Verbal Aptitude Levels of Prospective English Teachers: A Study in an EFL Context

Verbal aptitude is described as the ability to use the written language and to grasp concepts which are delivered through words. Aptitude plays a prominent role in foreign language learning. The studies conducted by researchers resulted in a sociopsychological theory of second or foreign language learning. The theory holds that any successful learner of a second/foreign language must be ready to adopt the certain aspects and linguistic and social factors of the target language. However, scrutinizing the potential differences between aptitude levels and other variables such as gender, age, and learners’ grade point average scores could yield to significant results and these results would be prolific for language teachers. The current study is a quantitative study with cross-sectional research design the purpose of which is to determine the aptitude levels and check if the aptitude levels of the participants reveal differences in relation to the variables of the population characteristics. The aim of this study is to reveal if there are any differences of prospective English teachers’ aptitude levels by their age, gender and GPA scores. This descriptive quantitative study is of cross-sectional design. 101 prospective English teachers participated in the study. For the purpose of tracing the aptitude levels of participants and revealing the possible differences between their aptitude levels and other variables, the participants were given a 40-item multiple choice verbal aptitude test embodying items which measure their ability to spell words correctly, use grammar accurately, grasp word meanings and word relationships. The data were analyzed with SPSS 22 program. The results revealed that having information about the language aptitude levels might help researchers to have a better understanding about the language learners, the milieu of learning, and the learning outcomes. The results were presented within the light of the related literature. The ethics committee approval report was not added into the body of this study since the manuscript had been submitted into the system of the journal before the decision concerning the ethical committe approval was issued.