Comparing English language teacher education programs in Turkey and Finland

Abstract

The quality and qualifications of teachers reflect the quality of education and the success of students accordingly, and particular attention needs to be given to preservice teacher training as it is the primary step towards professionalization. Keeping this point in mind, English language teacher education programs (ELTEPs) seem to be a worthwhile research area. There is an increasing number of studies addressing ELTEPs in Turkey. Yet, comparative data on Turkey's ELTEPs and those of other countries remain relatively limited. Reasoning from the mentioned reasons, the study aims to analyze ELTEPs in Finland and Turkey based on five criteria; student selection, curriculum, practicum hours, graduation prerequisites and recruitment of teachers. Comparative in essence, the data were composed of documents indicating ELTEPs in both countries. For this qualitative research, basically, document analysis and content analysis were applied. As for the findings, one can count student selection, pre-service teaching practice and recruitment of teachers different from each other. More significantly, teachers in Finland are highly respected, trusted and have a high degree of autonomy in their work from the start of their profession. In the light of such comparative studies, Turkey needs to establish its unique model and enhance the quality of teacher education by taking the strengths of ELTEPs in different countries.

Türki̇ye'de İngi̇li̇z Di̇li̇ Eği̇ti̇mi̇ni̇n Sorunlari Üzeri̇ne Kapsamli Bi̇r Araştirma: İngi̇li̇zce Öğretmen Adaylarinin Görüşleri̇

“…Inadequacy of teachers in developing and adapting materials was also a finding of Akdağ Çimen (2017) and she suggested including materials development training in teacher education programs. Parallel to the finding of the current study, Ekoç (2022) reported that the number of education faculties had risen with the increase in the number of state and private universities, which created an issue of quality. The increase is also the reason of nonstandardization among the departments of English language teaching.…”

“…Öğretmenlerin materyal geliştirme ve uyarlama konusundaki yetersizlikleri de Akdağ Çimen'in (2017) bir bulgusu olup, öğretmen yetiştirme programlarında materyal geliştirme eğitimine yer verilmesini önermiştir. Ekoç (2022), mevcut araştırma bulgusuna paralel olarak, devlet ve vakıf üniversitelerinin sayısının artmasıyla birlikte eğitim fakültelerinin sayısının arttığını ve bunun bir kalite sorunu yarattığını bildirmiştir. Erdoğan ve Savaş'ın (2022) çalışmasında katılımcılar, YKS'nin konuşma, dinleme veya yazma becerilerinden çok, çoktan seçmeli bir sınav testi stratejisi olduğunu ve bu nedenle gerçek dil yeterliliğini kanıtlamakla sınırlı olduğunu ifade etmişlerdir.…”