2.1 Selection of data sources among possible alternatives

Unlike Alptekin & Tatar's review (Reference Alptekin and Tatar2011), which covered journals, conference presentations, and theses and dissertations, we have limited our data source to only journal publications. The primary reason for this decision is that we would like to conform to the purpose of this review: to make the research conducted in Turkey available to an international audience. As discussed in Alptekin & Tatar's (Reference Alptekin and Tatar2011) review, access to the proceedings of conferences is quite difficult. This is true even in the case of conferences organized by the country's flagship ELEA (INGED), due to the lack of a systematic policy of making them accessible for a broader audience. While our original plan was to also include conference proceedings, the fact that they were not available online, and given the difficulties we faced even locally in trying to retrieve the paper versions, made us question the suitability of including these publications in a paper that aims to enable non-Turkish scholars to gain awareness of the research conducted in Turkey and to gain access to these studies if desired. For this reason, with the agreement of the editor of Language Teaching, we decided to exclude conference proceedings. Due to similar concerns, we excluded those articles that did not have at least an abstract in English as this would make even the basic ideas of the article inaccessible to the vast majority of non-Turkish scholars. We also excluded dissertations as the trends in doctoral research are already examined by Özmen, Cephe & Kınık (Reference Özmen, Cephe and Kınık2016) in the journal of Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice. M.A. theses also are not included in this review as Language Teaching is soon to publish another paper that will specifically look at theses and dissertations in Turkey.

Hence, we started our search to survey journal articles published in Turkey between 2010 and 2016. The relevant journals are published by the Faculties of Education at various universities (e.g., Hacettepe University Faculty of Education Journal)—focusing on education topics in general; by the departments of foreign language (FL) teaching—focusing on language teaching more specifically (e.g., The Journal of Language Teaching and Learning); and by semi-independent organizations with university affiliations.

2.2 Rationale and criteria for selecting articles

In selecting the articles to be included in this review, we followed a rigorous three-step process that enabled us to decide not only whether a paper could be considered as research or not but also to assess its significance in relation to its wider audience and the global implications. Therefore, after identifying the complete list of journals that are available online, the first step was to go through each journal to identify articles related to ELT. Our selection criteria were:

1. 1. Turkey-based journals with double blind review

2. 2. Articles written in English or with at least an abstract in English

3. 3. Articles focused on ELT and applied linguistics.

In their review of research in Israel between 2004 and 2009, Aronin & Spolsky (Reference Aronin and Spolsky2011) discussed the issue of what is local and what is global, as many Israeli scholars are trained abroad and are required by their institutions to publish internationally. A similar situation exists in Turkey as many Turkish scholars receive their doctoral degrees abroad, mostly in the U.S. and the U.K., and are required by their institutions to publish in international rather than national journals. However, unlike Aronin & Spolsky (Reference Aronin and Spolsky2011), we decided not to include international publications by Turkish scholars, as our purpose was to give recognition to those publications which remain at the periphery and about which the wider international audience would not be aware if not discussed in this review. In that sense, we followed Alptekin & Tatar's (Reference Alptekin and Tatar2011) work and limited our search to Turkey-based journals and Turkish scholars who work in Turkey and Northern Cyprus. One difference between our review and Alptekin & Tatar's (Reference Alptekin and Tatar2011) is that while they included a few studies on other languages acquired as a second or third language (e.g., French), we only focused on English.

After this initial selection process, we identified more than 400 papers retrieved from 31 Turkey-based journals. The second step was to narrow down the list based on empirical aspects of the publications themselves. For this second step, we excluded articles which:

1. a. Developed teaching material but did not test its effectiveness on learners;

2. b. Presented a literature review of teaching methods without contributing to the field with some new discussions/insights;

3. c. Were based on the analysis of a policy or practice in Turkey that no longer exists (e.g., TÜBİTAK journal classification, the KPDS exam);Footnote ³

4. d. Provided only teaching tips/suggestions;

5. e. Presented a textbook evaluation-––not a selection of coursebooks or story books but one particular book or a couple of books;

6. f. Presented a case study research based on one institution's policy.

This second step enabled us to exclude almost 200 publications, reducing the number to about 200 in total.

The third step was to examine the articles in terms of their research quality and scope. To achieve this, we adapted the American Educational Research Association's (AERA, 2016) Standards for Reporting on Empirical Social Science Research by using the first five categories (problem formulation, design and logic, sources of evidence, measurement and classification, and analysis). We then developed a sixth category called ‘significance,’ comprising the following criteria:

• • Has relevance to issues and topics which are under discussion internationally

• • Has an important theoretical stance

• • Presents adequate data/examples and discussion to contribute to the literature

• • Deals with local data and issues but has implications that may apply to other countries.

In their review, Alptekin & Tatar (Reference Alptekin and Tatar2011) focused on those studies that have an important theoretical stance or that include quasi-experimental research. We decided not to limit our review to experimental studies because of the relatively recent shifts first noted in Firth & Wagner's (Reference Firth and Wagner1997) article, which calls for a balance between cognitivist, mentalistic orientations and social, contextual ones. Hence, we arrived at 140 articles, thematic analysis of which led to three main areas of interest which overlap with the previous reviews on ELT in Turkey (Alptekin & Tatar Reference Alptekin and Tatar2011; Özmen, Cephe & Kınık Reference Özmen, Cephe and Kınık2016; Yağız, Aydın & Akdemir Reference Yağız, Aydın and Akdemir2016):

• • English language learning and language learners

• • ELT and language teachers

• • In-service and pre-service teacher education/professional development.

Readers should note that these three broad categories should not be perceived as distinct, but rather as complementary since they both overlap and provide implications for each other.

