Building a Synchronous Virtual Classroom in a Distance English Language Teacher Training (DELTT) Program in Turkey

Abstract

This paper reports a synchronous project, “the virtual classroom” prepared for the Distance English Language Teacher Training (DELTT) Program. The process of developing the synchronous project and the interface with its specific components were reported with examples and supported by theoretical background from the related literature. The evaluation of the project concludes that the virtual classroom facilitated increased authentic interaction and encouraged learners to become more autonomous. When the group of students who prefer the traditional classroom, however, was considered a blended approach which consists of both virtual classroom and traditional face-to-face classroom was suggested as the most efficient way for Turkish EFL learners.