Volume 8- Issue 1 (January 2023)

January 2023

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Examining Chinese University Students’ Digital Nativity and Its Effect on Their Intentions to Use Technology in English Learning

Ailin Xie Fang Huang Mingyan Zhao
Pages: 1-8

Digital natives demonstrate distinct characteristics compared with digital immigrants. Considering the importance of analyzing learner traits in language education, this study explores Chinese EFL learners’ digital nativity and its effects on their intentions to use technology for learning English. A questionnaire was used to collect responses from 109 university students. Results from data analyses suggested that Chinese EFL students had positive responses to digital nativity and behavioral intentions to use technology. In addition, growing up with technology and striving for instant rewards significantly influenced their technology-using intentions, while the influences from being comfortable with multitasking and reliant on graphics for communication did not achieve significant levels. Based on the findings, the study provides some suggestions to governments, policymakers, and teachers to consider students’ features when promoting technology-enhanced language teaching and learning.

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Examination of Parents' Selection of Children Books

Elçin Yazıcı Arıcı
Pages: 9-17

The research was conducted to determine whether the education and income status of the parents made a difference in the selection of books. The study group of the research consisted of 151 parents who had children aged 3-6 years. These children attended independent public preschools in the city centre of Istanbul, which were selected by a random sampling method. Data were collected in two steps. First, a “General Information Form” was delivered to collect generic information on the parents. Then, Saçkesen’s (2008) “Children’s Book Selection Criteria Scale” was utilised to determine the consideration of parents for choosing a book for their children. The research is a causal-comparative study that aims to determine the causes or consequences of differences between groups. A Two-Way ANOVA was performed in the 3x3 model, as there were three categorical independent variables belonging to income level, three categorical independent variables belonging to education level, and a dependent variable in the continuous variable structure in the study. The findings indicate no significant difference between the book choice criteria of parents according to the income level when the education levels of the parents are not taken into consideration. However, when the income levels are not taken into consideration, a significant difference was found between the education level scores of parents for their book selection criteria. After a significant interaction between the income and education levels was found, simple effect analyses for the subgroups reveal significant differences between the secondary school-high school graduation levels of the parents in the low-income group and the secondary school-university graduation levels of the parents in the middle-income group. Focusing on parents with lower education and income levels can be a good starting point to increase parents' awareness of book selection.

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Development of Teachers’ Views on Mixed and Single-Gender Education Scale

Mustafa Yüksel ERDOĞDU
Pages: 18-28

The aim of this study was to develop “Teachers’ Views on Mixed and Single-gender Education Scale”. The study group consisted of 718 teachers in 18 different schools who volunteered to participate in the study in Küçükçekmece District of İstanbul. Both Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were carried out for the validity of the scale. With Exploratory Factor Analysis, it was found that the scale consisted of two factors (positive views on single-gender education and positive views on mixed-gender education) and 18 items and the scale explained 63% of the total variance. When the fit index values of the scale were examined, it was found that the model had a good fit. In order to calculate the discriminative values of the scale items, mean scores of upper and lower groups were examined with t-test and it was found that all of the items were discriminative. Cronbach Alpha values calculated for the scale reliability were found to vary between .81 and .89.

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Relation between School Effectiveness and Trust in the Instructor Based on the Candidate Teachers’ Views