3.1 Anxiety

Being a multifaceted concept, anxiety has been examined by Turkish scholars in relation to reading, assessment, and FL learning in general. In a qualitative case study on reading anxiety, Bektaş‐Çetinkaya (Reference Bektaş‐Çetinkaya2011) observed the academic reading process (i.e., reading habits and strategies) of a Turkish graduate student for a semester by collecting data through in-depth interviews, think-aloud and recall protocols, and text analysis. The findings were surprising in the sense that although the participant had majored in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) and was pursuing his doctoral degree also in TEFL at the time of the study, he was found to have ‘great difficulties in processing what he read in English’ (Bektaş‐Çetinkaya (Reference Bektaş‐Çetinkaya2011: 51). While the researcher explains this as possible unfamiliar vocabulary or the context itself triggering reading anxiety, or his negative beliefs about his English skills, we find this very alarming in terms of the quality of TEFL programs both at the undergraduate and graduate level. Another study highlighting the gravity of the present situation in teacher education programs comes from Tüm & Kunt (Reference Tüm and Kunt2013). The 131 soon-to-be EFL teachers in their study reported experiencing FL anxiety when speaking in English, which negatively affected their oral performance and emotional well-being. Their two-part action plan (i.e., recognize anxiety and respond in appropriate ways) offers remedies to help student teachers have a smoother transition into becoming language teachers.

Anxiety has also been approached from a testing-related perspective by Önem (Reference Önem2010). In a purely quantitative study with Turkish students of English at a preparatory school in central Turkey, he found statistically significant correlations between state–trait anxiety and FL anxiety, and between FL and test anxiety, the latter two being more strongly correlated than the former. According to Önem (Reference Önem2010), since the participants were preparatory school students, they might have associated studying English with the proficiency exam they had to pass at the end of the academic year, an explanation that seems to be in line with the 2015 British Council report on higher education in Turkey.

3.2 Language learning strategies and learning styles

Both instructional (interventionist) and descriptive investigations were conducted by Turkish ELT scholars to understand the range and type of language learning strategies and learning styles which influence Turkish EFL learners’ metacognitive, cognitive, social, and affective processes of language learning. The two studies focusing on EFL learners’ use of communication strategies examined the issue in terms of proficiency and gender (Yaman, Irgın & Kavasoğlu Reference Yaman, Irgın and Kavasoğlu2013; Uztosun & Erten Reference Uztosun and Erten2014). In Uztosun & Erten's (Reference Uztosun and Erten2014) interaction-based research, high proficiency learners were found to use more body language (e.g., mime) as opposed to the low proficiency counterparts, who seemed to have relied more on strategies of message reduction and topic avoidance. On the other hand, Yaman et al.’s (Reference Yaman, Irgın and Kavasoğlu2013) female participants used more communication strategies overall; advanced learners’ favorite strategy was ‘getting the gist,’ as opposed to intermediate learners’ preference for ‘negotiation for meaning.’

Arpacı-Somuncu's (Reference Arpacı-Somuncu2016) study related the use of oral communication strategies of EFL learners to cognitive flexibility and willingness to communicate, two personality traits that were not mentioned in Alptekin & Tatar's Reference Alptekin and Tatar2011 review. In a comparative study examining Turkish and Romanian EFL learners’ willingness to communicate, Asmalı, Bilki & Duban (Reference Asmalı, Bilki and Duban2015) revealed that the former group had lower willingness to communicate and lower self-perceived communicative competence than the latter, while, interestingly, both groups had low levels of communication apprehension. This result is explained by the researchers as apprehension being ‘a trait-like, personal way of acting independent of learning’ (Asmalı et al. Reference Asmalı, Bilki and Duban2015: 69) i.e., introverted. While further studies are needed to explain this finding, it might also be related to what Uztosun & Erten (Reference Uztosun and Erten2014) suggested in relation to how some learners might want to stay out of the game. On the other hand, both Asmalı et al. (Reference Asmalı, Bilki and Duban2015) and Şener (Reference Şener2014) revealed that EFL learners felt more confident while communicating with friends and least confident when at meetings; in the former it was strangers who were the least preferred interlocutors while in the latter students mentioned classroom teachers as their least preferred interlocutors. Şener's (Reference Şener2014) interview data explained this finding as teachers’ being ‘critical and intolerant to their mistakes’ (p. 105), drawing attention to teachers’ role in guiding the communicative contexts in EFL classrooms. These findings confirm Çokal-Karadaş’ (Reference Çokal-Karadaş2010) study, which suggested that ‘other-initiated other-repair should not be performed only by instructors’ (p. 158) and instead students should be encouraged to realize the problems in their own speech and initiate self or other-repair.

Highlighting the difference between context visuals and content visuals, Göktürk & Altay (Reference Göktürk and Altay2015) investigated whether EFL learners with different learning styles were (dis)favored by different channels of input (i.e., audio vs. media-mediated) while listening in English. Their results indicated that when learning styles is not a variable, the channel of input did not make a difference in the overall listening scores of these learners. Yet, when learners were grouped into different learning styles (i.e., auditory, visual, and kinesthetic), the visual learners were at a disadvantage with audio-based listening tests. Their implications are worthy in terms of designing appropriate test tasks and their alignment for the target language use domains as video-based materials are not only widely used in EFL classrooms, but watching movies and TV shows is an activity that more and more learners engage in even outside the classroom.

Studying pre-service EFL teachers as her unit of analysis, Karabınar (Reference Karabınar2014) investigated participants’ experiences of writing as well as the strategies they used within the framework of deep (e.g., self-regulation) and surface level (e.g., rote memorization) writing approaches. Given that her participants were prospective language teachers and already at an advanced level of English proficiency, it was not a surprise to see that the majority of them used deep writing approaches. On the other hand, female participants were found to be adopting a deep approach more than the males, a finding explained by Karabınar (Reference Karabınar2014) as female learners being more elaborative and reflective.

Finally, Er, Altunay & Yurdabakan (Reference Er, Altunay and Yurdabakan2012) suggest that active learning based on constructivist theory enhances EFL learners’ reading comprehension but does not make a difference in their FL self-concept. While the researchers do not provide much information about the ways the participating teachers who were trained in active learning implemented cooperative learning techniques in their classes, they do provide a list of suggestions for cooperative learning techniques so that teachers can encourage active learning in EFL classes. This study therefore can be considered to be a response to Chamot's (Reference Chamot2005) call for teacher preparation in learning strategy instruction. Again following Chamot (Reference Chamot2005), we hope to see more studies on the development of language teacher expertise to integrate language learning strategies into language teaching curricula, as well as the cultural and contextual factors influencing language learners’ strategy use in EFL settings.

