Asian EFL Journal: September 2008 Edition: Oya Büyükyavuz & Sevim Inal

Volume 10. Issue 3
Article 11

Title
A Descriptive Study on Turkish Teachers of English Regarding Their Professional Needs, Efforts for Development and Available Resources

Author
Oya Büyükyavuz
Isparta Suleyman Demirel University, Turkey

Sevim İnal
Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Turkey

Bio Data:
Oya Büyükyavuz received MA and Ph.D degrees from The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH USA. Her dissertation is on foreign language teacher preparation and research interests include foreign language teacher preparation, professional development, teacher empowerement and learner autonomy. She has published articles in TESOL matters, English Language Teaching Forum and local journals. Currently, she works as the director of School of Foreign Languages at Suleyman Demirel University, Isparta Turkey.

Sevim İnal is a research assistant at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Turkey. She has received her Ph D on ELT, specifically on teaching writing. Her research areas are teaching writing, teacher education and in-service training. She has published articles in local journals. She has attended to a lot of international and national conferences and symposiums.

Abstract
The purpose of this study was to provide Turkish EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers’ profiles with a specific emphasis on their professional needs. In addition, it describes the major sources of reference Turkish EFL Teachers make use of, the endeavours they are engaged in for professional development, preferred teaching methods and the available sources at their disposal in schools. Data for this study were collected from 132 in-service teachers utilizing a questionnaire and two open-ended questions.This study provided important affirmation and meaningful data collection to support what many teachers have been living for their whole professional lives in Turkey. Data analysis revealed that Turkish EFL teachers associate profession-related improvement with studying textbooks on grammar. It was also found that the in-service seminars organized by the Ministry of National Education were far beyond meeting the professional needs of the teachers.

Keywords: Turkish EFL teachers; Professional needs, foreign language teaching, professional EFL resources