Mevlana Intenational Journal of Education (MIJE)

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2 Mevlana Intenational Journal of Education (MIJE) Volume 4, Issure 1 April 2014 MIJE is indexed in Turkish Educational Index, ASOS index, Index Copernicus, EBSCO Pub, Educational Research Abstracts (ERA), Aniji, DOAJ, Directory of Research Journals Indexing (DRJI) and ERIC (Published articles in MIJE are indexed by ERIC which is accepted by ERIC reviewers. Articles which are indexed by ERIC indicated in the table of contents in relevant issue)

3 OWNER ADAM, Bahattin (Rector of Mevlana University) EDITOR IN CHIEF ÇELİK, Vehbi (Dean of Education Faculty) EDITOR KORKMAZ, Özgen ASSOCIATE EDITORS NEL, Norma LETSEKA, Moeketsi SAMUEL, Mihael Anthony ASSISTANT EDITOR Durmuş, Alpaslam KAYA, Sinan SECRETARIAT OF THE JOURNAL TOZKOPARAN, Süleyman, Burak ABADIANO, Helen R. (Central Connecticut State University, USA) AGAYEV, Ejder (Qafqaz University, Azerbaijan) AKBAŞ, Oktay (Kırıkkale University, Turkey) AKKOYUNLU, Buket (Hacettepe University, Turkey) AKMAN, Berrin Hacettepe University, Turkey AKPINAR, Burhan (Fırat University, Turkey) AKPINAR, Yavuz (Boğaziçi University, Turkey) AKTÜMEN, Muharrem (Ahi Evran University, Turkey) AKYOL, Hayati (Gazi University, Turkey) ALACACI, Cengiz (Florida International University, USA) AL-MABUK, Rathi (University of NorthernIowa, USA) Anastasiadou, Sofia D. (University of West Macedonia, Greece) ARICIOĞLU, Ahu (Pamukkale University, Turkey) BAEZZAT, Fereshteh (University of Mazandaran, Iran) BALOĞLU, Nuri (Ahi Evran University) BAYRAM, Servet (Marmara University, Turkey) BECK, Mitchell (Central Connecticut State University, USA) BİLGİN, İbrahim (Mustafa Kemal University, Turkey) BİRGİN, Osman (Uşak University, Turkey) BOOYSE, Johan (University of South Africa, South Africa) BOZDOĞAN, Aykut Emre (Giresun University, Turkey) BOZOĞLAN, Bahadır (Mevlana University, Turkey) BÜYÜKÖZTÜRK, Şener (Gazi University, Turkey) ÇAKIR, Abdulkadir (Mevlana University, Turkey) ÇAKIR, Recep (Amasya University, Turkey) ÇANKAYA, İbrahim (Uşak University, Turkey) ÇELİK, Vehbi (Mevlana University, Turkey) CHUANG, Hsueh-hua (National Sun Yat-sen University, Tayvan) ÇOŞKUN, Eyyup (Mustafa Kemal University, Turkey) DANIŞMAN, Yusuf (Mevlana University, Turkey) DEMİREAY, Uğur (Anadolu University, Turkey) DEMİREL, Şener (Fırat University, Turkey) DEMİRLİ, Cihat (İstanbul Ticaret University, Turkey) EDITORIAL BOARD DEREVENSKY, Jeffrey L. (McGill University, Canada) DIBOLL, Mike (University of Sussex, UK) DOĞRU, S. Sunay Yıldırım(Dokuz Eylül University, Turkey) ECIRLI, Ahmet (Universiteti Bedër, Albania ERBAY, Filiz (Mevlana University, Turkey) ERGÜN, Mustafa (Afyon Kocatepe University, Turkey) FALLAHI, Vida (Shiraz University, Iran ) GAO, Ping (University of Northern Iowa, USA) GÖMLEKSİZ, Mehmet Nuri (Fırat University, Turkey) GÜNDÜZ, Mustafa (Yıldız Teknik University, Turkey) GÜNEL, Murat (TED, Turkey) GÜROL, Mehmet (Yıldız Technical University, Turkey) GURSEL, Musa (Mevlana University, Turkey) GÜZELLER, Cem Oktay (Akdeniz University, Turkey) HALAT, Erdoğan (Afyon Kocatepe University, Turkey) HALAI, Nelofer(Aga Khan University, Pakistan) HAMMOND, John (University of Canberra, Australia) HARPUTLU, Leyla (Ahi Evran University, Turkey ) HERRING, Mary C. (University of Northern Iowa, USA) HOSSEINCHARI, Massound (Shiraz University, Iran ) HUANG, Chi-Jen (National Chiayi University, Taiwan) HUTSON, Bryant (The University of North Carolina a, USA) İŞÇİOĞLU, Ersin (Eastern Mediterranean University, TRNC) IŞIK, Erkan (Mevlana University, Turkey) İŞMAN, Aytekin (Sakarya University, Turkey) KARA, Ahmet (Adıyaman University, Turkey) KARADAĞ, Ruhan (Adıyaman University, Turkey) KARADENİZ, Şirin (Bahçeşehir University, Turkey) KARAMI, Morteza(University of Mazandaran, Iran) KARAKUŞ, Mehmet (Zirve University, Turkey) KARAMI, Morteza (University of Mazandaran, Iran) KARATAŞ, Serçin (Gazi University, Turkey) KARIM, Rezaul (Leading University, Bangladesh)

4 KAUR, Kirandeep (Punjabi university, India) KAYA, Osman Nafiz (Fırat University, Turkey) KESER, Hafize (Ankara University, Turkey) KOCABAŞ, İbrahim (Fırat University, Turkey) KOÇAK, Recep (Gazi Osman Paşa University, Turkey) KUMARAN, Duraikkannu (University of Madras, India) LAVICZA, Zsolt (Cambridge University, UK) LEBLANC, Raymond (University of Ottawa, Canada) LEMMER, Eleanor (University of South Africa, South Africa) LOUW, Gabriel (North-West University, South Africa) MCKEOWN, John A. G. (Mevlana University, Turkey) MEMMEDOV, Behmen (Qafqaz University, Azerbaijan) MICHAIL, Kalogiannakis (University of Crete, Greece) MITTAL, Shree Ram (University of Delhi, India) MOONSAMY, Sharon (University of the Witwatersrand, S.Africa) MSILA, Vuyisile (University of South Africa, South Africa) NAM, Jeonghee (Pusan National University, Korea) NEL, Norma (University of South Africa, South Africa) ODABAŞI, H. Ferhan (Anadolu University, Turkey) OKUYUCU, Cihan (Yıldız Technical University University, Turkey) ÖMEROĞLU, Esra (Gazi University, Turkey) OMRAN, Ebrahim Salehi (University of Mazandaran, Iran) ORAL, Behçet (Dicle University, Turkey) ÖZDEMİR, M. Soner (Kırıkkale University, Turkey) ÖZDEMİR, Selçuk (Gazi University, Turkey) ÖZER, Bayram (Mustafa Kemal University, Turkey) PANDAY, Shefali (University of Mumbai, India) PAPE, Stephen J.(University of Florida, USA) PEKER, Murat (Afyon Kocatepe, Turkey) GIJON PUERTA, José (Universidad de Granada, Spain) PHASHA, Tlakale Nareadi (University of South Africa, South Africa) PING-KWAN, Fok (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) POTGIETER, Calvyn (University of South Africa, South Africa) QUADIR, Tarik (Mevlana University, Turkey) RANA, Rizwan Akram (University of the Punjab, Pakistan) SADEGHI, Abbas (University of Guilan Iran) SAMUEL, Michael (University of Kwazulu-Nata, South Africa) ŞAHİN, İsmail (Selçuk University, Turkey) ŞAHİN, Sami (Gazi University, Turkey) SAMANI, Siamak (Islamic Azad University, Iran) SARI, Mustafa (Mevlana University, Turkey) SEMERCİ, Çetin (Fırat University, Turkey) ŞENAY, Hasan (Mevlana University, Turkey) SHAHIM, Sima (Shiraz University, Iran ) SHARRA, Steve(Michigan State University, USA) SHELLEY, Mack (Iowa State University, USA) SÜNBÜL, Ali Murat(Selçuk University, Turkey) TABAKU, Elida (Universiteti Bedër, Albania) TAŞPINAR, Mehmet (Gazi University, Turkey) THOMPSON, Ann D. (Iowa State University, USA) TÖREMEN, Fatih (Zirve University, Turkey) Trotman, Wayne (Izmir Katip Çelebi University) TÜYSÜZ, Cengiz (Mustafa Kemal University, Turkey) UZUNBOYLU, Hüseyin (Near East University, TRNC) UZOGLU, Mustafa (Giresun University, Turkey) URE, Omer (Mevlana University, Turkey) YALÇIN, Paşa (Erzincan University, Turkey) YALIN, H. İbrahim (Gazi University, Turkey) YAMAN, Süleyman (Zonguldak Karaelmas University, Turkey) YILMAZ, Ercan (Selçuk University, Turkey) YÖRÜK, Sinan (Afyon Kocatepe University, Turkey) REVIEWER OF THE ISSUE Ahmet AKKAYA (Adıyaman University) Alpaslan DURMUŞ (Mevlana University) Atieh Khayat (Arkansas State University) Ayfer ŞAHİN (Ahi Evran University) Aykut Emre BOZDOĞAN (Giresun University) Ayşe Negiş IŞIK (Mevlana University) Barış KARAELMA (Gazi University) Bülent DİLMAÇ (Necmettin Erbakan University) Cemal KARAATA (Fatih University) Deniz DERYAKULU (Ankara University) Erkan IŞIK (Mevlana University) Ertuğrul USTA (Mevlana University) EunJin BANG (Iowa State University) Gülay EKİCİ (Gazi University) Hakan Akçay (Yıldız Technical University) Haldun VURAL (Mevlana University) Halil İbtahim ÇANKAYA (Usak University) Halil TURGUT (Sinop University) Hülya GÜVENÇ (Yeditepe University) Hüseyin Öz (Hacettepe University) İbrahim KURT (Mevlana University) İlhan VARANK (Yıldız Technical University) İlker YILMAZ (Mevlana University) Mediha SARI (Çukurova University) Mehmet Barış HORZUM (Sakarya University) Mehmet TURAN (Fırat University) Mehmet ÜNLÜ (Marmara University) Melih Derya GURER (Abant İzzet Baysal University) Mimi LEEC - Seoul National University) Murat DEMİRBAŞ (Kırıkkale University) Mwebesa UMAR (Uganda Islamic University) Niyazi ÖZER (İnönü University) Ömer Tuğrul KARA (Çukurova University) Özgen KORKMAZ (Mevlana University) Rabia HOŞ (Zirve University) Recep ÇAKIR (Amasya University) Rıfat MİSER (Ankara University)) Rüştü YEŞİL (Ahi Evran University)) Scott TİTSWORTH (Ohio University) Semiral ÖNCÜ (Uludağ University) Serçin KARATAŞ (Gazi University) Shefali PANDYA (University) of Mumbai Sinan KAYA (Mevlana University) Turan ÇETİN (Gazi University)) Ufuk KARAKUŞ (Gazi University)) Yurdal DİKMENLİ (Ahi Evran University) Yüksel GÖKTAŞ (Atatürk University) )

5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Geographic literacy perception scale (GLPS) validity and reliability study Yurdal Dikmenli What they think about democracy? Sample of 8th grade American and Turkish students Nihal Baloglu Ugurlu A validity and reliability study of the Attitude Scale of Computer Programming Learning (ASCOPL) Özgen Korkmaz, Halis Altun The effectiveness of computer assisted instruction on vocabulary achievement Tutku Basoz, Feryal Cubukcu An Investigation of Science Active Learning Strategy Use in Relation to Motivational Beliefs Yasemin Tas, Birgul Cakir Investigating the Reasons Institutions of Higher Education in the USA and Canada Utilize Blended Learning Noah Kasraie, Ala Alahm The Attitudes of Primary School Pre-Service Teachers towards Cursive Handwriting Ruhan Karadağ High School Students Stereotypic Images of Scientists in South Korea EunJin Bang, Sissy S. Wong, Tonya D. Jeffery Clustering Analysis of Students Attitudes Regarding Distance Education: Case of Karadeniz Technical University Ozcan Ozyurt Geography Teacher Candidates Perceptions of Geotourism Hilmi Demirkaya, Mustafa Sagdic, Ali Osman Kocalar

6 Preservice Teachers Preferences About Instructor Gender Senay Yapici Classroom Emotions Scale For Elementary School Students (Ces-Ess) Ahmet Yamac General Behaviours of Students with Poor Listening Skills or Who Do Not Listen To the Lectures According To the Teachers Opinions Selim Emiroglu Factors Influencing Assessment Practices among University Academic Staff: A Multiple Regression Analysis Musa Matovu, Ainol Madziah Zubairi Exploring Internet Addiction, Academic Procrastination and General Procrastination among Pre-Service ICT Teachers Ahmet Murat Uzun, Erhan Unal, Saniye Tugba Tokel Computer versus Paper-Based Reading: A Case Study in English Language Teaching Context Ekrem Solak The Relationship between the Achievement Goal Orientation and the Self Efficacy Beliefs of the Candidate Teachers Nese Ozkal, Vesile Yildiz Demirtas, Hale Kasap Sucuoglu, Cem Oktay Guzeller The Views of Students and Teachers about using Fun-based Videos in English Language Teaching (ELT) Veli Batdi The Use of Blogs in Learning English as a Foreign Language Selami Aydin Perceived Social Support from Family, Participation in Recreational Sport Activities, Leisure Negotiation and Life Satisfaction in University Students Evren Tercan

7 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 4(1), pp. 1-15, 1 April, 2014 Available online at Geographic literacy perception scale (GLPS) validity and reliability study Yurdal Dikmenli * Ahi Evran University, Faculty of Education, Department of Primary Education, Kırşehir, Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Key words: Geography Education, Developing Scale, Geographic Literacy, Validity, Reliability Turkey Geographic literacy could be defined as the competence of turning understanding and comprehension of geographical knowledge into a skill because literacy consists of solving problems, reasoning, critical and creative thinking processes. Today, in order to impart literacy skills to individuals, teachers should first have these skills. It is important that teacher candidates should attain these skills before graduation. When these conditions are established, it will be easier for teacher candidates to be aware of their geographic literacy skills, bring these competences to a conscious level and contribute to students geographic literacy skills and processes in their professional lives. The main purpose of this study is to develop an attitude scale in order to specify teacher candidates geographic literacy perception levels. The study group of the research consisted of 473 teacher candidates. In order to detect the validity of the scale, exploratory factor analyses, item factor total correlations and item discriminations were conducted. In order to assess the reliability of the scale, the level of internal consistency and stability levels were calculated. The analyses provided evidence that the Geographic Literacy Perception Scale (GLPS) is a valid and reliable scale that can be used in order to determine geographic literacy levels. Introduction As communication and technology have developed worldwide, global events now have a greater significance and urgency in our daily lives. It is not possible for us to abstract ourselves from natural and human events happening around the world because the results of these events, directly or indirectly affect our lives (Altınbilek and Sanalan, 2005). Individuals should have geographic literacy with a high level of knowledge and skill in order to adjust themselves to this process and interaction. In order to achieve this, first of all, individuals need to have knowledge of geography. In this context, geographic literacy does not only mean geographical knowledge. Literacy is a systematic approach towards events, founding, situations and places which requires understanding, comprehension, analytical and synthesis skills. On Earth where we live as a part of the geographical environment, human beings and nature are affected by each other directly or indirectly. A geographically literate person has the skill to look for solutions which cause the least damage to nature and reduce negative side effects. Additionally, he/she has the skill to understand relationships between different cultures and people. To achieve this, a person should first learn the features of where he/she lives, why he/she lives there, what the surrounding events and discoveries are, and how and when the relationships between these * Correspondence: [email protected]

8 Geographic literacy perception scale (GLPS) validity Y. Dikmenli could affect him/her. In order to do this, one should have a good geographical vantage point, should read geographical information thoroughly and should attain certain skills. In a study carried out in the USA in 1988, the National Council for Geographic Education [NCGE] attempted to determine the geographic literacy level of Americans. The results showed that 14% of Americans could not show their country s location on a map, and 25% did not know the location of the Pacific Ocean (Schoenfeldt, 2001). As a result of this lack of geographic knowledge and skills, official and occupational establishments have searched for new ways to enable individuals to attain a high level of geographic literacy by conducting various studies. As this lack of literacy was taken to be an obstacle to scientific, technical, social and cultural development, the United Nations (UN) declared 1990 as an International Literacy Year and described new fields of literacy. Geographic literacy was described in the literature as one 34 new literacy fields, along with environmental literacy, media literacy, economic literacy, visual and technology literacy (Snavely and Cooper, 1997). According to the UN, literacy is described as "individuals acquiring the basic living skills, being able to solve the problems they may face in life, understanding the societies and the economies of the 21st century, and actively participating in them". The NCGE carried out another important study in 1994 which contributed to geography education significantly. In a report prepared for various establishments, geography education was divided into 6 main categories and 18 standards. With these standards, what a geographically literate person should know was expressed. These standards are given in Table 1 (National Geographic Society (NGS). Geography for Life: National Geography Standards 1994 A. Earth With Spatial Explanation B. Places and Regions C. Physical Systems D. Human Systems E. Environment and Society F. Use of Geography Table 1. National Geography Standards 1-Knows required technology to reach location knowledge, and how to use geographical tools and maps. 2-Knows how to make use of mind maps in order to organize human s reaction with places and nature in spatial view. 3-Knows how to make spatial arrangements of Human s place on earth and surroundings. 4-Knows physical and human features of places. 5-Knows that people create regions in order to understand world s complex structure. 6-Knows how culture and experience effect people s perception of place and regions 7-Knows physical processes which form earth surface. 8-Knows the features, places and the distribution of ecosystems on earth surface. 9-Knows and understands movements, features and distribution of population on earth. 10-Knows complexity, distribution and features of different cultures on earth. 11-Knows mutual economic cooperation and economic models on earth. 12-Knows functions, structures and changing processes of habitation. 13-Knows the role of clashing Powers on share and control of earth surface. 14-Knows how human form physical environment. 15. Understands how physical environment effects human. 16. Knows use, distribution, and the changing period of Natural Resources. 17-Knows how to use geography to understand past. 18-Knows how to use geography to interpret today and plan future. -2-

9 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 1-15, 1April, 2014 When geographic literacy skills like the standards above are identified, it means that the purpose is to educate individuals as modern world citizens, and individuals are expected to have the skills to understand the interactions between nature and humanity, evaluate these interactions, and interpret maps in terms of location. In order to develop geographic literacy, what knowledge individuals have, and should have in their minds about geography must be known because geographic literacy helps individuals to develop the necessary skills to interpret local and global knowledge and think critically. As geography is an inseparable part of life, it is important to have the skill of geographical thinking. For this reason, geography education should be provided at every level of education (Thomas, 2001; Karabağ and Şahin, 2007). Various researchers have described the concept of geographic literacy as the knowledge of a location or the skill of positioning a location on a map (Salter, 1991; Torrens, 2001). However, some researchers state that knowledge of a location by itself is not enough to describe geographic literacy, instead proposing that having the knowledge of the location of places is the basic level first step to geographic literacy (Keeling, 2003; Bein, 1990; Donovan, 1993). Backler and Stoltman (1986) stated that having location knowledge is only the first step to geographic literacy and that real literacy is the ability to use geographic knowledge and skills. In another description, Eve, Price and Counts (1994) described geographic literacy as the skill of reading a map, having location knowledge and the skill of understanding interactions between cultures and people in other areas. Bennet (1997) stated that the concept is not limited to reading graphics, reading maps or skills related to field observations; it also requires haing a geographical view. Oigara (2006) divides geographic literacy into three groups; low, middle and high level. Low level geographic literacy consists of the capability of knowing locations. Middle level requires one to understand human interactions with the environment in terms of cause-effect relationships. This level consists of the skills of questioning, verifying, evaluating and analyzing. High level literacy is a critical geography approach. At this level, people understand that the difference in the powers and natural resources of countries in question are related to geography. For this reason, geographic literacy, instead of being plain knowledge, is a capability which helps in coping with daily problems (Stoltman, 1991; Monson, 2000). Kubiatko, Janko and Mrazkova (2012) reported that students' perceptions of geography do not vary only on the basis of their gender, but also according to the grade they are attending. According to their study, while 45% of male students liked geography, approximately 33% of female students were fond of it. Only 30% of the 9th graders responded that they liked geography more than other subjects. The most positive responses were given by 7th grade students (approximately half of 7th graders). Male and female students considered geography courses to be equally difficult. While approximately half of the male students stated that they needed to put in more effort in order to understand geography, 35% of the female students stated the same. 42% of the students attending 7th and 9th grades reported that they found geography topics easier, while in the 6th and 8th grades, the rate of the students stating the same was 35%. Educators need to be attentive to how they develop students' perceptions of geography. Teachers should try to associate geography classes with the real world and to offer the solutions to real world problems in geography courses. They need to endeavour to teach students how to use their geography skills to interpret the problems in their daily and future professional lives. Teachers can try to enrich geography courses by using games in geography education (Kubiatko, Mrazkova and Janko, 2012). A variety of applications can be utilized to strengthen students' interest in geography courses and their perceptions of geography. However, to achieve this, teachers' perceptions of geographic literacy need to be high.with -3-

10 Geographic literacy perception scale (GLPS) validity Y. Dikmenli this study, an attempt was made to develop a scale to determine how teacher candidates comprehend the Earth in a geographical manner with the information they had learned up to that point. In daily life, people may not notice how they perceive things. The purpose of this scale study is to determine the level of teacher candidates' geographic literacy perception, and to raise their awareness of this matter. In addition, some suggestions are made for low levels of perception. The consideration that teacher candidates need to have a high level of geographic knowledge and perception, since they will be guiding students and preparing them for life in the future, conduced to the preparation of this study. This is because teachers develop students' geographic literacy with the knowledge they attain and try to ensure that they are raised as individuals capable of utilizing such knowledge throughout their whole lives. In the review of the related literature, it was observed that the studies conducted on geographic literacy are mostly limited to the "measurement of knowledge". However, geographic literacy perception consists of the receipt, interpretation, selection and arrangement of knowledge. Therefore, in the present study it was not teacher candidates' geographic literacy levels, but their perception levels that what was examined. One s geographical literacy level, in the meantime, could also be accepted as an important tool in determining an environmental sensibility, sensitivity towards being a good citizen and sensitivity towards world problems as well as developing sensitivity to the positive and negative aspects of cultural and economic interactions. There are not many studies in the literature concerning geographic literacy. Past studies have mostly concerned accomplishment tests or various applications in order to determine literacy. The National Geographic Society [NGS] conducted studies at intervals on the geographic literacy of youngsters aged Young people were asked up-to-date questions about countries in which different incidents had recently occurred and which had been featured in the national visual and written press. However, it was understood that almost half of the participants had insufficient knowledge of these countries and the events taking place in these countries. 66% of participants could not show where Iraq, which the USA had attacked in 2003, was on the map. Again, despite the fact that the tsunami that took place in Indonesia in 2005 remained in the visual and written press for months, 75% of Americans could not find Indonesia on the map. Also, it is a remarkable result that 75% of participants did not know that the majority of the population in Indonesia was Muslim or that Indonesia had the largest Muslim population in the world (National Geographic Roper Survey, 2006). In their study supported by the International Geographical Union (IGU) and the National Geography Institution of the USA, Saarinen and MacCabe (1995) prepared a geographic literacy map by asking undergraduate students attending the first grade of the geography departments in 52 countries including Turkey to draw an outline world map. Findings of the study indicated that geographic literacy in Muslim countries, including Turkey, was within the weak category. Although there may be several factors which account for the inadequate geographic knowledge of students and teacher candidates as determined in the conducted studies, the primary cause is emphasized as the fact that geography is taught merely as "names of places", particularly in elementary and secondary education, and that it is not included in the curriculum as a separate discipline, but as a course within the scope of social studies. Furthermore, due to the inadequate level of geography courses in teacher training and education programs, many teachers see themselves as inadequate in terms of teaching geography (Rogers, 1997). In a different study, Oigara (2006) measured the low-middle-high level geographic literacy skills of university students. In the research, it was found that the geographical knowledge of students was generally weak. Torrens (2001) measured high school students location -4-

11 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 1-15, 1April, 2014 knowledge of European countries and major cities. As a result of the research, it was found that the basic location knowledge of students was insufficient. Alkis (2006), on the other hand, examined prospective class teachers' skills with regards to positioning European Union countries on the map. Teacher candidates' success level in positioning European Union countries was determined to be 63%. With the division of the European Union countries, namely those entered into the Union before and after the year 2004, teacher candidates' positioning success also changed. While their success in positioning the 15 countries that joined the Union before 2004 was 75%, the level of success in positioning the 10 countries that joined after 2004 was found to be 38%. In a study whose purpose was to determine the geographical literacy levels of social studies teacher candidates, Gençtürk (2009) found that teacher candidates did not have enough geographical knowledge. The results found by Gençtürk were remarkable: 55% of teacher candidates did not know Turkey s neighboring countries and 45% of them could not show neighboring cities on the map. In the study Sievertson (2005) conducted on 1004 undergraduate students from 39 different states of the USA, it was determined that the basic geographic knowledge of the students was rather low. In another study conducted with 50 primary school teachers, Rogers (1997) assessed teachers' geographic knowledge. In the conclusion of the study, teachers' levels of knowledge were considered to be limited. In another related study, the geographic knowledge levels of prospective elementary and secondary education social science teachers were measured. Findings obtained from the study indicated that the prospective teachers' knowledge of geography was inadequate (Thomas, 2001). In another study Torens (2001) conducted on 400 high school students aged between 15 and 18, the author measured participants' knowledge of cities in Ireland, European countries, and the locations of major European cities. The data obtained demonstrated that students' knowledge of basic locations was lacking. These situations are called geographical ignorance and the results were similar to those of other studies. Geographic literacy could be defined as the competence of turning understanding and comprehension of geographical knowledge into a skill because literacy consists of solving problems, reasoning, critical and creative thinking processes. Today, in order to impart literacy skills to individuals, teachers should first have these skills. It is important that teacher candidates should attain these skills before graduation. When these conditions are established, it will be easier for teacher candidates to be aware of their geographic literacy skills, bring these competences to a conscious level and contribute to students geographic literacy skills and processes in their professional lives. While developing this scale, the geographic literacy levels of teacher candidates were investigated using practical studies or tests, and an attempt was made to determine their geographic literacy perception levels. Method Study Group The study group of the research consisted of 473 teacher candidates in 7 different sections/areas and different classes of Ahi Evran University Education Faculty, studied in the spring semester. While 324 of the participating teacher candidates were female, the remaining 149 were male. A convenient sampling method was used to select the teacher candidates. The dispersion of the study group to section/area, class and gender is given in Table

12 Geographic literacy perception scale (GLPS) validity Y. Dikmenli Table 2. The dispersion of study group to section/area, class and gender Department 1 st Class 2 th Class 3 th Class 4 th Class Total Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Computer Ad. And Inst Teach. 40 Science Teach Pri. Ed. Math. Teach Pre-school Teach Primary School Teach Social Studies Teach Turkish Lang.Teach Total Developing Scale Process The research was a survey study. As is known, these types of studies have a research approach where the purpose is to describe an ongoing situation or a past situation as it exists. An attempt was made to describe the subject of the research as it was under its own conditions (Karasar, 2005). When developing a scale, the first and the most important step is to identify what will be measured. This is important because the purpose of the scale is to measure some variables which cannot not be observed directly. With this purpose in mind, a conceptual framework should be formulated that has theoretical foundations in subjects including what these hidden variables could be, the direction of relationships between variables and relationships with other variables (Netemeyer, Bearden and Sharma, 2003). The process of developing a scale can seem like a struggle with highly technical aspects, for example, determining the number of factors and names when applying explanatory factor analysis (EFA) to data. However in reality, the development of a scale projects the researcher s claim to explain a social fact within a conceptual framework. A conceptual framework is also important for the logical validity of the scale (Şencan, 2005). During the process of browsing the literature to identify a conceptual framework, an attempt was made to determine the statements in the scale because statements in the scale could be collected by either induction or deduction (Hinkin, 1998). In this study, in the process of developing the scale, first of all, all of the relevant literature was browsed. An attempt was made to identify the general features and competencies of geographical literacy. The survey instrument used for this scale was adapted from the National Geographic Roper 2002 and 2006 Global Geographic Literacy Survey (National Geographic 2002; 2006). These instruments were expertly designed by RoperASW, an international survey research and consulting firm. This provides assurance that the questions were well written and the design was well researched and tested thereby providing international validity and reliability. Although modifications were done and new questions added to this scale, a lot of effort and great care were taken in order to maintain the essence and meanings of phrases and words as given in the National Geographic Roper 2002 and 2006 Global Geographic Literacy Survey. Each general feature identified was turned into an item such as a perception statement (National Geography Standards (1994), and the National Geographic Roper 2002 and 2006 Global Geographic Literacy Survey were used during the development of the scale items). The item pool created in this way was then analyzed by a total of 3 field experts consisting of one field expert, one measurement-evaluation expert and an education programs and teaching expert in terms of both overlapping items and scope applicability. Later, items with statements which were hard to comprehend or statement errors were corrected by a language expert. -6-

13 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 1-15, 1April, 2014 A 30-item pool was developed with the help of the literature and field experts. 20 of these items in the pool consisted of positive statements and 10 of them consisted of negative statements. For instance, the expectation that a geographically literate individual would know the location of his or her country on the world map was transformed into the perception statement "I can locate my country on the world map" and was included in the scale as a positive item. As another example, the expectation that a geographically literate individual would be aware of the relationship between a geographic region and the climate was transformed into the statement "I cannot associate climates with the regions in my country" and was included in the scale as a negative statement. 5 options were given for the items showing teacher candidates attitude towards the statements. These options were arranged and graded as follows: (1) never, (2) rarely, (3) sometimes, (4) usually and (5) always. Analyzing Data In order to determine the structure validity of the scale, KMO and Bartlett analyses were carried out on the collected data to determine whether or not factor analysis could be applied (Korkmaz, 2012). KMO and Bartlett test analyses are performed for the purpose of deteriming whether it is possible to carry out factor analysis on a given set of data (Büyüköztürk, 2002). The KMO value was above 0.90 so it was inferred that the data set was appropriate for factor analysis (Russell, 2002). With the collected values, exploratory factor analysis was applied to the data, the situation of the scale branching into factors was determined using basic component analysis and finally, factor loads were examined using a Varimax perpendicular rotation technique. Factor analysis was used to determine whether or not items in the scale branched into fewer factors (Balcı, 2009). Principal components analysis, on the other hand, is a frequently used factoring technique intended to determine the factors under which items can be gathered (Buyükoztürk, 2002). Within this framework, as a result of basic components analysis, items with loads lower than 0.40 and items which do not have at least a difference between loads at two factors, in other words, items which distribute their load to two factors, should be excluded (Büyüköztürk, 2002). Items with factor loads greater than 0.30 and at least 40% of the total variance explained are seen as sufficient in the context of the behavioral sciences (Büyüköztürk, 2002; Eroğlu, 2008; Kline, 1994; Scherer, Wiebe, Luther and Adams, 1988). Having factor loads greater than 0.50 is accepted as quite good (Büyüköztürk, 2002). Factor loads are the basic criterion when evaluating factor analysis results (Balcı, 2009; Gorsuch, 1983; Eroğlu, 2008). Higher factor loads indicate that a given variable can be included in the related factor (Büyüköztürk, 2002). Furthermore, it is stated that calculating common factor variance is important for multi-factor patterns. There are opinions stating that when common variance is below 0.20, this item should be excluded from the scale (Çokluk, Şekercioğlu and Büyüköztürk, 2010). Using an independent sampling t test to determine the distinction powers of the remaining items after factor analysis; and using Pearson s r test to determine item-total correlations, the validity feature of the scale was identified. Finding the correlation between scores obtained from each item and scores obtained from the factors in which the item is included is accepted as a criterion for understanding whether or not each item serves the common purpose of the scale (Balcı, 2009). Another type of analysis that is used for testing the level with which an -7-

14 Geographic literacy perception scale (GLPS) validity Y. Dikmenli item serves the general purpose is the corrected correlation analysis. Having corrected correlations values higher than 0.20 means that the item serves the purpose significantly (Tavşancıl, 2010). A distinction feature is accepted as important evidence used for determining scale validity (Büyüköztürk, 2002). Another way to test the distinction of a scale is to arrange the scores obtained from the item in descending order and observe the differences between the bottom 27% and top 27% groups. Internal consistency and determination tests were undertaken to determine the reliability of the scale. The Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient was used to determine the internal consistency level. Having a reliability coefficient higher than 0.70 is accepted as an indicator of the reliability of the scale (Büyüköztürk, 2002; Gorsuch, 1983). The stability of the scale was determined by calculating the correlation between the two applications which were made 6 weeks apart. As is known, a reliable measurement tool should make stable measurements (Balcı, 2009). Results Findings regarding the validity of the scale Within the framework of the validity of the Geographic Literacy Perception Scale, structure validity, item-total correlations, corrected correlations and item distinctions were examined and the findings are given below: Structure Validity Firstly, the Kaiser-Meyer-Oklin (KMO) and Bartlett tests were applied to the data in order to test the structural validity of the scale. KMO=0.929 and χ 2 = (p=0.000) values were found. Within the framework of these values, it is understood that factor analysis could be applied to the 30- item scale. First, in order to determine whether the scale was one dimensional or not, a basic components analysis was undertaken. Later, the Varimax perpendicular rotation technique was used according to the basic components. In addition to this, 9 items in total (7 items with an item load lower than 0.40 and 2 items with loads branching into different factors) were excluded. Factor analysis was carried out once again on the remaining items. The item pool was then examined by a computer engineer and a measurement-evaluation expert in order to keep the scope validity after the excluded items. Scope validity can be explained as the items in a scale being sufficiently comprehensive to measure all the features of a scale that are intended to be measured. As field experts stated that the scope validity was not affected by the excluded items, other analyses were carried out. As a result of these operations, it was found that 21 items were gathered under 3 factors. In the final form of the 21-item scale, the KMO value was found to be and the Bartlett values were found to be χ 2 = ; sd=210 and p< The unrotated factor loads of the remaining 21 items were found to be between and However after Varimax perpendicular rotation technique, the rotated values were found to be between and Furthermore, it is seen that items included in the scale and factors explained % of the total variance. In the next step, the items in the factors were given names based on their content. 9 items were placed under the factor Low Level Geographic Literacy- ability to know location, 7 items were placed under the factor Middle level Geographic Literacyability to Understand Human and Environment Interaction and 5 items were placed under -8-

15 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 1-15, 1April, 2014 the factor High Level Geographic Literacy- Geographical Knowledge and Capability of Judgmental Thinking. Low level of geographic literacy consists of statements reflecting the skills necessary to know the names of places and their locations as the basis of geographic knowledge. This level is accepted as the first stage of geographic literacy (Oigara, 2006). The factor under which the location-related items in this study were concentrated was named "Low Level Geography Literacy - Knowing Locations". Medium level geographic literacy consists of statements reflecting the knowledge of physical and human-related events and phenomena, and the skills necessary to comprehend the relationships between these. This level was accepted as the second stage of geographic knowledge; the skills of questioning, validating, evaluating and analyzing geographical information (Oigara, 2006). The factor under which items concerning the human and physical environments and their interrelations were concentrated was named "Medium Level Geography Literacy - Comprehending the Interaction between Humans and the Environment". High level geographic literacy, on the other hand, consists of statements reflecting the skills of critical thinking concerning geography. At this level, the skills necessary to interpret the connection between natural resources and the power held by nations and geography and the effects of locations on political and economic processes in peoples' daily lives were accepted as the ultimate level of geographic literacy (Oigara, 2006). Finally, the factor under which items related with the ability to use geographic knowledge in daily life and to solve encountered problems via such knowledge were concentrated was named "High Level Geographic Literacy - Critical Thinking with Geographic Knowledge". Table 3 presents the Eigen values, the variance of factors and the foundations related to the item loads of the 21 items that were left in the scale. Items Low Level Geography Literacy Capability of knowing location Middle level Geography Literacy Capability of Understanding Human and Environment Interaction I1 Table 3. Factor Analyze Results I know the importance of being a person with consciousness of saving with accordance to nature for sustainable development I2 I can name my country s geographical regions,483,672 I3 I know that there are different political and economic structure in other places of earth and fort his reason every country needs other countries,472,656 I4 I can find my country s location on World map,440,615 I5 I can comprehend that there is a relation between physical and human features in geographical regions.,525,599 I6 I can tell in which hemisphere my country is.,473,590 I7 I am aware of both positive and negative effects,447,570 of nature to human and human to nature. I8 I am aware of intervention of developed,449,555 countries to regions with energy resources. I9 I am aware how people s region perception could change with cultural and social events.,484,525 I10 I cannot relate my country s geographical,519 regions with their climates. I11 I do not think there is a relation between,535 development levels of countries and transportation systems. Commo n factor varianc es F1 F2 F3,535,674 I12 I do not think culture in my region is formed by,545,649 geographical environment. I13 I cannot comment on how components which,575,645,676,662-9-

16 Geographic literacy perception scale (GLPS) validity Y. Dikmenli High Level Geography Literacy Geographical Knowledge and Capability of Judgmental Thinking I14 I15 I16 I17 I18 I19 I20 I21 have strategic importance could effect on reforming the World. I am not aware how geographical environment is,516 effected by people working together or clashing.,624 I cannot comment on my country s relations,424 with neighboring countries.,593 I cannot tell the reasons of population,433 movements in World.,571 I know how to use geographical knowledge to,587 understand today and plan tomorrow.,746 I can make comments on roles of globally and,545 regionally efficient international organizations,730 on relations between countries. When I look at a map I know the purpose of,483 making it and how to use it.,658 Because geography extends my imagination, my,411 will to recognize the World increases.,542 I can visualize a geographical figure when I hear about it.,484 Eigenvalue 4,060 3,475 2,781 Explained variance 19,333 16,547 13,241 As can be seen in Table 3, the Low Level Geographic Literacy- ability to know location factor of the scale consists of 9 items. The factor loads of the items vary between and The Eigen value for this factor as a whole is and its contribution to common variance is %. The Middle level Geographic Literacy- ability to Understand Human and Environment Interaction factor consists of 7 items. The factor loads of the items vary between and The Eigen value of this factor in the common scale is and its contribution to common variance is %. The High Level Geographic Literacy- Geographical Knowledge and Capability of Critical Thinking factor consists of 5 items. The factor loads of the items vary between and The Eigen value of this factor in the common scale is and its contribution to common variance is %. Item Factor Correlations In this section, the ability of each item to serve a common purpose is calculated by correlating the scores of each item in factors with the scores of factors according to the total correlation method. The item-factor correlation values for each item are given in Table 4. Table 4. Item-Factor Correlations F1 F2 F3 I. r I. r I. r I1,698(**) I10 698(**) I17,694(**) I2,648(**) I11,686(**) I18,710(**) I3,672(**) I12,705(**) I19,648(**) I4,656(**) I13,674(**) I20,662(**) I5,720(**) I14,719(**) I21,526(**) I6,661(**) I15,669(**) I7,667(**) I16 752(**) I8,677(**) I9,689(**) N=473; **=p<, 001 As seen in Table 4, the item test correlation coefficients are between and for the first factor, and for the second factor and and for the third factor. Each item is in a positive and significant relationship with a factor in common (p<0.001). According to this, it is possible to say that each item is a related factor and serves a common -10-

17 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 1-15, 1April, 2014 purpose. Item Distinction The discrimination powers of items in the scale were calculated. For this purpose, the raw scores of each item were arranged in descending order. Then the bottom and top groups with 128 people each consisting of the 27% bottom and 27% top groups were determined. The t-test values of the independent groups concerning the total scores of the groups were calculated. The t values concerning discrimination powers and significance levels are given in Table 5. F1 Table 5.Item Distinction I. t I. t I. t I1 10,482 I10 11,541 M16 9,964 I2 6,820 I11 13,212 I17 8,725 I3 9,362 I12 10,300 I18 11,457 I4 7,121 I13 7,045 I19 11,943 I5 10,200 I14 6,659 I20 10,735 I6 5,473 I15 8,542 I21 9,964 I7 7,223 F1 12,937 F3 16,722 I8 9,310 F2 12,712 Total 27,623 I9 8,579 df:254; p< 0,001 It is seen in Table 5 that the independent sampling t-test values related to the 21 items in the scale, factors and total scores vary between and The general t value for the scale was found to be Each difference that was determined was found to be significant (p<0.001). Based on this, it is possible to say that the distinction level of both the scale and each individual item is high. Findings Regarding the Reliability of the Scale Internal consistency and determination analyses were carried out in order to calculate the scale s reliability. Operations and discoveries are given below: Internal Consistency Level A reliability analysis of the scale according to individual factors and as a whole was carried out using the Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient. Reliability analysis values for each factor and the scale in general are summarized in Table 6: Table 6.Internal Consistency Coefficients for Factors and Scale in General F2 Factors Item Cronbach s Count Alpha F1 9,851 F2 7,814 F3 5,728 Total 21,744 As seen in Table 6, the Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of the scale consisting of 3 factors and 21 items was found to be In addition, the Cronbach Alpha values for the other factors were found to be 0.851, and Accordingly, it is possible to say that consistent measurements could be carried out for any of the separate factors and for the scale in general. -11-

18 Geographic literacy perception scale (GLPS) validity Y. Dikmenli Stability Level: The stability level of the scale was determined using the test over test method. The final form of the 21-item scale was administered to 52 teacher candidates six weeks following the initial application. The relationship between the scores obtained in both applications were examined in terms of items, factors and the scale in general. Thus, the stability level of the measurement for each item, factor and the scale in general was tested and the findings are summarized in Table 7. Table 7.Test over Test Analyze Results of items in the Scale MaddeFaktörToplamKorelasyonları F1 F2 F3 M. r M. r M. r I1,290 (*) I10,312(*) I17,541(**) I2,211(*) I11,208(*) I18,464(**) I3,374(**) I12,229(*) I19,600(**) I4,412(**) I13,617(**) I20,551(**) I5,405(**) I14,239(*) I21,795(**) I6,233(*) I15,545(**) I7,214(*) I16,497(**) I8,268(*) F1,414(**) F3,759(**) I9 433(**) F2,610(**) FT,649(**) N=52; *=p<0,05; **=p<, 001 As seen in Table 7, the correlation coefficients obtained through the test over test method for each item vary between and 0.759, and each relationship is significant and positive. The correlation coefficients obtained through the test over test method for the factors forming the scale were 0.414, and in ascending order. The correlation for the total score was found to be and it was found that each relationship was significant and positive. In this regard, it can be said that the scale can make stable measurements. Discussion In this study, a scale was developed in order to determine the geographic literacy of teacher candidates. The geographic literacy perception scale is a 5-order Likert-type scale and it consists of 21 items grouped under 3 factors. The factors are named by taking the general features of items under factors and the literature into consideration. The National Geographic Society -NGS (1994) gathered geographic literacy under 6 main headers and 18 standards. Oigara (2006) on the other hand, divided geographic literacy into 3 levels. The factors in the study were named by integrating these two studies. As a result of factor analysis, the scale was divided into 3 factors. The first factor is a level of geographic literacy called Low Level, which is how Oigara referred to it. This name refers to the fact that the NGS Earth with Spatial Expression and Places and Regions categories at this level mostly consists of location knowledge. Similarly, the second factor is a level of geographic literacy called Middle Level, which is how Oigara referred to it because it consists of NGS Physical Systems, Human Systems and Environment and Society categories. The third factor is the NGS Usage of Geography and Oigara refers to it as high level geographic literacy. In this study, because items under these factors have the same features, a factor with 9 positive items is called Low Level Geographic Literacy- ability to know location, a factor with 7 negative items is called Middle level Geographic Literacy- ability to Understand Human and Environment Interaction, and as the common theme of the remaining items is the need for geographical knowledge when coping with problems in life, the factor is named High Level Geographic Literacy- Geographical Knowledge and Capability of Critical -12-

19 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 1-15, 1April, 2014 Thinking. The validity of the scale was examined using two different methods called factor analysis and distinction features. The total correlations for each item in the scale were calculated in order to determine the degree to which these items could measure the desired features. According to the obtained values, it was determined that each item and factor in the scale serves the purpose of measuring desired features with the scale in general at a significant level. Furthermore, item distinction levels were investigated by examining t values representing the difference between the top 27% and bottom 27% groups, and distinction levels for each item and the scale in general were found to be high. In other words, it was found that each item was distinguished at the desired level. The internal consistency coefficients of the scale were calculated using the Cronbach Alpha reliability formula. Within the framework of the calculated values, it was determined that the scale makes consistent measurements. In order to determine the invariability of the scale through time, the test over test method was used and two applications were made 6 weeks apart. With the test over test method, calculations were made for each item and factor and it was found that with regard to the invariability through time of both factors and items, the scale is capable of making consistent measurements. As a result, it is possible to say that the Geographic Literacy Perception Scale is a valid and reliable scale to determine geographic literacy perception levels. A reliable and valid scale to determine the geographic literacy perception levels of education faculty students was not found in the literature. For this reason, it is thought that this measurement scale could make an important contribution to future studies. However, the reliability and validity studies for the measurement scale were limited to 473 education faculty teacher candidates. It could be suggested that in order to use the scale for different teaching levels, the reliability and validity studies should be repeated. References Alkış, S. (2006). Elementary pre-service Teachers map location skills of european union states, Elementary Education Online, 5(2), Alter, G., Larson, B., Monson, J and J. Morgan.( 2000). Social studies content for the elementary school teacher. United States of America. Prentice Hall. Altınbilek, M. S. and V. A. Sanalan. (2005). Coğrafya okuryazarlığı I: giriş [Geography Literacy I: Introduction]. Eastern Geographical Review, 13( ). Backler, A. and J. Stoltman. (1986). The nature of geographic literacy. ERIC Clearing House for Social Studies/Social Science Education, Bloomington. Balcı, A. (2009). Sosyal bilimlerde araştırma: Yöntem, teknik ve ilkeler [Research in social science: Methods, techniques and principles]. Ankara: PegemA Pub. Bein, F. L. (1990). Baseline geography competency test: Administered in indiana universities. Journal of Geography, 89 (6), ( ). Bennett, M. W. (1997). Development of geographic literacy in students with learning disabilities.eric Document Number: ED Büyüköztürk, Ş. (2002). Sosyal bilimler için veri analizi el kitabı [Data analysis for social sciences hand book]. Ankara: PegemA Pub. Çokluk, Ö., Şekercioğlu, G., and Ş. Büyüköztürk. (2010). Sosyal bilimler için çok değişkenli istatistik: Spss ve lisrel uygulamaları [Multivariable statistics for social sciences: Spss and lisrel applications]. Ankara: PegemA pub. Donovan, I. (1993). Geographic literacy and ignorance: A Survey of dublin adults and school children. Geographical Viewpoint, 21, (73-92). -13-

20 Geographic literacy perception scale (GLPS) validity Y. Dikmenli Eroğlu, A. (2008). Faktör analizi [Factor analyses]. In: Kalaycı, Ş. (ed), SPSS Uygulamalı Çok Değişkenli İstatistik Teknikleri [Statistics Techniques with Multi Variable in SPSS Applications], Ankara: Asil Pub: ( ). Eve, R. A., Price, B. and M. Counts. (1994). Geographic literacy among college students. Youth and Society, 25(3), ( ). Gençtürk, E. (2009). İlköğretim sosyal bilgiler öğretmen adaylarının coğrafya okuryazarlık düzeylerinin belirlenmesi [Investigation of preservice elementary social studies teachers geography literacy levels].unpublished PhD Thesis, GaziUniversity Institute of Educational Science, Ankara Gorsuch, R. L. (1983). Factor analysis. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Hinkin, T. R. (1998). A Brief tutorial on development of measures for use in survey questionnaires, Organizational Research Methods, 1(1),( ). Karabağ, S., and S. Şahin. (2007). Coğrafya dersi öğretim programı [Geography lesson curriculum] (55-74, 2005). S. Karabağ and S. Şahin. (Editörler). Kuram ve uygulamada coğrafya eğitimi [Geography education intheory and practice]. Ankara: Gazi Kitabevi. Karasar, N. (2005). Bilimsel araştırma yöntemi: Kavramlar, ilkeler ve teknikler [Scientific research method:concepts,principles and techniques ]. Ankara: Nobel Yayıncılık. Kline, P. (1994). An easy guide to factor analysis. London and New York: Routledge. Korkmaz, Ö. (2012). A validity and reliability study of the online cooperative learning attitude scale (Oclas). Computers and Education, 59(4): Doi: /j.compedu Kubiatko, M., Janko, T. and K. Mrazkova, (2012). Czech Student Attitudes towards Geography, Journal of Geography, 111(2), (67-75). Kubiatko, M., Mrazkova K. and T. Janko. (2012). Gender and Grade Level as Factors Influencing Perception of Geography, Review of International Geographical Education Online RIGEO 2(3), ( ). National Geographic-Roper Public Affairs (2006). Geographic literacy study. Prepared for: The National Geographic Education Foundation National Geographic Society NW Washington, D.C. National Geographic Society (NGS). (1994). Geography for life: The national geography standards. Washington, DC: Author. Netemeyer, R. G., Bearden, W. O. and S. Sharma. (2003). Scaling procedures: ıssues and applications, sage, Thousand Oaks. Oigara, J. (2006). A multi-method study of background experiences influencing levels of geographic literacy.unpublished Ph.D. Thesis Binghamton University. USA. Russell, D. W. (2002). In search of underlying dimensions: The use (and abuse) of factor analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, Rogers, L. (1997). Geographic literacy through children s literature. Colorado. Teacher İdeas Pres. Saarinen, T.F. and C. L. MacCabe. (1994). World patterns of geographic literacy based on sketch map quality. Professional Geographers., 47(2), Sievertson, M. D. (2005). Is geography knowledge improving? A study of current geographic knowledge among united states college geography students. Phd. Dissertation, Delta State Universty, Cleveland, Mississippi. Scherer, R.F., Wiebe, F.A., Luther, D. C. and J. S. Adams. (1988). Dimensionality of coping: Factor stability using the ways of coping questionnaire, Psychological Reports 62(3), PubMed PMID: Schoenfeldt, M. (2001). Geographic literacy and young learners.the Educational Forum.66, p

21 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 1-15, 1April, 2014 Snavely, L. and N. Cooper The information literacy debate.the Journal of Academic Librarianship, 23(1), (9-13). Stoltman, J. P., (1991). Teaching geography at school and home. Eric Clearing House for Social Studies. Social Since Education. Bloomington. ED Şencan, H. (2005). Sosyal ve davranışsal ölçümlerde güvenilirlik ve geçerlilik [Socialand behavioural measurements, the reliability and validity]. Ankara: SeçkinYayınları. Tavşancıl, E. (2010). Tutumların ölçülmesi ve spss ile veri analizi [Measurement of attitudes, and data analysis with SPSS], 4th ed. Ankara: Nobel Pub., (93-124). Thomas, P. G An analysis of the geographic knowledge of preservice teachers at selected midwestern universities. Ph.D Thesis.Kansas State University. USA. Torrens, P. M. (2001). Where in the world? Exploring the factors driving place location knowledge among secondary level students in dublin, ıreland. Journal of Geography, 100(2), (49-60). United Nations-UN. (1986). International literacy year. The General Assembly, Recalling its resolution 41/118 of 4 December. -15-

22 MEVLANA International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 4(1), pp , 1 April, 2014 Available online at What they think about democracy? sample of 8 th grade American and Turkish students Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Key words: Democracy, democracy education, American educational system, Turkish educational system, Social Studies curriculum. Nihal Baloglu Ugurlu * Social Studies Education, Nigde University, Nigde, Turkey American and Turkish society is governed by a democratic system and also democratic values are taught in their educational systems. However, it would not be surprising that differences exist between American and Turkish 8th grade students perceptions because students cultural priorities and life styles and teaching of democratic values in the schools etc. can be very different from country to country. The aim of this research is to determine and compare democracy perceptions of 8th grade American and Turkish students. The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) Civic Education Study survey which was conducted in twenty-eight countries in 1999 was used for gathering the data. The research sample was created with 422 American and 398 Turkish students, a total of 820 students. The research results showed that whereas American and Turkish students had similar thinking about democratic rights they were not agree with liberty, human rights and justice & equality issues. The research results were discussed in relation to differences in the American and Turkish students educational, cultural and societal factors. Introduction Democracy is a most important value for the welfare of society. In a democratic society the people make the decisions that affect their lives positively. Ayers (2009) states that democracy has been founded on a treasured and tenuous ideal and he defines the citizens who are living in democratic society as every human being is of infinite and incalculable value, each a unique intellectual, emotional, physical, spiritual, moral, and creative force, each born free and equal in dignity and rights, endowed with reason and conscience, and deserving, then, a community of solidarity, a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood, recognition and respect (pp.4). To nurture democratic values in a society, democratic beliefs must become a natural part of the citizens lives. Educational institutions can provide the leadership to reach this goal. All academic researchers agree that democracy education is important for society members and democratic values are gained by the students during the educational process. Democracy education presents different teaching approaches which can be effective in forming student s knowledge and ability. In schools democracy is taught in relation to real life not just from pages in a textbook (Genç, 2008). Students realize their meaningful life experiences are related to democratic life principles and are not just part of a research project placed on a shelf. They know their experiences are going to be a living thing. For this, teachers show students that society needs improving by examining social problems and controversial issues in real life (Kahne & Westheimer, 2003). Students are encouraged to understand how to be in * Correspondence: [email protected]

