Facilitating and Complicating Factors in Distance Language Teaching: Instructors’ Views

Abstract

The present paper employed instructors’ views to address the facilitating and complicating factors in distance teaching of Turkish. The data were collected through a semi-structured interview form consisting of five questions. The questions were designed by the author and reviewed by two Turkish language teaching specialists. The data were collected through one-on-one online interviews with the participants over Microsoft Teams. To increase the reliability, the participants’ responses, deciphered by the author one Turkish language teaching specialist were explored for interrater consistency. According to the formula proposed by Miles and Huberman, the consistency was found to be 0.94. Accordingly, the difficulties in distance teaching of Turkish were addressed within two themes: technical and teaching-oriented problems. Yet, the participants brought positive remarks on personal, technological, and financial aspects of distance Turkish teaching. Besides, the emerging views regarding educational materials were grouped under distance education platforms and digital tools. The measurement and evaluation problems were also discussed under the reliability of exams and types of language skills assessment. Finally, the recommendations brought by the instructors for distance Turkish teaching were themed under three headings: recommendations for technology, materials, and practice. Overall, future comparative research may employ a larger sample of instructors working in other Turkish language centers and compare the findings. Moreover, further research may seek the attitudes of larger groups of instructors within a quantitative design to suggest more generalizable results. Or, the subject may be addressed by mixed-design research to bring a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon.