A proverb learned is a proverb earned: future English teachers' experiences of learning english proverbs in Anatolian Teacher Training High Schools in Turkey

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2011
Can, Nilüfer
This thesis investigates future English teachers’ experiences of learning English proverbs in Anatolian Teacher Training High Schools (ATTHS) in Turkey. In order to reveal the situation about proverb teaching in English language classrooms in ATTHS, students’ opinions are sought and coursebooks are analysed. In doing this, this study aims to find out EFL teacher trainees’ attitudes towards learning and teaching English proverbs, their conceptualization of proverbs, their thoughts about their knowledge and use of English proverbs, and perceptions about how sufficiently their English teachers and coursebooks at high school taught them English proverbs. This study also aims to uncover how the English coursebooks they used in ATTHS teach proverbs. To achieve these aims, a questionnaire is administered to 187 freshman ELT students; a semi-structured interview is conducted with volunteers and the coursebooks used by the majority are examined using an analysis form and a checklist. As a result, it is found that those teacher trainees have positive attitudes towards learning and teaching English proverbs, think that they do not have enough knowledge of English proverbs and that their English teachers and coursebooks did not teach proverbs sufficiently. Moreover, the participants’ conceptualization of proverbs reflects traditional definitions. Besides, coursebook analysis reveals that while the examined local coursebooks contain almost no proverbs at all, the analysed international coursebooks include a relatively bigger number of proverbs. However, except for some of the semantic and cultural aspects of proverbs, there is hardly any explicit reference to other aspects of proverbs in all the coursebooks examined.

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Citation Formats
N. Can, “A proverb learned is a proverb earned: future English teachers’ experiences of learning english proverbs in Anatolian Teacher Training High Schools in Turkey,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2011.