My Findings From Research So Far...

Of course, this is a culmination of a two-year process beginning when I became a full-time EFL teacher in Izmir, Turkey nearly two years ago.  Now I am in Istanbul at a university where I teach Preparatory English to first year students.  It is a big challenge to teach a
multilevel classroom, and knowing how to serve everyone so that they can improve their English is my objective and goal.  I have produced some preliminary findings which may be of interest to readers and other educators.  I have attached only what I feel are important components of these findings here, so there may be some breaks in the continuity of the slides.

 

 

 

 

I administered a grammar and vocabulary quiz which resembled part of a midterm exam we give here at my university.  Above gives a rough idea of what levels I am dealing with in the classroom.

Shortly afterward, an actual midterm exam was scheduled, so I analyzed the data from this exam and it showed that my initial findings were fairly accurate regarding the differing levels of English in my classroom.

To further study the levels of English in my classroom I thought it would be a good idea to survey the students themselves, and get an idea or feel for how they personally view their own learning experience at our university.  Some of the survey results were rather surprising.  Perhaps this is the most telling component of my study so far...

I believe it is important as a teacher to listen to what the student's needs are. It is one thing to analyze and study what I think are important factors about their learning, but what about how they feel?  I think this has been an area that is ignored in some of the data which is out there for us to read.  I wanted to give the students a voice in this process as well.

This survey question result, Question 7, said a lot to me.  If only half the students feel as though they are learning enough English, how do I proceed?  I am very concerned about this subject matter because I want all of the students to have a good learning experience, not just HALF of them!