This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the tendency of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instructors to use the emotional intelligence (EQ) skills and their attitudes towards the teaching of EQ skills in EFL classes. The quantitative data were collected through a demographic inventory and two questionnaires. In the quantitative data gathering process, 140 EFL instructors working at Atilim University, BaSkent University, Bogazi&ccedil / i University and Erciyes University participated. In order for an in-depth interpretation of the questionnaire results, semi-structured interviews were held with 10 EFL instructors. The results of the study revealed that there is a relationship between the tendency of EFL instructors to use the interpersonal skills and their classroom applications related to the teaching of these skills in EFL classes. The tendency of EFL instructors to use the intrapersonal, interpersonal, adaptability and general mood skills were also found to correlate with their beliefs related to the teaching of these skills in EFL classes. Another outstanding finding of the study is that the tendency of EFL instructors&rsquo / to teach EQ skills is lower than both their tendency to use EQ skills and their tendency to believe that EI skills should be taught in EFL classes. Furthermore, the analysis of the demographic information along with the questionnaire results revealed a correlation between the tendency of EFL instructors to teach EQ skills in their classes and their gender, workload and the type of the institution they work. The results also revealed that there is a relationship between the beliefs of EFL instructors related to the teaching of EQ skills in EFL classes and their workload.

This study investigated the relationship between gender, self-esteem, self-consciousness, social self-efficacy and shyness among 9th, 10th, and 11th grade school students. Participants of the study were 424 high school students (250 female and 174 male) from four high schools in Bursa. Demographic information form, Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale (RCBS) (Cheek &amp / Buss, 1981), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) (Rosenberg, 1965), Self-Consciousness Scale (SCS) (Feningstein, Scheier, &amp / Buss, 1975), and Social Self-Efficacy Scale (Matsushima &amp / Shiomi, 2002) were used as data collection instruments. The results of multiple regression analysis indicated that self-esteem, self-consciousness, and social self-efficacy were significant predictors of high school students

This study aims at finding out instructors&rsquo / perceived competencies in Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and Ministry of Education (MONE) competencies, and accordingly exploring strengths and weaknesses of the ELT undergraduate program as well as providing suggestions for a more effective and fruitful program. At the first phase of the research, a questionnaire is given to seventy-five participants, working in the department of Foreign Languages at various universities. For the second phase of the study, an interview prepared in the light of the questionnaire results is conducted with thirty-four of aforementioned participants. The results of this study illustrate that the participants find themselves more competent in learning, language proficiency, planning, instructing, and content than assessing, identity and context, and commitment and professionalism since the participants believe in the need of improving themselves in latter standards. Similarly, they consider the methodology, general education and language components of the ELT undergraduate program effective because they find those components practical and focused during the program while the literature and linguistics components are thought to be ineffective in preparing them for the profession as the methodology of these components, which is not integrated with ELT enough. Lastly, in the lights of these findings, some suggestions are made for improving the program. For further research, all ELT teachers&rsquo / perceptions in Turkey can be investigated and suggestions for a better undergraduate program can be asked.

The purpose of the present study is to explore six-year-old children&amp / #8217 / s understanding of the superhero phenomenon, through cartoon superhero figures. Particularly Spiderman was chosen as a typical symbol of the superhero genre, futhermore Spiderman is found to be the favorite cartoon character in Turkey.The study was conducted in the preschool of Middle East Technical University in Spring 2007. Ten children / five girls and five boys, attending to the preschoolprogram participated in the study. The main emphasis in the present study is given to children&#039 / s own expressionsvia drawings, play and interviews, to understand their ways to make sense of the superheroscenarios. Therefore selecting qualitative methods and aphenomenological approach in particular was considered to be a valid form of nquiry. At the end of the analysis procedure the total number of meaning units (MUs)was 40. In order to verify the results of the study, randomly selected 30 MUs were presented to completely independent and separate reviewers. The feedback from the reviewers indicated a high rate concordance of established at 86.6 %. After the results of this auditing process, confirmability of the present study is maintained. The results indicated that superhero theme was enjoyable for participant children, as it provided a sense of well-being. Aggressive behavior, which is generally linked to superhero issue, was hardly ever observed. However, gender is found to be a central factor on children&#039 / s understanding of superheroes, and stereotypical thinking was perpetuated via superhero animations.

