You are cordially invited to the hybrid research seminar organized by the Department of Educational Sciences.
This seminar is a requirement for Curriculum & Instruction students who are enrolled in GE 500 Module 3.
Title: Creating space for wellbeing in pre-service language teacher education
Speaker: Mehmet Sak (TED University)
Date: Feb 13, 2026
Time: 16:30-17:30
Location: G-160 & Zoom (Hybrid)
This is an online seminar. To request event details please send a message to department.
Abstract: Explorations of language teacher wellbeing have begun to gather pace in recent years in an attempt to achieve a better understanding of the support they need to cope with the challenges of their profession
and flourish across personal and professional domains. In particular, initial teacher education has been
recognized as a critical phase for developing a sense of wellbeing to promote trainees’ academic and
emotional development in ways that catalyze resilience, motivation, and professional engagement. In
this talk, I will discuss the relevance and significance of taking initiatives to support the wellbeing of pre-
service teachers in initial language teacher education, followed by an account of the role language
teacher educators (LTEs) play in this endeavor. In so doing, I will also share findings from my recently
published study (Sak, 2026) focusing on the perceived roles and reported practices of LTEs in promoting
wellbeing among pre-service teachers.
Keywords: language teacher wellbeing, language teacher educators, pre-service teachers, teacher education
Bio: Mehmet Sak (PhD in ELT from METU, 2025) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English
Language Education at TED University, where he serves as the Vice Head of the department and teaches
undergraduate- and graduate-level courses. He previously worked at TED University as a Lecturer and
Research Assistant, at the University of Edinburgh as a Visiting Postgraduate Researcher, and at TOBB
University of Economics and Technology as an English Language Instructor. He has received his BA (2013-
2017) and MA (2017-2020) degrees in ELT from Hacettepe University. Mehmet’s research mainly deals
with the psychology of language learners, teachers, and teacher educators with a particular focus on
their wellbeing, motivation, and emotions from complexity and ecological perspectives. His articles have
appeared in various international journals such as System, ReCALL, TESOL Quarterly, Language Teaching,
Foreign Language Annals, International Journal of Applied Linguistics, Language Teaching Research, and
Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching. He has been a member of the Junior Editorial Board of
TESOL Quarterly (Wiley) and was the recipient of the “Young Researcher Award” at the ICPLTL-2025
Conference.
Curriculum & Instruction
Educational Sciences
Graduate School of Education