23 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 16-29, 1April, 2014 tune with and to participate in their immediate society and in the general world culture (Samancı, 2010). Teachers must provide positive experiences in the classroom for civic participation for all students. Students who have positive experiences with civic participation in the classroom reflect their experiences in their society in the future. However, in the educational context, democracy education has a complex structure. Schools need to teach certain social values and to help students socialize with each other to encourage recognition of communality. In other words, the unity or the common ground that we share now should be rebuilt by directly addressing community needs through non indulgent thinking processes. (Ohn & Wade, 2009). These processes refer to practices which are rooted in temperaments, skills and beliefs that individuals must develop and which are rooted in social competencies that require educational cultivation from an early stage. Without these competencies, there will be no global thinking, no active participation, no communication, no responsibility for others skills of social interaction that are the foundation of democracy (Edelstein, 2011). Another point, which is emphasized by Dewey, is that producing dutiful citizens is counterproductive for a democratic state; it also can be a potential danger when nationalistic sentiments cause international conflicts. In this situation the creation of fully-developed human beings for a flourishing human community is emphasized as a foundation for a democratic society (Wang, 2009). Teachers who believe democracy is a living and evolving force turn their efforts toward developing well-rounded citizens who are in charge of their own lives rather than focusing on the production of academic citizenship-based postulates. These well-rounded citizens take an active role in their community and national government in a diverse and evolving world. Democracy Education in U.S.A and Turkey In America, educational programs that include civics and government teach students to develop the foundation necessary to be educated and responsible citizens. The basic values and beliefs of America s constitutional democracy are internalized, analyzed and used by students in daily life. Educators often teach about citizenship by comparing and contrasting school rules and regulations. For instance, at grades 5-8, the standards demand that students answer these questions (Schell & Fisher, 2007): What are civic life, politics, and government? What are the basics of the American political system? How does the government established by the Constitution highlight the purposes, values, and principles of American democracy? What is the current relationship of the United States to other nations and to world affairs? What are the duties of the citizen in American democracy? Turkey, which is governed by a democratic system, values democratic education and integrates democratic values within curriculums. The understanding of democratic education in this country is stated as The democratic consciousness, knowledge, understanding and behaviours about the country s governance, the feeling of responsibility and respect for the moral values that the citizens should attain in order to maintain the strong and stable order of society. These principles must be successfully developed in the students. However, political and ideological provocations against Atatürk nationalism as expressed in the Constitution and -17-

24 What They Think About Democracy? Nihal Baloglu Ugurlu participation in daily political affairs and discussions shall never be allowed (MEB, 2000). In the country, democracy education takes place in Social Studies curriculum in grades 4 through 7. Democracy content is emphasized in the 4th and 5th grades in statements such as to respect feelings and thoughts of others, to recognize formal and civil organizations and to know their duties and functions in a democracy, to know functions and responsibilities of local government, and to understand the structure and operations of democratic government. In the 6th and 7th grades, the Power, Authority, and Society theme includes units which are related to democracy education. In these units, in terms of the basic aims of democracy and human rights, different political systems are compared; individual freedom and women s rights are emphasized; the Turkish political system is reviewed; and effects of political parties, media tools and different organizations are discussed. In addition social participation, making decisions, respect for rights and freedoms are stated as citizenship values in these units (MEB, 2005). In the 8th grades democracy education is infused as a Citizenship and Democracy Education lesson. In this curriculum there are four themes about democracy and citizenship. These themes are Every Human Being is Important, The Culture of Democracy, Our Rights and Freedoms, Our Duties and Responsibilities. These themes give detailed information about democracy and citizenship (MEB, 2010). Both American and Turkish education systems emphasize similar democratic context and democratic values. Both countries place importance on the same universal democratic concepts in their educational goals. In this quantitative study, it is expected that students internalize these democratic values at a similar level. However, democratic values are based on the culture specific to the given society and its political system (cited in Howe and Marshall, 1999). Torney-Purta and Richardson (2002) also agree with this. They stated that most adolescents are part of the political culture of their country (p.194). The reason for this situation would be that education for democratic citizenship requires the cooperation of school, home, neighborhood, religious institutions, the media, the government, and all the other significant educational agents that are in a different context for each country in children s lives (cited in Martin, 2008). Therefore, democratic citizenship education provides an opportunity for comparative educators to emphasize the role that culture or other factors plays in shaping democracy in different contexts (Kubow, 2008).The purpose of this study is to compare American and Turkish student s perceptions about democracy when different variables are considered. While comparing their perceptions, this study looks at the effect of students gender. According to these variables, the researcher attempts to define the perceptions of 8th grade American and Turkish students about democracy, to discover the differences of each country s 8th grade students among themselves and to compare significant differences between each country s 8th grade students in terms of students background characteristics. Methodology Model and Sample The quantitative method was used in this study. A survey which was developed by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) was used in the study also. In this way, the study provided numeric descriptions of opinions about democracy of American and Turkish students from the study sample. In the study, 422 American and 398 Turkish 8 th grade students were surveyed. They were selected with random method. Among the students, 27.4% (n=225) were American female, 24% (n=197) were -18-

25 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 16-29, 1April, 2014 American male, 22.4% (n=183) were Turkish female and 26.2% (n=215) were Turkish male (Table 1). The selected study groups in America and Turkey came from three demographically (lower, middle and upper income levels) different middle schools. American middle schools are located in San Diego, CA, and the Turkish middle schools are located in Ankara. The survey was conducted in these schools in the end of the 2011 spring semester. Table 1. Number and percent of respondents by nation and gender Gender Study Group Female (%) Male (%) Total (%) American Students 225 (27.4) 197 (24.0) 422 (51.4) Turkish Students 183 (22.4) 215 (26.2) 398 (48.6) Total 408 (49.8) 412 (50.2) 820 (100) Instrument and Measure The survey used for this study was developed over the period from 1996 through 1998 by the International Steering Committee and the National Research Coordinators of the The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) Civic Education Study (Torney-Purta et al, 2001). As the researcher felt the survey accessed the desired purpose, it was not modified in terms of content and structure. Generally Cronbach s Alpha is selected to calculate internal consistency coefficient. Therefore, Cronbach s Alpha value was re-calculated and it s value was founded to be.81 for the present data. The survey questionnaire was divided into two sections. The first section comprised questions about the students backgrounds. Students gender were surveyed in the first section. The second section of the survey consisted of items which determined students perceptions about democracy. These items are based on a 4 point likert scale, ranging from 1 very bad for democracy to 4 very good for democracy. Items with negative statements had reversed coding from 1= very good for democracy to 4=very bad for democracy. Generally, the score range for each item is considered to be 0.75 on the four- point Likert scale. Thus, scores of are considered bad for democracy, somewhat bad for democracy, somewhat good for democracy, and very good for democracy. To explore the answers on both sections of the questionnaire, mean and standard deviation were used. To determine associations and differences between American and Turkish students regarding democratic perspectives an independent sample t-test was used. In addition, the differences in total democracy scores based on nationality and gender scores were analyzed by means of a 2x2 nation x gender factorial analysis of variance. All of statistical procedures were evaluated in the SPSS program. Results The findings of the research aim to explain the comparison between American and Turkish students perceptions about democracy and sub-factors affecting these perceptions. For this purpose some tables are presented below. Table 2: Comparison of mean scores of perceptions of democracy between American and Turkish students Groups N M/4.0 S t df p American Students Turkish Students *p<

26 What They Think About Democracy? Nihal Baloglu Ugurlu In Table 2, it is seen that the students perception of democracy is not significantly different in terms of nationality (t=-610, p>.05). The table shows that the average scores of American students perceptions (2.71) about democracy were very close to those of the Turkish students (2.73). This result shows that American and Turkish students have similar perceptions about democracy. In order to determine the differences in total democracy scores based on nationality and gender, a 2x2 nation x gender factorial analysis of variance was used. Significant differences were not found for nationality [F (1, 816) =.42, p =.518]. In contrast significant differences were found for gender [F (1, 816) = 8.18, p =.004]. The nationality gender interaction was significant [F (1, 816) = 4.08, p =.044] making the interpretation of differences difficult. American females had a mean of 2.74 (SD=.41), while American males had a mean of 2.71 (SD=.40). Turkish females had a mean of 2.83 (SD=.49), while Turkish males had the lowest mean of 2.67 (SD=.62). In comparing American and Turkish students perceptions about democratic principles such as democratic rights, liberty, human rights, justice and equality, some scores show similarities but also show significant differences (Table 3). Table 3.Comparison of mean scores of perceptions of some democracy sub-factors between American and Turkish students American Students Turkish Students Sub-factors N Mean Std. Dev. Mean Std. Dev. Mean Dif. t p Democratic Rights Liberty * Human Rights * Justice & Equality * *p<0.05 According to Table 3, the perception of democratic rights is not significantly different between American and Turkish students. The average score of American students perceptions (3.05) are a little higher than the average score of Turkish students perceptions (2.97). In contrast, one of the differences is related to liberty. The average score of American students perceptions regarding liberty (2.76) is higher than the average score of Turkish students perceptions (2.66). Another difference is seen in the human rights factor. This factor is in favor of Turkish students. The average score of Turkish students perceptions (2.62) regarding human rights is higher than the average score of American students perceptions (2.45). Justice and equality is also shows significant difference between American and Turkish students. The average score of Turkish students perceptions (2.67) about this issue is higher than the average score of American students perceptions (2.55). These results show that American and Turkish students perceptions differ-especially in some sub-factors. On the other hand, sub-factors were detailed according to various perspectives which are shown in Table 4. Table 4. The Result of the t Test on the American and Turkish Students Opinions about Some Democratic Sub-factors Democrati c Rights American Students Turkish Students Items N Mean Std. Dev. Mean Std. Dev. Mean Dif. t p Political parties having rules that support women to become political * leaders People demanding their political and social rights * -20-

27 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 16-29, 1April, 2014 People participating in political parties in order to influence government * Liberty Newspaper are free of all government [state, political] control * Human Rights Justice and Equality *p<0.05 Immigrants are expected to give up the language and customs of their former countries People refuse to obey a law which violates human rights Differences in income and wealth between the rich and the poor are small A minimum income [living standard] is assured for everyone Wealthy business people have more influence on government than others Courts and judges are influenced by politicians Laws that women claim are unfair to them are changed There is a separation [segregation] between the church [institutional church] and the state [government] * * * * * * * * Democratic rights were seen as an important part of democracy. In comparing perspectives of American and Turkish students, American students (M=3.22) were more positive about political parties have rules that support women to become political leaders than Turkish students (M=3.04). Also, the mean score of American students perceptions about people participate in political parties in order to influence government were higher (M=2.67) than Turkish students (1.93). On the other hand, Turkish students ideas about people demand their political and social rights were much higher (M=3.27) than American students (M=2.86) (Table 4). The Liberty sub-factor which is another part of the democracy concept is quite different for both countries students. The freedom of the press issue was perceived in a different way for each country s students. American students were more positive (M=2.55) than Turkish students (M=1.75) when they were questioned regarding newspapers are free of all government [state, political] control (Table 4). Under the Human Rights title, the research showed that while American students (M=3.03) were more positive than Turkish students (M=2.79) regarding the contention that immigrants are expected to give up the language and customs of their former countries, Turkish students (2.62) were more positive than American students (1.91) regarding the premise that people refuse to obey a law which violates human rights (Table 4). Justice and Equality is another category, which is reviewed as a democratic concept. Turkish students were more positive than American students when it came to differences in income and wealth between the rich and the poor are small (American means=2.22, Turkish means=2.71), a minimum income [living standard] is assured for everyone (American means=2.58, Turkish means=2.92), courts and judges are influenced by politicians (American means=2.66, Turkish means=2.97), laws that women claim are unfair to them are changed (American means=2.82, Turkish means=3.22), there is a separation [segregation] between the church [institutional church] and the state [government] (American means=2.20, -21-

28 What They Think About Democracy? Nihal Baloglu Ugurlu Turkish means=2.52). In contrast, American students were more positive than Turkish students about wealthy business people have more influence on government than others (American Mean=3.06, Turkish mean=2.81) (Table 4). Discussion and Conclusion In the study, there is no difference between American and Turkish students democratic perceptions. This result may be expected for readers who are familiar with these societies. Each country is a democracy and each country s people support democratic systems in their countries. Much data (surveys, campaign platforms, Fourth of July speeches etc.) shows that most Americans believe democracy is the best form of government (Hochschild & Scovronick, 2002). This situation is the same for Turkish people. Support for democracy as a political system is held by substantial portion of ordinary Turkish people (Tessler & Altınoğlu, 2004). Girdner et. al. (1995) also determined in their study that while 68% of American university students believed that democracy is the best form of government, 70% of Turkish students believed the same, which is very close to their American counterparts. Students perceptions about democracy were divided into four parts. One of these parts, the democratic rights sub-factor, was perceived in the same way for each country s students according to the average total score. In this context, social commentators for the U.S. society sadly lament the growing apathy of today s adult citizens, describing the nation as being comprised of civic couch potatoes. Submerged in public apathy, they reject such basic citizenship responsibilities as volunteering in civic or public arenas; helping solve such real problems like eliminating drug abuse and homelessness; writing letters to the editor; deliberating and debating public policy; working for public interest groups; and voting (Maxim, 2010). The survey results show that this situation can be generalized for both U.S. and Turkish society at the present time. Unfortunately, Turkish students had a lower score which also showed a significant difference from American students about organize the political parties rules for supporting women to become political leaders or participate in political parties in order to influence government. The common point for each statement is political parties. Doggart (2006) stated this point for Turkish youths in his qualitative study. His thinking which was supported by conversations with Turkish university students is Turkish students seem to view active political participation as dangerous, distasteful, and ineffective (p.121). In regards to the political parties topic doesn t have a large place in each grade of Turkish Social Studies curriculums or Citizenship and Democracy Education curriculum. In contrast, American students have lower scores than Turkish students about people demand their political and social rights. The reason for this situation is that most Americans are convinced that they live in a profoundly democratic society. Indeed, many believe that the United States is the most democratic society on earth. There are some truths lurking behind these claims: the United States has fairly competitive elections for many public offices; civil liberties are at least loosely protected; public officials are generally constrained by the rule of law and prevented from exercising their power in an arbitrary manner (Wright & Rogers, 2010). Therefore they would not demand any provisions which relate to political or social rights. Liberty, which is an important point for democracy, is a more positive total score for American students than Turkish students. However, statements which belong to the factor of liberty don t have meaningful differences between American and Turkish students. Hahn (2002) expressed this point in her study. She asked 14 and 15-year-old students what it meant to be an American to them. All students said freedom or being free. One young women in -22-

29 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 16-29, 1April, 2014 her sample explained We have a lot more freedom to express our beliefs than (people in) other countries (quoted, Hahn, 2002, pp.77). They also thought that if they don t participate, they risk losing their freedom. Hochschild & Scovronick (2002) emphasized the importance of public education in the U.S. They stated that education is no using in promoting a free society if you do not know how to participate in and preserve your freedom and freedom for future generations. Public schools particularly hold a special responsibility in preparing people. Puriefoy (2003) also supports this view with her words. According to her, public schools bear a greater burden than any other public institution for overseeing, managing, and balancing the freedom challenge embedded in the nation s abacus of intent to provide a good education for every child that will accrue to benefit both the individual and our society. Liberty is a vital value for Turkish society, too. Atatürk s statements which are Every Turk is born free and lives free and Turks are democratic, free, and responsible citizens are references to this. So, this value is reflected in Turkish educational policy. Turkish Citizenship and Democracy Education curriculum is in itself a course which aims to showcase a democratic culture which includes freedom in the Turkish society. In the course curriculum, the importance of democracy for Turkish society, its rights and freedoms are related to the basics of democracy. The curriculum states that if individuals who use their rights and freedoms or perform their responsibilities were grown, democracy education would access it s aim (MEB, 2012). However, there is an argument that because curriculum, textbooks and teaching activities are usually designed to provide core principles of democracy, functional democratic values are often ignored in the Turkish democracy education system (Doğanay, 2010). For example, the scores about Turkish students opinions about freedom of the press issue are substantially lower than American students. Forty-eight percent (48%) of Turkish students think that when newspapers are free of all government [state, political] control, it is very bad for democracy. This rate is just 8.5% for American students (Appendix 1). However, it does not negate this result for Turkish students. It means that the Turkish constitutional structure was organized with this limitation. The 28 th article of the constitution states that the press is free of law enforcement. If the press breaks national security, public peace or safety, it is censored by the national government (TBMM, 2012). In contrast, freedom of the press is among the specific rights guaranteed by the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution (Sunal & Haas, 2008). The human rights issue which is another important point for democracy is more positive for Turkish students than American students. Mutlu et. al. (2010) study is a reference to this finding. They compared Turkish and European Union Members countries students opinions in terms of social, political and religious attitudes and in this context they asked them Would you describe yourself as option. Forty percent (40%) of Turkish students described themselves as humanist. This option was the highest score among other choices such as nationalist, patriotic, individualist, revolutionary etc. On the other hand, the rating of Turkish students as humanist was higher than European Union member countries students who had a 27.3% rating regarding humanism. Hochschild and Scovronick (2002) cited in from Phi Delta Kappa (1992) relating to this situation. More than seven in ten American respondents agree with survey questions asking if schools should increase the amount of coursework, counseling, and school activities to promote understanding and tolerance among students of different races and ethnic backgrounds. However such an education which gives importance to every ethnic culture or race is difficult to implement successfully especially in America which is a more pluralistic society than Turkey. Hochschild and Scovronick (2002) mentioned such difficulties in their studies. According to them, schools do not have time to do everything; if they teach the history of African Americans and Hispanics as well as that of European immigrants, they are leaving out Asian -23-

30 What They Think About Democracy? Nihal Baloglu Ugurlu Americans and Native Americans (not to speak of variations within each category). The more inclusive school curricula and activities become, the sharper the exclusion of those remaining outside the fold. And the absence of a lot of pointed intellectual work, the more inclusive the curriculum becomes; the more superficially it treats all subjects. Finally, the more inclusive it becomes, in the usual sense of adding another cultural dimension to those already taught, the more difficult it is for teachers and students to retain any focus on the culture that was traditionally considered American or any other common core. The last sub-category, Justice and Equality, is also considered a basic fundamental of democracy education. Social justice is based in diversity which has to do with differences and variety. Diversity poses serious challenges to American society, to schools, and to social studies teachers. Many researches indicates that students come to school with many stereotypes, misconceptions, and negative attitudes toward other racial, ethnic, and socialclass groups (Aboud, 1988; Banks, 2001; Stephan & Stephan, 1996; Tajfel, 1970; cited in Banks, 2002). In this context, everyone accepts the fact that schools are the ideal vehicle for teaching diversity. Because they admit all students, the schools can offer them an opportunity to experience democracy as an interaction with a diverse, inclusive student body--not just students of one particular group or socio-economic class (Resnick & Bryant, 2008). Despite widespread acceptance of this perspective in the American society, two essential democratic values, freedom and equality, have been in conflict constantly. Freedom and equality are accepted as essential elements in social justice. Therefore, income distribution, which is one of the dimensions of social justice, should be according to merit. The problem is that the attitude of one person related to freedom can take form as the disapproval of equality for another. Today, there are many violations of the rights of individuals just in this pluralistic nation (Ochoa-Becker, 2007). This mean is reflected in this research s survey results. The statements differences in income and wealth between the rich and the poor are small or a minimum income [living standard] is assured for everyone have meaningful differences, that is they are more positive for Turkish students than American students. While 65% of Turkish students thought that the lack of differences in income and wealth between the rich and the poor is very good or good for democracy, this proportion is 47% for American students (Appendix 1). These results also parallel with the World Values Survey (2007) which surveyed opinions about democracy, economy, social life in at least 50 countries. According to the research findings, while 56% of Turkish people are content with incomes should be made more equal this rate is only 34% for American people. Another striking result for this survey is the number of participants who indicate that if it is assured a minimum income [living standard] for everyone, this is very good for democracy is 51% for Turkish students. This rate is also lower for American students (25%) than Turkish students. Another perspective which is stated in the survey is independence of courts and judges from politicians. This is more positive for Turkish students than American students. This situation is negative at the rate of 57% for Turkish students. This rate is valid for American students at 32%. This is an expected result for the survey sample because American people suffer in the courts. They don t trust courts very much (Warren, (2000); WVS, (2007). One of the reasons for this trend may be people s thoughts about political pressure in the courts. Warren (2000) indicated in his study that more than 81% of American people felt that judges decisions are influenced by political consideration and 78% agreed that elected judges are influenced by having to raise campaign funds. And then Warren stated that in short, we can conclude from these findings that a substantial majority of Americans feel that the actual performance of the courts does not live up to the courts own goals and values (pp. 13). This belief may be affected by two factors. The first is the performance of government. If people don t see government as successful and they are not satisfied with government procedures, they are -24-

31 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 16-29, 1April, 2014 hopeless about their future and they don t trust political associations. Another factor would be that if people think there are many inequalities in the society and their opinions are not important for current events, they don t have positive attitudes. They also interact with others on political issues and can see negative associations (Akgün, 2001). In the survey, women s rights are emphasized with the statement When laws that women claim are unfair to them are changed that is very bad/good. Gender equality is one of the vital characteristics of democracy. American and Turkish perspectives about this issue are also striking for this research. About 71% of Turkish students are positive about women s rights as based in law; 36% of American students defended women s rights the same way. However, each country s students think that gender equality should be protected in their society (Appendix 1). American literature has underlined this topic frequently with different perspectives (for curriculum and textbooks, students knowledge, skill or attitudes or classroom practices) in the last years. Researchers believe that gender equality has not been emphasized very well in the educational system. In the American curriculum women are ignored in the written history. Whereas most books emphasize the work of men or organizations headed by men, they explicitly ignore works of women. (Banks, 1994, cited in Maxim, 2010). Avery and Simmons (2001) also show in their studies that women receive significantly less coverage in both civics and U.S. history textbooks for grade seven through nine. (cited in Crocco, 2008). The world history curriculum also presents a situation which relates gender, world history standards and human rights in a gloomy picture about women s place in world history (Crocco, 2008). Thus, women, who are a majority of the world s population, are not an integral part of the curriculum (Maxim, 2010). Maxim has a suggestion about this issue. He pointed out that women s contributions, as well as those of males throughout history, should be presented to all students. The California State Board of Education recognized that this research s American sample group has its content based according to Maxim s suggestion. History Social Science for California Public Schools curriculum often emphasized women s rights in the historical process (CDE, 2000, pp.19, 36, 47, 49, 51, 53). The Turkish textbooks are also making similar inroads about this issue. While there are not arguments about women s roles in the historical process in the Turkish educational literature, there are some indicators which show a lack of contextualized pictures of women s rights or roles in the society. (Çayır, 2011, Müftüler-Bac, 1999). However, current Citizenship and Democracy Education textbooks indicate the elimination of gender inequality and highlight women s contributions to social life. They also cite Atatürk s statements relating women s importance within the societal perspective (MEB, 2012, pp. 53). The secularism issue which shows up in the survey as when there is a separation [segregation] between the church [institutional church] and the state [government] it is good/bad for democracy indicates a meaningful difference between American and Turkish students. Meanwhile, both American and Turkish students are informed about church as a religious organization. It was emphasized that religious organizations could be different from society to society. Forty-one percent (41%) of Turkish students think that when there is a separation [segregation] between the church [institutional church] and the state [government] it is very good whereas this rate is 19.4% for American students. This result correlates with the Girdner et al. survey (1995). They asked both American and Turkish students whether it is acceptable to use religious beliefs as a basis for political office. In the result, 43% of the American students thought so, while only 18 % of the Turkish students agreed. It would be interpreted as Turkish students see religion as having a negative effect on politics, while the American students are more positive that religion could have a desirable effect on politics. Another survey which is World Values Survey (2007) also explored American and Turkish people s views about whether or not religious leaders should influence government. -25-

32 What They Think About Democracy? Nihal Baloglu Ugurlu According to results, 62% of Turkish people agree strongly that religious leaders should not influence government whereas this proportion is 48% for American people. McClay (2007) supported this in his research as The American approach to secularism is distinctive, differing from the laicize of the French or the Turks in its greater friendliness to the public expression of religious beliefs and sentiments. Such arrangements are challenging to sustain, requiring constant renegotiation of acceptable boundaries, but may also provide a more fruitful way of drawing on the moral energies and insights of religion while keeping them contained within appropriate limits (pp. 160). Also, it is necessary to show that the Turkish national education system aims for this difference. Whereas there is not a statement which relates to secularism in the American Social Studies Curriculum standards (NCSS, 2010), the aim of the Turkish National Education system is to grow citizens to know their duties and responsibilities to the Turkish Republic which is democratic, laic and a social law state (MEB, 2010). In the final results, democracy education shapes students experiences both in their cultural communities and their nation. However, it also affects global identification and thinking about individual roles in the world community. If national education systems give global education importance they would facilitate the understanding of students regarding interdependence among nations, clarify students attitudes toward other nations, and reflect identifications with the world community (Banks, 2002). This research has supported this result. Even though there were some differences between American and Turkish students understanding regarding democracy, they reported their opinions as world citizens who adopt a perception of global democracy. References Akgün, B. (2001). Türkiye de siyasal güven: nedenleri ve sonuçları, [Political trust in Turkey: causes and consequences], A. Ü. Siyasal Bilgiler Fakültesi Dergisi 56(4), Ayers, W. (2009). Teaching in and for Democracy, Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue, 12(1 & 2), Banks, J. A. (2002). Teaching for diversity and unity in a Democratic Multicultural Society, In Education for Democracy: Contexts, Curricula, Assessments, ed. W. Parker. Greenwich, CN:Information Agate Publishing. CDE (California Department of Education), (2000). History Social Science framework for California public schools, [Online] Retrieved on 26-April-2012, URL: Crocco, M S. (2008). Gender and sexuality in the Social Studies, in Handbook of Research in Social Studies Education, ed. L. S. Levstik and C. A. Tyson. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis. Çayır, K. (2011). Turkey s New Citizenship and Democracy Education Course: Search for Democratic Citizenship in a Difference-Blind Polity?, Journal of Social Science Education, 10(4), Doggart, C. E. (2006). Turkish youth: voices to be heard, Turkish Policy Quarterly, 5(1), Doğanay, A. (2010). What does Democracy mean to 14-year-old Turkish children? a comparison with results of the 1999 IEA civic education study, Research Papers in Education, 25(1), Edelstein, W. (2011). Education for Democracy: reasons and strategies, European Journal of Education, 46(1), Genç, S. Z. (2008). An evaluation of teachers views of primary school principals practice of Democratic values, Social Behavior and Personality 36(4),

