An explatory case study of English language teachers with study abroad experiences: Intercultural communicative competence related perceptions and implications


Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Eğitim Fakültesi, Yabancı Diller Eğitimi Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2014

Öğrenci: NURHAN TÜTÜNCÜ

Danışman: BETİL ERÖZ TUĞA

Özet:

Study abroad and student exchange opportunities in pre-service teacher training programs give language teacher candidates a chance to improve their intercultural communicative competence by developing personal and professional relationships in communities where they use the target language as the medium of communication. This research reports the results of a research study that investigated the effectiveness of the sojourn experiences of a group of language teachers on their self-reported ICC development. 9 English language teachers working at a private university in Ankara, Turkey, participated in the research project. Data were collected via a detailed background questionnaire followed by semi-structured face-to-face interviews and 2-hour of classroom observations. SPSS 17.00 was used to develop frequency tables of the time-spent abroad, personality traits of the participants, and the frequency of the themes emerged from the data transcribed from the interviews. As a result, the activities, materials, and teaching methods were listed and culture-related items were identified and they were combined with the results of the classroom observations. As a result of the study, a definition of intercultural communication, interculturally competent speaker, the importance of ICC for a language teacher and a learner, the ways to apply ICC into teaching, the skills associated with ICC knowledge, and possible problems related to the curriculum, materials, student-profile, and classroom activities were derived from the responses, and knowledge and motivation were identified as important components of ICC. It was found out that curriculum should be evaluated to enable teachers integrate their ICC knowledge into their teaching practices.