The purpose of this study is to find out the required teacher competencies in the implementation of the Common European Framework (CEF) and the English Language Portfolio (ELP) and to explore the perceptions of teachers about their current and desired competencies defined by CEF and ELP. The required competencies for the teachers are defined in the book calledCommon European Framework of Reference for Languages. This book being a reference for the whole European Union countries, identifies required teacher competencies under four common European principles / a graduate profession, a profession placed within the context of lifelong learning, a mobile profession, a profession based on partnerships, and three key competencies / work with information, technology and knowledge, work with their fellow human beings &ndash / learners, colleagues and other partners in education, and work with and in society - at local, regional, national, European and broader global levels. A group of 40 teachers randomly selected at the Department of Basic English, School of Foreign Languages at the Middle East Technical University participated in this case study. A questionnaire about required teacher competencies in the implementation of the CEF and the English Language Portfolio was administrated to these teachers and the results were analyzed quantitatively and with the use of the descriptive and exploratory statistics. The findings obtained revealed that the teachers that participated in the questionnaire found themselves to be very competent in the required teacher competencies defined in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, however, they would like to have to be experts in these competencies and also they have found these competencies to be very important.

The aim of this study is to investigate theatre plays for children staged by the State Theatres and private theatre companies in one specific theatre season in Bursa in terms of their essential language, physical, educational, entertainment and social characteristics. More specifically, the present study examines appropriateness of theatre plays for children in term of these essential characteristics stated by the experts and also opinions of audiences, parents, teachers, and professionals gained by interviews. Twelve preschool children between the ages of 5 and 6, ten parents who had 5 or 6-year-old children, and two preschool drama teachers were asked about their opinions after attending one or more of the theatre plays which were chosen for the study. The theatre plays which were chosen for the study were also scored according to the five different essential characteristics by two coders by using the &ldquo / theatre for young audiences evaluation rubric&rdquo / which was developed by the researcher based on the literature. The study presented the composition of the information gained from the interviews and the characteristics scores of each theatre play. The results revealed that As an outcome, this study documented general information about the existing, required and desired characteristics of theatre plays for children / specific information about the current status of theatre plays for children in Bursa / and also implications and suggestions for parents, educators, playwrights, theatre directors and further studies.

Investigating the teacher education phenomenon of mathematics teacher education through the perspectives of teacher educators was aimed in this study. It was designed to understand the problems and the needs of teacher education in Turkey, to conceive the imperatives of the reforms mathematics teacher education reforms, namely 1982 reform, 1998 reform, and 2006 reform, and to determine whether these reforms satisfy the existing needs in Turkey. Based on the principles of qualitative research methods, documents of mathematics teacher education programs were investigated after the date when teacher education has been replaced under universities. As a second data collection tool, interviews with past and present deans of the education faculties, department chairs of mathematics education departments, and the academic staff were conducted. The data collected were analyzed through qualitative data analysis methods and the meanings and importance of the imperatives, processes, and consequences of the reforms were explored as well as the problems and the needs of teacher education in Turkey and solutions for them were investigated. The findings of this study showed that mathematics teacher education took a great step after establishing education faculties under universities in 1982. However, it has to be improved in order to eliminate the problems and the needs of teacher education in Turkey. It was expected to develop a source for the future teacher education reforms while paying attention to the imperatives and the consequences of educational changes in 1982, 1998 and 2006, and to be beneficial to generate a Turkish teacher education framework.