33 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 16-29, 1April, 2014 Girdner, E. J., Eisenman, R. & Akış S., (1995). Political attitudes of students in the United States, Turkey and North Cyprus, In The Turkish Yearbook of International Relations, ed. I. Uzgel. Ankara: Ankara University, pp Hahn, C. L. (2002). Education for Democratic citizenship: one nation s story. in Education for democracy: Contexts, Curricula, Assessments, ed. W. C. Parker. Greenwich, CT: Information Age. Hochschild J. L & Scovronick, N. (2002). Democratic education and the American dream: one, some, and all in Education for democracy, context, curricula, assessments, ed. W. C. Parker. USA: Information Age Publishing. Howe, G. D & Marshall, D. D. (1999). Citizenship education, Democracy and global shifts: re-thinking Caribbean Social Studies. in Education for All in the Caribbean: Assessment 2000 Monograph Series, ed. L. Quamina-Aiyejina. UNESCO. Kahne, J. & Westheimer, J. (2003). Teaching Democracy: what schools need to do, Phi Delta Kappan, 85 (1), Kubow, P. K. (2008). Developing citizenship education curriculum cross-culturally: a democratic approach with South African and Kenyan educators. Advancing democracy through education?: U.S. influence abroad and domestic practices, ed. E.D. Stevick and B.A.U. Levinson. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. Martin, J. R. (2008). Education writ large. in Education and the Making of A Democratic People, ed. J. I Goodlad., R. Soder and B. MacDaniel. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers. Maxim, G. W. (2010). Dynamic Social Studies for Constructivist Classrooms: Inspiring Tomorrow's Social Scientists. Boston, MA:Pearson Education. McClay, W. M. (2007). Secularism, American-Style, Culture and Society 44: MEB (Milli Egitim Bakanligi, Republic of Turkey Ministry of National Education), 2000). National education at the beginning of 2001, Research, Planning and Coordination Board, ( ) MEB(Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı, Ministry of National Education), İlköğretim vatandaşlık ve demokrasi eğitimi dersi (8. sınıf) öğretim programı [Citizenship and democracy education for the primary school] [Online] Retrieved on 24-January-2012, URL: MEB(Milli Egitim Bakanligi, Ministry of National Education), İlköğretim Sosyal Bilgiler Eğitimi dersi (6-7. sınıf) öğretim programı, [Curriculum of Middle School Social Studies Education], [Online] Retrieved on 11-December-2012, URL: MEB (Milli Egitim Bakanligi, Ministry of National Education), İlköğretim vatandaşlık ve demokrasi eğitimi dersi (8. sınıf) ders kitabı, [Textbook of citizenship and democracy education (8 th grade)] Ankara: Saray Matbaacilik. Mutlu, S, Alacahan, O & Erdil, M. (2010). Comparison of the personal and cultural change taking place between EU Erasmus students and Turkish Erasmus students (Within The Sample of Adam Mickiewicz University In City of Poznan, Poland), Eurasian Journal of Anthropology, 1(1), Müftüler-Bac, M. (1999). Turkish women s predicament, Women s Studies International Forum, 22(3), NCSS (National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies), National curriculum standards for social studies: chapter 2-the themes of Social Studies, [Online] Retrieved on 22-November-2012, URL: Ochoa-Becker, A. S Democratic education for Social Studies: an issues-centered decision making curriculum, Greenwich, Connecticut: Information Age Publishing. -27-

34 What They Think About Democracy? Nihal Baloglu Ugurlu Ohn, J. D. & Wade, R. (2009). Community service-learning as a group inquiry project: elementary and middle school civiconnections teachers practices of integrating historical inquiry in community service-learning, The Social Studies, 100(5), Puriefoy, W. D. (2003). Putting the will behind the vision. in Shaping the future of American youth:youth policy in the 21st century, ed. A. Lewis. Washington, DC. : American Youth Policy Forum. Resnick, M. A. & Bryant, A. L. (2008). School boards and the power of the public. in Education and the making of a democratic people, ed. J. I. Goodlad, R. Soder and B. MacDaniel. CO: Paradigm Publishers. Richardson, W. K. & Torney-Purta, J. (2008). Connections between concepts of Democracy, citizen engagement and schooling for 14-years-olds across six countries, in Civic education for diverse citizens in global times: rethinking theory and practice, ed. B. C. Rubin&J. M. Giarelli. NY&OX: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Samancı, O. (2010). Democracy education in elementary schools, The Social Studies 101, Schell, E. & Fisher, D. (2007). Teaching Social Studies, A Literacy Based Approach. New Jersey:Pearson Education. Sunal, C. S. & Haas, M. E. (2008). Social Studies for the Elementary and Middle Grades: A Constructivist Approach. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, Incorporated. TBMM (Turkiye Buyuk Millet Meclisi), Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Anayasası (Constitution of Turkish Republic), [Online] Retrieved on 28-November-2012, URL: Tessler, M. & Altınoğlu, E. (2004). Political culture in Turkey: connections among attitudes toward Democracy, the military and Islam", Democratization 11(1): Torney-Purta, J., Lehmann, R., Oswald, H. and Schulz, W. (2001). Citizenship And Education In Twenty-Eight Countries: Civic Knowledge And Participation At Age Fourteen. Amsterdam: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). Torney-Purta, J. & Richardson, W. K. (2002). An assessment of what fourteen-year-olds know and believe about Democracy in twenty-eight countries. In Education for democracy: Contexts, curricula, assessments, ed. W. Parker. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing. Wang, J. Ching-Sze. (2009). Reconstructing Deweyan democratic education for a globalizing world, Educational Theory, 59 (4), Warren, R. K. (2000). Public trust and procedural justice, 40th Annual Conference of the American Judges Association, Kansas City, Missouri. Wright, E. O. & Rogers, J. (2010). American society: how it really works, New York: W.W. Norton & Company. World Values Survey (WVS), The World s most comprehensive investigation of political and socio-cultural change, [Online] Retrieved on 30-November-2012, URL:

35 Sub-factors Appendix 1. Percentage and frequencies of pupils responses about democracy Statements Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 16-29, 1April, 2014 very bad for democracy somewhat bad for democracy somewhat good for democracy very good for democracy Justice and Equality Human Rights Liberty Democratic Rights When citizens have the right to elect political leaders freely When people peacefully protest against a law they believe to be unjust When political parties have rules that support women to become political leaders When people demand their political and social rights When people participate in political parties in order to influence government When everyone has the right to express their opinions freely that is When many different organizations [associations] are available [exist] for people who wish to belong to them When newspaper are free of all government [state, political] control When private businesses have no restrictions from government When all the television stations present the same opinion about politics When government leaders are trusted without question When immigrants are expected to give up the language and customs of their former countries When people refuse to obey a law which violates human rights When newspapers are forbidden to publish stories that might offend ethnic groups [immigrant groups, racial groups, national groups] When differences in income and wealth between the rich and the poor are small When a minimum income [living standard] is assured for everyone When wealthy business people have more influence on government than others When courts and judges are influenced by politicians When laws that women claim are unfair to them are changed When one company owns all the newspapers When there is a separation [segregation] between the church [institutional church] and the state [government] N % N % N % N % America Turkey America Turkey America Turkey America Turkey America Turkey America Turkey America Turkey America Turkey America Turkey America Turkey America Turkey America Turkey America Turkey America Turkey America Turkey America Turkey America Turkey America Turkey America Turkey America Turkey America

36 MEVLANA International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 4(1), pp , 1 April, 2014 Available online at A validity and reliability study of the Attitude Scale of Computer Programming Learning (ASCOPL) Özgen Korkmaz * Mevlana University, Educational Faculty. Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Halis Altun Mevlana University, Engineering Faculty. Department of Computer Engineering, The attitude of students towards computer programming learning is a subject which is not widely researched in the current literature. In fact, there is little generally accepted scale, which is tested and accepted in terms of reliability and validity in literature in order to measure the attitude of students towards computer programming learning. The aim of this study is to develop a valid and reliable scale. The development process consists of two phases that utilize two different sample groups. The sample group, in the first case, consists of 496 students and it consists of 262 students in the second case. In order to detect the validity of the scale, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, item factor total correlations, corrected correlations and item discriminations were conducted. The reliability of the scale is justified using the internal consistency level and reliability level. ASCOPL is a 5-point Likert-type scale, consisting of 20 items, grouped under three factors. The results indicate that ASCOPL is a reliable and valid scale in order to measure student attitudes towards computer programming learning. Key words: omputer-mediated communication, evaluation methodologies, pedagogical issues, programming and programming languages Introduction Programing skill requires higher level cognitive skills such as problem solving, logical-mathematical thinking, and critical thinking (Fang, 2012; Korkmaz, 2012a; Lau &Yuen, 2009; Wang, Geng, Jiang & Liu, 2012). The are several studies in the literature which demonstrate the importance of programming and the difficulties related to the teaching and learning of computer programming (Gomes & Mendes 2007; Tan, Ting & Ling, 2009; Jenkins, 2002; Katai, Juhasz & Adorjani, 2008; Korkmaz, 2012a; Korkmaz, 2013; Milne & Rowe, 2002). It can be seen from the research conducted to date that there are several different reasons behind the difficulties, among them, the lack of higher level cognitive skills, such as logical and mathematical thinking and critical thinking, the utilization of unsuitable teaching methods, the lack of computer programming teaching, and ignoring the learning styles of the students (Korkmaz, 2012a; Korkmaz, 2013; Landry, Pardue, Doran & Daigle, 2002; Lau & Yuen, 2011). Among the listed reasons are the negative perception of the students and the lack of motivation and attitude towards computer programming * Correspondence: [email protected]

37 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 30-43, 1April, 2014 (Anastasiadou, & Karakos, 2011; Erdogan, Aydin & Kabaca, 2008; Sacks, Bellisimo & Mergendoller, 1993). It is also reported in the literature that along with the lack of motivation, there are several problems related to cognitive aspects of the learning and teaching (Hawi, 2010; Hernane, Gilney & Marcelo, 2010; Robins, Rountree & Rountree, 2003). According to Fishbein and Ajzen (1975, cited: Lai, Wang, & Lei, 2012) the attitude towards a certain behavior is defined as positive or negative feelings of the individual towards accomplishing a behavior. There is evidence in the literature that the attitude of students towards school, course and teacher directly affect their academic success, their utilization of technology, their self-efficacy and self-confidence perception and their satisfaction (Hwang, Wu & Chen, 2012; Lai, et al., 2012; Landry et.al., 2002; Van de Gae, Grisay, Schulz & Gebhardt, 2012). Although there are few studies related specifically to the learning of computer programming skills, studies related to learning on other domains, reveal that student attitudes is one of the main factors affecting their academic success directly (Anastasiadou, & Karakos, 2011; Lockwood, 2012; Yılmaz & Kılıç-Çakmak, 2012). Based on these findings, one of the main difficulties faced in computer programming learning can be the negative attitudes of the students towards computer. The perception of the subject by the students, as confusing and meaningless, hard to learn and complicated, all seem to be factors which affect students success adversely. Therefore, Huna Tan and associates (2009) indicate that the perception of the students that programming language learning is a difficult topic to learn, and leads students to be apathetic in their learning of programming skills. Despite of these findings, however, there is no clear evidence demonstrating how attitude directly affects computer programming skills in terms of students academic success. Furthermore, the authors have not encountered a valid and reliable scale in literature to measure the attitudes towards computer programming learning. In this case, it is clear that a reliable and valid scale would be a useful tool to determine the attitudes of the students towards computer programming. Therefore, the aim of this study is to establish a reliable and valid scale in order to measure the attitude towards computer programming learning. Method Sample There are two study groups in this research. The first study group consists of students from the department of electrical-electronics engineering and computer engineering students in the engineering faculties of four universities in Turkey. The students are from third grade and the number of this study group consists of 469 students. In the second study group, there are 262 students from the department of computer education and instructional technology (CEIT), which is the department of the faculty of education. All students in the study groups take two five-hour courses, namely computer programming language I and II, at and fourth semester, respectively. In order to obtain a reliable and valid scale, therefore, the students in all study groups are selected among the 5 th semester students. Furthermore, having two different study groups with students from different subject area such as engineering and educational department is also to ensure that the scale is reliable and valid. In the first set of experiments, an exploratory factor analysis along with validity and reliability analyses have been carried out on the first study group, while confirmatory factor analysis has been carried out on the second study group. The distribution of the students based on their universities, subject and gender in the study groups are listed in Table

38 A validity and reliability study O.Korkmaz & H. Altun Table 1. Distribution of the working group based on their university, subject and gender I. Implementation II. Implementation University Computer Eng. E. E. Eng. CEIT Total Female Male Female Male Female Male Total Erciyes Un Karabük Un Niğde Un Bülent Ecevit Un Ahi Evran Un Amasya Un Atatürk Un M.Akif Ersoy Un Total Development process of the scale In the first step of scale development, the literature has been reviewed in order to determine the general characteristics of the programming skills and that of attitude variables (Anastasiadou & Karakos, 2011; Aşkar & Davenport, 2009; Erdogan, et. al., 2008; Korkmaz, 2013; Korkmaz, 2012a; Korkmaz, 2012b; Lai, et al., 2012; Lockwood, 2012; Milne & Rowe 2002; Ramalingam & Wiedenbeck, 1998; Robins et al., 2003; Sacks, et al., 1993; Wang, et al., 2012; Yılmaz & Kılıç-Çakmak, 2012). Each of the identified general characteristics is considered to be an item for an attitude statement and it is put in the item pool. Furthermore, 17 students (females=8, males=9) in Mevlana University who enrolled to the Programming Language I course at fourth semester have been asked to describe their feelings, positive and negative attitudes during the learning phase of the computer programming. After investigating the written responses collected from these students, the feeling of the students are also identified as an item and put into the item pool. The resultant item pool has been investigated by three experts who are a computer engineer, an instructional technologist and a measurement-valuation expert, in order to detect overlapped items and scope validity. A linguist worked on the items to eliminate ambiguous and complex statements and then missworded and incorrect statement were modified. An item pool with 25 items has been constructed based on the student opinions, reviewed of the literature, and expert s contributions. While 12 items, out of 25 items in the pool, are classified as positive statements, the rest of 13 items are classified as negative statements. A range of 5-point choices were placed for the items in order to specify the students attitude levels expressed in the items. These choices were organized and graded as (1) never, (2) seldom, (3) sometimes, (4) generally and (5) always. After finalizing the scale, it made available online. At this stage, an instructor in each of the departments is asked to carry out a survey for confirmatory factor analysis on the students in the engineering faculties. After completion of this phase, the implementation of the scale is carried out on the students in the educational faculties. The data collected is statically analyzed using SPSS and LISREL 8.71 in order to carry out validity and reliability tests. The values related to the negative statements are coded inversely during loading data into programs. Data Analysis In order to decide whether factor analysis is liable or not, in the first place, KMO and Bartlett analyses have been conducted on the collected data in statistical framework (Korkmaz, 2012b). Having a KMO value which is greater than 0.90 is generally considered to be perfect to apply factor analysis on the dataset (Russell, 2002). Furthermore, based on the -32-

39 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 30-43, 1April, 2014 Bartlett test values, which is known to be the identity matrix of the correlation under investigation, it is understood that the null hypothesis has been rejected at a meaningful level of 0,05 (Büyüköztürk, 2002; Eroğlu, 2008). Based on the results, the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses have been conducted on the data; itemizing level of the scale has been determined using principal component analysis; factor loadings have been investigated using Varimax orthogonal rotation technique. The aim of the factor analysis is to detect whether it is possible to reduce the items in a scale into a fewer number of factors (Balcı, 2009). On the other hand, the principal component analysis is a common technique, factorizing (Büyüköztürk, 2002). The items with factor loads lower than 0.30 and the items that do not have at least difference between their loads on two factors, or in other words, the items with loads separated into two factors, should be removed (Büyüköztürk, 2002).Thus, it is accepted that having items in a scale with a factor load greater than 0,3 which explain at least 40% of the global variance, is adequate in terms of behavioral science (Büyüköztürk, 2002; Eroğlu, 2008; Kline, 1994; Scherer, Wiebe, Luther & Adams, 1988). Furthermore, it is considered to be well-accepted having a factor load of 0.5 or greater (Büyüköztürk, 2002). In the evaluation of the factor analysis, the factor loads are the primary criterion (Balcı, 2009; Gorsuch, 1983; Eroğlu, 2008). A higher factor load is an indication that the variable should belongs to the factor under consideration (Büyüköztürk, 2002). Furthermore, it is stated that the identification of the common factor variance for the patterns with multi-factor patterns is especially important. The common factor variance is defined as the variance on each of the variables caused by factors and it is identified using the result of factor analysis (Çokluk, Şekercioğlu & Büyüköztürk, 2010). There is supporting evidence that the items should be removed from the scale if its common variance is less than 0.2 (Çokluk et al., 2010). The scale form obtained using the exploratory factor analysis is applied to a new group which is not a part of the study group in the first application and a factor analysis has been carried out on the results. Confirmatory factor analysis is based on the evaluation of the hypotheses which are constructed on the relationship between implicit and explicit variables, i.e. on the relation between items and factors (Pohlmann, 2004). In other words, the confirmatory factor analysis is a structural equivalence model which is related to the methods for measuring the relation between hidden variable and observable measurements (Korkmaz, 2012b). Each of the factors should be explained using its relation to the observable variables (items) (Yılmaz & Çelik, 2009; Raykov & Marcoulides, 2006). The maximum likelihood method is used in the confirmatory factor analysis. It is advised to use more than one consistency value in the structural equation model (Thompson, 2000). Therefore, five consistency values are reported in this study and accordingly the values in the scale model obtained in the confirmatory factor analysis are expected to be in the range, given below, for a perfect consistency given: χ 2 /d<3; 0<RMSEA<0.05; 0 S-RMR 0.05; 0.97 NNFI 1; 0.97 CFI 1; 0.95 GFI 1; 0.95 AGFI 1 ve 0.95 IFI 1. For an acceptable consistency the values are expected to be as follows: χ 2 /d<5; 0.06 RMSEA<0.08; 0.06 S-RMR 0.08; 0.90 NNFI 0.96; 0.90 CFI 0.96; 0.90 GFI 0.96; 0.90 AGFI 0.96 ve 0.90 IFI 0.96 (Kline, 2005; Şimsek, 2007). The discriminative power of the items left after factor analysis, is determined by the independent t-test; the item-total correlation is tested using Pearson s r-test for the validity of the scale. The correlation between the score, obtained for each items and the one of the factor, which the items belongs to, is used an indication to explain the level of contribution of the each items to the general objective of the factor (Balcı, 2009). Another possible value, in order to test the level of contribution of an item, is the corrected correlation. Having a value for the corrected correlation, that is higher than 0.2, shows that the item contributes -33-

40 A validity and reliability study O.Korkmaz & H. Altun considerably to the objective of the corresponding factors (Tavşancıl, 2010). Discriminative power of a scale is accepted as an important evidence for the validity of the scale (Büyüköztürk, 2002). A method to test the discriminative power of a scale is to monitor the differences between the top 27% and the bottom 27% of the group of items, after sorting the raw scores in descending order. Inner-consistency coefficients and stability tests are conducted in order to determine the stability of the scale. Cronbach alpha reliability coefficients, the correlation value between the two-identical half and Sperman-Brown formula and Guttmann split-half reliability formula are used to determine the inner-consistency level of the scale. The value greater than 0.7 for the reliability coefficient is accepted to be a good indication for reliability of the scale (Büyüköztürk, 2002; Gorsuch, 1983). The stability of the scale on the other hand is determined by the correlation between the scores obtained with two applications, which have been conducted separately in an interval of six weeks. As it is indicated a reliable scale should provide reliable measurements (Balcı, 2009). Furthermore, the reliability is partially related to the stability, consistency and sensitivity of the scale. Therefore, these values are considered to be the evidence of the reliability of the scale (Hoyardaoğlu, 2000). The consistency level increases if the reliability coefficient approach to 1.00 and decrease if the coefficient approaches to 0.00 (Gorsuch, 1983). As known, the values between generally indicate a low correlation, the values between indicate a medium correlation and the values between indicate a high correlation for correlation coefficients (Büyüköztürk, 2002). Results Findings regarding the validity of the scale The structural validity, the item-total correlations, corrected correlations and item discrimination were evaluated for the validity of the attitude scale for computer programming learning (ASCOPL) and the findings are listed below. Structural Validity Findings regarding the exploratory factor analysis: First of all, Kaiser-Meyer-Oklin (KMO) and Bartlett tests are conducted, with KMO =0.873, and χ2= ; df=595 (p=0.000) for Bartlett test value, in order to test ASCOPL structural reliability. In terms of these values, it was seen that factor analysis could be conducted on the 25-item scale. In the first place, a principal component analysis has been conducted in order to test whether the scale is one-dimensional or not. Then the Varimax orthogonal rotation method was used according to the principal components. 5 items have been removed from the scale; four of them have an item load less than 0.3 and the other s item load is distributed over various items. The factor analysis was applied to the remaining items again. The final item pool has been investigated by a computer scientist and by a measurement and evaluation expert in order to make sure that contend validity is not deteriorated due to removing of the five items. The experts state that contend validity is not affected and after this confirmation, the rest of the analyses has been conducted. The results of the analyses show that the 20 items in the reduced scale seem to be grouped under three factors. For the reduced scale, the KMO value is as 0.876; Bartlett values are found as χ2= ; df=190; p<0.001, respectively. The non-rotated factor loads of the

41 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 30-43, 1April, 2014 remaining items are found to be between and On the other hand, after Varimax orthogonal transformation, the loads are laid between and Furthermore, the factors and items in the reduced scale are found to contribute to 47.34% of the total variance. Next, the contents of the items in the factors were examined and factor names were given. There were 9 items under the factor named willingness, 6 items under the factor named negativity, and 5 items under the factor named necessity. The Kaiser rule is one of the mostly used procedures to determine the number of components. According to Kaiser (1960), each observed variable contributes one unit of variance to the total variance. If the eigenvalue is greater than 1, then each principal component explains at least as much variance as 1 observed variable. According to the Kaiser Criterion examined eigenvalues, the scale is confirmed by the above-mentioned tree-factor structure. Table 2 illustrates the results obtained on the reduced scale with 20 items; it shows item loads, factor eigenvalues and the amount of the contribution of the items to the total variance Table 2. Factor analysis results of the reduced scale as per factors Items Common factor variances F1 F2 F3 Willingness Negativity Necessity I1 Given the chance, I would like to participate in computer programming courses in different departments in my free time. I2 Writing a computer program is funny for me I3 I want to be a member of a club for computer programming I4 Computer programming courses are at the head of the courses that I enjoy the most. I5 I thing that less time for lesson about programming skills I6 I feel very comfortable in computer programming courses I7 I'm sure I can learn to computer programming I8 I am sure I'm able to put on high-level programming products I9 I think I can write long and complex programs I10 I am afraid of computer programming courses, I11 I'm not good in computer programming I12 Computer programming is very difficult to me I13 In my spare time, writing a computer program does not deal with inside. I14 Programming courses has always been my worst courses I15 I can handle many issues. But it cannot keep a good job with programming I16 Programming will be important to my business life I17 After graduating from school, I do not think use the programming skills. I18 Taking Programming course is a waste time for me I19 It doesn't matter for my future to be successful in programming I20 My teachers think that advanced programming would be a waste of time for me. Eigenvalue Explained variance The willingness factor consists of 9 items as seen in Table 2 and their factor loads varies from to The eigenvalue of this factor within the scale is 5.75, and its contribution to general variance is %. The negativity factor, on the other hand, contains 6 items. The factor loads of these items are within a range of and The eigenvalue of the factor is found to be 2.10 and the factor explains % of the variance. The last factor, the necessity has 5 items. The factor load of the items is ranging from to The eigenvalue of the factor is and, the contribution of the factor to total variance is measured as %. -35-

42 A validity and reliability study O.Korkmaz & H. Altun Findings regarding confirmatory factor analysis: After an expletory analysis it has been proved that the scale consists of three factors. Another confirmatory factor analysis has been carried out on the new data. The data covers a group of sample which contains 262 students, which is not used in the previous experiments. As the result of the confirmatory factor analysis conducted using the maximum likelihood method without any limitations, the worth of fit values was found to be: χ 2 (sd=167, N=226)= 636,68, p<.001, RMSEA= 0,075, S-RMR= 0,063, GFI= 0,90, AGFI= 0,91, CFI= 0,96, NNFI= 0,96 ve IFI= 0,96. According to these values, it can be claimed that all consistency goodness values are acceptable, in another words, the attained model shows that the factors are validated by data. The factorial model of the scale and the t values regarding the factoritem relationship are illustrated in Figure 1. Figure 1. First level confirmatory factor analysis correlation diagram of the scale (t values) A second level confirmatory factor analysis has been carried out in order to show that three factors obtained by the first level confirmatory factor analysis of the scale can be combined together to represent an attitude variable as an upper level concept. The model under consideration are based on the relationship between hidden variables, which obtained from the first level confirmative factor analysis. Also, the variances, which are explained by the second level attitude variable on the first level variables, are taken into consideration. The second level factor model has been tested by adding the second level attitude variable to the first level confirmative structure, which has already been tested by using the three hidden and 20 indicator variables. The correlation diagram of the second level confirmatory factor analysis of the scale and its t-values are given in Figure

43 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 30-43, 1April, 2014 Figure 2. Second level confirmatory factor analysis correlation diagram of the scale (t values) The factor loads between the first level hidden variables (Willingness, Negativity and Necessity) in the model and Attitude, the upper level (second level) variable, ( λx ), t values, measurement errors (δ) and the (R2) the rate of explaining the second level variables on the first level variables are given in Table 3. Tablo 3. λx, δ, t and R² values of the second level confirmatory factor analysis on super concept sub concept relation. Second level variable Attitude First level variable λx δ t R2 F1: Willingness F2: Negativity F3: Necessity Based on the path coefficients and t-values, it is found that the highest correlation is between the Attitude and Negativity. Also the correlation between Attitude and the 3 dimensions are found to be meaningful and positive (p<0.05). When investigating the explained variances on the first level variables by the second level variable, Attitude, it is found that the Negativity variable is explained by a value of (R 2 =0.98), following the Willingness (R 2 =0.76) and Necessity (R 2 =0.64). Item factor total and corrected correlations In this section, the correlations between the scores obtained from each item and the scores obtained from the factors with the item total correlation and corrected item correlation method were calculated and each item s level of serving the general purpose was tested. The itemfactor correlation values and corrected correlation values for each item are presented in Table

44 A validity and reliability study O.Korkmaz & H. Altun Table 4. Item-factor scores correlation analysis Items Factor Total Correlation Items Corrected Correlation F1 F2 F3 F1 F2 I. r I. R I. r I. r I. r I. r I (**) I (**) I (**) I I I6,562 I (**) I (**) I (**) I I I7,540 I (**) I (**) I (**) I I I18,548 I (**) I (**) I (**) I I I19,486 I (**) I (**) I (**) I I I20,414 I (**) I (**) I I I (**) I I (**) I I (**) I N=469; **=p< As seen from the Table 4, the item test correlation varies from to for the first factor; from to for the second factor; from to for the third factor. Each item is meaningful for the factors in general and have a positive correlation (p<0,001). Also, as seen in the table 4, the corrected correlation coefficient, between each one of the items in the scale and the factor that the item belongs to, varies from to for the first factor; from to for the second factor; from to for the third factor. It can be stated that, based on the findings, each one of the items contributes to the factor to which it belongs. Item discrimination The discrimination power of each item in the scale has been calculated. First of all, the raw score obtained for each item has been sorted in descending order. Then, the upper and the bottom groups of items, which formed by the lowest 27% and by the highest 27%, both of which included 127 students were determined. The independent group t-test value is calculated based on the total scores in the groups. t-values regarding the discrimination power and the findings related to the level of meaningfulness are listed in Table 5. Table 5. Item discrimination powers. F1 F2 F3 I. T I. t I. t I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I F F I F Total I df:242; p< In Table 5, it is seen that the values of the independent pattern t-test, regarding 20 items in the scale, factors and total score, range from to The t-value for the scale, on the other hand, is found to be Each of the difference level is meaningful (p<0.001). Based on these findings, it can be stated that the discrimination power of the scale and that of each of the items are high. Findings regarding the reliability of the scale In order to determine the reliability of the scale the internal-consistency and stability analyses have been performed. The procedures and findings are elaborated in the following -38-

