International Journal of Linguistics & Communication

A Triangulated Evaluation of an Elective Advanced Reading Course at a Turkish University Context
Hasan Savas, Ahmet Erdost Yastibas

Abstract
Advanced Reading course is an elective course that students completing their education at English language preparation department of a Turkish university can choose. Though it has its own curriculum in which the main goal, objectives, assessment system, and students' requirements for the course are mentioned clearly, what the students, instructors, and the coordinator thought about the course was not known. Therefore, the present study aimed to reveal the evaluative attitudes of the students, instructors, and the coordinator separately toward the course. 33 students, 3 instructors having taught the course and one coordinator participated the study. In order to collect data, an adapted questionnaire and a semi-structured interview were used with the students while the instructors who taught the course were required to write cover letters and semi-structured interview was made with the coordinator. The questionnaire was analyzed descriptively while the student interviews, instructor cover letters, and coordinator interview were content analyzed. Triangulation was applied to test the reliability and validity of the study. The results of the study indicate that the stakeholders had positive attitudes towards the course in terms of achieving the goal and objectives, the materials used, assessment system, and communication with each other. However, the assessment system, materials, and the focus of the course may need some changes to make the course more effective.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/ijlc.v3n1a9