MA TEFL :: Bilkent University

Alumni Voices

	Oya BAŞARAN (1990) Director English Language Programs, Bilgi University I was working at Bilkent University School of Languages as an English Language instructor when the MATEFL program was launched in Turkey. Since I was also one of the program coordinators responsible for designing the curriculum and tests for a level, I wasn't missing any opportunity to develop myself professionally in the field. That is why it wasn't difficult for Dr. John Aydelott, a former director of the program, and Dr. Sibi Aydelott, whom I was working together that time, to convince me to take the exam and join the program, for which I am still grateful to them. The program widened my scope and inspired me to take a different direction in my profession and become a teacher trainer and then further pursue my career as a manager. The MATEFL program, not only gave me the knowledge and information to keep abreast of developments in the field, but also empowered me to think my way through this knowledge and gain new perspectives into my own professional growth. Currently, I am the director of a fairly large English language program in a prestigious University. I can confidently say that my career journey started, not with my first graduation with an MA in Linguistics, but with the MATEFL program after ten something years of teaching. I will not hesitate to recommend this program highly to language teachers who chose to take a step further and keep growing in their professions instead of waiting to stagnate.

	Turan PAKER (1989) English Language Teaching Department, Pamukkale University I am Turan PAKER. I am an Assistant Professor in the ELT Department at the Faculty of Education, Pamukkale University. I am one of the first graduates of the MA TEFL program (1988-89). I believe that the program has contributed to my professional life in many ways as a language teacher, as a coordinator of syllabus, testing and teacher training in English preparatory programs, as a teacher trainer in ELT departments, and finally as a head of an ELT department in a Faculty of Education. As a language teacher, I learned for the first time in MA TEFL how to teach and test four language skills and the processes that learners go through in learning English in detail in SLA courses, as our BA program had not covered these subjects. Thanks to the program, I felt that I was able to teach English more communicatively because I was able to plan my lessons effectively, use various materials to attract my students' attention and involve them in different meaningful communicative activities as groups, pairs or individuals. As a result, teaching English has become a much more enjoyable, effective and prolific task in my life. This program gave me the idea that I was not the only one who was teaching English in the world. It created a lot of windows in my mind that I could make use of the experience of other teachers and share my experience with them. As a coordinator of syllabus, testing and teacher training in English preparatory programs at Çukurova University, I got much of the inspiration from the courses like Curriculum Development and Evaluation, Testing, Clinical Supervision with Dr. John Aydelott, Linguistics, and SLA with Ms. Kay Squire, and from experts in the field as visiting lecturers or in various live video conferences. Thanks to these courses, we went through various articles and books theoretically, and we prepared projects based on the existing situation of our institutions. This process helped me to diagnose the needs of our students, design effective syllabuses, create or choose appropriate materials and test their language proficiency in terms of their needs. The subjects I have studied influenced me so much that I pursued my PhD study right after the program, and even prepared my dissertation on Clinical Supervision. Throughout my PhD study, I always felt that the program had provided me sufficient academic background to succeed in my courses and carry out my research. As a teacher trainer in ELT departments at the Universities of Çukurova, Muğla and Pamukkale, I have used the core ideas we constructed at Bilkent to train prospective English teachers. As well as four language skills, I have taught methodology, material adaptation and production, classroom management, classroom research courses at the BA, MA and PhD levels. The syllabuses and the approaches and methods I have made use of, the materials I have chosen or compiled from various international journals and books, the technical equipment I have used such as computer, video and OHP, have helped my students to construct certain elements of effective teachers; knowledgeable in the field, aware of the process of teaching and learning English, creative, motivated, self-reliant and self-esteemed. In my academic life as an assistant professor since 1997, I have always felt that the MA TEFL program has constructed the main building blocks of my career. It triggered the love of conducting research, the love of teaching English, and the love of sharing our stories with other colleagues and the next generations.

	Arif ALTUN (1995) Associate Professor, Hacettepe University I graduated from MA TEFL with the class of 1994-1995. I attended the program while I was a research assistant at the department of English Language Teaching at Mustafa Kemal University. Upon my completion of MA TEFL, I returned to my home institution, where I taught EFL related courses for a year. Then, in the summer of 1996, I earned a scholarship for doing my doctoral work at the University of Cincinnati, USA. My doctoral study focused on ESL students' socio-cognitive processes in hypertext reading processes (mainly CALL). During my years at the UC, I realized what a great opportunity for me it was to have attended the MA TEFL program. Not only was my transition to the academic work in an American Ph.D. program very smooth and productive, but also the UC waived various courses I had taken at Bilkent University. I returned to Turkey in September 1999. Currently, I am an associate professor of computer education and instructional technologies in the college of education at Hacettepe University. I am married with two children.

	Serkan Çelik (2003) PhD Candidate, Ankara University The MA TEFL program influenced my personal and academic development very significantly. We were showed the happiness of being enthusiastic and professional and to make the learning environment productive. It was a year long, highly demanding program through which I tested my limits in terms of patience, stability, and endurance. I learned how to manage my time effectively. My productive language skills improved significantly while writing my thesis and communicating with the faculty. And most of all, I learned how to learn and not to withdraw easily when I was exposed to a challenge. What really influenced me as the most significant feature of the program is that it motivates you to recognize your personality and to develop a paradigm towards the issues and problems you may have in the future.

	Doğan Bulut (1992) Vice Dean, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Erciyes University When I started my career as an English instructior in 1990, it did not take too long to realize that I needed a lot more than what I had to become a good English instructor. At that time I did not have any further academic plans, but I wanted to do my job professionally. When I talked to people who were in the MA-TEFL Program in the previous year, I did not have any hesitations to apply for the program. I knew that I needed to go through that molding. The first days were not easy. It was a completely different perspective. I did not know that being a student again would be such a challenge, but I started enjoying it once I realized that everything we did had some sort of a match in my career as an English instructor. Bilkent facilities made it even more meaningful, fruitful and enjoyable. Even though I did not have any further academic plans at the beginning, I started applying for Ph.D programs even before I finished. I guess I was injected with something that was really strong and it has still been very effective in all aspects of my life.