45 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 30-43, 1April, 2014 sections. Internal consistency level For the stability of the scale as a whole and on the factor level, Cronbach alpha reliability coefficients, the correlation value between the two-identical half and Sperman- Brown formula and Guttmann split-half reliability formula are used. The reliability test results on the factors and on the whole scale are summarized in the Table 6. Table 6. Reliability analysis results considering the whole of the scale and its factors. Factors Number Two congruent Sperman Guttmann Cronbach s of items halves correlation Brown Split-Half Alpha F F F Total As seen from the Table 6, the scale which consists of 3 factors and 20 items has a value of for the correlation value between the two-identical half. For the scale, the Sperman Brown reliability coefficient is 0.690; Guttmann Split-Half value is 0.688; Cronbach s Alpha reliability coefficient is On the other hand, for the factors, the Sperman Brown reliability coefficient is found to be between and 0.777; Guttmann Split-Half value is found to be between and 0.795; Cronbach s Alpha reliability coefficient is found to be between and Based on these findings, it can be concluded that the scale as a whole and the factors can be used for a consistent measurement. Stability Level The stability level of the scale was calculated using the test-retest method. The 20- item final form of the scale was re-applied to 41 students, to whom the scale had been applied, after six weeks. These 41 students were voluntary senior students at the same institution and department of computer education and instructional technology. There are many barriers to reach many more students for retesting. However, these 41 students at Ahi Evran University could be reached easily. In any case, it can be said that 41 participants are enough for parametric analyses. The correlations between the obtained scores after each application were examined, both in terms of the general scale and each item in the scale. Therefore, both the general scales and each item s ability to make stable measurements were tested and the findings are summarized in Table 7. Table 7. Test-retest results of the items of the scale. Items Factor Total Correlation F1 F2 F3 I. R I. R I. r I (**) I (**) I (*) I (**) I (**) I (**) I (**) I (**) I (*) I (*) I (**) I (**) I (**) I (**) I (**) I (**) I (*) I (**) I (*) F (**) F (**) I (**) F (**) FT 0.732(**) N=41; *=p<00.05; **=p< The correlation coefficients for each item in the scale, obtained by the test-retest methods, are found to be in the range of and It is found that the relations are meaning and -39-

46 A validity and reliability study O.Korkmaz & H. Altun positive. The correlation coefficients for the factors, on the other hand, are found to range from and The correlation regarding total score is and all the relations are meaningful and positive. The findings indicate that the scale is able to conduct reliable measurements. Discussion In this study, a scale was developed in order to determine the attitude of students towards computer programming learning. ASCOPL is a 5-point Likert-type scale, consisting of 20 items, which can be grouped under three factors. The factors are labeled based on their general characteristics of items in the factor and on the convention in the literature. Attitude indicates the tendency of the individuals towards rejection or acceptance; it s positive or negative feelings towards the events, phenomenon, objects and thoughts (Gay & Airasian, 2000). In a similar way, it is the positive or negative feelings of the individuals towards realization of a behavior according to Fishbein ve Ajzen (1975, cited: Lai, et al., 2012). The attitude, according to Robbins (1994), is the expression of the feelings of an individual on an object. Therefore, given these circumstances, it can be said that the general structure of an attitude possesses a two-pool indication between positive-ness and negative-ness. Under this convention, due to similar characteristics which are observable for the items under the factors, the factor which embraces the nine positive items is labeled as Willingness, and the factor which consists of six negative items is labeled as Negativity. As the rest of positive items have a common theme of necessity regarding computer programming learning, the factor which embraces these items is labeled as Necessity. Item total correlations and corrected correlations were calculated and it was found that each item and each factor in the scale significantly served the purpose of measuring the feature that was expected to be measured with the general scale. In addition, the item discrimination powers were investigated by examining the t values regarding the difference between the highest 27% and the lowest 27% groups and it was determined that both the general scale and each item in the scale had high discrimination power, in other words each item was discriminatory at the expected level. The internal stability coefficients are calculated using Cronbach alpha reliability coefficients, the correlation value between the two-identical half and Sperman-Brown formula and Guttmann split-half reliability formula. Based on the findings using these values it is determined that the scale is suitable for reliable measurements. Test-retest method is used to check the time-invariance level of the scale, on the data which collected after six weeks from the first experiments. Test-retest method is applied for each one of the items and as well as for each sub-factors in the scale. It is proven that the items and the factors in the scale is time-invariance and hence provide stabile measurements. As a result, it can be said that the ASCOPL is a valid and reliable scale that can be used in the determination of students attitude towards computer programming learning. There is little reliable and stable scale in the literature for this purpose. Therefore, the scale will provide a substantial contribution to the literature. However, validity and reliability studies of the assessment instrument are restricted only to 496 students of Engineering and 262 students of Computer and Instructional Technologies Teacher Education. It can be suggested that validity and reliability studies should be repeated in order for the scale to be used in different stages of education. -40-

47 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 30-43, 1April, 2014 References Anastasiadou, S.D. & Karakos, A.S. (2011). The beliefs of electrical and computer engineering students regarding computer programming. The International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society, 7(1): Aşkar, P., Davenport, D. (2009). An investigation of factors related to self-efficacy for java programming among engineering students. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 8(1): Balcı, A. (2009). Sosyal bilimlerde araştırma: Yöntem, teknik ve ilkeler [Research in social science: Methods, techniques and principles]. Ankara: PegemA Pub. Büyüköztürk, Ş. (2002). Sosyal bilimler için veri analizi el kitabı [Data analysis for social sciences hand book]. Ankara: PegemA Pub. Çokluk, Ö., Şekercioğlu, G., & Büyüköztürk, Ş. (2010). Sosyal bilimler için çok değişkenli istatistik: Spss ve Lisrel uygulamaları [Multivariable statistics for social sciences: Spss and Lisrel applications]. Ankara: PegemA pub. Erdogan, Y., Aydin, E. & Kabaca, Y.T. (2008). Exploring the Psychological Predictors of Programming Achievement. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 35(3): Eric No: EJ Eroğlu, A. (2008). Faktör analizi [Factor analyses]. In: Kalaycı, Ş. (ed), SPSS Uygulamalı Çok Değişkenli İstatistik Teknikleri [Statistics Techniques with Multi Variable in SPSS Applications], Ankara: Asil Pub: Fang, X. (2012). Application of the participatory method to the computer fundamentals course, Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction. Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing, 137: Gay, L.R. & Airasian, P. (2000). Educational Research. New Jersey: Upper Saddle River. Gomes, A., Mendes, A., J.(2007). Learning to program-difficulties and solutions. International Conference on Engineering Education, ICEE. Available at: Gorsuch, R. L. (1983). Factor analysis. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Hawi, N. (2010). Causal attributions of success and failure made by undergraduate students in an introductory-level computer programming course. Computers & Education, 54: doi: /j.compedu Hernane, B.P., Gilney F.Z & Marcelo A., M.(2010). Learning computer programming: Implementing a fractal in a Turing machine, Computers & Education. 55(2): doi: /j.compedu Hovardaoğlu, S, (2000). Davranış bilimleri için araştırma teknikleri [Research techniques for behavioral science]. Ankara: Ve-Ga Pub. Hwang, G., Wu, P. & Chen, C. (2012). An online game approach for improving students learning performance in web-based problem-solving activities. Computers & Education, 59: doi: /j.compedu Jenkins, T. (2002). On the difficulty of learning to program. in Proc. of the 3 rd Annu. LTSN_ICS Conf., Loughborough University, United Kingdom, pp Available at: Kaiser, H. F. (1960). The application of electronic computers to factor analysis. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 20, Katai, Z., Juhasz, K., & Adorjani, A. K. (2008). On the role of senses in education. Computers & Education, 51(4), doi: /j.compedu Kline, P. (1994). An easy guide to factor analysis. London and New York: Routledge. Kline, R.B. (2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling, 2 nd ed, New York: Guilford Press. -41-

48 A validity and reliability study O.Korkmaz & H. Altun Korkmaz, Ö. (2012a). The Impact of Critical Thinking and Logical-Mathematical Intelligence on Algorithmic Design Skills. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 46(2): DOI: /EC.46.2.d. Korkmaz, Ö. (2012b). A validity and reliability study of the online cooperative learning attitude scale (oclas). Computers & Education, 59(4): Doi: /j.compedu Korkmaz, Ö. (2013). Students Difficulties in and Opinions about Designing Algorithms According to Different Instructional Applications. Energy Education Science and Technology Part B: Social and Educational Studies, 5(1) Lai, C., Wang, Q. & Lei, J. (2012). What factors predict undergraduate students' use of technology for learning? A case from Hong Kong. Computers & Education, 59(2): oi: /j.compedu Landry, J.P., Pardue, J.H., Doran, M.V. & Daigle, R.J. (2002). Encouraging Students to Adopt Software Engineering Methodologies: The Inf luence of Structured Group Labs on Beliefs and Attitudes. Journal of Engineering Education, 91(1): Doi: /j tb00678.x Lau, W.W.F. & Yuen, A.H.K. (2009) Exploring the effects of gender and learning styles on computer programming performance: implications for programming pedagogy. British Journal of Educational Technology, Vol. 40, No. 4, pp doi: /j x Lau, W.W.F., Yuen, A.H.K. (2011). Modelling programming performance: Beyond the influence of learner characteristics. Computers & Education, 57: doi: /j.compedu Lockwood, M. (2012). Attitudes to Reading in English Primary Schools. English in Education, 46(3): DOI: /j x Milne, I. & Rowe, G. (2002). Difficulties in Learning and Teaching Programming Views of Students and Tutors. Education and Information Technologies, 2002, 7(1): Doi: /A: Pohlmann, J.T. (2004). Use and Interpretation of Factor Analysis in the Journal of Educational Research: The Journal of Educational Research, 98(1), Eric No: EJ Ramalingam, V. & Wiedenbeck, S. (1998) Development and validation of scores on a computer programming self-efficacy scale and group analyses of novice programmer self-efficacy. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 19(4): Raykov, T., & Marcoulides, G.A. (2006). A first course structural equation modeling. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Assocation Inc. Publishers, pp 4. Robbins, S.P. (1994). Örgütsel Davranışın Temelleri [Organisational Behavior] (Translate.: Sevgi Ayşe Öztürk) Eskişehir ETAM Pub. Robins, A., Rountree, J. & Rountree, N.(2003). Learning and Teaching Programming: A Review and Discussion. Computer Science Education, 13(2): Doi: /csed Russell, D. W. (2002). In search of underlying dimensions:the use (and abuse) of factor analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, Sacks, C., Bellisimo, Y. & Mergendoller, J (1993) Attitudes toward computers and computer use: the issue of gender. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 26: Scherer, R.F., Wiebe, F.A., Luther, D. C. & Adams J. S. (1988). Dimensionality of coping: Factor stability using the ways of coping questionnaire, Psychological Reports 62(3), PubMed PMID:

49 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 30-43, 1April, 2014 Şimşek, Ö.F. (2007). Yapısal eşitlik modellemesine giriş [Introduction to structural equation modeling]. Ankara: Ekinoks Pub., Tan, P., Ting, C., Ling, S. (2009). Learning Difficulties in Programming Courses: Undergraduates Perspective and Perception. International Conference on Computer Technology and Development, doi: /icctd Tavşancıl E. (2010). Tutumların ölçülmesi ve spss ile veri analizi [Measurement of attitudes, and data analysis with SPSS], 4th ed. Ankara: Nobel Pub., Thompson, B. (2000). Ten commandments of structural equation modeling. In Grimm, L. G., Yarnold, P. R. (Eds.), Reading and understanding more multivariate statistics (pp ). Washington, DC:American Psychological Association. Van de Gae, E., Grisay, A., Schulz, W. & Gebhardt, E. (2012).The Reference Group Effect An Explanation of the Paradoxical Relationship Between Academic Achievement and Self-Confidence Across Countries. Journal Of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 43(8): doi: / Wang, Y., Li, H., Feng, Y., Jiang, Y., & Liu, Y. (2012). Assessment of programming language learning based on peer code review model: Implementation and experience report. Computers & Education, 59: doi: /j.compedu Yılmaz, R. & Kılıç-Çakmak, E. (2012). Educational interface agents as social models to influence learner achievement, attitude and retention of learning. Computers & Education, 59(2): doi: /j.compedu Yılmaz, V., & Çelik, E. (2009). Lirsel ile yapısal eşitlik modellemesi I [Structural equation modeling with Lisrel]. Ankara: PegemA pub, pp

50 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 4(1), pp , 1 April, 2014 Available online at Article history Received: The effectiveness of computer assisted instruction on vocabulary achievement Tutku Basoz * English Language Teaching Department, Balıkesir University, Balıkesir, Turkey Received in revised form: Accepted: Feryal Cubukcu English Language Teaching Department, Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir, Turkey In recent years, computer assisted language learning has come to the forefront of language learning and teaching. Computer assisted vocabulary instruction has been considered to be one of the most common applications of CALL. The purpose of this article is to investigate the effectiveness of computer assisted instruction on students vocabulary achievement. The subjects of this quasi-experimental study consisted of 52 freshmen studying in the ELT Department of Balıkesir University in the spring semester of academic year. Before the intervention, the students were randomly assigned to one of the groups; Computer Assisted Instruction or Communicative Language Teaching and they were given a pre-test. Following the pre-test, the CAVI group studied 20 target words by using a Moodle in a computer laboratory whereas the CLT group was instructed the same words by their teacher in a communicative classroom atmosphere. Both groups were given the post-test immediately after the intervention. The delayed post-test was administered to the freshmen five weeks after the intervention in order to test the retention. The results revealed that both CAVI and CLT groups had some kind of vocabulary gain as a result of the treatments. However, there was no significant difference between the groups in vocabulary gains. Key words: Computer assisted language learning, computer assisted vocabulary instruction, vocabulary achievement, communicative language teaching. Introduction In broad terms, Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) may be defined as "the search for and study of applications on the computer in language teaching and learning" (Levy, 1997, p. 1). It is often regarded as the use of computers as an aid for presenting the language material. Another definition of CALL that accommodates its changing nature is "any process in which a learner uses a computer and, as a result, improves his or her language (Beatty, 2003, p. 7). The term is widely used to refer to "the area of technology and second language teaching and learning" (Chapelle, 2001, p. 3). CALL has come to include "issues of materials design, technologies, pedagogical theories and modes of instruction" (Beatty, 2003, p. 7). It is now used routinely in a variety of instructional situations. Language teachers are increasingly supposed to possess CALL expertise that involves both practical skills and a complete understanding of information technology theory. As a result, it is * Correspondence: ELT Department, Necatibey Education Faculty, Balıkesir University, Balıkesir/TURKEY Phone Number: [email protected]

51 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 44-54, 1April, 2014 becoming more and more essential for teachers to be familiar with CALL applications within the classroom. They need to design, implement, and evaluate CALL activities in their classrooms (Fotos & Browne, 2004). Moreover, CALL is perceived as the most innovative area in the practice of foreign/second language items (Jones, 2001). Since the initial introduction of computers into the field of second/foreign language education, many researchers have naturally tried to evaluate the effectiveness of this new medium and its applications on language learning (Davies, 2002; Jones, 2001; Levy, 1997). Nowadays computers play a paramount role in the field of language instruction (Montazeri & Hamidi, 2013). CALL is now an integral part of EFL classrooms and is likely to assume increasing importance as technology improves. Computer Assisted Vocabulary Instruction (CAVI) has been considered to be one of the most common applications of CALL. It consists of practices involving the use of computers for vocabulary learning and instruction purposes. Vocabulary learning/teaching has been a highly popular subject matter in computer assisted language learning applications since the early history of CALL. However, the studies which examine the effects of computer assisted language learning applications on vocabulary learning are only available in small quantities. While some of these studies (Tozcu & Coady, 2004; Eşit, 2007; Nakata, 2008; Kılıçkaya & Krajka, 2010; Lin et al., 2011; Kayaoğlu et al., 2011; Gorjian et al., 2011; Fehr et al., 2012) have examined the effectiveness of a computer assisted vocabulary instruction program to test whether it is efficient or not in vocabulary learning, others (Koçak, 1997; Özdemir, 2001; Tokaç, 2005; Cellat, 2008) have compared teacher-led instruction and computer assisted instruction in terms of vocabulary learning. Firstly, Koçak (1997) aimed at investigating the effectiveness of computer assisted language learning on vocabulary teaching and learning. The results of the study supported the hypothesis that the experimental group liked working with computers and they learned and retained more vocabulary than the control group. Secondly, the study of Özdemir (2001) probed whether online media tools help or discourage young learners. The results of the study showed that online tool was more effective than classroom learning instruction on students productive vocabulary. It was concluded that the computer assisted vocabulary instruction group could do better in the production test because it triggers students motivation and students can study individually at their own pace during the application. Tokaç (2005) compared the computer assisted vocabulary instruction with teacher-led vocabulary instruction. According to the results, neither computer group nor the teacher group showed significantly more vocabulary gains. Thus, computer assisted vocabulary instruction was found to be as effective as teacher-led vocabulary instruction. Likewise, Cellat (2008) tried to identify whether learning and retaining of foreign language vocabulary would prove to be profitable for students who study vocabulary in a computer environment when compared to students who study the same vocabulary instruction material in a classroom environment under the guidance of their teacher. The findings of the research indicated that the computer assisted vocabulary instruction group performed better on both immediate and delayed tests when compared to the teacher-led instruction group. As stated above, there are also some studies which have examined the effectiveness of a computer assisted vocabulary instruction program to test whether it is efficient or not in vocabulary learning. The study of Tozcu & Coady (2004), for instance, examined the effect of direct vocabulary learning using computer assisted language learning on vocabulary knowledge, reading comprehension, and speed of word recognition. It was found that the treatment students showed significantly greater gains than the control students even though both groups showed increases in vocabulary gain, and reading comprehension, and a decrease -45-

52 The effectiveness of computer assisted instruction T.Basoz & F. Cubukcu in reaction time for frequent word recognition. The next study applied in EFL context in Turkey was the study of Eşit (2007) which investigated the effectiveness of an intelligent computer assistant language learning program on Turkish learners vocabulary learning. The results of the study revealed that reading activities with the Intelligent Computer Assistant Language Learning Program had positive effects on both learners vocabulary learning and their attitudes towards the use of an Intelligent Computer Assistant Language Learning application in the classroom. Focusing on a different point, Nakata (2008) aimed at comparing vocabulary learning with word lists, word cards, and computers in order to determine which material leads to the most superior spaced learning. The study showed the superiority of computers over lists, the limited advantage of word cards over lists, and no statistically significant difference between computers and cards. The study of Yan (2010) attempted to examine the effect of computer assisted language learning on de-contextualized multimedia software vocabulary learning and retention for college level students in Taiwan. The findings of the study showed that the de-contextualized multimedia vocabulary-learning software program had better learning and retention result than traditional classroom teaching. In the study of Kılıçkaya & Krajka (2010) the effectiveness of online vocabulary teaching and the traditional methods were compared. The results of the study demonstrated that the learners in the experimental group outperformed the learners in the control group and that the experimental group students better remembered the words studied online. Another study examining the effectiveness of a computer assisted vocabulary instruction program on vocabulary learning was the study of Lin, Chan & Hsiao (2011). According to findings, learning collaboratively with computers were not outperformed in vocabulary tests designed for individual study; however, they showed better retention, outperforming the others in the delayed post-test. The next study which was applied in EFL context in Turkey was carried out by Kayaoğlu, Akbaş & Ozturk (2011) and explored whether any difference exists between the students having a traditional text-based method and those having computer-based method. The results of the study suggested that using multimedia such as animations contributed to students' achievement in vocabulary learning. Gorjian, Moosavinia, Kavari, Asgari & Hydarei (2011), on the other hand, measured the impact of asynchronous computer assisted language learning approaches on high and low achievers' vocabulary retention and recall of English as foreign language learners. High achievers benefited from the computer assisted language learning approach to learn vocabulary in both retention and recall processes whereas the low achievers gained the chance of learning vocabulary just in retention period. Lastly, the study of Fehr, Davison, Graves, Sles, Seipel & Sekhran-Sharma (2012) attempted to decide the effects of an individualized, online vocabulary program on picture vocabulary test scores. Post-test scores indicated that the students in the treatment condition outperformed control students. It was concluded that the computer-adaptive, individualized instruction provided by this vocabulary program addressed a need for efficiency in remediation of vocabulary deficits. To put it shortly, previous research has generally supported the idea that computer assisted vocabulary instruction facilitates L2 vocabulary acquisition and has provided us with some practical and theoretical insights to understand computer assisted vocabulary instruction (Koçak, 1997; Özdemir, 2001; Tozcu & Coady, 2004; Eşit, 2007; Nakata, 2008; Cellat, 2008; Kılıçkaya & Krajka, 2010; Lin et al., 2011; Kayaoğlu et al., 2011; Gorjian et al., 2011; Fehr et al., 2012). Nevertheless, there are also some studies which have revealed that computer assisted vocabulary instruction is not more effective than teacher instruction (Tokaç, 2005; Cellat, 2008). Taking all these into account, this article aims at investigating the effectiveness of computer assisted instruction on ELT freshmen s vocabulary achievement. The article also explores whether gender plays a role in vocabulary achievement of ELT freshmen. -46-

53 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 44-54, 1April, 2014 Method Research Design Lacking random selection of participants and having treatment groups constructed from intact classes, this study employed a quasi-experimental pre-post test control group design with two groups (experimental and control groups). While the experimental (CAVI) group was treated in a different way from the control (CLT) group, the two groups received the same pre-, post- and delayed post-test. Table 1. The Research Design Pre-test Experiment Post-test Delayed Post-test Experimental Group (CAVI) 1 st week 4 weeks 5 th week 10 th week Control Group (CLT) 1 st week 4 weeks 5 th week 10 th week Participants The present study was conducted with the participation of 52 freshmen studying in the English Language Teaching Department of Balıkesir University, Turkey in the spring semester of academic year. All students were native speakers of Turkish and their ages varied between 18 and 24. The freshmen were randomly assigned to one of the groups; Computer Assisted Vocabulary Instruction (CAVI) or Vocabulary Instruction through Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). There were 6 male and 20 female students in the CAVI group (26) whereas there were 9 male and 17 female students in the CLT group (26). Instruments The data were collected through the vocabulary achievement test. The vocabulary achievement test developed by Caplan & Douglas was adapted from the vocabulary sections of the book Q: Skills for Success Reading and Writing (Caplan & Douglas, 2011). The test included 20 multiple choice questions designed to assess the participants' knowledge of the target vocabulary. In order to test the reliability of the achievement test, another group of participants from the Department of English Language Teaching at Balıkesir University (150) was chosen. This group was asked to take the test before administering it to the real participant group. Item difficulty indices ( P = 0.77) and discrimination indices ( r = 0.55) were calculated for each item. Using the data from item analysis the Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient was calculated as 0.83 which indicated that the test was highly reliable (Özdamar, 2004: 633). Procedure Before the intervention, the students were randomly assigned to one of the groups; Computer Assisted Instruction (the experimental group) or Communicative Language Teaching (the control group) and they were given a pre-test. Following the pre-test, The CAVI group studied 20 target words by using a Moodle in a computer laboratory. They studied the target vocabulary interactively through a sequence of vocabulary learning activities which were planned by the researcher. The target words were presented with textual, visual and audio media. When they clicked on a highlighted word, they could see the definition of the word, hear the pronunciation of it, see the grammatical form of it such as noun, adjective, verb and see the word in a sentence example. They were also provided with -47-

54 The effectiveness of computer assisted instruction T.Basoz & F. Cubukcu computerized multiple choice comprehension questions, matching, fill-in-the-blanks, truefalse activities, crossword or word search puzzles, and games. In other words, they were actively engaged in vocabulary practice thanks to these types of exercises and games. Moreover, they were given computer-based immediate feedback on their answers to questions. During the sessions, the researcher guided the freshmen to use the software and helped them whenever they had a problem with the software. However, the researcher never interfered with the freshmen's practices and learning pace. They all studied the target vocabulary individually and at their own pace. The CLT group, on the other hand, was instructed the same words by their teacher in a communicative classroom atmosphere. The instruction consisted of the same reading texts, words, definitions, example sentences, exercises, and games as those designed for the CAVI group. During the classroom applications, the teacher fostered a communicative atmosphere through the classroom activities such as games, pair-works, and discussions. First, vocabulary items were presented by the teacher through the use of a variety of vocabulary teaching techniques such as making a definition of the word in the target language, using real objects, mime or gesture, synonyms, antonyms or hyponyms, employing visual aids such as pictures or board drawings, using word networks, dramatization, illustrative sentences, guessing words from the context, vocabulary games, puzzles etc. Then the freshmen practised the words with several activities. After each activity, the teacher checked the answers of the students and made any necessary corrections. During the sessions, the freshmen were required to follow the teacher's instruction. Thus, they had to regulate their own learning pace according to the teacher. The intervention took four weeks for both groups. All students received two class hours of instruction per week. Both groups were given the post-test immediately after the intervention. The same test was also used as the delayed post-test which was administered to the freshmen five weeks after the intervention in order to test the retention. Data Analysis The quantitative data collected from the vocabulary achievement test were analysed by SPSS 16.0 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) Software. Before running t-test and One-Way ANOVA test, both normality and homogeneity of variances assumptions were satisfied. Normality of variances assumptions of t-test were satisfied through Kolmogorov- Smirnov Test (p>.05) whereas homogeneity of variances assumptions of One-Way ANOVA were satisfied via Levene Test of Homogeneity of Variances (p>.05). First, the scores of preand post-tests were compared for each group. Then, the results of post-tests for both groups were compared through t-test. Finally, the mean scores of delayed post-test for both groups were compared. In order to find out the difference in success levels between male and female students, independent samples t-test was conducted. One-Way ANOVA test was also applied in order to see whether these results were random or not. Results Table 2 shows the results of the pre-test for both groups. Close mean scores (.571 and.573) between the two groups indicated that the participants' target vocabulary knowledge were almost the same before the intervention. Statistical analysis showed no statistically significant difference between the groups according to the results of pre-test (p=.935>.05) which is higher than

