Part-Time Experience in Higher Education: A Case Study on Adjunct Language Instructors.

2019-05-02
Karataş Çetin, Pınar
Karaman, Abdullah Cendel
Given the rapid spread and increasing importance of English, a need for more and more language teachers emerge. As far as Turkish educational milieu is concerned, to bridge the gap between teacher demand and supply, alternative waysforteacher certification have been pursued forseveral years. However, after some time, due to the increasing number of teachers and budget constraints, the trend among many institutions has become to recruit part-time or adjunct teachers partly due to a cost reduction policy. Instead of a single full-time teacher, institutions often hire two or three adjuncts, which leads to an increase in the number of adjuncts in language teaching field. Despite their role in schools, however, these teachers are often thought to remain “shadowy figures” in their working environment (Popper, 1997, p.83). This qualitative case study was carried out to explore how language teachers view their experience as adjunct teachers at a university in Western Turkey. The participants in the study comprised 3 focal teachers (early, mid, senior career) working in a preparatory school. Interviews were the primary source of data. The researcher’s field notes were used to triangulate the data in line with the characteristics of qualitative inquiry and case study approach. Three themes emerged from the study: shapers and reshapers of identity, views regarding being an adjunct teacher and future perspectives. The results showed that adjunct teachers’ previous experiences, challenges and motivators all shaped their views regarding the experience of being an adjunct. The findings of this study will be of interest for policy makers, institutions and professional development units, tenured staff and adjuncts in higher education.

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Citation Formats
P. Karataş Çetin and A. C. Karaman, “Part-Time Experience in Higher Education: A Case Study on Adjunct Language Instructors.,” İzmir, Turkey, 2019, Accessed: 00, 2021. [Online]. Available: http://ubest.deu.edu.tr/uploads/JLTmC7Lg/media/ubest-ozet-kitapcigi_xlgLP7jq.pdf.