International Association of Educators   |  ISSN: 1949-4270   |  e-ISSN: 1949-4289

Volume 8 Issue 1 (January 2013)

Original Articles

Neoliberal Globalisation, Managerialism And Higher Education In England: Challenging The Imposed ‘Order Of Things’

Andrea Beckmann & Charlie Cooper

pp. 5 - 24

Abstract

This article critically explores the consequences of the imposition of neoliberal ideology on a transnational scale on the higher education system. Its particular focus is England where the context of the „new managerialism‟ continues to dominate the „lifeworlds‟ of educators and the educated, despite strong concerns about its efficacy. It will argue that practices introduced in the name of „quality assurance‟ are having profoundly detrimental impacts for students, academia and, ultimately, society. In particular, the last 30 years in the educational realm of the UK have been characterised by the continuing displacement of critical understanding by managerial „information‟. This has consequences in terms of leading to a „normalisation‟ of a broad adaptation of people‟s subjectivities to so-called „market requirements‟. The article concludes with the need to reclaim the purpose of education as a process for facilitating critical thinking, respect and empathy - bare essentials for a democratic, socially-just and socially-inclusive society – and that this challenge requires the development of strategies of resistance to neoliberalism‟s „forced normality‟ at both the local and global level.

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Conceptual and Psychometric Properties of a Self-efficacy Perception Scale Based on Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language

Cavus Sahin, Mustafa Yunus Eryaman, Tugba Kocer & Omer Kocer

pp. 25 - 37

Abstract

The main purpose of this descriptive research study is to investigate the conceptual and psychometric properties of a self-efficacy perception scale developed for determining self-efficacy perception of 3rd and 4th grade Turkish pre-service teachers, who took Turkish as a Foreign Language (TFL) course theoretically in undergraduate level, towards teaching TFL. As a result of analysis of the related literature and written responses of participants, researchers initially formed an item-pool by considering that they best suit to TFL context. Then, they adapted the items into 5-point Likert scale. The current instrument was administered to 176 pre-service Turkish teachers with a random sampling design. The repetitive statistics showed that the instrument has three factors with 25 items that measure the self-efficacy of participants. The factors which have been identified in the instrument possess the construct validity and psychometric properties of internal consistency. The reliability and validity of the scale were analyzed with SPPS 17.0. According to exploratory factor analysis results for maintaining construct validity of the scale, factor values of the scale changed between 0.57 and 0.82, and total variant of the scale was found to be 70.379 %. As for the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measuring of sampling adequacy and Bartlett‟s test of sphericity, KMO is found to be 0.95 being greater than 0.60 and Bartlett‟s test is large with Chi-square value (χ2(300) = 4143.5; p< ,0001) and significant at 0.000. As for reliability, the results showed that the items of scale in terms of item-total correlation changed between 0.45 and 0.84, and the total internal reliability coefficient of the scale (Cronbach‟s Alpha) was calculated as 0.972. Additionally, the two scholars gave their positive opinions in favor of the scale for face validity.The results indicates that the scale has the validity and reliability. Furthermore, the findings of the study confirmed that this scale had validity and reliability that could be used in TFL context for exploring pre-service teachers‟ self-efficacy perception towards teaching TFL.

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Pre-Service Teachers’ Views on the Presentation of Culture in EFL Coursebooks

Kamile Hamiloglu

pp. 38 - 55

Abstract

Along with the suitable methodoloy to teach English as a foreign language, social and cultural domains have become prominent as well and now they constitute a very significant part of English language education. Considering that culture is an inseparable part of a language, the concept of culture and its use in EFL classes have become an important means for mediating the learner and the target language. However, culture, is not considered as the culture of the target language only but also culture of the learner and the other communities in the world, that is, international culture today. The reciprocal and complex relationship between culture and language is now a source for further discussions and it concerns teachers of EFL regarding to its exploitation, benefits and harms, both as an input and output in their classes. That is why it is very significant how teachers view culture and how they exploit it in their teaching contexts. This present study aims to explore the perceptions and views of year 4 (senior) pre-service (PTs) at the department of English Language Teaching in a state university in İstanbul, Turkey, as the prospective teachers, on the representations of target language, local and international culture in EFL coursebooks. A content analysis and a structured interview served as the instruments of the study. The results indicated that majority of the participants desire and prefer to see cultural presentations in EFL coursebooks and similarly they prefer international culture elements instead of purely target or local ones to take place.

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