Self-efficacy refers to people&rsquo / s judgments of their own abilities about a specific situation. The present study examined self-efficacy beliefs of senior students about using ESP (English for Specific Purposes) in their prospective careers. For this purpose, a new scale was developed by the researcher. The predictive power of certain variables (gender, English course grade, watching English language films, reading English language books, listening to English language songs) was investigated through multiple regression analysis. The study was conducted at a private university in Ankara and 303 senior students participated in the study. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to determine the factor(s) in the questionnaire. EFA provided evidence for two factor solution and they were named as Academic Reading-Writing Skill (ARWS) and Academic Communication Skill (ACS). Cronbach&rsquo / s alpha coefficients of both ARWS and ACS scales were .97 for each which was a satisfactory result. The results of multiple regression analysis showed that the model of the combination of variables which were gender, reading English language books, watching English language films, listening to English language songs and English grade significantly predicted both ARWS and ACS scores of the participants. The variables which were reading English language books, watching English language films and English course grade significantly predicted both ARWS and ACS scores of the participants. Listening to English language songs predicted ACS scores but not ARWS scores. However, gender predicted neither of them.

The aims of the present study were to investigate the relationship among preservice science teachers&rsquo / informal reasoning regarding nuclear power plant construction, epistemological beliefs and metacognitive awareness. Throughout 2010-2011 fall and spring semesters, a total of 674 pre-service science teachers participated in the study. Data were collected through Schommer&rsquo / s Epistemological Questionnaire, Metacognitive Awareness Inventory, and Open-ended Questionnaire Assessing Informal Reasoning regarding Nuclear Power Usage. MANOVA, correlational analysis, and stepwise multiple regression analyses were conducted. The analyses revealed that the differences between pre-service science teachers&rsquo / epistemological beliefs within the two decision making groups were not statistically significant. Besides, results of the bivariate correlation revealed that there were statistically significant correlation between pre-service science teachers&rsquo / total argument construction and all the dimensions of SEQ except omniscient authority. Also, there was a significant correlation between pre-service science teachers&rsquo / certain knowledge dimension of SEQ and their counterargument construction. Moreover, the differences between pre-service science teachers&rsquo / metacognitive awareness within the two decision making groups were not statistically significant. Results of the bivariate correlation revealed that there was a significant correlation between preservice science teachers&rsquo / metacognitive awareness and informal reasoning outcomes. Finally, stepwise multiple regression analyses revealed that pre-service science teachers&rsquo / information management strategy was the only significant predictor for their rebuttal construction. Declarative knowledge was the best predictor of preservice science teachers&rsquo / counterargument construction while the second best predictor was certain knowledge for their counterargument construction. Finally declarative knowledge was the only significant predictor for the amount of preservice science teachers&rsquo / reasoning modes.

ABSTRACT AN EVALUATION OF THE ENG 101, DEVELOPMENT OF READING AND WRITING SKILLS 1 G&uuml / ntek, Duygu M.A., Department of English Language Education Supervisor : Prof. Dr. H&uuml / sn&uuml / Enginarlar July 2005, 134 pages The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ENG 101, Development of Reading and Writing Skills 1, and find out about the effectiveness of this course in terms of the goals and objectives, methods and materials and evaluation procedures. To fulfill that aim, three questionnaires and an interview document were designed and given to 21 ENG 101 instructors and 255 students taking the couse. In addition to the questionnaires, interviews were held with 9 ENG 101 instructors and 1 administrator, and feedback was obtained from the end-of the term evaluation meeting. Another questionnaire to evaluate the coursebook, English for Academic Purposes 1 was designed and given to 19 instructors who taught the ENG 101 course. It was prepared to collect feedback about the newly-written coursebook of the ENG 101 in detail. To analyse quantitative data, descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA and t-test were conducted. The qualitative data gained from the interviews, open ended questions and feedback from the end of course meeting were analysed via content analysis. The results of the study revealed that the participants were generally satisfied with the course since most of the answers given in the questionnaires were around 3 (out of 4) &ldquo / moderately&rdquo / , which meant that all parties had generally favourable perceptions about the effectiveness of the ENG101 regarding the achievement of the objectives, effectiveness of the methods, materials and evaluation procedures as well as the coursebook. However, there were some complaints stemming from teachers&rsquo / workload and time constraints including too many writing tasks and insufficient language input for which certain administrative academic decisions were taken and work on relevant modifications started.