Metaphorical perceptions of prospective EFL teachers related to Turkish education system

Abstract

This study aims to determine prospective teachers’ perceptions on the basic concepts of the education system in terms of its inputs, processes and outputs through metaphors. Phenomenological analysis was used. The participants were senior students from Gaziantep University, English Language Teaching (ELT) department and pedagogic formation program students from the English Language and Literature (ELL) department. The data were collected by asking about metaphorical perceptions related to the concepts of student, parent, school, school principal, curriculum, teaching materials, principles and methods of teaching, assessment and evaluation, ethics, class management, success and graduate students. Content analysis was employed for analysis. Teacher candidates produced 528 valid metaphors related to 13 concepts of education system. Out of these, 269 metaphors were positive, 109 were negative and 150 were related to basic features of education system. While 34 prospective teachers from ELL department produced 338 metaphors, 18 prospective teachers from ELT department produced 190 metaphors. The perceptions of teacher candidates in both groups were similar in terms of teacher, student, parent, school principal, teaching materials, ethics, and success. While ELL department students identified the concepts of school and graduate more positively, ELT department students described curriculum and classroom management more positively.

Prospective Teachers’ Metaphorical Perceptions Regarding Turkish Education Syste

“…Nitekim çalışmada, tüm zorluklara ve fazlasıyla çaba gerektiren bir yol olmasına rağmen, eğitimin bireysel ve toplumsal getirilerinden dolayı gerekli ve zahmete değer olduğu ifade edilmiştir. Öte yandan, eğitim sistemini girdi-süreç-çıktı (13 farklı kavram) olarak ele alan başka bir çalışmada, fen-edebiyat ve eğitim fakültesi öğrencilerinin çıktı ile ilgili (mezun) kısmen olumsuz metaforik algıları dışında diğer kavramlarla ilgili algıları olumlu bulunmuştur (Keser-Özmantar ve Yalçın-Arslan, 2019). Farklı çalışmalarda ayrı olarak ele alınan girdi boyutundaki öğretmen, okul müdürü, olumlu algılar bulunması, kavramların tek tek alındığında ve birlikte uyumlu çalışmasını gerektiren bütün olarak ele alındığında algıların değiştiğini göstermektedir.…”

“…Örneğin, öğretmen, öğrenci, okul, okul müdürü, okul yönetimi, müfettiş, eğitim programı gibi temel kavramları ele alan birçok çalışma yapılmıştır (Akan, Yalçın ve Yıldırım, 2014;Aykaç ve Çelik, 2014;Boyacı, 2009;Döş, 2010;Gültekin, 2013;Günbayı, 2011;Kadı ve Beytekin, 2017;Memduhoğlu ve Mazlum, 2014;Saban, 2009;Saban, Koçbeker ve Saban, 2006;Şahin ve Sabancı, 2018aŞahin ve Sabancı, , 2018bSengul-Bircan, 2018;Yalçın ve Erginer, 2012;Yapıcı ve Yapıcı, 2013;Yildiz ve Gizir, 2018;Yıldırım, Ünal ve Çelik, 2011). Tüm bu kavramları içeren eğitim sistemini bütüncül olarak ele alan çalışmalar da alınyazında yer almaktadır (Erginer, 2011;Gözler, 2017;Kasapoğlu, 2016; Keser-Özmantar ve Yalçın-Arslan, 2019;Örücü, 2014;Yaşar ve Sözbilir, 2017). Bu çalışmada öğretmen adaylarının Türk eğitim sistemine ilişkin algıları üzerinde durulmuştur.…”

Metaphors as Trails of University English Language Instructors’ Perceptions About Emergency Remote Teaching in Turkey

“…Thus, understanding teachers' way of thinking may help us make sense of their teaching practices. Although we can find ample research on the perceptions of pre-service teachers (see e.g., Kavanoz, 2016;Keser-Özmantar & Yalçın-Arslan, 2019;Rakicioglu-Soylemez et al, 2016;Şimşek, 2014;Villarreal Ballesteros et al, 2020), in-service teachers (see e.g., Asmalı & Çelik, 2017;Seferoğlu et al, 2009) and university instructors (see e.g., Aktekin, 2013;Oktay & Vancı-Osam, 2013;Yesilbursa, 2012) through metaphors regarding teaching, students' roles and their roles as teachers (Oxford et al, 1998), so far there has been little work in the reviewed literature (Alan, 2021;Kaban, 2021) that unearths university instructors' perceptions regarding emergency remote teaching through metaphors during the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to fill this gap, this study aims to elicit metaphors generated by English preparatory school language instructors to unveil their perceptions in relation to emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

Perceptions of Primary School Teacher Candidates towards the Turkish Education System, School, Teacher, and Student: A Metaphor Analysis

“…These findings involved criticisms of the frequent changes and the complex structure. Keser Özmantar and Yalçın Arslan (2019) determined that English teacher candidates' perceptions of basic variables related to the Turkish education system were generally positive. Nonetheless, the review of the research into the perceptions of primary school teacher candidates about the Turkish education system revealed a gap in the literature regarding the present issue.…”