In second language teaching and learning, making errors is inevitable as language learning requires a lot of cognitive effort and concentration on the part of learners. Understanding the types and frequencies of student errors is, therefore, an important issue for ESL and EFL teachers to determine how students can be helped to improve their skills through instruction. This case study focuses on the frequency and types of errors and aims to identify any possible relationship between learner-based errors and the perceived cognitive load of the student. Data was received through 36 essays written by an adult learner of English who received 104 hours of formal instruction. The instruction was designed pursuing Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), and corrective feedback was provided. At the end of each month, a subjective cognitive load scale was applied to identify the perceived cognitive load of the learner. Errors were regarded as indicators of the student’s developmental competence and were analyzed not as a failure but as a sign in reflecting the learner’s progress. The results revealed that an improvement in the writings of the learner can be observed when the perceived cognitive load of the learner is lowered in the second language learning process.

It is well acknowledged that one of the most significant things contributing to a successful career in language teaching is ongoing professional development. It is difficult to determine which tool is the most effective for the development of teachers because of the variety of current strategies that are still being debated in terms of their usefulness and practicability as professional development practices. Furthermore, the perspectives that teachers hold regarding professional development practices vary widely. In this work, various strategies for aiding the professional growth of ELT teachers at a foundation university in Istanbul are presented and discussed. Additionally, their preferences for varied practices that enhance teacher development were identified through a survey investigation. The data were collected through a survey questionnaire, and then they were analyzed to demonstrate both the similarities and differences in the approaches to teaching. The findings revealed that the degree to which teachers valued and made use of the activities differed significantly based on several factors, including their gender, age, years of teaching experience, the undergraduate field of study, and level of qualification. The findings could serve as the foundation for a proposal made to educators who are interested in developing their approach to teaching more professionally.

Özet: Bu çalışmanın amacı eğitim programlarında 21. Yüzyıl temel becerilerinden biri olarak kabul eleştirel düşünme üzerine Türkiye'de yapılan yüksek lisans ve doktora tezlerini metodolojik ve istatistiksel açıdan incelemektir. Araştırmanın verileri doküman incelemesi yoluyla toplanarak içerik analizi uygulanmıştır. Araştırma verileri 1999-2019 yılları arasını kapsayan alan taramasından elde edilmiştir. Alan taramasında Ulusal Tez Merkezinden elde edilen verilere göre toplam 382 lisansüstü tez çalışmasına ulaşılmıştır. Bilgi yönetimi, hemşirelik, bilgisayar mühendisliği ve psikoloji gibi eğitim-öğretim dışındaki alanlarda yazılmış olan tezler hariç tutularak erişim izni bulunan 158'i yüksek lisans ve 71'i doktora tezi olmak üzere 229 lisansüstü tez çalışması incelenmiştir. Bu çalışmayla eleştirel düşünme konusu ile ilgili alan yazına katkı sağlanması umulmaktadır. Çalışmanın sonunda araştırmacılara yol gösterecek önerilerde bulunulmuştur.

This study aims to identify how code-switching functions as an instructional method and discusses teachers' perceptions of language choice and code-switching practices at the English Prep Program of a state university in Istanbul. Teachers' language choice relates directly to pedagogical focus; therefore, the present study mainly intends to examine why instructors feel the need for code-switching while teaching. In this regard, the study also examines if there is a specific corpus that teachers follow while they are code-switching, by applying a mixed-method of data collection and analysis. Not only the teachers (N=6) but also students (N=63) were included in the study to investigate the issue from a broader perspective. The study unearthed that even though English is the primary instructional language in the classroom, coding from the second language to the first language is taking place in preparatory classes. The data analysis also indicated that all the instructors consciously or unconsciously as they reported-code-switched throughout their lessons to make up for the students' language deficiency and to explain the concept that had no equivalent in the English language. The findings are important as they can help teachers to reflect on the instructional functions of their code-changing practices during instructions Code-switching EFL teaching Instructional Functions of Codeswitching Language instruction Second language learning