About
DİLARA SOMUNCU is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Foreign Language Education at Gaziantep University's Faculty of Education. Her academic journey includes a PhD from Hacettepe University (2015-2021) and prior roles as a Research Assistant at Hacettepe and Gaziantep Universities. She currently teaches courses like Curriculum Development for ESP and Teacher Psychology in ELT, and holds administrative positions including Department Coordinator for Domestic Practice Schools.
Her research explores English Language Teaching innovations, with emphases on pragmatics instruction, teacher motivation, technology integration (e.g., AI in lesson planning), and sociocultural aspects of teacher training. Recent publications analyze motivational strategies, digital literacy in ELT, and trauma-informed pedagogies during crises.
Awards include the prestigious Oxford University Headway Scholarship (2019). She mentors Master’s students, such as Aylin Özpolat’s work on teacher motivation in young-learner classrooms, and has advised TÜBİTAK-funded projects on academic vocabulary acquisition via interactive web tools.