55 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 44-54, 1April, 2014 Table 2. The Comparison of the Pre-test Scores of the Two Groups Groups N Means Std. Dev. -t- -p- CAVI CLT The pre-test and post-test results of the experimental and control groups were compared through paired-samples t-test. The statistical findings regarding the experimental group are presented as follows (see Table 3): Table 3. The Comparison of Pre- and Post-test Scores of the CAVI Group Tests N Means Std. Dev. -t- -p- Pre-test Post-test The paired-samples t-test analysis of the pre- and post-test for the CAVI group was computed as.000 at the.05 level of significance. This shows that there was a significant difference before and after the intervention in the CAVI group (p<.05). In other words, the group's vocabulary knowledge increased after the intervention when we consider the mean scores. In order to discover whether the CLT group's target vocabulary knowledge increased after the intervention, the pre- and post-test scores of the CLT group were compared (see Table 4). Table 4. The Comparison of Pre- and Post-test Scores of the CLT Group Tests N Means Std. Dev. -t- -p- Pre-test Post-test As seen above, the mean scores of the CLT group was calculated as.573 for pre-test, and as.925 for post-test. The result of the analysis indicated that there was a significant difference between the pre- and post-test scores of the CLT group (p<.05) in terms of their target vocabulary knowledge. That is to say, Communicative Language Teaching helped the students to develop their vocabulary knowledge. In order to find out whether CAVI group learned more vocabulary than the CLT group, both groups were compared according to their post-test scores. Table 5 shows the results of the post-tests for both groups: Table 5. The Comparison of Post-test Results of the CAVI and CLT Groups Groups N Means Std. Dev. -t- -p- CAVI CLT The value of.079 p>.05) showed that there was no significant difference between the posttest scores of the experimental and control groups. Therefore, it can be said that both instruction types (CAVI and CLT) are successful in teaching vocabulary and their effects do not have any significant difference. The statistical results regarding the comparison of post-test and delayed post-test scores of the CAVI group are displayed in the table below: -49-

56 The effectiveness of computer assisted instruction T.Basoz & F. Cubukcu Table 6. The Comparison of Post- and Delayed Post-test Scores of the CAVI Group Tests N Means Std. Dev. -t- -p- Post-test Del. Post-test Although there seemed a difference between mean scores, the results of paired samples t-test indicated that the significance value was.094 at the.05 level of significance which did not mean a statistically significant difference between the post-test and delayed post-test in the CAVI group. That is to say, computer assisted instruction seemed effective in vocabulary retention. As for the CLT Group, the statistical results regarding the comparison of post-test and delayed post-test scores are displayed in the Table 7: Table 7. The Comparison of Post- and Delayed Post-test Scores of the CLT Group Tests N Means Std. Dev. -t- -p- Post-test Del. Post-test The results of the paired samples t-test analysis of the post- and delayed post-tests for the CLT group showed that the p value was.779 which was higher than the.05 level of significance, and it suggested that there was not a statistically significant difference between the post-test and delayed post-test results of the CLT group in terms of retention. Even though the above-mentioned results indicated that there was no significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of their target vocabulary knowledge and retention levels, ANOVA was applied in order to see whether these results were random or not. Table 8 shows the result of ANOVA analysis: Tests Pre-test Post-test Table 8. The Results of ANOVA Sum of Squares df Mean Squares Between Groups Within Groups Total Between Groups Within Groups Total Del.Post-test Between Groups Within Groups Total The results of ANOVA analysis revealed the fact that there was no significant difference between the pre-test scores of the two groups before the intervention (p=.935>.05). After the intervention, there was no significant difference between the groups in terms of vocabulary development (p=.079 >.05), either. As for the retention level, the delayed post-test scores still did not show a statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of vocabulary retention (p=.503>.05). This study was also aimed at discovering whether gender played a role in the vocabulary achievement of the freshmen. In order to find out the difference in success levels between male and female students, independent samples t-test was conducted. Firstly, the mean scores F P -50-

57 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 44-54, 1April, 2014 of the CAVI group in two genders were calculated. Table 9 shows the post-test mean scores and gender differences: Table 9. The Comparison of Male and Female Students Post-test Scores in the CAVI Group Gender N Means Std. Dev. -t- -p- Male Female According to Table 9, statistically there was no significant difference between genders in terms of vocabulary knowledge level (p=.420>.05) of the CAVI group. Secondly, the mean scores of the CLT group in two genders were examined in order to determine whether gender played a role in the vocabulary achievement of the CLT group (see Table 10). Table 10. The Comparison of Male and Female Students Post-test Scores in the CLT Group Gender N Means Std. Dev. -t- -p- Male Female Although it seemed that female students were more successful than male students in post-test of the CLT group in terms of means, the difference between genders in terms of vocabulary knowledge level was not statistically significant (p=.109>0.05). That is to say, gender did not have a significant impact on the vocabulary achievement of the freshmen in the CLT group. Discussion In the light of the results of this study, some concluding remarks can be made. First of all, when the two groups were investigated within themselves, the results of the study lead us to the conclusion that both instruction groups' mean scores were found to have increased significantly, and they did not experience forgetting over time. It can be deduced that learning can certainly occur no matter what the instruction type is (Gagne, Wager, Golas, Keller, & Russell, 2005). Secondly, it can be concluded from the study that despite receiving different instruction types, there was no significant difference between the groups in vocabulary gains. In other words, both instruction types (CAVI and CLT) were successful in teaching vocabulary and their effects on the freshmen's vocabulary achievement did not have any significant difference. Contrary to what is believed, the result highlighted the significance of the fact that computer assisted instruction may not always offer better learning experience to students with respect to vocabulary learning. The teacher factor is also important and computers cannot substitute teachers (Tokaç, 2005; Cellat, 2008). So, it can be said that the findings of this study contradict the previous research (Koçak, 1997; Özdemir, 2001; Tozcu & Coady, 2004; Eşit, 2007; Nakata, 2008; Kılıçkaya & Krajka, 2010; Lin et al., 2011; Kayaoğlu et al., 2011; Gorjian et al., 2011; Fehr et al., 2012) to a certain extent despite showing parallel results with those of some studies (Tokaç, 2005; Cellat, 2008). In contrast to the results of the prior studies (Cellat, 2008; Kılıçkaya & Krajka, 2010; Hulstijn et al.,1996; Chun & Plass, 1996) showing that the CAVI group learned and retained more vocabulary than teacher-led group, the results of this study indicated that there was no significant difference between the groups in terms of their vocabulary retention levels. Both instruction types were effective in terms of retention. Hence, the result of this study contradicts the related literature (Cellat, 2008; Kılıçkaya & Krajka, 2010; Hulstijn et al.,1996; Chun & Plass, 1996) regarding the effect of CAVI on vocabulary retention. -51-

58 The effectiveness of computer assisted instruction T.Basoz & F. Cubukcu Lastly, the comparison of male and female students' vocabulary gains suggested that there was no significant difference between male and female students in terms of vocabulary achievement in both groups (CAVI and CLT). When the results of the study is compared with the findings of previously conducted studies (Nyikos, 1990; Lynn & Wilson, 1993; Grace, 2000; Jiménez & Terrazas, 2008; Aslan, 2009; Burgoyne, Kelly, Whiteley & Spooner, 2009; Llach & Gallego, 2012), it is seen that like in the studies of Grace (2000), Jiménez & Terrazas (2008), Burgoyne, Kelly, Whiteley & Spooner (2009), and Llach & Gallego (2012), the gender factor does not affect vocabulary achievement. Conclusion This study intended to reveal whether computer assisted instruction is effective in vocabulary achievement of the ELT freshmen or not. Considering the findings, several pedagogical implications can be suggested. The most important pedagogical implication is that computer assisted language learning may be a useful aid to the language methodology. This study provided evidence for facilitating effect of computer assisted instruction on freshmen's vocabulary learning. Thus, it can be recommended that language teachers use such commercially available CAVI software to enhance learners' vocabulary knowledge in a computer based environment. As CAVI software is practical and time-saving, teachers need not waste time in preparing materials for vocabulary instruction. Therefore, integrating CAVI in language programs is worthwhile. The results of the present study showed that both instruction types have facilitating effect on students' vocabulary learning. Here, it can be inferred that learning can certainly occur no matter what the instruction type is. With reference to the findings of this study, it could be recommended that teachers bear in their mind that there is not a "best" way to learn or teach a foreign language. Instruction types should be altered in various ways by focusing on those engaging students in meaning. As a final note on the limitations of the research, the subjects of the study were limited to 52 freshmen studying in the English Teaching Department of Balıkesir University. Further research can investigate the effects of an integrated type of instruction (Computer Assisted Instruction & Communicative Language Teaching) by comparing it with other instruction types. It can also focus on determining the effectiveness of CALL on other skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening). References Aslan, O. (2009). The role of gender and language learning strategies in learning English. (Unpublished master s thesis). Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey. Beatty, K. (2003). Teaching and researching computer-assisted language learning. New York: Longman. Burgoyne, K., Kelly, J. M., Whitheley, H. E. & Spooner A. (2009). The comprehension skills of children learning English as an additional language. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 79(4), Caplan, N. A., & Douglas, S.R. (2011). Q: Skills for success 5: Reading and writing. Oxford University Press. Cellat, S. (2008). Computer assisted vocabulary learning: A study with Turkish 4th grade EFL learners. (Unpublished master's thesis). Anadolu University, Eskişehir. Chapelle, C. A. (2001). Computer applications in second language acquisition. New York: Cambridge. -52-

59 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 44-54, 1April, 2014 Chun, D. M., & Plass, J. L. (1996). Effects of multimedia annotations on vocabulary acquisition. The Modern Language Journal, 80(2), Davies, G. (2002). ICT and modern foreign languages: Learning opportunities and training needs. Multimedia Assisted Language Learning, 5(1), Esit, Ö. (2007). Effectiveness of a CALL program with a morphological analyser on Turkish students' vocabulary learning. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey. Fehr, C. N., Davison, M. L., Graves, M. F., Sales, G. C., Seipel, B., & Sekhran-Sharma, S. (2012). The Effects of individualized, online vocabulary instruction on picture vocabulary Scores: An Efficacy Study. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 25(1), Fotos, S. & Browne, C. (eds.) (2004). New perspectives on CALL for second language classrooms. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Gagne, R. M., Wager, W. W., Golas, K. C., Keller, J. M., & Russell, J. D. (2005). Principles of instructional design. Performance Improvement, 44(2), Gorjian, B., Moosavinia, S. R., Ebrahimi Kavari, K., Asgari, P., & Hydarei, A. (2011). The impact of asynchronous computer-assisted language learning Approaches on English as a foreign language high and low achievers' vocabulary retention and recall. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 24(5), Grace, C. A. (2000). Gender differences: Vocabulary retention and access to translations for beginning language learners in CALL. The Modern Language Journal, 84(2), Hulstijn, J., Hollander, M., & Greidanus, T. (1996). Incidental vocabulary learning by advanced foreign language students: The influence of marginal glosses, dictionary use, and reoccurrence of unknown words. The Modern Language Journal, 80(3), Kayaoğlu, M. N., Akbaş, R. D., & Öztürk, Z. (2011). A small scale experimental study: Using animations to learn vocabulary. TOJET, 10(2), Kılıçkaya, F. (2007). The effect of computer-assisted language learning on Turkish learners' achievement on the TOEFL exam. Teaching English with Technology: A Journal for Teachers of English, 7(1), Kılıçkaya, F., & Krajka. J. (2010). Comparative usefulness of online and traditional vocabulary learning. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 9(2), Jiménez, R. M., & Terrazas, M. ( ). The receptive vocabulary of EFL young learners. Journal of English Studies, 5(6), Jones, J. (2001). CALL and the teacher's role in promoting learner autonomy. CALL EJ Online, 3(1). Retrieved from Koçak, N. Ç. (1997). The effectiveness of computer assisted language learning (CALL) in vocabulary instruction to Turkish EFL students. (Unpublished master s thesis). Bilkent University, Ankara. Levy, M. (1997). Computer assisted language learning: Context and conceptualization. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lin, B., & Hsieh, C. (2001). Web-based teaching and learner control: A research review. Computers & Education, 37(3), Lin, C. C., Chan, H. J., & Hsiao, H. S. (2011). EFL students perceptions of learning Vocabulary in a computer supported collaborative environment. TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 10(2), Retrieved from Llach, M. P. A., & Gallego, M. T. (2012). Vocabulary knowledge development and gender differences in a second language. ELIA, 12(1),

60 The effectiveness of computer assisted instruction T.Basoz & F. Cubukcu Lynn, R., & Wilson, R. G. (1993). Sex differences in second language ability. School Psychology International 14, Montazeri M., Hamidi H. (2013), Application of CALL in Language Learning Classrooms: Implications and Concerns, 'ICT & Innovations in Education' International Electronic Journal, 1 (2), 1-5. Nakata, T. (2008). English vocabulary learning with word lists, word cards and computers: implications from cognitive psychology research for optimal spaced learning. RECALL-HULL THEN CAMBRIDGE-, 20(1), 3-5. Nyikos, M. (1990). Sex-related differences in adult language learning: Socialization and memory factors. Modern Language Journal, 74(2), Özdamar, K. (2004). Paket programlar ile istatistiksel veri analizi 1. (5.Baskı) [Statistical data analyses with package programs]. Eskişehir: Kaan Pub. Özdemir, S. (2001). Foreign language vocabulary acquisition through an online tool. (Unpublished master s thesis). Middle East Technical University, Ankara. Tokaç, A. (2005). A comparison of computer-assisted vocabulary instruction and teacher-led vocabulary instruction. (Unpublished master's thesis). Bilkent University, Ankara. Tozcu, A., & Coady, J. (2004). Successful learning of frequent vocabulary through CALL also benefits reading comprehension and speed. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 17 (5), Winter, M. (2006). Learning management systems for the workplace: a research report. CORE Education. Yan, Y. L. (2010). The effect of de-contextualized multimedia software on Taiwanese college level students' English vocabulary development. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway, PO Box 1346, Ann Arbor, MI

61 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 4(1), pp , 1 April, 2014 Available online at An Investigation of Science Active Learning Strategy Use in Relation to Motivational Beliefs Article history Received: Yasemin Tas * Department of Elementary Education, Ataturk University, Erzurum, Turkey Received in revised form: Accepted: Birgul Cakir Department of Elementary Education, Agri Ibrahim Cecen University, Agri, Turkey The present study investigated middle school students science active learning strategy use in relation to motivational beliefs of self-efficacy, science learning value, personal goal orientations, and perceived parent goal emphasize. Totally 458 Grade 6-8 students participated in the study. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that perceptions of parent mastery goal emphasize, personal mastery goal orientation, self-efficacy, and value beliefs were significant predictors of active learning strategies. Accordingly, students who perceived higher levels of parent mastery goal emphasize, who engaged in science tasks with the purpose of improving understanding, who were confident about their abilities to perform well in science activities, and who believed the importance and utility of the science task used higher levels of active learning strategies. Some suggestions were made to science teachers in order to form science learning environments which support students motivational beliefs and active learning strategies such as emphasizing the importance of learning the material and improving skills; showing students that ability can be improved through effort; and holding discussions about utility of the science task. Parents were also suggested to promote their children s mastery goals by highlighting the importance of meaningful learning rather than just memorizing, encouraging their children to do challenging problems and work hard. Key words: Active learning strategy; selfefficacy; science learning value; goal orientations; science Introduction The importance of learning strategies for enhancing students learning has been addressed in several research studies (e.g., Pintrich & De Groot, 1990; Pintrich, 2002). Some studies made distinction among cognitive, metacognitive, and resource management strategies (e.g., Pintrich, 1999); superficial, deep cognitive, and metacognitive learning strategies (e.g., Young, 2005); active and superficial learning strategies (e.g., Meece & Miller, 2001). Cognitive strategies refers to rehearsal (i.e., recitation of items), elaboration (i.e., making associations between new information and existing knowledge), and organizational strategies (i.e., formation of groups and hierarchies) (Weinstein & Mayer, 1986). Elaboration and organization are deeper processing strategies than rehearsal which is a superficial strategy (Weinstein & Mayer, 1986; Young, 2005). Regulation of cognition is related to metacognitive strategies (Pintrich, 1999). For instance, skimming the text before reading, asking questions about the text to check understanding, rereading the portion of the text that has not been * Correspondence: Ataturk University, Kazim Karabekir Faculty of Education, Department of Elementary Education, Erzurum, Turkey, [email protected]

62 An Investigation of Science Active Learning Strategy Use Y. Tas & B. Cakir understood are examples of planning, monitoring, and regulation types of metacognitive strategies, respectively (Pintrich, 1999). Strategies related to management and controlling of the learning environment such as managing time are referred as resource management strategies (Zimmerman & Martinez-Pons, 1986). Some other researchers utilized more general learning strategies that can be applied to various contexts (e.g., Ames & Archer, 1988; Young, 1997). For instance, Ames and Archer (1988) investigated students use of strategies in the process of learning and studying in order to regulate and monitor effort and comprehension such as self-planning and self-monitoring. More recently, Tuan, Chin, and Shieh (2005) conceptualized active learning strategies in science from a constructivist view point. They defined active learning strategy as Students take an active role in using a variety of strategies to construct new knowledge based on their previous understanding (p. 643). Constructivism emphasizes individual experiences in construction of knowledge (von Glasersfeld, 1991). Accordingly, students have an active role in their own learning; they integrate new information into their existing knowledge (Loyens & Gijbels, 2008). In order to support students construction of their own understanding, use of authentic learning tasks and real-life problems are recommended (Herrington & Oliver, 2000). Turkey has revised its science curriculum in order to support constructivist learning (Ministry of National Education, 2004). Therefore, in the present study, Tuan et al. s (2005) conceptualization of learning strategy which approaches science learning from constructivist view point was followed. Despite the importance of learning strategies, individual need to motivate oneself in order to use these strategies (Zimmerman, 2005). In fact, motivational variables have been linked to various student outcomes such as cognitive engagement (e.g., Garcia & Pintrich, 1993), conceptual change (e.g., Pintrich, Marx, & Boyle, 1993), and learning strategies (e.g., Midgley, Arunkumar, & Urdan, 1996). In order to understand students use of different strategies, literature points motivational components to be explored in research studies (e.g., Pintrich & De Groot, 1990; Meece, Blumenfeld, & Hoyle, 1988). Pintrich (1999) identified self-efficacy, task value, and goal orientations as important motivational beliefs in students learning. Although these constructs have been investigated in various studies conducted in Westernized nations, there is limited research from eastern countries (e.g., Kahraman & Sungur, 2011; Sungur, 2007). Theories of motivation and learning are mostly developed in western cultures and they incorporate values and belief systems of the context (McInerney, 2008). Therefore, there is need to examine underlying relationships in different cultural contexts (Maehr & Meyer, 1997). In the present study, predictive effect of perceived parent goal orientations, personal goal orientations, science learning value, and self-efficacy on students active learning strategy use will be examined among Turkish elementary school students. Self-efficacy beliefs Self-efficacy is defined as people s judgments of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designed types of performances (Bandura, 1986, p.391). According to social cognitive theory, individuals beliefs about their capabilities to perform a given task influence their choice behavior. What courses of action to follow, how much effort to expend, and how long to persist on given activity are partially determined by self-efficacy beliefs. For instance, in the face of the obstacles individuals with high selfefficacy are likely to exert greater effort to accomplish while individuals with low selfefficacy tend to invest less effort of give up the task (Bandura, 1986). Self-efficacy beliefs influence individuals motivation, cognition, and behavior (Bandura, 1986; 1993). Studies -56-

63 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 55-66, 1April, 2014 have demonstrated that students who feel more self-efficacious use more cognitive, metacognitive, and self-regulated strategies, pursue more mastery goals and less performanceavoidance goals, and demonstrate higher levels of achievement (e.g., Anderman & Young, 1994; Kahraman & Sungur, 2011; Middleton & Midgley, 1997; Pintrich, 1999; Pintrich & De Groot, 1990; Wolters, Yu & Pintrich, 1996; Zimmerman & Martinez-Pons, 1990). Value beliefs Value is another motivational factor which is related to students self-regulated learning (Pintrich, 1999). Expectancy-value theory of motivation proposes that individuals expectations about how well they will perform the activity and value of the activity for them are important in explaining individuals choice and performance (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000). The importance of the task for the individual (i.e., attainment value), the enjoyment due to engaging in the tasks (i.e., intrinsic value), the usefulness of the task (i.e., utility value), and the negative cost due to the task (i.e., cost) operates together and forms the value of the task for the individual (Eccles et al., 1983, as cited in Wigfield & Eccles, 2000). Task value has been associated with strategy use and achievement in different studies (e.g., Pintrich & De Groot, 1990; Sungur, 2007; Yumusak, Sungur, & Çakıroğlu, 2007). Goal orientations Achievement goal theory (Ames, 1992; Dweck, 1986; Nicholls, 1984) is related to individuals reasons for engaging in achievement behavior. For mastery goal oriented individuals, it is important to improve their abilities and enhance understanding. Performance-approach goal oriented individuals on the other hand are concerned with demonstrating their abilities and showing their competence to others. Performance-avoidance goal oriented individuals are concerned with avoiding looking incompetent. While mastery goal oriented individuals evaluate their performance based on self-referenced standards, performance oriented individuals use normatively-based standards (Pintrich, 2000a). Studies generally demonstrated that mastery goal orientation is associated with adaptive patterns of behavior, such as higher levels of self-efficacy, cognitive engagement, and self-regulated learning. On the other hand, performance-avoidance goal orientation was found to be associated with lower levels of cognitive engagement and self-efficacy (Anderman & Maehr, 1994; Elliot & Harackiewicz, 1996; Kaplan, Gheen, & Midgley, 2002; Kahraman, 2011; Maehr & Midgley, 1991; Middleton & Midgley, 1997). The associations yielded in the studies about performance-approach goal orientation revealed mixed results (Shih, 2005). Some studies found performance-approach goals to be related with adaptive student outcomes, with maladaptive student outcomes, while others revealed null relationships (Kaplan et al., 2002). Besides personal goal orientations, students perceptions of their parents goal emphasis have been focus of research (e.g., Friedel, Cortina, Turner, & Midgley, 2007). Learning strategy use in relation to self-efficacy, task value, and goal orientations Several studies have investigated the relationships between learning strategies and motivational factors of self-efficacy and task value beliefs, and goal orientations. For instance, in a correlational study with seventh grade students (n= 173), it was found that students who believed that they were capable of performing academic tasks (high in selfefficacy) and who believed that tasks were important and interesting (high in value) were more likely to use more cognitive strategies (i.e., rehearsal, elaboration, organization) and self-regulatory strategies (i.e., metacognitive and effort management strategies) than students -57-

64 An Investigation of Science Active Learning Strategy Use Y. Tas & B. Cakir low in self-efficacy and value (Pintrich & De Groot, 1990). In a study from Turkey, seventh grade students (n= 115) were surveyed in order to explore students use of metacognitive strategies such as such as planning, monitoring, and evaluating. Regression analysis revealed that self-efficacy significantly and positively predicted students metacognitive strategies (Kahraman & Sungur, 2011). Sungur (2007) examined the relationships between motivational beliefs and meatcognitive strategy use in a group of high school students (n= 391). Path analyses results showed that task value beliefs (β=.16), self-efficacy (β=.15), and control of learning beliefs (β=.10) were significantly related to metacognitive strategy use. Goal orientations have been linked to various strategies in different studies (e.g., Pintrich, 2000b; Midgley & Urdan, 2001). Generally it was found that mastery goal orientation was positively related to cognitive, metacognitive, and self-regulated strategies (e.g., Kahraman & Sungur, 2011; Pintrich, 1999; Pintrich, 2000b; Wolters, 2004) while performance-approach and performance-avoidance goal orientations were unrelated to cognitive and metacognitive strategies (e.g., Kahraman & Sungur, 2011; Wolters, 2004). For instance, studying with junior high school students (n= 525), Wolters (2004) found that orientation towards mastery goals significantly and positively predicted cognitive and metacognitive strategy use whereas performance-approach and performance-avoidance goal orientations were not related to use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies. Friedel et al. (2007) examined the relationships among goal orientations, efficacy beliefs, and coping strategies in mathematics among seventh grade students (n= 1021). Structural equation modeling analyses results revealed that perceived parent goal emphasis predicted students personal goal orientations. Furthermore, personal goal orientations mediated the relationships between perceived parent goal emphasis and selfefficacy and coping strategies. Method This study was a quantitative study due to the nature of research questions addressed, data collection procedure followed, and statistical analyses utilized: The research questions mainly addressed relationships among motivational variables and active learning strategy use; the data were collected through self-report instruments; and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to investigate the predictive effect of motivational beliefs on active learning strategy use. Participants A total of 483 students attending three public middle schools (labeled school A, B, and C) in one of the largest cities in Turkey participated in the study. There were 156 sixth grade (32.3%), 179 seventh grade (37.1%), and 148 eight grade (30.6%) students. Of the participants, 220 (45.5%) were girls and 263 (54.5%) were boys. Multiple indicators are used to assess students socio economic status such as education level of parents, presence of a separate study room at home, and possession of an internet connected computer at home (Akyol, 2009; Sirin, 2005). In our sample, education level of the parents in school A was lower than in school B and C. In school A, 18.5% of the mothers had never gone to school and 66.9% of the mothers were graduated from primary school. In school B and C, 1.1% of the mothers had no schooling and 27.0% were primary school graduates. In school A, only 4.8% of the mothers were graduated from high school or university while in school B and C the rate was 53.2%. Education levels of fathers were also similar to mothers. Half of the students in school A (50.8%) had a study room at home, while the rate was 87.2% in school B and C. The rate of students who had a computer at home was -58-

65 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 55-66, 1April, % in school A, while it was 91.6% in school B and C. Therefore, school A was considered having low socio economic status while the other two schools (labeled as school B and C) had medium socio economic status. Instruments Items of the scales used in the present study were taken from Students Motivation towards Science Learning Questionnaire (SMTSL; Tuan et al., 2005), Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scales (PALS; Midgley et al., 2000), and perceived parent goal emphases (Friedel et al., 2007). All items were scored on a 5 point Likert scale from 1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree. Items of the self-efficacy (e.g. Whether the science content is difficult or easy, I am sure that I can understand it., n= 6 items), active learning strategies (e.g. When learning new science concepts, I connect them to my previous experiences., n= 8 items), and science learning value (e.g. I think that learning science is important because I can use it in my daily life., n= 5 items) were taken from the SMTSL (Tuan et al., 2005). The SMTSL was translated and adapted into Turkish by Baser (2007). Personal achievement goal orientations were taken from PALS (Midgley et al., 2000). Personal achievement goal orientations are mastery goal orientation (e.g., It s important to me that I thoroughly understand my class work, n= 5 items), performance-approach goal orientation (e.g., One of my goals is to show others that I m good at my class work, One of my goals is to look smart in comparison to the other students in my class, n= 5 items), and performance-avoidance goal orientation (e.g., One of my goals in class is to avoid looking like I have trouble doing the work, n= 4 items). The scale was adapted and translated into Turkish by Taş (2008). Perceived parent goal emphases were utilized from Friedel et al. (2007). Perceived parent goal emphases were perceived parent mastery goal emphasis (e.g., My parents want me to understand math concepts, not just do the work, n= 6 items) and perceived parent performance goal emphasis (e.g., My parents would like it if I could show that I m better at math than other students in my class, n= 5 items). The scale was adapted and translated into Turkish by Kahraman (2011). In the present study, Confirmatory Factor Analysis was conducted using LISREL 8.30 (Joreskog & Sorbom, 1999) in order to test the factor structure. Fit indices supported the proposed factor structure well (Comparative Fit Index [CFI] =.974, Normed Fit Index [NFI] =.949, Standardized Root Mean Square Residuals [SRMR] =.052, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation [RMSEA] =.048 with 90% confidence interval of.045 and.050). Descriptive statistics for and Cronbach alpha reliability coefficients of the subscales are displayed in Table