Mustafa KALE
Pages: 29-43

The purpose of this research is determining the relation between school effectiveness and trust in instructors on the basis of the opinions of the bachelor level students studying at Gazi University, Gazi Faculty of Education. The research has been conducted using the correlational survey model. The current situation has been detected and described on the basis of the candidate teachers’ opinions. The universe of the research consists of the students of Gazi University, Faculty of Education. Firstly 8 departments were determined using the cluster sampling method while selecting samples from this universe. 350 students were included in the sample using the element sampling method among the students of 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades studying in those departments selected. The Perceived School Effectiveness Index (PSEI) adapted to Turkish by Yıldırım (2015) from School Effectiveness Index (SE-Index) originally developed by Hoy (2004) and the scale of “Trust in Instructor” adapted to Turkish by Kale (2013) from “Student Trust in Faculty (STP-Scale)” scale developed by Forsyth et al. (2011) were used for collecting data in the research receiving permission from the researchers. According to the findings obtained in the research, the school effectiveness perception of the departments of Arabic Language Teaching, Social Sciences Teaching, English Language Teaching and Pre-School Teaching are “lower than the mean”, and the perception of the departments of German Language Teaching, Guidance and Psychological Consultancy, Turkish Language and Literature Teaching and Elementary School Teaching are “higher than the mean”. The level of trust in the instructors has been found to be at “Mean” level for all departments. Considering these results, one may say that both the school effectiveness and the trust in the instructor are at mean level. Meaningful difference was found between the perception of the departments on school effectiveness among the departments of Elementary School Teaching and English Language Teaching and Arabic Language Teaching. It is observed that there is meaningful difference between the departments of Elementary School Teaching and Pre-School Teaching in terms of trust in the instructors. Again according to the research results, there is mean, positive and meaningful relation between school effectiveness and trust in the instructor. It has been suggested that trust in the instructor is a meaningful predictor of school effectiveness. Certain shared findings were reached in the quantitative researches examined such as the finding that managerial, organizational and personal variables are correlated with school effectiveness.

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Organizational Culture and Management Practices of a State College in the Philippines

Christine B. Diocos Vicenta P. Resol
Pages: 44-50

This descriptive-correlational research was conducted to examine the organizational culture and management practices of the Iloilo State College of Fisheries, a state higher institution in the Province of Iloilo, Philippines. The respondents of the study were randomly selected employees during the school year 2022-2023 of Iloilo State College of Fisheries, a state higher institution in the Province of Iloilo, Philippines. The organizational culture was measured using the Organizational Culture Assessment Questionnaire (OCAQ) of Sashi and Rossenbach (2013) and Management Practices Scale developed by Yukl, Gordon and Taber (2002) were used to gather the data. Findings revealed that the institution has a high level of managing change, acheiving goals, coordinating teamwork, customer orientation and cultural strength. The management is highly task, relationship and change-oriented. Further, the results indicated that managing change is significantly correlated with change-oriented dimensions. Significant relationships were also noted between achieving goals and task-oriented, relationship-oriented and change-oriented dimensions. It was observed that there is a significant relationship between customer orientation and change-oriented dimensions as well as cultural strength and change-oriented dimension are significantly related.

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Pre-service Teachers’ Concerns in Emergency Remote Teaching During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Mehmet Ramazanoğlu Çelebi Uluyol
Pages: 51-62

This study seeks to reveal the concerns of pre-service teachers in emergency remote teaching applied during the Covid-19 pandemic process. The study was designed as content analysis, which is one of the qualitative research methods. The study group consists of 45 pre-service teachers who continue their education at a public university in the south-eastern region of Turkey in the spring semester of the 2021-2022 academic year and received remote teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic. A semi-structured interview form was used to collect data from pre-service teachers. The semi-structured interview form prepared through a literature review was checked by two field experts and the final decision was made for the forms in line with the obtained feedback. A voice recorder was used during the interviews. The names of the pre-service teachers interviewed in the study were coded as K1, K2, … K45. The data obtained from the interviews were descriptively analysed and themes, codes, frequencies, and percentages were determined. The concerns of pre-service teachers participating in the study during emergency remote teaching were gathered under four themes. As a result, it was revealed that pre-service teachers experienced concern about using computers, professional and personal development, communication and social interaction, effectiveness and online trust in emergency remote teaching applied during the Covid-19 pandemic. Recommendations for future studies were presented in the study.

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Teachers’ Perceptions and Attitudes Toward Bilingualism: Implications for Early Childhood Education

Abdulhamit Karademir Hatice Busra Yilmaz-Tam
Pages: 63-80

Bilingual children face various challenges when they start school. They have difficulty communicating with peers and adapting to school and have poor academic performance. This paper investigated teachers’ views of and solutions to problems experienced by bilingual preschoolers. In this study a case study research design was adopted. The sample consisted of 11 preschool teachers from provinces in Eastern Anatolia and Southeastern Anatolia regions. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview questionnaire developed by the researchers. The data were analyzed using inductive content analysis and presented in Tables with direct quotations from participant opinions. Participants stated that bilingual children had difficulty implementing receptive and expressive language skills, communicating with teachers, and obeying the classroom rules. Participants also noted that they had difficulty with classroom management and educational planning because they could not communicate with bilingual students. However, they reported that their bilingual students developed language skills in the later stages of preschool education. Teachers remarked that parental involvement and collaboration were critical. They advised their colleagues to be mentally and cognitively prepared, perform word-based teaching, collaborate with parents, and make use of books, songs, and rhymes.

