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Presenter
Zeynep Olcu
Research Assistant;
Betil Eroz-Tuga
Assistant Professor
Middle East Technical University,
Department of Foreign Language Education,
Ankara,
Turkey

Title
Attitudes of university instructors towards English medium
instruction in Turkey

Abstract:
This presentation reports the preliminary results of a research study which examines the attitudes of university instructors towards the use of English as the medium of instruction in Turkish universities. University instructors (N=100) holding a variety of academic titles and ranks (e.g., research assistant, assistant professor, full professor) participated in the study. The participants consisted of faculty members specialized in social and natural sciences. However, faculty members from English Language Teaching, English Language and Linguistics, and English Literature programs were excluded in order to avoid possible positive bias towards the issue.

The participants, who consisted of faculty members from both Turkish and English medium universities, responded to a questionnaire inquiring about their attitudes towards English-medium instruction in Turkey considering several dimensions, such as teaching, learning, cultural influences, and availability of academic resources. The questionnaire comprised of 26 Likert-type items and one open-ended question for participants to add personal comments. The attitudes of the participants were examined identifying similarities and differences between instructors from Turkish-medium versus English-medium universities in Turkey.