3.3 Learner autonomy

Learner autonomy and self-directed learning have also turned out to be areas that widely attracted Turkish researchers’ attention (Balçıkanlı Reference Balçıkanlı2012a; Altunay Reference Altunay2013; Mede, İnceçay & İnceçay Reference Mede, İnceçay and İnceçay2013; Mutlu & Eröz-Tuğa Reference Mutlu and Eröz-Tuğa2013; Tanyeli & Kuter Reference Tanyeli and Kuter2013). In an attempt to explore freshmen Law students’ perceptions of learner autonomy in writing classes, Tanyeli & Kuter (Reference Tanyeli and Kuter2013) surveyed 200 students and interviewed six of their English teachers using a mixed-method case study design. Their observations were not surprising in that both students and teachers confirmed the lack of learner autonomy despite students’ positive attitudes toward learning English. While lack of confidence was considered to be one of the factors leading to dependent learners, the main problems, according to the teachers, were the education system, the curriculum, and the physical classroom environment, which allowed no opportunity for collaborative work to promote learner autonomy.

Studies have also been conducted to find ways to promote learner autonomy through the use of oral book reports in extensive reading courses (Mede et al. Reference Mede, İnceçay and İnceçay2013); CALL, to raise awareness of web-based resources for ESL/EFL; social media; and TV programs (Altunay Reference Altunay2013). For instance, Mutlu & Eröz-Tuğa (Reference Mutlu and Eröz-Tuğa2013) designed a mixed-method study comparing two groups of learners, one of which received a five-week language learning strategy training course through CALL while the other continued their regular studies as preparatory students. The experimental group became more autonomous in that they improved their language learning strategy use; demonstrated higher motivation; and were more willing to take responsibility for their learning by engaging in more outside-of-class activities than the control group. In another study relating the use of technology to learner autonomy, Balçıkanlı (Reference Balçıkanlı2012a) investigated pre-service ELT teachers’ experiences of using XLingo, a social networking site for language learners. XLingo provides its users with a language exchange community in which they can interact with other language learners as well as native speakers, thus, according to the author, it compensates for the lack of comprehensible input and authentic conversation in EFL settings and boosts self-confidence and learner autonomy. His participants also reported benefits in terms of language development through the use of daily expressions and conversation skills, yet these findings call for further research to describe the ways language learners use XLingo, whom they interact with and how often, the topics discussed, etc. Ortaçtepe (Reference Ortaçtepe2014), on the other hand, examined the second language (L2) socialization processes of Turkish students studying in the United States by looking at their social interactions with American speakers of English. Her findings indicated that the participants adopted similar discursive strategies (i.e., establishing common ground and positioning) used by the native speakers in the U.S. Both Balçıkanlı’s (Reference Balçıkanlı2012a) and Ortaçtepe's studies highlight the importance of transforming Turkish language learners’ classroom experience by providing them with a socializing space in which they can interact with native speakers and perceive language use as social practice.

3.4 Attitudes toward language learning

EFL learners’ attitudes toward learning English in general (e.g., Kazazoğlu Reference Kazazoğlu2013) or toward various specific language learning factors has been a prominent concern of Turkish ELT scholars. In Akay & Toraman's (Reference Akay and Toraman2015) study, among all the variables considered (i.e., age, gender, faculty, time spent learning, and proficiency level), only the faculty that the students were preparing to study in seemed to have made a difference in their attitudes toward learning grammar. More specifically, students in Science, Humanities, Education, and Engineering faculties were found to have more positive attitudes than those studying in Economics, Business Administration, and Communication. While the researchers think this is explained by the former group's greater reliance on reading and writing in English, as opposed to the latter's need to use all four skills, we believe that only a thorough needs analysis can give fuller understanding. The researchers’ assume that the problem of learning EFL in Turkey results from ‘the weak emphasis on four skills of the language and lack of communicative teaching, as well as the ineffective teaching of grammar’ (Akay & Toraman (Reference Akay and Toraman2015: 68). No research support has actually been provided for this and it is contradictory to Kılıç’s (Reference Kılıç2013) findings. According to Kılıç (Reference Kılıç2013), tertiary level EFL teachers claimed that their role in teaching English is precisely to ‘equip language learners with linguistic and general skills’ (p. 57). Akay & Toraman's (Reference Akay and Toraman2015) claim regarding the ineffective teaching of grammar also contradicts the common belief that Turkish learners of English are good at grammar but lack the necessary knowledge and skills in the functional use of language (e.g., Akpınar Reference Akpınar2012). Uzun's (Reference Uzun2013) study also contributes to this debate on grammar teaching in Turkey by revealing Turkish EFL learners’ preference for explicit, focus-on-form types of grammar teaching rather than implicit, focus-on-form approaches.

3.5 Motivation

Similar to Alptekin & Tatar's (Reference Alptekin and Tatar2011) review, learner motivation was found to be one of the most popular issues discussed in relation to Turkish EFL learners and their language learning processes (Genç & Kaya Reference Genç and Kaya2010; Solak Reference Solak2012; Öztürk & Gürbüz Reference Öztürk and Gürbüz2013; Tarhan & Balban Reference Tarhan and Balban2014). Among these studies, both Öztürk & Gürbüz (Reference Öztürk and Gürbüz2013) and Tarhan & Balban (Reference Tarhan and Balban2014) indicated that integrative and instrumental motivation are two interrelated concepts feeding into each other and should not be perceived as two different entities. More specifically, in Tarhan & Balban's (Reference Tarhan and Balban2014) study, which related motivation to learner identity by drawing on Norton's notion of investment, possessing both integrative and instrumental motivation helped language learners invest more in English language learning, as opposed to having only instrumental orientations. On the other hand, Öztürk & Gürbüz (Reference Öztürk and Gürbüz2013) found that their participants enrolled in an English preparatory program had a moderate level of foreign language learning motivation overall, but in terms of their motivational orientations they had a moderate level of integrative motivation but a high level of instrumental motivation. In another study, Öztürk (Reference Öztürk2013) also found language learners’ low level of motivation to be one of the factors influencing ELT teachers’ job burnout.

