Graduate Reflections: MA at METU

by Seda Akbaş, METU FLE 2013 

A current MA student of ELT at METU explains how she prepared for MA in ELT

I have always wanted to study in graduate English Language Teaching program at Middle East Technical University as I believe the program is the place where I will find the theoretical and applied aspects of English Language Teaching as an enthusiastic prospective English teacher and researcher. Beginning from my second year as an undergraduate student at Middle East Technical University, I have been determined to be a researcher who will benefit from her experience and knowledge in teaching English. I was especially interested in Language and Testing before I began the program. I mainly concentrated on this. I began to read recent books about testing and evaluation like The Cambridge Guide To Second Language Assessment (2012)and the book of Glen Fulcher, one of the successful scholars in language testing and assessment. In addition, I tried to look through the latest issues of TESOL Quarterly and ELT Journal because my only interest in testing would not be helpful to be accepted. To be able to make a synthesis between methods and testing, for example, I benefitted from the journals and some other books I mentioned before. I also tried to explain my specific interest in my letter of intent but of course we need to support this with realistic claims and mentioning only one specific area would not be enough to be perceived as an interested candidate. As I said before, one of the most important things is to be able show you have an aim to be an MA student and get necessary preparation for your area of interest. In addition to those, I also recommend for future participants to be aware of the research methods, research design etc. before they apply for the program. I hope this helpsJ