FIRE: Futuristic Implementations of Research in Education

Editorial

2022-11-28T21:30:57+00:00

Editorial

The relationship between prospective teachers’ perceptions of ethics and the factors embodying the construction of ethical values

2022-11-02T19:58:17+00:00

Professional ethics refers to desired behaviors for a certain occupation. For teachers, professional ethics reflect pedagogical practices, from curricular content to relations with stakeholders. This study aims to reveal the relationship between the factors playing role in the construction of prospective teachers' ethical values regarding the teaching profession and their perceptions of ethics. This study was designed as a convergent-parallel design which is one of the mixed methods. Prospective teachers in the education faculty at a public university in Turkey participated in this study and were determined according to stratified sampling. Professional Ethics Scale for Pre-Service Teachers developed by Gelmez-Burakgazi and Can (2018) and a questionnaire consisting of open-ended questions developed by the researchers was used as the data collection tools. Quantitative data were analyzed with Mann Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis H tests, the qualitative part was analyzed with content analysis and the relationship was explored with simple correspondence analysis. According to findings the reasons to be a teacher, things they hear about professional ethics first, the pre-university process, undergraduate courses, and academicians' role are the things that help to build professional ethics. This reminds us the education process for all teaching levels is important for gaining ethical values.

The /ð/ phoneme: A fossilized pronunciation problem of Turkish and Indonesian English majors: Application 2

2022-09-13T19:35:12+00:00

Teachers' and learners' perceptions of flipped learning in a foreign language context

2023-04-30T08:49:34+00:00

Flipped learning has attracted attention in the English as a foreign language (EFL) learning and teaching context in the past two decades, whereas the number of studies conducted in Turkey is relatively low. In addition, the existing ones mostly focus on students’ skill-based achievement, neglecting the investigation of how useful or effective students find the method from both learners’ and teachers’ perspectives to see if they overlap. This study aims to investigate the perceived usefulness of flipped learning in the EFL context in higher education from teachers' and learners' perspectives. Being descriptive and quantitative, the study measured 171 students’ perceived usefulness using a 17-item questionnaire implemented to 51 instructors as well to see their expectations of students’ perceptions. The findings showed that although learners mostly confirmed that flipped learning offers autonomy, practicality, and convenience, they were unwilling to agree that it provides better understanding, concentration, or motivation. On the other hand, teachers were much more optimistic about flipped learning than students. Some correlations were also found between student perceptions of study pace and skills and teacher perceptions regarding students’ practical skills, motivation, and readiness.

Students’ perceptions on non-native English speaking teachers (Non-NESTs) and native English speaking teachers (NESTs): A scale development study

2022-11-03T15:31:40+00:00

The goal of this study is to develop a reliable and valid scale to reveal the perceptions of university preparatory class students towards non-NESTs and NESTs with regard to speaking, listening, culture, content, interaction with learners, and classroom language. It is intended to present a comprehensive picture of the strengths and differences of NESTs and non-NESTs through a scale developed by the researchers using the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL) self-assessment descriptors as a framework. For research validity, a pilot study was carried out with 309 preparatory class students studying at Süleyman Demirel University. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) techniques have been used to establish the structural and construct validity of the scale. Perceptions towards NESTs and non-NESTs Scale (PNNS), which comprise 18 items collected under 2 factors, was developed. The main study has been conducted with 284 students studying in English preparatory classes of 6 different faculties at Dokuz Eylül University. The reliability of the PNNS has been found as 0.94; thus, it would be justified to argue that the PNNS is a reliable and valid data collection tool.

A reconsideration of career for English PhDs in the digital age

2022-08-21T20:18:08+00:00

An increasingly shrinking job market for English PhDs in academia is making both students and departments rethink English graduates' career plans after the completion of their respective graduate studies. Considering the rise of technology-related job markets and contracting job opportunities in traditional English academia, English PhDs should consider what their education is worth and fully apply their marketable skills in job hunting in both academia and industries. English departments should fully utilize the resources at the university scale and make potential changes in the curriculum construction and degree management in building up the interdisciplinary joint/dual degree with some other technology-related programs to further prepare the graduates for better and broader job opportunities. By analyzing the current job market, English PhDs' market skills, and feasible changes departments could make, we argue that both English PhDs and departments should adjust their take on education and career plans to increase the employment opportunities for English PhDs.