3.6 Pragmatic competence

EFL learners’ pragmatic competence has been a blooming area of interest for Turkish scholars, mostly focusing on speech acts and the acquisition of formulaic expressions. Pragmatic transfer from Turkish to English while performing refusal and complaint speech acts has been discussed by both Çiftçi (Reference Çiftçi2016) and Bikmen & Martı (Reference Bikmen and Martı2013) respectively. In the former study, comparison of both native speakers of English and Turkish EFL learners’ responses to a ten-item discourse completion task revealed that Turkish learners employed similar complaint strategies (e.g., annoyance, hints, and requests) as their native speaker counterparts, and positive pragmatic transfer was observed in annoyance and blaming a person and behavior, while instances of weak negative transfer were found in modified blame and indirect accusations (Bikmen & Martı Reference Bikmen and Martı2013).

Highlighting the role of formulaic expressions in vocabulary and language learning, Mutlu & Kaşlıoğlu's (Reference Mutlu and Kaşlıoğlu2016) study involving 326 EFL learners studying at five high schools revealed a positive relationship between vocabulary size and receptive and productive knowledge of collocations. Turkish EFL learners’ use of formulaic language in oral proficiency exams has been found to be correlated with the task type as well as their fluency and overall language proficiency scores (Üstünbaş & Ortaçtepe Reference Üstünbaş and Ortaçtepe2016). In order to examine the use of lexical bundles, Öztürk & Durmuşoğlu-Köse (Reference Öztürk and Durmuşoğlu-Köse2016) compiled a corpus of 150 texts containing both Turkish and native English postgraduate students’ M.A. and Ph.D. theses and native scholars’ published articles. The results revealed that the Turkish students used more lexical bundles than their native speaker counterparts, indicating verbose and repetitive language, pragmalinguistic transfer of Turkish (e.g., ‘it can be said that’) and lack of mastery of certain lexical bundles that were more common in the native speaker corpus. While the findings of this study will be useful for both practitioners and researchers, a more detailed discussion on how the native speaker corpus was compiled would have increased the validity of their findings, and thus, the rigor of their research.

In a small-scale study on idiom-focused instruction, Pfeiffer, Ortaçtepe & Çorlu (Reference Pfeiffer, Ortaçtepe and Çorlu2016) examined whether formulaic expressions congruent to those in an individual's L1 have an effect on the production of those expressions. Comparing the three categories of idioms (word-for-word translations of the idiom used in L1, conceptually similar versions of the idiom used in L1, and, idioms specific to the L2), their results revealed that (a) idiom-focused instruction improved learners’ accurate production of the expressions in all categories at an even rate, and (b) L2 learners had an affinity toward using more conceptually similar idioms.

3.7 Interlanguage and bilingual development

In their study, Özdemir, Haznedar & Babur's (Reference Özdemir, Haznedar and Babur2012) comparison of nine bilingual and nine monolingual children in terms of word reading performance revealed positive relationships between phonological awareness and reading as well as phonological memory, only in monolingual children but not in bilinguals. One interesting observation in their study was how bilinguals, despite having lower phonological awareness, could read as much as their monolingual counterparts. The researchers explained this was as a result of the mechanism of cross-linguistic transfer that enabled bilingual children to transfer their phonological awareness skills from Turkish in order to decode English words. Looking at the effect of bilingualism on L1 metalinguistic awareness, Beceren (Reference Beceren2010) compared one Turkish monolingual and one Turkish-English sequential bilingual child in terms of their phonological and word awareness in Turkish. While the bilingual child performed better in word segmentation and symbol substitution, the phonological awareness tasks revealed no bilingual advantage, a finding explained by the researcher as resulting from the formal instruction on Turkish phonemes both students received at school.

Putting a new face on interlanguage studies by using spoken language corpora, Şahin- Kızıl & Kilimci (Reference Şahin-Kızıl and Kilimci2014) compared a native speaker corpus (the Louvain Corpus of Native English Conversation) and sub-corpora of a non-native speaker corpus (the Louvain International Database of Spoken English Interlanguage) including Turkish EFL learners’ speech in terms of the structural and functional properties of recurrent phrases in spoken English. The findings indicated that Turkish EFL learners underuse vagueness tags and hedging devices (e.g., sort of, you know, things like that) which is interpreted by the researchers as an idiosyncratic feature of Turkish EFL learners’ spoken interlanguage. This corpus-based study provides many implications for the explicit teaching of word combinations and the use of authentic materials to increase EFL learners’ awareness of the linguistic properties of spoken English.

Interlingual and intralingual errors have been an object of study especially on Turkish EFL learners’ use of definite articles (Koban-Koç Reference Koban-Koç2015), prepositions (Özışık Reference Özışık2014), and morpho-syntactic structures such as adverbial clause morphemes (Dönük & Tezbaşaran Reference Dönük and Tezbaşaran2013). In Özışık's (Reference Özışık2014) study, upper-intermediate level preparatory school students could only answer correctly half of a 60-item test, the errors mostly resulting from Turkish interference. Koban-Koç (Reference Koban-Koç2015), on the other hand, investigated whether 50 intermediate and 50 low-advanced learners of English overused the definite article ‘the’ in null article contexts while omitting it in cultural, situation, structural, and textual contexts. The results were not surprising as the entire sample was found to omit ‘the’ rather than overuse it. Overall, both studies present a good overview of the interlingual vs. intralingual sources of one of the most difficult grammatical aspects of English language for Turkish EFL learners.

In conclusion, Turkish scholars have dealt with various language learning factors, though there are just a few studies that have delved into language learning processes in the Turkish context. Given that ELT researchers now perceive language learners as ‘possessing different kinds of abilities and predispositions that influence learning in complex ways’ (Ellis & Shintani Reference Ellis and Shintani2014: 20), future research on individual learner differences might adopt a more holistic approach to explore how they influence the way a language learner performs a classroom activity, responds to a teaching method, and benefits from instruction generally.

