Lect. PhD MURAT ATA

            My high school experience drove me into the field of language where I gained much joy and enthusiasm, therefore; being an English teacher has always been my primary goal. During the first year of my undergraduate career, I studied extensive English preparation class for an academic year at School of Foreign Languages, (Dokuz Eylul University) which gave me the idea of being a university lecturer. Having my degree in language education, I immediately found myself at School of Foreign Languages as a part-time instructor and considering the job experience and satisfaction that I accumulated, my first year of experience was exceptionally beneficial and an unforgettable one. In the second year of my professional career, I had to move to another university (Duzce University) to work as an English instructor. After a short while, I was summoned and employed back as a full time instructor by the School of Foreign Languages again. Now, it has been of my workplace for more than fourteen years.

            The following academic years, as a whole, helped me gain profound experiences and qualification and each year, I began to feel great satisfaction and enthusiasm of teaching English at university level. I taught English at all levels based on the Common European Framework of References. I also worked as an education coordinator which necessitates substantial interactive and collaborative skills as well as communicative uptake. This experience of mine was followed by working as a level coordinator which requires bridging the connection between teacher, student and the curriculum.

            In my eighth year of teaching, I started to feel the growing urge of improving myself professionally to the furthest extent as my current experience called for academic knowledge and objectives. Thus, in 2014, I started to do my MA degree at the department of English Language Teaching, Institution of Educational Science, at Bahcesehir University, and finished it in 2017. Following my MA graduation, my academic journey was embellished by being a PhD student in 2018 and I continue doing research as a PhD candidate. I have finished the course level and passed the doctoral proficiency exam and I am currently in the process of writing my dissertation. My preference in the field was triggered by values education given that almost all of the studies focus on the primary and secondary school level of education. Hence, considering the gap in the literature, I had the idea of studying the effectiveness of value-based pedagogy for pre-service English teachers through literary texts. As a PhD candidate, I was given the chance of teaching at English Language department (English language teaching department) and for my data collection I will teach there again, that is, my prime goal to serve as an academician to pre-service language teachers.