Implementing Authentic Materials through Critical Friends Group (CFG): A Case from Turkey

Authors

Elif Basak GunbayFollow
Enisa Mede, University of BahcesehirFollow

Abstract

The purpose of this exploratory case study is to investigate the use of authentic materials through Critical Friends Groups (CFG) in a language preparatory program, at a private university in Turkey. Specifically, the study attempted to identify the perceptions and observed behaviours of native and non-native EFL instructors on the use of authentic materials, find out the potential reasons behind the implementation of authentic materials in their classroom practices and finally, examine the influence of incorporating authentic materials through CFG on classrooms practices as well as teachers’ professional development. The participants were eight EFL instructors offering English courses in the exiting preparatory program. Data were collected through interviews, lesson observations and reflective essays. The findings revealed that participating in CFG has transformational impact on instructors regarding their classroom practices as well as on their continuous professional development.

Keywords

Critical Friends Group (CFG), Authentic Materials, Classroom Practices, Exploratory Case Study, English as a Foreign Language (EFL), Continuous Professional Development (CPD)

Author Bio(s)

Elif Basak Gunbay is an English instructor at a Language Preparatory Program of a private university in Izmir, Turkey. She has been teaching English to different age groups for 8 years. Her chief research interests are qualitative research, language teacher education, second language development and bilingual education. She can be contacted at elifgunbay@gmail.com.

Enisa Mede is an Assistant Professor and the chair at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, Department of English Language Teaching (ELT), Bahcesehir University, Istanbul, Turkey. She has been offering Teaching Language Skills, Young Learners and Practicum courses at the undergraduate level as well as Curriculum Development, Program Evaluation and Second Language Acquisition courses at the graduate level of the ELT department. Her chief research interests are program design and evaluation in language education, first/second language development in young learners and bilingual education. She can be contacted at enisa.mede@gmail.com.

Publication Date

11-27-2017

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2017.2744

Recommended APA Citation

Gunbay, E., & Mede, E. (2017). Implementing Authentic Materials through Critical Friends Group (CFG): A Case from Turkey. The Qualitative Report, 22(11), 3055-3074. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2017.2744