Investigation of systemic change at a university preparatory language department: the northview case

Date

2017

Author

İpek, Ömer Faruk

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This qualitative explanatory case study provides insight into the self-initiated prescriptive and planned systemic change process at a university preparatory department called ‘Northview’ situated in the western part of Turkey. Although English is taught worldwide and there are many English language institutions, few studies have been conducted on the systemic aspect of English language teaching. Therefore, by using a conceptual framework and related literature, this study examined the reasons, components, the roles of the people involved in it and results of the systemic change process. Two years of data, including documents that regulated Northview since its foundation, observation and field notes, and focus group interviews with both alumni and semi-structured interviews with instructors and administrative staff, were analyzed using systems and systemic change perspectives. The interviews were all audio-recorded and then transcribed. After employing descriptive coding procedures using a software for qualitative data analysis, four requirements and five themes emerged. Findings showed that the system requires powerful reasons for change. Then, there needs to be change in the components of the system such as organization, curriculum, communication and assessment. Third, people play a crucial role in the systemic change process. Finally, transformational results should be obtained at the end of the systemic change process. These four requirements are analyzed under five themes; motivation, standards, structural change, whole school involvement and leadership. At the end of the study, a model, ‘Integrated-Contents Systemic Change (I-CSC)’ is constructed that would guide the systemic change initiatives in English.

Subject Keywords

English language, English language, Teaching, Educational evaluation., Educational change.

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12621091/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/26457

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis

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Citation Formats

Ö. F. İpek, “Investigation of systemic change at a university preparatory language department: the northview case,” Ph.D. - Doctoral Program, Middle East Technical University, 2017.