4.1 Assessment

In a country like Turkey in which assessment is such an important issue and in which so much of life is based on high-stakes tests, from getting into the right high school to getting a good job, it is perhaps surprising that there are so few studies on assessment-related issues. Of these few, some are related to general assessment questions—e.g., ways of improving test reliability and validity or comparing types of assessments—and others relate specifically to assessment issues in the ELT community in Turkey, for example, obtaining students’ opinions about portfolio assessment (a practice which has been fairly recently introduced into the national curriculum for ELT in public schools), or seeking teachers’ ideas about the integration of performance tasks into the public primary school curriculum for English. While the latter studies are naturally of greater interest largely within the Turkish context, the former more general works may have broader appeal internationally.

Çakır (Reference Çakır2013) for example, compared three different methods of assessment in EFL classes: multiple-choice tests, presentations, and translations. He found that students were able to achieve the highest scores on multiple-choice tests, followed by presentations, with the lowest scores on translations. Most importantly, the study reveals that there is not a consistent correlation between students’ scores on each type of test, since each of these test types taps into different skills. A strong argument is therefore made not for using one type over another, but for a multiple approach to assessment so as not to favor certain learner types/test-taker types.

Turning to test design and development, Razı (Reference Razı2012) presents a study on the processes of developing and establishing the reliability and validity of a reading test, specifically through the use of analyzing vocabulary frequency. When it comes to reading tests, the author states that testers tend to use readability analyses to determine text difficulty, but such formulas have been criticized since they merely take into consideration word count and sentence length. Razı argues that we need to investigate other aspects of the texts—in this case, word frequency calculations, which can be done using corpus linguistics. He then provides a detailed description and analysis of the various aspects of a reading test's reliability and validity which, together with the actual reading test in the appendix, makes the study useful for both those specifically interested in ELT assessment research as well as for those with a more general interest in reading test preparation.

4.2 Curriculum development and evaluation

A considerable amount of research has been conducted on the broad topic of curriculum development and evaluation, perhaps reflecting the reality of rapidly changing national curricula in Turkey and the need to understand both the reception and adoption of these changes, as well as exploring ways of managing such transitions. It is encouraging in that the volume of such studies shows an awareness of the need for continuous evaluation of curricula, and the importance of gathering various stakeholders’ views when doing so. One issue with this area of research is that since these studies are by nature focused on Turkey or Turkish examples, a strong case really needs to be made for how they will be relevant and useful outside of the country or for non-Turkish audiences. This case, frankly, tends not to be convincingly made in many of these studies. Nevertheless, a few may be highlighted.

From a historical perspective, Köksal & Şahin (Reference Köksal and Şahin2012) present an analysis of national education council meeting notes since 1939, focusing on discussions about and decisions made regarding FL teaching in Turkey. The piece is interesting mainly in its descriptive account of the amount and type of discussion that has occurred over the years, though it does not delve into any discussion of why the approach to FL teaching fluctuated. For those interested in a historical overview of FL teaching in Turkey, however, it will be of interest. Similarly, for readers seeking a detailed consideration of the most recent changes to the national English language curriculum in Turkey, Kırkgöz, Çelik & Arıkan (Reference Kırkgöz, Çelik and Arıkan2016) provide a step-by-step description of the collaborative effort to design a curriculum that reflects both recent methodological and technological developments and current research-based practices.

One evaluation study with an interesting take is Salı & Gürsoy's (Reference Salı and Gürsoy2014) look at Global Issues in Language Education, a newly offered elective course for undergraduate students of ELT. Focusing on environmental issues, the course aims to make global issues part of language teacher training, thus improving both students’ linguistic and social development. It was found that while the teacher trainees understand the potential value of such a course and are aware of the content knowledge they could gain from taking it, they have very little recognition of the potential linguistic benefits. While the article does not discuss this, the findings seem to have an interesting tie-in with content-based instruction and, notably, point to the teacher trainees’ apparent lack of awareness of content based instruction (CBI) principles.

For the most part though, the common theme in the curriculum-based articles is a focus on the process of curricular change, and the conclusion that it is flawed and therefore ineffective. Demirbulak (Reference Demirbulak2012) frames this problem within a discussion of the process of curricular deliberation—a process that is in fact required by the Ministry of Education to occur in public schools via meetings at the start and end of each semester, and is intended to provide feedback on the curriculum. Sadly, Demirbulak's results are a striking example of how well-intentioned directives can be inappropriately followed, and how widely ranging the experiences of different schools can be. This finding is echoed in Küçüktepe, Küçüktepe & Baykın (Reference Küçüktepe, Küçüktepe and Baykın2014), who focus in particular on the changes regarding the age of first starting English language education. Their survey of teachers’ ideas about the curricular shift to starting English instruction at a younger age in public schools shows mixed responses, but the main point comes back to the problems with top-down curricular change, and once more highlights the need for teacher training before any change is implemented.

Such problems of top-down curricular change are shown to extend beyond K-12 education in Uztosun & Troudi's (Reference Uztosun and Troudi2015) higher education study. In 2006, curricular changes were made in the undergraduate English language teacher training curriculum in Turkey. According to the faculty lecturers surveyed in this study, while some of the specific changes in courses were found positive and others negative, the main complaint they have is the lack of transparency in the process itself.

4.3 L1 use/code-switching

Use of Turkish (the L1) or code-switching in EFL classrooms is a highly researched topic in Turkey, and therefore one that is clearly deemed important in the local disciplinary community. This emphasis may stem from the inherent clash many EFL teachers and researchers here experience between what the core literature appears to promote (sole use of the target language in the classroom) and what the reality is (a certain degree of L1 use, at best a judicious one, but in some cases extensive). Among the many studies on the topic, there are descriptive ones showing that L1 use is happening in EFL classes and attempting to understand when and why; there are also perception studies exploring teachers’ and/or students’ opinions about why it is happening and whether it is a good thing. With only studies like these one might think that it is simply easier to use L1 and that these studies are excuses for imperfect practices, but there are also a growing number of works looking for empirical evidence of the results of such practices. In these studies it is revealed that L1 use has, at worst, no effect on language acquisition, and at best, may even improve performance. These works may contribute greatly to a reconsideration of the strong view of L2-only prescriptions for effective FL teaching.

