An Investigation into Concerns of English Instructors at Turkish Universities

Abstract

This study aspires to reflect on future objectives of teacher education in terms of focusing on common professional concerns of English language instructors in complex and challenging teaching environments at tertiary level. In this research, it is aimed to investigate the professional concerns of EFL instructors impacting on their teaching practice. First, a semi-structured questionnaire consisting demographic data of the participants and open ended-questions was delivered to English instructors working in different Turkish universities in order to see what their concerns were and how they were regarded and experienced by these instructors. Then, the answers given to open-ended questions underwent content analysis in order to shed light upon these concerns in a more detailed fashion. In the end, the concern levels in 11 broad areas (methodology, content, technology, classroom issues, learner-related issues, administrative issues, job satisfaction, testing and classroom environment), the factors impacting on teacher these concerns besides the relationship between gender and teaching experience regarding professional concerns were addressed. Limitations and suggestions were offered for further studies to highlight the instructors’ concerns at the end of the study.