International Journal of Language Academy

9-13

Authors: Amir KHALILZADEH

The present study aims to demonstrate that, firstly, language and culture are intertwined to such an extent that they cannot be separated to be studied or taught and secondly, the study claims that teaching English as a foreign language necessitates teaching its culture as it is impossible to teach a language without teaching its cultural matters. Littlewood (1981) asserts: “When we try to adopt new speech patterns, we are to some extent giving up markers of our own identity in order to adopt those of another cultural group. In some respects, too, we adopt another culture’s ways of perceiving the world.” The study shows that in the situations where cultural matters are not included in the educational program, the educational ends are not reached perfectly, so the language learners in such situations will not be able to communicate well and easily. Grammatical and lexical competence alone will not help language learners to gain fluency and to successfully socialize in the foreign language. Consequently, language learners, in addition to acquiring linguistic competence in a foreign language, should gain intercultural competence, too. As with the results of the study, it may be claimed that teaching English as a foreign language without dealing with its cultural matters will not lead us to English language teaching (ELT) purposes; rather it may lead to misunderstanding and misinterpretation. So, teaching culture should be an obligatory and important part of the curriculum.

25-32

Authors: Fatih GÜNGÖR

In recent years, countries especially well-developed ones have been striving in order to fascinate international students to study in their countries. However, in Turkey, the majority of studies have focused on raising awareness about international students thanks to the incoming and outgoing Erasmus students. Considering the dearth of the studies on international students, the primary focus of this paper is to understand (I) how proficient they are in languages, (II) the social support given to the international students, (III) the actual contact of international students with Turks, and, in turn, to convey their suggestions through clarifying the similarities and differences between Turkish culture and their own cultures. Regarding the difficulties international students faced in Turkey due to cultural distance, the main conclusion is that universities should invest in international students by focusing on their needs such as accommodation, social activities, and language courses. Universities should also raise intercultural awareness, and student offices at universities should show great effort and care for international students. To sum up the study, Turkey should shoulder all responsibility of international students in terms of their standard of living. If Turkey achieves its role on international students, Turkey, with its increasingly important role in the world, can develop in international and academic areas.

43-50

Authors: Muhammed Metin ÇAMELİ

The primary goal of this study is to find out perspectives of a group of English language learners as autonomous readers upon a detailed examination of a novel throughout eight sessions named as “literature sessions” held on a weekly basis. The study is based on the implementation of a process incorporating the assumptions of Reader- Response Approach and Personal Construct Theory as the fundamental means in its essence. The novel examined during the sessions referred was Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and the participants consisted of 10 prospective ELT and ELL Departments students attending sessions at Istanbul Aydın University English Preparatory School in 2012 -2013 Academic Year. A questionnaire administered that aimed to find out the attitudes of the participants to the act of reading a novel from many aspects was given at first. Following that, literature sessions were held and written responses of the learners about the topics discussed were collected and the points on which they agreed or disagreed were illustrated with the help of tables. The analysis of the results of the questionnaire given before the sessions, the response papers collected and the tables presented in the study were very serviceable in making an observation of the shift in their perspectives of themselves as independent readers. This being the case, this study with its results may be an initiative for other studies concerned with the same issue with more participants.

61-69

Authors: Serdil İLK

Present study aimed to explore EFL teachers’ beliefs regarding reading strategies. In order to identify teachers’ beliefs on reading strategies, a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used. The study was carried out with 50 participants working at English preparatory school of Istanbul Aydın University. Thirty-eight of participants were female and eleven of them were male. Thirty-four participants’ work experiences at the university were between one and five-years. Fourteen participants’ work experiences were between five and ten years. One participant’s work experience was between eleven and twenty years and one participant’s work experience at the university was more than twenty years. Thirty-one participants have been teaching reading for between one and three years. Thirteen participants have been teaching for between five and ten years and six participants have been teaching for more than ten years. Thirty participants have bachelor degree, nineteen participants have master degree and one participant has PHD degree. The obtained data was analyzed by utilizing both qualitative and quantitative analysis to investigate whether there is a relationship between teachers’ use of strategies and such variables as gender, degree, …Etc. The results of the study revealed that there aren’t any statistical relationships between the teachers’ gender, degree, years of teaching reading and the strategies they use in the classroom. On the other hand, there is a statistical relationship between the teachers’ experiences in teaching at the university and the pre-reading strategies they use.

84-91

Authors: Kenan AKARSLAN

Abstract Background: Vocabulary knowledge is the most daunting part of language learning as there are thousands of words to cope with before a learner. However, children do not have any fear of learning words and they learn their mother tongue without even thinking about it. The secret of children, in learning a language without even noticing, is a clue for huge amount of vocabulary learned or retained successfully. Aim: The aim of this article is to raise awareness about the effectiveness of teaching or learning and retaining large number of vocabulary through Latin and Greek roots. Method: A pre- and post-written interview with two open ended questions (What vocabulary learning strategies do you use? What vocabulary learning strategy do you prefer to use/Why?) were implemented to see whether the students were aware of their own vocabulary learning process. A ‘Vocabulary Learning Strategies’ (VLSs) questionnaire was used in the study to see students’ VLS preferences and their attitude to Latin/Greek word roots instruction or learning. Finally, a mini-syllabus was developed and utilized by the author of this article throughout the study whose aim is to use and promote the inclusion of Latin/Greek roots instruction in classrooms to help teach, learn, retain and recall new words. Results and Conclusions: English preparatory year students at School of Foreign Languages in Adana Science and Technology University have developed a positive attitude towards learning words with roots, which is a strategy that has been neglected. The results of this study are parallel to previous studies alike in the field. Therefore, the opportunity to guess, retain and gain the power to control the meaning of English words with the use of roots and affixes should be grasped.

99-114

Authors: Ahmet Zeki GÜVEN

In recent years, rapid developments in technology have brought various innovations in the field of education. Teachers should be able to use educational technology in their lessons in order to achieve more effective and more efficient educational process and to draw attention of students who have different interests, wishes and needs. For this purpose, in this study, secondary schools Turkish lesson teacher’s qualifications in using the educational technologies were examined in terms of different variables. The universe of the study is formed by Turkish lesson teachers worked in secondary schools in center of Antalya, in 2014-2015. The sample of the study is formed by a total of 126 Turkish lesson teachers working in 38 secondary schools in Konyaaltı and Muratpasa districts. In this study, Educational Technology Survey which was taken from the Social Learning Projects of Ohio University in the United States and adapted to the Turkish education system by Isman(2002), was used as data collection tool. Reliability and validity studies of this survey was made and ensured by Isman(2002). According to research findings; it is found that Turkish lesson teachers did not use the educational technologies, which motivate and encourage learning in learning process, in learning environments sufficiently. In addition, no significant different was found between Turkish lesson teachers in using educational technologies in terms of gender, age, professional seniority, educational level and the number of students in their classess. Female teachers were found to use simple narration, case study methods and reinforcement more than male taechers and significant difference was found between these variables. In addition, when examining the gender and cognitive approach variables in the part of theoretical aspects, ıt was found that female teachers used the cognitive approach statistically significantly more frequently.