İngilizce Öğretmen Adaylarının Sözel Yatkınlık Düzeyleri: Yabancı Dil Öğretimi Bağlamında Bir Çalışma

Yabancı dil yatkınlığı, yazılı dili kullanma ve sözcüklerle sunulan kavramları anlama yeteneği olarak tanımlanır. Yatkınlık, yabancı dil öğreniminde önemli bir rol oynamaktadır. Araştırmacılar tarafından yürütülen çalışmalar, sosyo-psikolojik bir yabancı dil (ikinci dil) öğrenimi kuramının tartışılmasının gerekliliği üzerinde yoğunlaşmaktadır. Kuram, ikinci bir dilin başarılı biçimde öğrenilmesi için başarılı bir yabancı dil öğrencisinin hedef dildeki belli dilsel ve sosyal etkenleri benimsemesi gerektiği yönündedir. Ancak, katılımcıların yatkınlık düzeylerinde onların yaş, cinsiyet ve not ortalama puanları gibi değişkenlere göre herhangi bir değişiklik olup olmadığının araştırılması ve ortaya çıkarılması yabancı dil öğretmenleri için önem taşımaktadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı katılımcıların sözel yatkınlık düzeylerinin yaş, cinsiyet ve not ortalamaları gibi değişkenlere göre bir farklılık gösterip göstermediğini saptamaktır. Çalışma kesitsel modelli nicel bir çalışmadır. Araştırmaya 101 İngilizce öğretmeni adayı katılmıştır. Yabancı dile yatkınlık düzeyleri ile diğer değişkenlere göre anlamlı bir farklılık olup olmadığını saptamak için katılımcılara sözcükleri doğru heceleyebilme, doğru dilbilgisi kullanma, sözcük anlamlarını anlama ve sözcüğü anlama yeteneğini ölçen öğeleri içeren 40 maddelik çoktan seçmeli bir sözel yatkınlık testi uygulanmıştır. Veriler SPSS 22 programı ile çözümlenmiştir. Sonuçlar, dil yatkınlık düzeyleri hakkında bilgi sahibi olmanın, araştırmacıların dil öğrencileri, öğrenme ortamı ve öğrenme çıktıları hakkında daha iyi bir anlayış edinmelerine yardımcı olabileceğini göstermektedir. Sonuçlar ilgili alanyazın ışığında sunulmuştur. Bu çalışma etik kurul onayı ile ilgili karar verilmeden önce derginin sistemine yüklenmiş olduğu için etik kurul onay raporu bu çalışmaya eklenmemiştir.

Verbal Aptitude Levels of Prospective English Teachers: A Study in an EFL Context

Verbal aptitude is described as the ability to use the written language and to grasp concepts which are delivered through words. Aptitude plays a prominent role in foreign language learning. The studies conducted by researchers resulted in a sociopsychological theory of second or foreign language learning. The theory holds that any successful learner of a second/foreign language must be ready to adopt the certain aspects and linguistic and social factors of the target language. However, scrutinizing the potential differences between aptitude levels and other variables such as gender, age, and learners’ grade point average scores could yield to significant results and these results would be prolific for language teachers. The current study is a quantitative study with cross-sectional research design the purpose of which is to determine the aptitude levels and check if the aptitude levels of the participants reveal differences in relation to the variables of the population characteristics. The aim of this study is to reveal if there are any differences of prospective English teachers’ aptitude levels by their age, gender and GPA scores. This descriptive quantitative study is of cross-sectional design. 101 prospective English teachers participated in the study. For the purpose of tracing the aptitude levels of participants and revealing the possible differences between their aptitude levels and other variables, the participants were given a 40-item multiple choice verbal aptitude test embodying items which measure their ability to spell words correctly, use grammar accurately, grasp word meanings and word relationships. The data were analyzed with SPSS 22 program. The results revealed that having information about the language aptitude levels might help researchers to have a better understanding about the language learners, the milieu of learning, and the learning outcomes. The results were presented within the light of the related literature. The ethics committee approval report was not added into the body of this study since the manuscript had been submitted into the system of the journal before the decision concerning the ethical committe approval was issued.

Keywords:

Language aptitude, verbal aptitude prospective teachers, language learning,

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The Ethical Committee Approval
Since this research was conducted before 01.01.2020, it does not require an ethics committee decision.