Lıfe-Long Learnıng Competencıes of Prospectıve Englısh Language Teachers in Comparıson wıth Theır Mentors

Abstract

This study tries to define the lifelong learning competencies of participants. Relevant literature, which covers almost all the studies oriented to lifelong learning, was reviewed. The key competencies defined by European Union were analyzed. Communication in foreign languages, which is one of the key competencies, was examined and studies towards it were presented. To find the levels of the participants for different competency types, a scale adopted from Uzunboylu and Hursen (2011) was used. Thanks to that scale, which consists of two sections - demographic information and competency types, it was possible to make comparisons, as well. There were three different groups of participants in the study; 1) prospective English language teachers (N=83), 2) their mentors (N=15), and regular English language teachers (N=30). The collected data was analyzed and interpreted via SPSS 17.0 software.