Prof. Dr. Ufuk Balaman
Incoming Director of the MA in TEFL Program
Ufuk Balaman is a Full Proffesor of Applied Linguistics in the Department of Teaching English as a Foreign Language at Bilkent University. His research draws on multimodal Conversation Analysis for L2 learning, teaching, and teacher education mainly in digital spaces and aims to contribute to the fields of multimodal Conversation Analysis, computer assisted language learning, task-based language teaching, and language teacher education among other relevant fields of inquiry.
He previously worked at the Centre de linguistique appliquée, Université de Neuchâtel as a visiting postdoctoral researcher, at Kırıkkale University as an English language instructor, and Hacettepe University and TED University as an associate professor. He founded and directed research centers and groups, coordinated and participated in international research projects, received BAGEP2025 award, and supervised MA and PhD theses. He current holds editorial board seats in SYSTEM and Linguistics & Education and acts as a board member of ICOP-L2 and general council member of UNICollaboration.
Dr. Balaman extensively published in applied linguistics and language/teacher education journals including Journal of Pragmatics; English for Academic Purposes; International Journal of Applied Linguistics; Applied Linguistics; Learning, Culture and Social Interaction; European Journal of Teacher Education; Language and Intercultural Communication; Linguistics and Education; Health Communication; Computer Assisted Language Learning; Language Assessment Quarterly; ReCALL; Applied Linguistics Review; SYSTEM; TESOL Quarterly; Pragmatics; Research on Language and Social Interaction; Text & Talk; Language Learning & Technology. He also edited the recent volume on Video-Mediated L2 Interaction: Conversation Analytic Research and authored the monograph, Conversation Analytic Language Teacher Education in Digital Spaces.
Office: Faculty of Education, G-
Email: [at]bilkent.edu.tr
Assist. Prof. Dr. Duygu F. Şafak
Duygu F. Şafak is Assistant Professor in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) at Bilkent University. Her research lies at the intersection of psycholinguistics and second language acquisition, with a particular focus on language processing, sentence comprehension, and prediction-based learning mechanisms in second language and heritage language speakers.
She received her BA in Foreign Language Education, with a minor in German, from Middle East Technical University (METU). Following her undergraduate studies, she participated in the Teaching Excellence and Achievement (TEA) programme at the University of Arkansas, supported by the U.S. Department of State, and worked as a Comenius Language Assistant in Germany. She subsequently completed her MA in English Language Teaching at METU before continuing her doctoral training in linguistics. In 2016, she moved to Germany and completed her PhD in Linguistics at the Technical University of Braunschweig (TU Braunschweig).
Dr. Şafak began her academic career as a research and teaching assistant at METU, contributing to research projects in psycholinguistics alongside her teaching activities. She later joined TU Braunschweig as a lecturer and subsequently served as a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer (2022–2026), where she was part of the German Research Foundation (DFG)-funded research unit Structuring the Input in Language Processing, Acquisition and Change (SILPAC). In 2026, she returned to Türkiye to join Bilkent University.
Her research examines how multilingual speakers process, adapt to, and learn grammatical structures in real time. Her work has appeared in leading journals including Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, and Second Language Research. Her research has received recognition through competitive international awards and travel grants. She also contributes to the field through peer review for international journals in psycholinguistics and second language acquisition, as well as through conference and editorial service.
Office: Faculty of Education, G-
Email: [at]bilkent.edu.tr
Assist. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Sak
Mehmet Sak (PhD in English Language Teaching from METU, 2025) is an Assistant Professor at Bilkent University MA in TEFL Program. He previously worked at TED University as an Assistant Professor, 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.
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 also published book reviews and contributed chapters to edited volumes by publishers including Routledge, Springer, and Cambridge University Press. He is a member of the Junior Editorial Board of TESOL Quarterly (Wiley) and the recipient of the 2026 Early Career Scholar Award from the International Association for the Psychology of Language Learning (IAPLL).
Office: Faculty of Education, G-
Email: [at]bilkent.edu.tr