Turning to the specific studies, among the basic perception studies on whether L1 use is a positive or negative practice, Kayaoğlu (Reference Kayaoğlu2012) surveyed EFL teachers’ opinions on the use of L1 in the classroom and their reported practices of using L1. The findings highlight the reality that the vast majority of these teachers assume the pragmatic position that strategic use of L1 can be practical and useful—despite having been trained to think otherwise. Şimşek (Reference Şimşek2011) reports similar findings. Noting the apparent contradiction between theory and practice regarding use of the L1 in FL classrooms, Şimşek surveyed young student teachers of EFL for their perspectives on their mentor teachers’ use of the L1 in their classes (its frequency and whether it was random or purposeful), and how they viewed that usage based on what they had been taught in their teacher training. The observations seem to have implications both for the discussion on use of L1 in the classroom but also for teacher training, as they show that not one of the student teachers had received any conscious education or training on the use of L1 (strategic or otherwise) in teaching. Rather, the theory and instruction they received was quite consistent in being against the use of L1, yet in their observations it became immediately obvious to them that in reality teachers do use it, and often quite a lot (sometimes as much as 80% of the class or more).

A series of works have combined perception studies with actual in-class investigation of what is done and trying to understand why. Bensen & Çavuşoğlu (Reference Bensen and Çavuşoğlu2013) looked at four university level EFL teachers’ use of code-switching in the classroom. They provide interesting examples of actual classroom discourse, and through the application of existing frameworks of analysis for uses of code-switching, their findings on the reasons for L1 use can be easily compared with the findings of previous studies. Kafes (Reference Kafes2011) also explores how and why L1 is used in an EFL classroom. Through observations and recordings of different teachers, the author provides further evidence for when and how L1 may be used in the classroom.

Horasan (Reference Horasan2014) also studies classroom interaction, this time both students’ and teachers’, to look at code-switching activity. The study explores the actual amount of code-switching that occurs (high among students, higher than expected among teachers), when it takes place (more often inter-sententially than intra-sententially) and the purposes it seems to be serving (mostly for meta-language talk about grammar or language tasks or as a tool for attracting attention or making jokes). It reveals as well the overarching perception among the participants that as students’ proficiency level increases, the use of code-switching should be reduced. Raman & Yiğitoğlu (Reference Raman and Yiğitoğlu2015) also looked at teachers’ and students’ ideas about this practice of code-switching and discovered that it serves for a variety of educational functions, from creating a sense of connectedness to expressing emotions and abstract concepts. As with other studies noted here, this one also found generally wide agreement on the idea that code-switching can contribute positively to the teaching and learning environment. In yet another classroom interaction study, Şen (Reference Şen2010) focuses particularly on the use of L1 for the specific purpose of clarifying and explaining language features. The author makes the argument that research should move beyond studying L1 use only within a code-switching paradigm and instead consider it as a means of a focus-on-form approach to instruction, and discuss its use within that framework.

Finally, at least one work has explored the question in an experimental design study. Şimşek (Reference Şimşek2010) is a rare effort to empirically measure the effectiveness of using L1 concepts on students’ achievement and retention of L2 grammar concepts—an interesting follow-up to Şen's study. In Şimşek's study, both immediate post-tests and delayed post-tests revealed that a group of university level EFL learners who were taught English using developed methods of L1 use—not simply translation but parallel sentences, bilingual texts, dual-language tasks, consciousness-raising, lexicalization/affixation, scaffolding, and code-switching—performed significantly better on grammar achievement tests than a group of similar students taught using exclusively the target language.

The works here all indicate that this is a topic on which expanding-circle countries in particular have a great potential to contribute to the broader discussion. While it is not surprising that the topic may be less likely to grab the attention of researchers in ESL contexts, it is ripe for exploration in EFL/expanding-circle countries like Turkey. Perhaps the most significant point that all of these studies seem to be emphasizing is that there should be a strategic use of L1 in FL classes. Şimşek (Reference Şimşek2011) also points to the need to critically engage with standard practices in teacher training, in which there is an impression of core values (L1 use is bad) being imposed on the periphery, not thinking about what might be the most appropriate for those different contexts. This area of research seems to suggest that in an era of increasing awareness of developments like English as an international language, world language or lingua franca, and generally, critical approaches to ELT, combined with the huge growth in the amount and quality of research coming out of the EFL periphery (non-inner/outer-circle countries), there is clearly space for rethinking the curricula of teacher training programs and seriously considering the inclusion of discussions on purposeful, strategic use of code-switching.

4.4 Teaching materials and methods

The bulk of the research in Turkey on language teaching involves, unsurprisingly, studies about various teaching materials and methods or studies focused on the instruction of particular skills. There is also a huge emphasis on research involving the use particularly of technology-related methods or materials, but we have chosen to discuss those studies under a separate heading of ‘technology’ because of the sheer quantity of that work. The following section focuses therefore on research that investigates non-technology-related materials and methods in the EFL classroom, broadly grouped according to the skills or topics considered: reading, writing, vocabulary, culture, and speaking.

4.5 Technology

Turning to the final sub-category of articles related to language teaching the largest single group of studies falls under the heading of ‘technology’, clearly reflecting a recognition of the inevitability of technology integration into EFL teaching and a genuine search for answers to questions about how best to manage that integration and what types of technology warrant being used. Under the broad heading of ‘technology’, we can further categorize these studies into evaluation studies, attitude/perception studies, and, the largest group of all, studies exploring the effectiveness of particular technology-based materials and approaches on various aspects of English learning, in particular, vocabulary acquisition.

