While the notion of “effective teachers” has been studied by many researchers, comparatively less research has studied effective teaching in subject areas, such as English. A number of researchers have identified the characteristics of effective teachers (Brosh 1996; Kelly 2007; Walls et al. 2002).

Some characteristics of effective teachers are universal, but others are domain-specific (Park and Lee, 2006).Different groups, such as teachers and students or students with different majors holds different perceptions of effective teachers. Students, teachers and teacher trainees might have various and sometimes conflicting views (Aydın et al., 2009). Investigating the characteristics of English language teachers can be beneficial to teachers as well as researchers. For teachers, they can have the opportunity what their students expect from them and develop their practices through reflection on teaching (Park and Lee, 2006).Related literature shows that there has been an intensive research on effective teaching, in particular effective teachers. The literature also indicates that these studies have been conducted with various groups at almost every level (e.g. from primary to tertiary). For example, Vadillo (1999), Brosh (1996) and Park and Lee (2006) focused on the characteristics of effective language teachers.  Limited research studies have also been conducted in Turkish context to investigate characteristics attached to an effective foreign language teacher (Arıkan et al., 2008; Aydın et al., 2009). Resarch on teacher effectiveness in Turkey has shown that there are a variety of qualities attached to an effective foreign language teacher (Arıkan et al., 2008).

In this study, it is aimed to investigate student teachers’ perceptions of English language teachers in high schools in Ankara in Turkey. The research questions in this study are directed to student teachers who have been doing their teaching practicum.  The research questions for this particular research study are given as below: 1. What are the characteristics that an effective English language teacher should possess? 2. What are the characteristics that an effective English language teacher should NOT possess? 3. What are the most effective and less effective features of English teachers observed during your school practicum in terms of teaching approaches?

Arıkan, A., Taşer, D., and Saraç-Sezer, S.H. (2008). The effective English language teacher from the perspectives of Turkish preparatory school students. Eğitim ve Bilim, 33 (150): 42-51. Aydın, B., Bayram, F., Canıdar, B., Çetin, G., Ergünay, O., Özdem, Z. and Tunç, B. (2009). Views of English language teachers on the affective domain of language teaching in Turkey. Anadolu Üniversitesi Sosyal Biimler Dergisi, 9(1): 263-280. Brosh, H. (1996). Perceived characteristics of the effective language teacher, Foreign Language Annals. 29 (2): 125-136. Kelly, S.N. (2007). High school band students’ perceptions of effective teaching. Journal of Band Research. 42 (2): 57-70. Park, Gi-Pyo & Lee, Hyo-Woong (2006) The Characteristics of Effective English Teachers As Perceived by High School Teachers and Students in Korea, Asia Pacific Education Review, 7(2), 236-248. Vadillo, R.S.M. (1999). Research on the good language teacher. EPOS, XV, 347-361. Walls, R.T; Nardi, A.H. ; von Minden, A.M. and Hoffman,N. (2002) The characteristics of effective and ineffective teachers, Teacher Education Quarterly, Winter.