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One Step Closer to Becoming a Teacher in the Shadow of the Pandemic: A Narrative Research

Berrin Genç-Ersoy
Pages: 81-101

This study examines how preservice teachers experience distance/remote school practical experience through the stories they tell. It was conducted using narrative research, a standard qualitative research method, and used purposive sampling to determine the participants. The first stage of this analysis used thematic analysis; then, a holistic story was created using the Analysis of Barkhuizen and the Analysis of Clandinin and Connelly, resulting in a story titled ‘Being a preservice teacher in the shadow of the pandemic’ being produced. These findings reveal four consistent dimensions in the participants' narratives, namely, being a preservice teacher in the time of distance teacher training, experiencing teaching practice remotely; professional development, the challenges faced and overcoming them; the consequences of distant teaching practice; preparing for the teaching profession. In a conclusion, it is recommended that studies be conducted to improve the teaching competencies of preservice teachers who completed their teaching practice entirely through distance learning by giving them the opportunity to gain practical experience in real learning environments before starting their careers.

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The Effect of Pre-service Teachers' Readiness for Online Learning on their Social Anxiety in E-Learning Environments

Emre Cam Onur Isbulan
Pages: 102-109

The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of pre-service teachers' readiness for online learning on their social anxiety in e-learning environments. For this purpose, opinions of 409 students who continue their pedagogical formation education at a university in Turkey were taken, the answers of 369 students were included in the research, and the data of 341 students with standardized scores were analyzed. In the study, readiness for online learning was considered as the independent variable and social anxiety of the pre-service teachers in e-learning environments as the dependent variable, and the data of the dependent and independent variables were obtained from the Online Learning Readiness Scale and the Social Anxiety Scale for E-Learning Environments. In the findings section, correlation analysis was made between the online learning readiness and social anxiety variables in e-learning environments, and then simple linear regression modeling was applied to determine how much the online learning readiness variable had on social anxiety in e-learning environments. As a result of the correlation analysis, a moderate negative significant relationship was found between readiness for online learning and social anxiety in e-learning environments. In addition, with the regression analysis, it was revealed that as the readiness for online learning increased, social anxiety decreased in e-learning environments. As a result, various suggestions were made to other researchers in line with these findings.

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Preschool Teacher Acceptance Rejection Scale: Adaptation of the Children Short Form (Age 6) To Turkish Validity And Reliability Study

Büşra Ekiz Nalan Kuru
Pages: 110-121

This research aims to evaluate the perceptions of teacher acceptance-rejection of preschool children aged 6 years, developed by Rohner and Giotsa (2012) Early Childhood Parental Acceptance Rejection Scale: Child Short Form (ECPARQ), Preschool Teacher Acceptance Rejection Scale: To adapt the Child's Short Form as 6 Years Old (PTARQ) into Turkish and to carry out validity and reliability studies. In this study, a descriptive survey model was preferred. The research sample consists of 400 children in total from 4 private and 3 public kindergartens. In this study, the 'Preschool Teacher Acceptance Rejection Scale: Child Short Form 6 Years Old' (PTARQ) and parent consent form, which was developed by Rohner and Giotsa (2012) and adapted into Turkish, and whose validity and reliability studies were carried out, were applied. The scale consists of 23 items with four Likert options. As a result of the confirmatory factor analysis applied, the scale showed a 4-factor structure. To determine reliability, item-total score, Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient and time invariance coefficient were examined. The consistency coefficients were .89 for the whole scale; subscales: warmth/affection .82, hostility/aggression .92, indifference/neglect .71, undifferentiated rejection .79. The reliability coefficient between two applications is .99. Research findings show that the scale can measure teacher acceptance-rejection perceptions of preschool children aged 6 years validly and reliably.

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