66 An Investigation of Science Active Learning Strategy Use Y. Tas & B. Cakir Table 1. Descriptive statistics. Subscale M SD Skewness Kurtosis Cronbach Alpha Mastery goal orientation Performance-approach goal orientation Performance-avoidance goal orientation Self-efficacy Science learning value Active learning strategies Perceived parent mastery goal emphasis Perceived parent performance goal emphasis Results Descriptive statistics for the variables of the study are presented in Table 1. Mean values for personal goal orientations were high: Students were highly concerned with developing their understanding and improving skills (mastery goal orientation). Student also involved in the learning activities with the purpose of avoiding demonstration of lack of competence (performance-avoidance goal orientation). Students were to a lesser extent concerned with demonstration of their abilities relative to others (performance-approach goal orientation). Furthermore, students beliefs in their abilities to accomplish science tasks and their science learning value were high. They reported to use various learning strategies, as well. Students perceived their parents as emphasizing more mastery goals, such as learning from mistakes than emphasizing performance goals, such as striving to outperform others. In order to examine whether (a) student gender and socio economic status, (b) perceived parent goal emphasis, (c) students personal goal orientations, and (d) their motivational beliefs predict students active learning strategies a hierarchical multiple regression was conducted. Regression coefficients are presented in Table 2. In the first step, gender and socio economic status were entered. Both predictors emerged as significantly related to the outcome variable; girls and students with medium socio economic status reported to use more active learning strategies than boys and students with low socio economic status. In the second step, perceived parent mastery goal emphasis (β=.42, p<.001) and perceived parent performance goal emphasis (β=.10, p<.05) were entered which were significantly and positively related to the outcome variable. They explained an additional 20% of the variance in active learning strategies. In the third step, students personal goal orientations were entered and together they explained an additional 33% of the variance in active learning strategies. When controlling for the other predictors in the model, pursuing mastery goals (β=.62, p<.001) statistically significantly and positively predicted active learning strategies whereas performance-approach and performance-avoidance goal orientations were unrelated to active learning strategies. In the last step, motivational beliefs variables of self-efficacy and science learning value were added to the model. Controlling for the other variables in the model, selfefficacy (β=.23, p<.001) and science learning value (β=.24, p<.001) both statistically significantly and positively predicted active learning strategies, and together they explained an additional 8% of the variance in active learning strategies. In the final model, perceived parent mastery goals, personal mastery goal orientation, self-efficacy, and science learning -60-

67 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 55-66, 1April, 2014 value were significant predictors of active learning strategies. The R 2 change was statistically significant for each step indicating improvement of the model at each stage of the analysis. The final model accounted for 66.6% of the variance in students active learning strategy use. Table 2. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis predicting active learning strategies. B SE B β Step 1 Constant Gender ** Socio economic status *** Step 2 Constant Gender * Socio economic status * Perceived parent mastery goal emphasis *** Perceived parent performance goal emphasis * Step 3 Constant Gender Socio economic status * Perceived parent mastery goal emphasis *** Perceived parent performance goal emphasis Mastery goal orientation *** Performance-approach goal orientation Performance-avoidance goal orientation Step 4 Constant Gender Socio economic status Perceived parent mastery goal emphasis *** Perceived parent performance goal emphasis Mastery goal orientation *** Performance-approach goal orientation Performance-avoidance goal orientation Science learning value *** Self-efficacy *** Note: R 2 =.06 for Step 1; ΔR 2 =.20 for Step 2 (p<.001); ΔR 2 =.33 for Step 3 (p<.001); ΔR 2 =.08 for Step 4 (p<.001). *p<.05, **p<.01, ***p<.001. Gender coded 0= Boy, 1= Girl. Socio economic status coded 0= low socio economic status, 1= medium socio economic status Discussion and Conclusion The present study aimed to investigate Turkish elementary school students active learning strategy use in relation to motivational constructs (perceived parent goal orientations, personal goal orientations, science learning value, and self-efficacy). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that girls and students with medium socio economic status used higher levels of active learning strategies than boys and students with low socio economic -61-

68 An Investigation of Science Active Learning Strategy Use Y. Tas & B. Cakir status. Controlling for student gender and socio economic status, perceived parent goal emphases positively predicted students use of active learning strategies. Among the personal goal orientations, only mastery goal orientation was a significant predictor of the outcome variable. In the last step of the hierarchy, self-efficacy and science learning value were added to the model. Perceived parent mastery goal orientation, personal mastery goal orientation, science learning value, and self-efficacy emerged as significant predictors of active learning strategies. It was found that perceived parent mastery goal orientation was a significant and positive predictor of students use of active learning strategies. This finding is in line with Friedel et al. (2007) which revealed that students perceived parent mastery goal emphasis was positively correlated with personal mastery goal orientations, self-efficacy, and positive coping strategies. If students interpret their interaction with parent as emphasizing mastery goals, they were more likely to use active learning strategies. Therefore, it seems important that parents may highlight the importance of meaningful learning rather than just memorizing, encourage their children to do challenging problems and work hard, and emphasize that understanding is important rather than grades. Personal mastery goal orientation also positively and significantly predicted students use of active learning strategies. In other words, students who were concerned with improving their competence and developing their skills were more likely to use active learning strategies. This finding was expected because individuals who pursue mastery goals value learning itself and in order to enhance their understanding, they tend to work hard and prefer challenging tasks (Ames, 1992; Maehr & Midgley, 1991; Meece et al., 1988). Kahraman and Sungur (2011) also found a positive relationship between mastery goal orientation and students metacognitive strategy use in a group of elementary school students. Therefore, it seems important for science teachers to support their students mastery goal orientations. Teachers may emphasize that learning the material and improving skills are important; highlight importance of trying hard and making effort; take students attention to monitor self-improvement and focus on increasing their understanding though instructional end evaluation activities (Ames, 1992; Pintrich & Schunk, 2002; Young, 1997). Formation of a learning environment which supports students mastery goals thus may promote students use of active learning strategies. Another finding of the present study was the positive relationship between self-efficacy and active learning strategies. This finding implied that students who believed that they were capable of performing well in science learning tasks utilized higher levels of active learning strategies. In other words, students who were confident about their abilities to perform well in science tasks connected new science concepts to previous experiences, found resources to improve their understanding of the science concepts, and hold discussions with the teacher and other students to clarify their understanding. Previous research also pointed that students who were highly efficacious about their abilities use more cognitive, metacognitive, and selfregulatory strategies (Kahraman & Sungur, 2011; Pajares, 2002; Pintrich & De Groot, 1990). Therefore, it is important for teachers to help their students increase self-efficacy beliefs. In order to do so, teachers may try to show students that ability can be improved through effort. Teacher may try to demonstrate the relationship between effort and achievement (Paulsen & Feldman, 2005). The present study revealed a positive relationship between science learning value and use of active learning strategies. Students who thought that science learning is important to use it in real life, to satisfy his/her own curiosity, and to expand his/her own thinking made connections between concepts they learnt and tried to learn science concepts that they had not understood. Therefore, individuals who attached more value to learning science were more -62-

69 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 55-66, 1April, 2014 likely to use active learning strategies. Similarly, Pintrich and De Groot (1990) studying with elementary school students also found that students with higher task value beliefs reported to use more cognitive (i.e., rehearsal, elaboration, organization) and self-regulatory (i.e., metacognitive and effort management strategies) strategies. Sungur (2007) also revealed a positive relationship between students task value beliefs and metacognitive strategy use among high school students. Therefore, it seems important to support students for increasing their value beliefs. Teachers may hold discussions about the importance of and utility of the task in the class, model their own interest in the task, and try to give opportunities for students to activate their personal interest (Pintrich & Schunk, 2002). In conclusion, the present study suggested that students use of active learning strategies in science were linked to their perceptions of parental goal orientations, their reasons for engaging in the academic task (i.e., goal orientations), their beliefs about their capabilities to perform well in the task (self-efficacy), and their beliefs about the importance and utility of the task and the enjoyment due to engaging in the task (value beliefs). Therefore, some suggestions were made for parents and science teachers in order to support students mastery goal orientations, self-efficacy, and science learning value beliefs. References Akyol, G. (2009). the contribution of cognitive and metacognitive strategy use to seventh grade students science achievement. Unpublished master s thesis, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey. Ames, C. (1992). Classrooms: Goals, structures, and student motivation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84, Ames, C., & Archer, J. (1988). Achievement goals in the classroom: Students learning strategies and motivation processes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80, Anderman, E. M., & Maehr, M. L. (1994). Motivation and schooling in the middle grades. Review of Educational Research, 64, Anderman, E. R., & Young A. J. (1994). Motivation and strategy use in science: Individual differences and classroom effects. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 31, Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Bandura, A. (1993). Perceived self-efficacy in cognitive development and functioning. Educational Psychologist, 28(2), Baser, M. (2007). The contribution of learning motivation, reasoning ability and learning orientation to ninth grade international baccalaureate and national program students understanding of mitosis and meiosis. Unpublished master s thesis, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey. Dweck, C. S. (1986). Motivational processes affecting learning. American Psychologist, 41, Eccles J. S., Adler, T. F., Futterman, R., Goff, S. B., Kaczala, C. M., Meece, J. L., & Midgley, C. (1983). Expectancies, values, and academic behaviors. In J. T. Spence (Ed.), Achievement and achievement motivation (pp ). San Francisco, CA: W. H. Freeman. Elliot, A. J., & Harackiewicz, J. M. (1996). Approach and avoidance achievement goals and intrinsic motivation: A mediational analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70,

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73 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 4(1), pp , 1 April, 2014 Available online at Investigating the Reasons Institutions of Higher Education in the USA and Canada Utilize Blended Learning Article history Received: Noah Kasraie * Dreeben School of Education, University of the Incarnate Word, 4301 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78209, USA Received in revised form: Accepted: Ala Alahmad Director of ELS Educational Services, 4301 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78209, USA Futurists believe that blended learning will continue to be a trend in higher education for many years. Blended learning is the thoughtful integration of classroom face-to-face learning experiences with online learning environments. Even though instructors are the pioneers of integration of technology in classrooms, ultimately the university officials have to make a decision about supporting blended learning initiatives on their campuses. The present study used an explanatory mixed method design to identify the main reasons universities in the US and Canada decided to offer blended courses and investigate possible relationships between region, institutional type and size with reasons for using blended learning. In the first quantitative phase, 310 university administrators completed a questionnaire to identify the main reasons their institution offered blended courses and in the second qualitative phase five academic administrators were interviewed to explain and elaborate on the findings. Evidence is provided to suggest that the size and location of the university has a relationship with the reason an institution decides to offer blended courses. Key words: Blended Learning, Higher Education, Mixed Methods, College Administration Introduction It is not uncommon anymore to wake up in the morning and see titles such as 2012 is the year of the MOOC or College may never be the same in the newspapers (Pappano, 2012). Administrators of higher education are getting used to reading articles like Are you MOOC-ing yet? or The Campus Tsunami (Snyder, 2012). Advancement in learning technologies is revolutionizing the world of higher education. Distance learning has long been a part of higher education, however, the introduction of initiatives such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) and open courseware (OCW) has really challenged the traditional boundaries of brick and mortar universities. Thirty years ago, you had to walk to the third floor of a building to see a university classroom with a professor, a group of students and a blackboard. Today you may have to turn on your TV from home or open your laptop sitting in your hotel room in Japan to attend a class in Texas. Thirty years ago, you needed a high SAT score and a very strong application to gain access to course material at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Today, an * Correspondence: Dreeben School of Education, University of the Incarnate Word 4301 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78209, USA Tel: [email protected]

74 Investigating the Reasons Institutions of Higher N. Kasraie & A.Alahmad adjunct professor teaching chemistry in Kumasi, Ghana, can access course material for an organic chemistry class offered at MIT through the OCW website. Thirty years ago, mainly students enrolled in top universities could attend lectures by famous speakers and well-known business gurus. Today a 15-year-old boy living in Mongolia can attend a MOOC lecture led by the world s leading experts in Artificial Intelligence 8619 miles away, located on the campus of Stanford in the United States. Online education has become very popular with many higher education institutions around the world. In the United States of America more than six million students were taking at least one online course during the fall 2010 semester. A survey by Allen and Seaman (2012) found that the ten percent growth rate for online enrolments in 2011 far exceeded the two percent growth in the overall higher education student population in the US in the same year. In fact back in the fall 2002 semester, 1.6 million students were taking at least one online course (Allen & Seaman, 2003). This shows a percent growth in less than ten years. The same study noted that even back in year 2002 more than eighty percent of the universities in the US were offering at least one online class. What factors caused the popularity and growth of online education in American universities in the past decade? As universities rushed into online education, course materials were locked behind passwords or Virtual Private Networks. Many higher education administrators took the next step of offering online degrees aimed at anyone interested that had access to a computer and modem. Universities had long assumed that students wishing to receive college credit would be willing to pay the required tuition to unlock the course materials (Wiggins, 2001). As Fatham CEO Ann Kirschner stated, If you want a course with serious interactive engagement with faculty, you ll pay for it (Jarvis, 2003, p. 3). As the literature presents, viewing education as a good, has resulted in the increasing trend toward the privatization of knowledge (Litman, 2001). Online programs in public universities, for-profit private universities, and even corporations have emerged in an attempt to gain a larger share in what seemed an infinitely expanding demand for education to go (Long, 2006). Unfortunately this trend restricted access to higher education, especially for individuals from low socio-economic backgrounds and those living in the developing world where financial resources are very limited and scarce. Online education helps universities increase their enrolments and revenue and in long-term may decrease institutional expenses (Anderson and Elloumi, 2004). The Literature on Blended Learning There are multiple definitions of blended learning in the literature. Garrison and Kanuka (2004) define it as the thoughtful integration of classroom face-to-face learning experiences with online learning experiences. Some authors take a different approach and focus on the pedagogical aspect of blended learning when defining the term blended learning. For example, blended learning is defined as a pedagogical approach that combines the effectiveness of the classroom with the technologically enhanced active learning possibilities of the online environment (Dziuban, Hartman & Moskal, 2004). Many institutions look at blended learning as a hybrid of classroom and online instruction that includes some of the conveniences of online courses without the complete loss of face-to-face contact (Rovai & Jordan, 2004). From an administrative perspective blended learning is seen as a strategy that combines online and classroom learning activities and resources to reduce in-class seat time for students in a face-to-face environment (Lorenzetti, 2011). Overall, it is agreed that the -68-

75 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 67-81, 1April, 2014 blended learning environment offers the best of both worlds, the advantages of the face-toface environment and the endless capabilities of the online world. Blended learning is not a new concept. Ever since technology entered the classroom, blended learning became part of the world of higher education. More than a decade ago blended learning was identified as one of the top trends of higher education (Rooney, 2003). In 2002 it was estimated that 80-90% of all courses offered in universities will be taught using a blended format (Young, 2002). This prediction soon became a reality and even institutions known for having only online programs began offering blended classes. What are the benefits of blended learning? The list of benefits is very long according to the literature. Early studies at the University of Tennessee and Stanford found that blended learning improves learning effectiveness by providing a better match between how a learner wants to learn and the learning program that is offered (Singh & Reed, 2001). It provides more access to higher education and extends the reach to potential students that cannot follow a traditional program based on their work schedule, family or distance barriers. One of the disadvantages of online education was the loss of the sense of community. Studies have found a significant correlation between this variable and attrition (Rovai & Jordan, 2004). Blended learning resolves this issue as students will experience face-to-face interaction and socialization. Many institutions are pushing for blended learning as part of their strategic planning (Garrison & Vaughan, 2007; Rovai & Jordan, 2004; Garrison & Kanuka, 2004; Allen & Seaman, 2003). However, not all administrators and decision makers in higher education are favoring blended learning simply for its enhanced learning environment, flexibility or convenience. Blended learning can improve classroom utilization, help fill under-enrolled programs and even solve parking issues on campus. A review of the literature presents a gap in the various reasons universities decide to implement blended learning. The purpose of this study was to identify the main reasons universities in the US and Canada decided to offer blended courses and investigate possible relationships between region, institutional type and size with reasons for using blended learning. Methods This study aimed to answer the following research questions: (1) What was the main reason that administrators in four year universities in the US and Canada decided to offer blended courses at their institutions? (2) To what extent did location, institutional type and size make a difference on the main reason four year universities in the US and Canada decided to offer blended courses? This study utilized the explanatory mixed method design. An explanatory mixed method design, also known as the two-phase model, consists of first collecting quantitative data and then collecting qualitative data to explain and elaborate on the results of the first phase of the study (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007). In the first phase, the researcher employed the correlational design and utilized a short questionnaire to collect data from the participants. In correlational design, the researcher uses the correlational statistical test to describe and measure the degree of relationship between two or more variables (Creswell, 2007). In the second phase, the basic interpretative method of inquiry was utilized through interviewing five participants. 69

76 Investigating the Reasons Institutions of Higher N. Kasraie & A.Alahmad In the first phase of the study, a web-based questionnaire utilizing the cross-sectional strategy was used to collect data at one point in time. Since no survey was found to collect the data needed to answer the research questions, the researcher had to create a short survey. The questionnaire included eight questions on the demographics of the university and the top two reasons the university decided to implement blended learning. The survey was first shown to a panel of experts and after modification a pilot study was conducted to check the survey for validity and reliability. The possible reasons administrators may decide to implement blended learning at their institution were collected from the literature and previous studies. For the US participants, the four main regional divisions used by the United States Census Bureau (2010) were utilized: Region 1 Northeast (Divisions 1 and 2): Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey Region 2 Midwest (Divisions 3 and 4): Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa Region 3 South (Divisions 15, 6, and 7): Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana Region 4 West ( Divisions 8 and 9): Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii For the Canadian participants the three region model was utilized: Northern: Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut Eastern: Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador Western: British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan The institutional type question included three categories: Public university For-profit private university Non-profit private university The basic Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education (2010) was used for the size of the universities: Small university: less than 3000 degree-seeking students Medium university: degree-seeking students Large university: at least degree-seeking students Based on the review of the literature, the following factors were listed as main reasons universities use blended learning: Improving learning effectiveness Increasing access Providing flexibility and convenience Reducing costs An option was given to participants to choose other reasons and specify them. An invitation for participations in the web-based questionnaire was sent to 1200 administrators in four year universities in the USA and Canada. Administrators included department chairs, college deans, and vice presidents of four year universities. Two series of invitations were -70-

77 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 67-81, 1April, 2014 electronically sent and at the end of the two-week data collection period, 310 surveys were completed yielding a 25.8% return rate. Appropriate descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS 19 to answer the research questions of this study. In the second phase, five participants that held administrative roles in their institutions were selected. Purposeful sampling using the snowball strategy was used to select the participants. The interviews took place over telephone during normal business office hours. Each interview took approximately thirty minutes. To understand and analyze the qualitative data more in-depth, the three-part analysis of data as described by Yin (2010) was utilized. Microsoft Excel was used for the first level of compilation of data. The focus in the second level of compilation was to find out general themes and break down the data to reflect what the participants were saying. Yin (2010) in his work described Level 1 coding as a process of reusing the initial words of the participant. For this level, some of the words the participant had stated were reused. For level 2 coding, the researcher grouped similar ideas together putting them into the same categories. Finally the data was reassembled by re-reading the codes listed under levels 1 and 2 until new themes began to emerge. Measures were taken to ensure credibility and trustworthiness through consistency and peer debriefing. Consistency was used in conducting the interviews, collecting and analyzing data. Results Quantitative analysis Fifty one percent of the participants were female administrators in higher education. More than forty six percent of the participants were administrators in private non-profit institutions and the majority of participants were working in medium size universities. Table 1 illustrates some of the demographics of the participants. Table 1. Demographic profile of participants in phase I Variable Frequency Percentage Gender Female % Male % Institutional type Public % For-profit private % Non-profit private % Institutional size Small % Medium % Large % Total for each variable % Only thirteen participants were from Canada. The majority of participants were located in the West and South regions of the US. There were no participants from the Northern region of Canada. Table 2 illustrates the locations of the participants. 71

78 Investigating the Reasons Institutions of Higher N. Kasraie & A.Alahmad Table 2. Location of participants in phase I Region Frequency Percentage USA % Northeast USA % Midwest USA % South USA % West USA % Canada % Eastern Canada 7 2.3% Western Canada 6 1.9% Western Canada 3 1.0% Total % Fifty three percent of the participating institutions offered at least one online course. Around sixty eight percent, 210 universities, offered blended classes. All of the universities that offered at least one online class also offered blended courses. However, fourteen percent of the universities offered blended courses but did not offer any online classes. It is important to note that all the for-profit universities offered online courses. For the following analysis, only the 210 universities that offered blended courses were used So why do universities decide to offer blended courses? Increasing access was the number one reason administrators in four year universities in the USA and Canada offered blended courses. The second reason indicated by the participants was to improve learning effectiveness. Nine participants selected other reasons not listed. Their answers were combined into factors: to increase student engagement and to have a competitive advantage. Figure 1 illustrates the main reasons universities decided to offer blended courses. Figure 1. Reasons for offering blended courses For both the non-profit and for-profit private universities, increasing access was the main reason to offer blended courses. On the other hand, the main reason public universities offered blended courses was to provide more flexibility and convenience. However, the results of the inferential non-parametric test found no significant differences (p=0.54), therefore the type of the institution did not make a statistically significant difference on the reasons universities offer blended courses. Table 3 illustrates a break-down of reasons for different institution -72-

79 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 67-81, 1April, 2014 types. Table 3. Reasons for offering blended courses based on institution type Factors Public For-Profit Non-Profit Total Improving learning effectiveness Increasing access Providing flexibility/convenience Reducing costs Classroom utilization Increasing student engagement Competitive advantage Total A Kruskal-Wallis test was conducted comparing the reasons universities offer blended courses with varying levels of institutional size. A significant result was found (p <.001), indicating that the groups differed from each other. Follow-up comparisons indicated that the main reason small universities offer blended courses was to reduce overall costs. It is important to note that none of the large size universities offered blended courses for this reason. Improving learning effectiveness, increasing access and providing flexibility and convenience were the top reasons for offering blended courses in medium and large size universities. None of the small size universities selected improving learning effectiveness as the main reason in offering blended courses. Table 4 illustrates a break-down of reasons for different institution types. Table 4. Reasons for offering blended courses based on institution size Factors Small Medium Large Total Improving learning effectiveness Increasing access Providing flexibility/convenience Reducing costs Classroom utilization Increasing student engagement Competitive advantage Total A Kruskal-Wallis test was conducted comparing the reasons universities offer blended courses with varying levels of geographic regions. A significant result was fund (p <.001), indicating that the groups differed from each other. Follow-up comparisons indicated that the main reason universities in South and Midwestern USA use blended learning to increase access. Improving learning effectiveness is the top reason for using blended learning in universities in the Northeast and in Canada. Table 5 illustrates a break-down of reasons for different geographic regions. 73

80 Investigating the Reasons Institutions of Higher N. Kasraie & A.Alahmad Table 5. Reasons for offering blended courses based on geographic region Region/ NE MidW South West East West Total Country USA USA USA USA Canada Canada Learning effectiveness Increasing access Provide flexibility Reduce costs Classroom utilization Increase student engagement Competitive advantage Total Qualitative analysis The second phase of the study involved collecting qualitative data to explain and elaborate on the results of the first phase of the study. Table 6 illustrates the demographic profile of the participants in the second phase. Table 6. Demographics of participants in phase II Factors Gender Location Institution Institution Type Size Dr. A Female NE Public Large Dr. B Male E Canada Public Large Dr. C Male W For-Profit Small Dr. D Male S Non-Profit Medium Dr. E Female MidWest Non-Profit Medium In order to analyze the data and elaborate on the findings from the phase quantitative phase, the qualitative data is described from two broad levels. The first level was to elaborate on the top three reasons universities offered blended courses. The second level of analysis was then to divide the data into the main goals and objectives of using blended learning in the institution of the five participants. First level of analysis During the first phase of the study, the participants selected the top three reasons their universities decided to use blended learning. The different reasons were described as improving learning effectiveness, increasing access and providing flexibility and convenience. Improving learning effectiveness As illustrated in Table 7, Dr. C and Dr. D believed that blended learning improves learning effectiveness. However, Dr. B and Dr. E thought that this can only happen if the planning and implementation if done properly and the nature of the course is a good fit for blended learning. Dr. A did not believe that blended courses can improve learning effectiveness. -74-

81 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 67-81, 1April, 2014 Table 7. Thoughts on blended learning and improving learning effectiveness Participant Thoughts Dr. A Dr. B Dr. C Dr. D Dr. E There is no empirical evidence that blended learning improves learning effectiveness Compared to online classes, blended classes improve learning effectiveness; however, face-to-face classes are more effective than both of them Blended learning provides the best of both learning environments and if done properly will improve learning effectiveness Blended courses improve learning effectiveness through increasing student engagement Based on the nature of the course, some blended courses can be as effective as traditional Course Increasing access As illustrated in Table 8, Drs. C, D and E believed that blended learning increases access to higher education especially in rural areas. Dr. B compared blended courses to online courses again and Dr. E. Dr. A did not believe that blended courses can increase access to higher education. Table 8. Thoughts on blended learning and increasing access Participant Thoughts Dr. A Dr. B Dr. C Dr. D Dr. E Since blende courses require students to come to campus sometimes, it does not increase access Online classes are a better option to increase access than blende courses One of the advantages of blended learning is to increase access to those who don t live close to universities Blended course can increase students access to higher education In rural areas blended courses have the potential to increase access Providing flexibility and convenience As illustrated in Table 9, all participants believed that blended learning provides flexibility and convenience. It is important to note that even Dr. A that disagreed with the previous two factors shared this common belief. Table 9. Thoughts on blended learning and providing flexibility and convenience Participant Thoughts Dr. A One of the few advantages of blended learning is providing the convenience for students Dr. B Blended courses provide more flexibility for the instructor and the students Dr. C Offering flexibility is one of the main benefits of blended courses Dr. D Blended courses create a flexible learning environment for all stakeholders Dr. E Providing convenience is a great benefit of blended courses 75

