ABSTRACT AN ASSESSMENT OF THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT NEEDS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE INSTRUCTORS WORKING AT A STATE UNIVERSITY Eksi, G&uuml / l M.S., Department of Educational Sciences Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Yesim &Ccedil / apa Aydin December 2010, 88 pages The main purpose of this study was to assess the professional development needs of the English language instructors working at a state university in Istanbul. Ninety-two instructors teaching preparatory classes constituted the population of the study. Within that needs assessment, the instructors&rsquo / perceptions of professional development, the most common professional development activities instructors practice, factors that hindered instructors from attending professional development activities, the most difficult skill to teach and assess, the areas of teaching English where instructors needed a professional development program, and the instructors&rsquo / preferences for delivery methods and formats of the professional development programs were identified. This study also examined the role of year of teaching experience, workload of the instructors, department the instructors graduated, and instructors&rsquo / perceptions of professional development programs in predicting the professional development needs of the instructors. Findings indicated that participants had positive perceptions of professional development. The most common professional development activity type was found to be &ldquo / Sharing experiences with colleagues.&rdquo / The most important factor which hindered participants from attending professional development was determined as &ldquo / inconvenient date/time.&rdquo / The most difficult skill to teach and to assess was reported as &ldquo / Writing.&rdquo / It was found out that the area where the degree of need was the highest was &ldquo / New theories and practices of English language teaching.&rdquo / Most of the participants reported that they preferred professional development activities to be optional workshops at their own institutions. A trainer or an expert from an outside institution was the most preferred speaker type. Findings also showed that instructors preferred sessions which took up to 60 minutes, held on weekday mornings once a month. The result of the regression analyses indicated that only year of teaching experience was significant in predicting professional development needs of the instructors. Year of teaching experience was negatively correlated with the needs indicating that as the teachers got more experience, their degree of professional development needs decreased.

Выпускная квалификационная работа “Анализ компетенции системного мышления в компании GUDSR, Екатеринбург, Российская Федерация” в форме магистерской диссертации выполнена на 107 листах (формат А4, шрифт Times New Roman, размер шрифта 14, интервал между строками 2), без вложений. Количество таблиц – 12 (без учета вложений). Количество рисунков – 22 (без учета вложений). Ключевые термины: Профессиональные компетенции, управление компетенциями, модель компетенций, оценка потребностей в обучении, развитие компетенций, системное мышление. Выпускная квалификационная работа состоит из реферата, Введения, 5 глав, рекомендаций по предложениям, заключения, библиографии и приложения. В теоретической части представлено определение компетенции системного мышления, компетентностная модель, оценка эффективности и развитие компетенций. В практической части описываются общие характеристики исследуемой компании, анализ сотрудников, методология и инструменты исследования, и его результаты. На основе этих результатов было выдвинуто несколько предложений по развитию компетенции системного мышления и программа, как повысить уровень компетенции системного мышления в компании GUDSR. / Final qualifying work “Analysis of the Systems thinking competency at the GUDSR company, in Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation” in the form of Master thesis is performed on 107 sheets (A4 format, font Times New Roman, font size 14, 2 line spacing), excluding attachments. Number of tables – 12 (excluding attachments). The number of figures – 22 (excluding attachments). Key terms: Job competencies, competency management, competency model, training needs assessment, competency development, Systems thinking. Final qualifying work consists in Abstract, Introduction, 5 chapters, proposal recommendations, conclusion, bibliography and appendix. In the theoretical part it presents the definition of Systems thinking competency, competence model, performance evaluation and competence development. The practical part describes the general characteristics of the investigated company, the analysis of employees, methodology and instruments of research and its results. Based on these results, there were several proposals of Systems thinking competency development and the program how to arise the level of Systems thinking competency in the GUDSR company.