attitude tests were given as post-tests. One month after the post-test, the same achievement test was given to both groups as retention test.The post-test results of the study indicate no statistically significant difference between the control and experimental groups immediately after the experiment. However, retention test results show significant difference between the two groups in favor of the experimental group. The attitude post test results toward the experimental instruction show significant difference between the two groups in favor of the experimental group as well.

This study aimed to examine the relationship of background knowledge in relation to topic interest and reading performance of English language learners at TOBB University of Economics and Technology. For that, a reading interest questionnaire and three reading comprehension tests, which were accompanied with a 2-item background &amp / interest questionnaire, were developed by the researcher. These instruments were implemented on 75 English language learners studying at TOBB ETU Preparatory School. The results obtained from the instruments were analyzed through SPSS 15.0. In analyzing the data, descriptive statistics as average and standard deviation besides inferential statistics as one-way ANOVA and Spearman&rsquo / s correlation test were used. The results of the study revealed that there is a significant difference among the three reading performance scores of the language learners. Besides, the correlation of topic background knowledge and interest is highlighted for each of three reading comprehension tests, so are the significant relationships of (a) background knowledge and reading performance as well (b) topic interest and reading performance also among the results for the moderate-interest &amp / background knowledge and high- interest &amp / background knowledge tests.

The purpose of the study was to assess 5th grade Turkish students&rsquo / environmental literacy (EL) level by considering six EL components, and explore the factors predicting the environmentally responsible behaviors (ERB) of these students. The research design of the study was nation-wide survey. The sample of the survey consisted of 2412 fifth grade students selected from 78 elementary schools (26 private and 52 public) in 26 provinces across Turkey. Developed by the researcher, Elementary School Environmental Literacy Instrument (ESELI) including five parts and total 81 items was used as data collection instrument. To analyze quantitative data, descriptive statistics, ANOVA, multiple correlation and path analysis were conducted. The responses to open-ended question were subjected to content analysis. The results of the study revealed that EL score of the students was found 149 (SD=26.19) suggesting moderate level of EL and 64.1% of the students (n=1545) had moderate level EL. The factors significantly affecting 5th grade students&rsquo / ERB and the effect size of these factors were as follows / school type (partial =.007), taking pre-school education (partial =.002), mother education level (partial =.007), father education level (partial =.012), residence (partial =.008), experiences in the natural regions (partial =.046), curiosity toward environmental information (partial =.048), mother environmental concern (partial =.023), father environmental concern (partial =.031) and sibling environmental concern (partial =.014). Furthermore, a combination of environmental knowledge, willingness to take environmental action, cognitive skills, and environmental attitude and environmental sensitivity explained 12% of the variance in ERB. As a conclusion, the results of the presents study will shed light on the attempts on policy making and curriculum development regarding environmental education.