Author(s): Yusuf DEMÄ°R, Mehmet KOÃYÄ°ÄÄ°T
This study is aimed to explore the characteristics of effective English teachers as perceived by students in English preparatory classes and their instructors, through adapting a questionnaire in a foreign language to Turkish, reporting the validity and reliability studies and evaluating the data obtained. This is a descriptive study which drew on survey method. Students and instructors of Schools of Foreign Languages in two state universities in Konya and Afyonkarahisar, comprises the target population of this study. The sampling for this study was chosen through random sampling method. The sample consists of 283 people in total, 42 (%14.8) English instructors and 241 (%85.2) English learners in preparatory classes. A scale developed by Park and Lee (2006), with an aim to reveal high school students’ perceptions of effective language teachers, was used in this study as the data collection instrument. Demographic information part was added in the scale, then reliability and validity studies were carried out on the scale adapted. The Turkish version of the scale was found valid and reliable. It was found that the dimension of English proficiency has the most importance, while it is pedagogical knowledge that has the least from the students’ perspectives. It was also understood that female students have greater expectations than male students do in all of the three dimensions (English proficiency, pedagogical knowledge, socio-affective skills). Students’ selfperceptions of English proficiency do not affect their perceptions of effective English instructors. As to the instructors’ perceptions of effective English instructors, the greatest expectation was held in the dimension of English proficiency, while socio-affective skills were given the least prominence. Instructors’ perceptions do not differ in terms of such variables as gender, department of graduation, educational status and teaching experience.
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