5.1 Descriptive studies on teacher education

Relevant studies examine some in-service but mainly pre-service teachers’ current status especially in regard to various affective and cognitive constructs such as beliefs, efficacy, motivation, anxiety, teacher cognition, and learning approaches, which are also widely examined in relation to language learners.

Erten (Reference Erten2014, Reference Erten2015) conducted two studies on pre-service EFL teachers’ reasons for choosing this profession. While the former study adopted a survey with only open-ended questions, the latter consisted of a similar survey, a ranking task for listing their reasons, and the FIT-Choice Scale (Watt & Richardson Reference Watt and Richardson2007). Relying on qualitative results, both studies confirmed that intrinsic motivations won over extrinsic ones, altruistic coming last. The researcher in the second study, however, gave attention to the FIT-Choice Scale, and this revealed that altruistic motivations prevailed over other reasons. Erten (Reference Erten2015) attributed the discrepancy between the survey results and the qualitative results to social desirability bias and called for the use of multiple data collection instruments to obtain more trustworthy findings.

Turning to studies exploring aspects of teacher beliefs, two, in particular, highlight a range of methodological approaches. Surveying 606 EFL instructors working in 15 higher education institutions in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, Öztürk & Yıldırım (Reference Öztürk and Yıldırım2015) aimed to describe the language learning cognitions of the participants regarding linguistic aptitude, priorities in language learning, and what it means to be a good language learner. The participants revealed an interactionist perspective as opposed to an innate one, and they adopted a performance-oriented approach to language learning rather than a competence-oriented one. Legislative learners were favored more than executive and judicial ones, a finding in line with the current research, as also described in the language learning section (3.3) of this review conveying the tendency toward having more autonomous language learners. At the other end of the methodological spectrum, Öztürk & Gürbüz (Reference Öztürk and Gürbüz2016) presented case studies of three practicing EFL teachers, exploring how their early language learning experiences affected their later teaching beliefs. Given the primary role that earlier language teachers are found to have had, the researchers point to the need for further research on the idea of apprenticeship and observation of EFL teachers.

Efficacy seems also to have been popular in regard to pre-service EFL teachers. For instance, İnceçay & Keşli-Dollar (Reference İnceçay and Keşli-Dollar2012) conducted a study with 36 senior students in an ELT department to examine their level of efficacy and readiness for classroom management, two constructs that were found to be unrelated. Merç (Reference Merç2015a), on the other hand, found a negative, moderate relationship between self-efficacy and FL teaching anxiety, the source of anxiety for these pre-service teachers apparently being their mentor teachers in practicum classes. It is also of note that the novice teachers in Ercan-Demirel & Cephe's (Reference Ercan-Demirel and Cephe2015) study were more liable to burnout due to factors such as teaching load and students’ low proficiency levels.

ICT self-efficacy, or computer self-efficacy, has also attracted the attention of several researchers. While Bozdoğan & Özen (Reference Bozdoğan and Özen2014) used the Technology Acceptance Model to examine pre-service EFL teachers’ use of ICT and possible factors affecting their ICT self-efficacy, Zehir-Topyaka (Reference Zehir-Topyaka2010) related computer self-efficacy to general self-efficacy and explored these two constructs in relation to variables such as gender, grade differences, and frequency and intensity of computer use. Both studies draw attention to the need for teacher education programs in Turkey to equip pre-service teachers with the necessary skills and knowledge to integrate ICT in their classes, or as Bozdoğan & Özen (Reference Bozdoğan and Özen2014) put it, to transform technology into teachnology. Yet, a lack of adequate training in their programs and insufficient facilities in practicum schools were the two main reasons mentioned by pre-service teachers for not being able to integrate technological tools in their classes, as stated in Merç (Reference Merç2015b).

When we examined the papers published in Turkey on language teacher education, two concepts seemed to have received less emphasis than those discussed above: pragmatic and intercultural competence. Interestingly, two of the three studies focusing on ELT teachers examined their perceptions about these issues rather than their actual teaching practices. For instance, while Kılıç (Reference Kılıç2013) examined tertiary level Turkish EFL teachers’ beliefs regarding intercultural competence, Demircioğlu & Çakır (Reference Demircioğlu and Çakır2015) had a larger focus in their study, which surveyed International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, English language teachers from five different countries, namely Turkey, the U.S., the U.K., New Zealand, and Spain, on their attitudes toward intercultural competence. On the other hand, Yıldız-Ekin & Atak-Damar (Reference Yıldız-Ekin and Atak-Damar2013) not only examined pre-service teachers’ pragmatic awareness but also the extent to which they integrated pragmatics into their teaching practices. Their results were not surprising in that the participants did show awareness of pragmatic knowledge, which was operationalized as their use of speech acts, and was measured by means of a discourse completion task. However, the analysis of the reflection papers, lesson plans accompanied by observations, and in-depth interviews revealed that they failed to transfer this knowledge into their classes, highlighting a gap in the curriculum of EFL teacher education.

Yeşilbursa (Reference Yeşilbursa2011a), on the other hand, approached pragmatics from the perspective of face-threatening acts, and examined the mitigation strategies used in providing suggestions and advice during post-observation conferences that took place between three language teacher educators who observed each other. The number of both negative and positive politeness strategies used by these three teachers who had equal academic positions, as opposed to the hierarchical relationship involved in supervisor–supervisee dyads, indicates that reflective practice oriented observations, regardless of the parties involved, present themselves as face-threatening acts regardless of their (in)voluntary nature. In another study, Yeşilbursa (Reference Yeşilbursa2011b) also presented a snapshot of pre-service ELT teachers’ patterns of reflection (descriptive vs. dialogic, positive vs. negative) by examining their written reflections on their teaching experience. Her study is of interest to those involved in teacher education programs as the rubric she presented to evaluate the reflection patterns can be adopted by teacher educators and pre-service teachers to increase the depth and breadth of prospective teachers’ reflective practice.

