Research Information System
in: Studies in Linguistics and Language Teaching , Gül Koçsoy, Editor, BIDGE, Ankara, pp.4-49, 2024
Teacher Cognition and Extensive Reading at Tertiary Level
in the Turkish Context
The need for better English learning has increased individuals’ efforts to find ways to extend learning beyond classrooms (Choi & Nunan, 2018). As reflections of these efforts, Extensive Reading (ER) has been integrated into many ELT contexts. Accelerated with Krashen’s (2004) idea that comprehensible large amounts of input in L2 help learners better in the new language, ER involves learners reading easy-to-understand material that they choose without outside help (Susser & Robb, 1990). ER aims for incidental learning (Grabe and Stroller, 2002) through exposure to new words and structures in large quantities of texts organized according to the level, type of the program and other variables (Susser & Robb, 1990). Investigation of teachers’ perceptions is vital for effective implementation of ER programs (Al Aghar, Demirci, Houjeir, McMinn & Ali Saif Alzaabi, 2023; Macalister, 2010). This paper reports the results of a study conducted at tertiary level Intensive English Programs in Turkey to find out what teachers know, think and do about ER in their contexts. 79 language instructors teaching at different universities voluntarily participated in the study and answered seven open-ended questions in writing. The data were analyzed with a quantitative content analysis approach, and the results revealed that even though language instructors know what ER is and are aware of its contributions to language learning, they do not always put it into practice. Also, differences between the commonly held expert opinions and what Turkish language instructors think about ER regarding evaluation, follow-up activities and material selection appeared.
Keywords: extensive reading, teacher cognition and extensive
reading, extensive reading in Turkey