Expectations, experiences, and suggestions of newly-hired efl instructors: a-mixed methods study at a foundation university in Turkey

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2016
Kurtoğlu, Pınar
This study investigated what the newly-hired EFL (English as a Foreign Language) instructors had expected before they started working at a foundation university in Turkey and what kind of experiences in terms of job-related issues, relationships, their pre-service education, and the orientation as well as in-service trainings they had at their current workplace. In addition, the suggestions of the instructors were examined in order to develop the program at the Department of Foreign Languages, and help the newly-hired instructors have a smooth transition while adapting to their new working environments. The study was conducted at a foundation university in Turkey in the spring semester of 2014-2015 academic year and 56 instructors took part in the data collection process. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were utilized. In addition to a questionnaire which was administered to 51 instructors to get their perceptions on their experiences at their present workplace, 10 interviews were administered afterwards to explore the instructors’ expectations and suggestions. The findings of the study revealed that the instructors expected having good relationships with the people at their workplace, earning a decent salary, working in a happy atmosphere, and developing themselves professionally in the institution. In terms of their experiences, the most challenging thing was reported to be socializing with their coordinators, the load of the program, and assessing students’ written assignments. The most sufficient part of the institution was found to be the instructors’ relationships with their students and colleagues. The study also indicated that the orientation program was quite sufficient; however, some suggestions were put forward to develop the in-service education programme.

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Citation Formats
P. Kurtoğlu, “Expectations, experiences, and suggestions of newly-hired efl instructors: a-mixed methods study at a foundation university in Turkey,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2016.