5.2 Intervention studies on teacher education

Intervention studies are understood here as those studies that explored the effect of a treatment, usually in the form of a teaching-based course/practicum, or a treatment within a course on pre-service teachers’ beliefs, or teaching practice. Özmen (Reference Özmen2011), for instance, examined the role of a Creative Drama course (an acting course designed specifically for ELT students) on pre-service teachers’ beliefs on teaching and learning. The results indicated that the pre-service teachers’ beliefs not only shifted from a behavioristic perspective to a more cognitive/constructive one but also from personal experience-based ones to more academic-driven ones. On the other hand, Kurt et al. (Reference Kurt, Akyel, Kocoğlu and Mishra2014) explored how pre-service teachers developed Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK), a conceptual framework designed by Mishra & Koehler (Reference Mishra and Koehler2006) to describe the knowledge base teachers from various fields need to have to integrate technology into their classes.

Methodology courses on ELT have been the focus of attention in several studies not only because they provide a foundation for language teaching methods but also because of their emphasis on relating theory and practice. Akcan (Reference Akcan2011), for instance, examined the learning experiences of prospective teachers in her own methodology course to understand the ways participants built their own teaching philosophy. Savaş (Reference Savaş2012) examined the use of digital videos recorded by pre-service teachers during their micro-teaching preparations for an ELT methodology course. While the opportunity for self-evaluation and correction was the most commonly mentioned benefit of these videos, some participants reported having recorded their videos after the actual preparation process, defeating the purpose of their use, and thus leading to an ‘unnatural’ and ‘artificial’ experience (Savaş Reference Savaş2012: 114). Cirit (Reference Cirit2015), on the other hand, conducted a study comparing ELT pre-service teachers’ perceptions of traditional, alternative, and online assessment tools. The researcher also examined the use of Web 2.0 tools for alternative assessment in a methodology course and looked at the change in the participants’ perceptions after the implementation of Web 2.0 tools such as Voki, Testmoz, Mindomo, and Glogster. While the findings indicated pre-service teachers’ preference for alternative assessment both before and after the use of Web 2.0 tools, it is of note that the participants highlighted the need to use both alternative and traditional assessments, their least preferred assessment method. Cirit's (Reference Cirit2015) discoveries indicate another conundrum: given more recent and traditional approaches in language teaching, how some pre-service teachers can still be resistant to change is yet to be explored.

There were also studies focusing on the effect of professional development (PD) on in-service teachers’ beliefs or classroom practices. On the one hand, some studies emphasized the importance of in-house, teacher-led PD programs, such as Korkmazgil & Seferoğlu (Reference Korkmazgil and Seferoğlu2013), who described EFL teachers’ PD practices, the challenges they face especially in relation to obligatory, top-down PD programs, as well as their perceived needs. On the other hand, Personn & Yiğitoğlu (Reference Personn and Yiğitoğlu2015) paid attention to externally designed PD courses such as the In-service Certificate in English Language Teaching (ICELT), while Aydın, Sağlam & Alan (Reference Aydın, Sağlam and Alan2016) explored whether the Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA) program can build a bridge between pre-service and in-service education. In the latter, the feedback sessions between the teacher trainers and trainees were found to be the most useful part of CELTA, giving insights on their strengths and weaknesses. The participating CELTA-holders also criticized their pre-service education programs as being overly theory-based, and thus they reported benefiting from CELTA due to its immediate implications for classroom practice. This heavy emphasis on theoretical rather than practical in pre-service teacher education programs was also mentioned by the participants of Yazan's (Reference Yazan2016) study, which examined early-career EFL teachers’ instructional challenges and their way of coping with them. Providing more opportunities for clinical experiences in various contexts and discussing case studies with emphasis on instructional challenges were some of the suggestions presented by Yazan (Reference Yazan2016) to prepare EFL teachers for the challenges they might face in their early careers.

Arranging a reflective development program for four tertiary level EFL teachers, Arslan & Basağa (Reference Arslan and Basağa2010) investigated the ways engagement in reflective practice through action research contributed to the participants’ PD. Critical evaluation of their teaching practices and becoming a teacher researcher ‘with the encouragement to think like a researcher’ (Arslan & Basağa Reference Arslan and Basağa2010: 21) were the two outcomes that the researchers felt were important for helping these teachers identify the problems they might face in the future and seek solutions. In a case study on EFL teachers’ reflective practice, Yücel, Arman & Yapar (Reference Yücel, Arman and Yapar2016) investigated the role of video-coaching on in-service teacher training by examining 51 language instructors’ attitudes toward video-coaching and reported professional growth. Constructive feedback as part of video-coaching was found to be the factor leading to positive changes in teachers’ attitudes and improvements in teaching, confirming Aydın, Sağlam & Alan's (Reference Aydın, Sağlam and Alan2016) findings mentioned earlier.

Because of their emphasis on actual teaching practice within host schools under the supervision of mentor teachers, practicum courses can also be discussed here in relation to their influence on pre-service teachers. For instance, in İnceçay's (Reference İnceçay2015) study, the effect of the practicum was examined in relation to the metaphors pre-service teachers used to describe the nature of FL teaching. The analysis of a metaphor completion task, semi-structured interviews and follow-up emails revealed how the use of metaphors enable pre-service teachers to conceptualize themselves as language teachers and how they reflect on their tacit knowledge as well as the role of the practicum, that is, the experience of ‘real-life’––as one of the participants stated–– in this process.

There are also some researchers who brought in an intervention within a particular course (Savaş Reference Savaş2012; Cirit Reference Cirit2015; Okumuş & Akalın Reference Okumuş and Akalın2015). Okumuş & Akalın (Reference Okumuş and Akalın2015), for instance, conducted a qualitative study on pre-service teachers’ perceptions regarding the integration of the EPOSTL into the methodology course of their ELT curriculum. The integration of EPOSTL required pre-service teachers to complete the descriptors on the self-assessment section of the EPOSTL to evaluate their own micro- and macro-teachings. The interview data revealed that the use of EPOSTL increased pre-service teachers’ awareness of their strengths and weaknesses as a teacher. Yet, not much evidence is presented by the authors regarding how the EPOSTL can help bridge the gap between theory and practice, a concern experienced by most ELT departments in Turkish universities.