82 Investigating the Reasons Institutions of Higher N. Kasraie & A.Alahmad Second level of analysis In this level of analysis, participants were asked the main goals and objectives their institutions had when they decided to offer blended courses on their campuses. The researcher was able to deduce from the data the following objectives for deciding to use blended learning in the institutions of the participants. Providing more options to students Three of the participants described providing more choices to students as the main goal of their universities in offering blended courses. Dr. A stated that the decision to offer blended courses was a reaction to the demands of the students. Dr. B mentioned that his institution was offering online programs for many years and they were looking for offering more options to students who do not wish to enroll in online classes. Dr. E stated that her institution strategically decided to offer blended courses to provide more alternatives for the new generation of students. All three participants gave very rich descriptions of why providing more options for students was a major goal of using blended learning in their institutions. Table 10 provides more statements from the participants. Table 10. First objective of offering blended courses: providing options Participant Statements Dr. A It is becoming an expectation from our students to offer courses that utilize technology such as blended courses. The young generation wants more than just the traditional lecture. We were needing to provide more options to meet this demand. Dr. B After our university experienced the downfalls and shortcomings of our online programs, we wanted to create additional choices for our students that were looking for technology enriched classes. Blended programs is the middle ground that seems to satisfy the needs of a large number of our students. Dr. E The new generations of students including the digital natives are looking for more choices that offer flexibility. Blended learning is a good alternative for such learners. Enhancing the learning experience Three of the participants described enhancing the learning experiences of their students as the main goal of their universities in offering blended courses. Dr. E shared both objectives and mentioned that blended courses became popular on her campus after a series of successful experiences of mostly junior faculty that later shared their experiences with others. Dr. C who was a pioneer in using technology in the classroom in his school stated that he favors the blended learning environment and is among faculty and administrators who push for more blended courses on campus. Dr. D described that after discussion among faculty and administrators about the impact of blended courses on student learning and looking at the future trends in higher education, blended learning was placed in the strategic plan of his institution. Table 11 provides more statements from the participants. -76-

83 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 67-81, 1April, 2014 Participant Dr. C Dr. D Dr. E Table 11. First objective of offering blended courses: enhancing learning Statement Blended learning develops both individual and collaborative learning skills. Often in blended courses the discussion continues outside the classroom and with the advancements of technology students have access to more resources for learning and collaboration. The multiple learning modalities offered in blended courses enhances the learning environment and enables differentiated learning. Students can work at a customized level and pace and have access to learning technologies that increases communication and collaboration. Our faculty believed that blended learning has the benefit of improving student learning. Some faculty that had taught using this technology shared their experiences with others and student evaluations were also supportive of this claim. Increasing the digital fluency is another significant contribution to student learning Discussion The term blended learning is being used with increased frequency in higher education and other related fields. Blended learning is still a vague concept in higher education. Many faculty members are currently using blended learning in their courses without knowing it. Graham, Allen, and Ure (2003, p.4) present the three most commonly mentioned definitions in the literature: Blended learning is defined as combining instructional modalities (Bersin & Associates, 2003; Orey, 2002a, 2002b; Singh & Reed, 2001; Thomson, 2002) Blended learning is defined as combining instructional methods (Driscoll, 2002; House, 2002; Rossett, 2002) Blended learning is defined as combining online and face-to-face instruction (Reay, 2001; Rooney, 2003; Sands, 2002; Ward & LaBranche, 2003; Young, 2002) However, institutions often create their own unique definitions of blended learning. For many universities blended learning or blended courses refers to courses where the instruction happens in a hybrid format. Because of this variation, the researcher was obligated to define a blended course as a hybrid course where some sessions are online and some sessions happen in the traditional classroom. This definition was clearly communicated with all participants in both phases of the study. No one can deny the impact of technological advancements to the world of education. Additionally, the new generation of students comes equipped with a vast background in technology and many are digital natives. It seems very logical that universities adjust to this change and current trend in higher education. The question is why and when? Some universities embraced the learning technologies and became pioneers and some are still resisting to make progressive change. Some university administrators have to first be convinced and then slowly changes are made through the levels of bureaucracy in the institution. Such organizational changes usually follow a top down process and are really slow due to resistance to change at different levels. Improving learning effectiveness was found to be the number one reason to offer blended learning in medium size universities. Based on the basic Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education (2010), most public and private universities in the United 77

84 Investigating the Reasons Institutions of Higher N. Kasraie & A.Alahmad States fall into the medium size category. This finding was significant as one of the main desired outcomes of using blended learning is to enhance the learning experience. The findings from the second phase of the study also supported this. Participants indicated that by having the ability to continue the learning experience outside the classroom, creating individual and collaborative learning skills, and differentiated learning, blended learning makes great contributions to the learning experience of students. A national study by the U.S. Department of Education found that students in online learning environments performed slightly better than those learning the same material through traditional face-to-face instruction (Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia & Jones, 2010). Another study published by the University of Central Florida found that blended courses consistently rank higher than other modalities in student course evaluations and have the highest levels of student success and the lowest withdrawals of any modality including face-to-face. (Cavanagh, 2011) It is important to note that one of the participants in the second phase of the study was not supportive that blended learning enhances the learning experience and wanted to see empirical evidence that supports this claim. It is expected that administrators with negative perspectives to blended learning will resist the move toward offering blended courses in universities. However, this study showed that most administrators do not share this negative perspective. In an article published in The Chronicle of Higher Education the president of Pennsylvania State University was quoted as saying that the convergence between online and residential instruction was the single-greatest unrecognized trend in higher education today (Young, 2002, p. A33). According to the findings of this study, increasing access was one of the top reasons administrators decided to offer blended courses in their universities. Private universities especially located in regions with vast rural areas such as the Southern and Midwestern US selected increasing access as their number one reason for offering blended courses. Blended learning increases the access to education in institutions of higher education (Picciano, 2006). Increasing access to higher education can be measured in several ways. For most public and private universities increased enrollments are evidence of greater access for the students. That explains why many universities include blended and online learning in their strategic planning. Allen & Seaman (2004) conducted a national survey and found that 52.6% of chief academic officers in universities viewed online learning as critical to their institution s overall long-term strategy. Blended courses replace a portion of the face-to-face instruction with web-based learning technologies and this allows for the flexibility of utilizing online resources to reduce the on campus time (Dziuban, Moskal, & Hartman, 2004). Providing flexibility and convenience was found as another important factor for universities to offer blended courses, especially for Public institutions. This finding was also supported in the second phase were providing options to students was found as a major theme for using blended learning. Dr. A who had negative views toward blended courses stated that it is becoming an expectation from our students to offer courses that utilize technology. Offering blended courses was a reaction to the demand for providing more options to their students. Especially after experiencing the shortcomings of purely online classes, blended courses were offered in Dr. B s institution to satisfy the needs of a large number of students. Dr. E mentioned that the new generation is looking for more choices that offer flexibility. At a time of rising transportation costs, students who take blended courses can cut down on commuting time and costs by saving money on gas, parking, and tolls. -78-

85 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 67-81, 1April, 2014 Conclusions and Recommendations Some experts in the field believe that the new metaphor for higher education is The ability to use knowledge effectively is power. Blended learning offers both the social, collaborative and increased engagement of traditional face-to-face classes and the immediate availability of information and knowledge and powerful online tools to university students in a way that has never been experienced before. This study identified the main reasons administrators and decision makers in institutions of higher education decide to offer blended courses. However, with the rapid emergence of new technologies and increasing number of blended courses in universities, there is a need for more research and studies in this field. Future qualitative studies are recommended to identify the reasons why some chief academic officers resist blended learning. Further quantitative and mixed methods studies are recommended to identify the barriers to offer blended courses in institutions of higher education. Finally, future case study research is recommended to analyze the success stories and stories of failure in implementing blended learning in universities. There is a clear gap in the literature on studies that discuss criteria for selecting courses that are best fitted for online or blended learning, support for development and delivery of blended courses, and ownership of materials. The new generation has never ending access to information and is more engaged in social networking tools. In addition to everything that has been discussed, the employers in the 21 st century are looking for graduates with enhanced communication skills, increased digital fluency, expanded networking and strengthened professionalism. With the help of online resources and web-based technologies, blended learning has the potential to address these vital needs more than any other modality. The new generation is eager to explore new ways of collaborating, discovering, performing and ultimately learning. Is your institution prepared? References Allen, I., & Seaman, J. (2003). Sizing the Opportunity: The Quality and Extent of Online Education in the United States, 2002 and Needham, MA: Sloan-C. Retrieved from Allen, I., & Seaman, J. (2004). Entering the Mainstream: The Quality and Extent of Online Education in the United States, 2003 and Needham, MA: Sloan-C. Retrieved from Allen, I., & Seaman, J. (2012). Changing Course: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States. Needham, MA: Sloan-C. Retrieved from Allen, I., Seaman, J., & Garrett, R. (2006). Blending in: the extent and promise of blended education in the United States. Needham, MA: Sloan-C. Retrieved from Anderson, T., & Elloumi, F. (2004). Theory and Practice of Online Learning. Athabasca, AB: Athabasca University. Retrieved from cde.athabascau.ca/online_book Bersin & Associates. (2003). Blended learning: What works? An industry study of the strategy, implementation, and impact of blended learning. Oakland, CA: Bersin & Associates. Carnegie Foundation. (2010). The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Retrieved from Cavanagh, T. (2011). The Blended Learning Toolkit: Improving Student Performance and Retention. Educause. Retrieved from 79

86 Investigating the Reasons Institutions of Higher N. Kasraie & A.Alahmad Collier, P. (2007). The Bottom Billion: why the poorest countries are failing and what can be done about it. Oxford University Press: New York. Creswell, J. W. (2007). Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Creswell, J. W., & Plano Clark, V. L. (2006). Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Driscoll, M. (2002, March 1). Blended learning: Let s get beyond the hype. e-learning. Retrieved from Dziuban, C., Moskal, P., & Hartman, J. (2004). Blended Learning. Educause. Retrieved from Garrison, D. R., & Kanuka, H. (2004). Blended learning: Uncovering its transformative potential in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 7(2), Garrison, D. R., & Vaughan, N. D. (2007). Blended Learning in Higher Education: Framework, Principles, and Guidelines. New York, NY: Jossey-Bass Graham, C. R., & Allen, S. (2005). Blended learning: An emerging trend in education. In C. Howard, J. V. Boettecher, L. Justice, K. D. Schenk, P. L. Rogers, & G. A. Berg (Eds.), Encyclopedia of distance learning (pp ). Hershey, PA: Idea Group. Graham, C. R., Allen, S., & Ure, D. (2003). Blended learning environments: A review of the research literature. Unpublished manuscript, Provo, UT. House, R. (2002). Clocking in column. Spokesman-Review. Jarvis, M. (2003). Cap, Gown, Mouse. EBSCO Publishing, 12, 2-3. Litman, J. (2001). Digital Copyright: Protecting Intellectual Property on the Internet. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. Long, P. (2006). OpenCourseWare: Simple Idea, Profound Implications. Campus Technology, 10, Lorenzetti, J. P. (2011). The Benefits of Blended Learning Explained. Distance Learning Administration. Retrieved from Means, B., Toyama, Y., Murphy, R., Bakia, M, & Jones, K. (2010). Evaluation of Evidence- Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies (ED Report ED-04-CO-0040). Retrieved from Orey, M. (2002a). Definition of blended learning. University of Georgia. Retrieved from Orey, M. (2002b). One year of online blended learning: Lessons learned. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Educational Research Association, Sarasota, FL. Pappano, L. (2012, November 2). The year of the MOOC. The New York Times. Retrieved from Picciano, A. G. (2006). Blended learning: implications for growth and access. Needham, MA: Sloan-C. Retrieved from Reay, J. (2001). Blended learning a fusion for the future. Knowledge Management Review, 4(3), 6. Rooney, J. E. (2003). Blending learning opportunities to enhance educational programming and meetings. Association Management, 55(5), Rossett, A. (2002). The ASTD e-learning handbook. New York: McGraw-Hill. -80-

87 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 67-81, 1April, 2014 Rovai, A., & Jordan, H. (2004). Blended Learning and Sense of Community: A Comparative Analysis with Traditional and Fully Online Graduate Courses. The international review of research in open and distance learning, 5(2). Sands, P. (2002). Inside outside, upside downside: Strategies for connecting online and faceto-face instruction in hybrid courses. Teaching with Technology Today, 8(6). Retrieved from Singh, H., & Reed, C. (2001). Achieving success with blended learning. Centra Software. Retrieved from Snyder, M. D. (2012). State of the Profession: Much Ado about MOOCs. Academe, 98(6). Retrieved from Thomson, I. (2002). Thomson job impact study: The next generation of corporate learning. Retrieved from U.S. Census Bureau. (2010). Census Bureau Regions and Divisions with State FIPS Codes. Retrieved from Ward, J., & LaBranche, G. A. (2003). Blended learning: The convergence of e-learning and meetings. Franchising World, 35(4), Wiggins, R. (2001). MIT Launches OpenCourseWare Initiative on the Web. Information Technology, 36, Yin, R. K. (2010). Qualitative research from start to finish. New York: NY. Guilford Press. Young, J. R. (2002, March 22). Hybrid teaching seeks to end the divide between traditional and online instruction. Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A33. 81

88 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 4(1), pp , 1 April, 2014 Available online at The Attitudes of Primary School Pre-Service Teachers towards Cursive Handwriting Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Key words: cursive handwriting, attitudes towards cursive handwriting, teacher education Introduction Ruhan Karadağ * Turkish Education, Adiyaman University, Turkey The aim of this study is to determine the primary school pre-service teachers attitude toward cursive handwriting and to determine whether a significant difference exists among those pre-service teachers attitude with respect to gender, class and their universities. In order to collect data Scale for Attitude towards Cursive Handwriting developed by the researcher was administered. In the study, descriptive statistics was used. The research sample included sophomore, junior and senior students who study primary school teaching at education faculties of four different universities and who took the handwriting techniques class (n=705). In the analysis of the study, one way ANOVA, Independent Samples t-test, and Kruskal Wallis H tests were conducted. The results of the study revealed that the attitudes of the pre-service teachers towards cursive handwriting did not significantly differ in relation to gender and the university they study; on the other hand, the results indicated that their attitudes were significantly correlated to their year of study at university. Writing which is defined as the act of transferring people s emotions, thoughts, plans, experiences to writing (Sever, 2004, s.24) is the last skill acquired among the other language skills. People use required symbols and signs in accordance with the rules to express their ideas, which makes their ideas legible to others (Akyol, 2000, s.115) and they also transfer all the knowledge structured in their brains to writing (Güneş, 2007, p.159). This results in writing - the outcome of coordinately working thinking process and skill. Throughout its historical process, the transformation of line from a visual value into a symbolic one has reached its peak by means of writing and writing has then been considered the aesthetic image of verbal utterances. Writing whose artistic value has changed into an instrument to teach and educate others and then to the most common means of self-expression has become an indispensible part of teaching and learning as a result of the spread of knowledge. If the act of writing develops in parallel with the speed of thought, it will make it easier to improve the efficiency of writing at the highest level. In the writing process, it is essential for the system of symbols to flow in a progressive and connected manner and also to avoid sharp turns in order not to sabotage the act of writing. In this process, while thoughts in the brain flow to the nerves in the fingertips, the pencil in the hand must be moving fast to orchestrate this flow well. Within this framework, the connections between letters in cursive handwriting provide incredible opportunities to people to turn ideas into symbols without interrupting the speed of thought. The cursive and connected nature of this type of handwriting enables people to write maximum number of words without lifting the pen. With the help of cursive handwriting, the * [email protected]

89 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 82-95, 1April, 2014 ideas collected in the short-term memory but not yet registered in the long-term memory might be protected by the writing system before they are totaly forgotton. Cursive handwriting is a style of writing in which the letters of the language are written 70 degree leaning to the right in a conjoined manner to form words. These joints help learners to integrate and build the information in their brain. It is acknowledged that cursive writing provides various benefits for teaching and mental development. The national and international studies in the literature reveal the positive effects of cursive handwriting (Akyol, 2007; Güneş, 2007; Koç, 2007) such as making writing faster, recognising words easily and distinguishing numbers and markings easily, preventing syllabication, supporting kinesthetic intelligence as well as mental and physical development, improving attention span and indepth thinking skills. In recent years, constructivist approach and brain research have also contributed to the importance given to teaching cursive handwriting (Güneş, 2007). Moreover, it is stated in the literature that cursive handwriting is the most appropriate style for artistic writing (Koç, 2007). Cursive handwriting also allows people to have their own individualistic style in a way similar to their fingerprints because handwriting of people differ greatly from one another just like their fingerprints which are unique to each individual. It is highly probable for people to reflect their personality in their cursive handwriting and as a result handwriting of people show differences in terms plastic arts just like the differences between the pictures of a building made by different artists. In other words, feelings and thoughts may be expressed in a variety of ways by different people, which enable people to make their expressions distinctive, eternal and unique to their owner. This exclusive situation which creates a temptation for cursive handwriting is one of the most rewarding and satisfying outcomes that can be reached when one enters the magical world of writing. Rosenblum, Weiss and Parush (2003) state that handwriting affects academic performance. Having good handwriting is considered a prerequisite of academic success in a person s life (Graham, Berninger, Abott, Abott and Whitaker, 1997). The related research studies reveal that the problems that people have experienced in handwriting in the early years of their primary education are key determinants of difficulties they experience in the rest of their education life (Harvey and Henderson, 1997). The solution to these problems lie in raising awareness of teachers who will teach handwriting and prospective teachers receiving inservice training about the cognitive, affective and psychomotor dimension of writing. They should also have information about the methods and techniques of teaching handwriting and successfully put them into practice. The success of an education system basically depends on the qualifications of teachers who will implement the system (Kavcar, 1987). Phelps and Stempel (1989) state that many of the teachers fail to focus on teaching handwriting because they have not been trained sufficiently about the teaching techniques of handwriting during their teaching education. Graham et al (2008) also state that teachers receive insufficient training about teaching handwriting and they have misconceptions about the development of writing skills. The above-mentioned views reveal the lack of importance given to teaching handwriting in teacher education programs. Saraç (2002) underlines the significance of the pre-service teachers attitudes before they start working because it is these attitudes that play an important role in forming their commitment to teaching profession and the teaching techniques they will employ in their teaching career. Hence, it is reasonable to argue that the attitudes that pre-service teachers develop towards cursive handwriting during their teaching education have a significant impact on the successful implementation of teaching cursive handwriting in primary schools. Exploring the nature of the attitudes (either positive, negative or neutral) of pre-service teachers towards cursive handwriting will contribute significantly to both pre-service teachers and the researchers studying this issue. -83-

90 The Attitudes of Primary School Pre-Service Teachers Ruhan Karadağ Chambless and Bass (1995) believe that great importance should be given to professional development of teachers in terms of teaching handwriting. The cognitive, affective and psychomotor behaviors of pre-service teachers that they will develop during their teaching training are of vital importance in determining their success in their teaching career. One of the most important affective behaviors about writing is the attitudes developed towards writing. Street (2003) state a strong correlation between pre-service teachers attitudes towards writing and their implementation of teaching handwriting practices in their future careers. Chambless and Bass (1995) and Street (2002) emphasize the fact that pre-service teachers with positive attitudes towards writing will teach writing effectively in their teaching career. The studies on the important connection between teachers attitudes towards writing and their performance in the classroom also support this correlation (Bratcher and Stroble, 1994; Florio-Ruane and Lensmire, 1990; Grossman et al., 2000; Kennedy, 1998; Schmidt and Kennedy, 1990; Shrofel, 1991). Primary school teachers should have positive attitudes towards cursive handwriting to teach it effectively. This is only possible if pre-service teachers attitudes towards cursive handwriting are explored during their teaching education (Arslan, Aşıkcan and Özarslan, 2010). Investigating the pre-service teachers attitudes towards cursive handwriting at universities may enable teacher trainers to adopt new methods and concepts regarding teaching handwriting (Street, 2003). As a matter of fact, the literature review done for this study indicated that there has been no research on pre-service teachers attitudes towards teaching cursive handwriting. From the educational point of view, developing positive attitudes towards cursive handwriting will positively affect the success of pre-service teachers in teaching it. Exploring pre-service teachers attitudes towards cursive handwriting will make it possible to examine to what extent the expected changes in behaviors regarding teaching cursive handwriting occur in their teaching career. This would also help them to organize their practices in teaching cursive handwriting. This study is thought to contribute to the literature, teachers and academicians in relation to teacher education. The Purpose of the Study What are the pre-service teachers attitudes towards cursive handwriting? Do the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards cursive handwriting differ in terms of gender and year of study at university? Is there a statistically significant relation between the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards teaching cursive handwriting and the university they are studying? Method Because the study aims at exploring the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards cursive handwriting, a descriptive survey model is preferred. Descriptive survey models are research methods which try to give an exact description of a situation from past or from the present time. In this model, the event, person or thing, i.e. the subject of the research, is described as they are and in their own terms (Karasar, 1994). Participants The participants of the study were determined via purposeful sampling method. -84-

91 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 82-95, 1April, 2014 Sophomore, junior and senior students (2nd, 3rd and 4th year students) from four different Turkish universities studying primary school teaching and having taken handwriting techniques course were selected as the participants. All the pre-service teachers studying primary school teaching at the Education Faculty of Bulent Ecevit University, Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Mustafa Kemal University and Mersin University during the academic year constituted the research population of the study. However, the survey was administered to a total of 728 primary school pre-service teachers who volunteered to take part in the study. Of all these participants, 23 participants were not taken into consideration in the data analysis because they failed to complete the survey so that the data collected from 705 participants was analyzed in the study. Table 1 illustrates the distribution of the participants with regard to their university, year of study and gender. Table 1. The distribution of the participants with regard to their university, year of study and gender Sampling Group f % Bulent Ecevit University University Eskisehir Osmangazi University Mustafa Kemal University Mersin University Year of Study 2 nd year rd year th year Gender Female Male As seen in Table 1, 244 (34.6%) of the participants in the sampling group study at Eskisehir Osmangazi Unviersity; 213 (30.2%) at Bulent Ecevit University; 178 (25.2%) at Mustafa Kemal Unviersity and 70 (9.9%) at Mersin University. 504 (71.5%) of the participants are females and 201 (28.5%) are males. Data Collection Instrument Scale for Attitude towards Cursive Handwriting developed by the researcher was administered to collect the data for the study. The scale is a 41-item-5-point Likert scale consisting of 22 negative and 19 positive items. In the scale development process, first of all a 57-item draft about cursive writing was written. Then the content validity of the scale was examined by the experts and 2 items were eliminated. With the 55 items remained, the scale was piloted with 379 students. After the pilot study, in order to do the item analysis and measure the validity and relaibility of the scale, the following steps were taken respectively: item-total and item-remainder (or residual) correlation tests, item discrimination statistics, factor analysis and internal consistency reliability test. As for the construct validity, Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were computed. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted on 379 and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was conducted on 254 pre-service teachers. Exploratory Factor Analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis via Linear Structural Relations (LISREL). Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the data produced two factors on the 41-item scale. The Cronbach s alpha internal consistency reliability of these two factors was calculated.94 and.93. The Cronbach s alpha coefficient of reliability of the whole scale was -85-

92 The Attitudes of Primary School Pre-Service Teachers Ruhan Karadağ.96. The internal consistency coefficients or reliability of the subfactors was 0.94 for negative attitudes and 0.93 for positive attitudes. The Cronbach s alpha coefficient for reliability for the whole scale was The findings regarding the reliability and validity of the scale indicated that this scale was valid and reliable to explore the attitudes of primary school preservice teachers towards cursive handwriting. As mentioned earlier, the survey was a 5-point Likert scale consisting of five declarative statements numbered as follows: 5=completely agree, 4=agree, 3=undecided, 2=disagree and 1=completely disagree.. On entering the data, the negative items were reverse coded as follows: 1=completely agree, 2=agree, 3=undecided, 4=disagree and 5=completely disagree. The attitude survey developed by the researchers was administered to 705 pre-service teachers (sophomores, juniors and seniors) studying primary school teaching at the education faculty of four different state universities in Turkey (Bulent Ecevit University, Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Mersin University and Mustafa Kemal University) to explore their attitudes towards cursive handwriting. Kaiser-Meyer Olkin (KMO) Measure of Sampling Adequacy for this scale was calculated.978, Barlett test was and Cronbach s Alpha Coefficient of reliability was.97. The Analysis of the Data The data collected from the pre-service teachers were entered into SPSS The attitudes of the pre-service teachers were then analyzed regarding three different variables: university, gender and year of study. In the data analysis, as for the personal information, percentages, frequencies and means were calculated. Also, Independent Samples t-test and one way Anova were performed to find out whether there is a significant relation regarding the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards cursive handwriting in terms of the variables university, gender and year of study. In order to interpret the attitudes considering the variables, first of all Test for Homogeneity of Variances (Levene test) was performed to find out any significant relation among groups. Then, to identify in which particular groups there is a significant relation, Kruskal-Wallis test was performed. In order to explore any significant relation among independent variables, the α level was specified as.05 (α =.05). As for the interpretation of the means, the following classification was taken into consideration: completely disagree ; disagree, partly agree ; agree and completely agree. Findings Table 2 illustrates the standard deviations and means of the scale for the attitudes of primary school pre-service teachers towards cursive handwriting. Table 2. The attitudes of primary school pre-service teachers towards cursive handwriting SACH total N Minimum Maximum Sd attitude , As seen in Table 2, the mean score for the pre-service teachers attitudes towards cursive handwriting is 2.80 and the standard deviation is.856. The highest mean that could be taken on the scale is 5. The findings of the data revealed that the attitudes of primary school preservice teachers were moderate. -86-

93 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 82-95, 1April, 2014 Table 3 shows the frequency and percentages of the responses for each item on the Attitudes of Primary School Pre-Service Teachers towards Cursive Handwriting Scale. Table 3. The mean scores of the attitudes of primary school pre-service teachers towards cursive handwriting Items I totally agree I agree I partially agree I do not agree I do not agree at all f % f % f % f % f % 1 I prefer to use cursive handwriting 63 8,9 while I write , , , ,5 2 I believe using handwriting is a futile 85 12, , , , ,0 act. 3 I do not like using cursive 88 handwriting. 12, , , , ,4 4 I feel bored while reading texts with 75 10, , , , ,4 cursive handwriting. 5 I feel happy when I think about the fact that I shall use cursive 41 5, , , , ,1 handwriting in my professional life. 6 I believe cursive handwriting practices should be spread to 42 6, , , , ,1 other stages of education. 7 I believe cursive handwriting is 84 11, , , , ,0 boring. 8 If it were not compulsory I would not attend calligraphy , , , , ,4 techniques course. 9 Cursive handwriting is almost a torture for me , , , , ,9 10 In professional teaching I will not demand my students to use 105 cursive 14, , , , ,7 handwriting. 11 I feel myself comfortable while using 38 5, , , , ,6 cursive handwriting. 12 I would not schedule cursive handwriting courses in primary , , , , ,7 education if only I could. -87-

94 The Attitudes of Primary School Pre-Service Teachers Ruhan Karadağ 13 I believe I shall use cursive handwriting a 44 6, , , , ,1 lot in my life. 14 I find cursive handwriting courses in primary education , , , , ,9 totally useless. 15 It is quite complicated to learn how 94 13, , , , ,3 to use cursive handwriting. 16 I believe all the efforts exerted to learn cursive handwriting are good 95 13, , , , ,2 for nothing. 17 I want to develop my cursive handwriting 75 10, , , , ,0 skills. 18 Cursive handwriting makes me 29 passionate. 4, , , , ,4 19 Cursive handwriting makes me more selfconfident 36 5, , , , ,0 while writing. 20 Using cursive handwriting is a waste 95 13, , , , ,9 of time in my opinion. 21 Cursive handwriting makes me more passionate and eager to 44 6, , , , ,7 write. 22 Cursive handwriting practices are great fun 44 6, , , , ,6 for me. 23 I would have to spare half of the day to write in cursive handwriting 54 7, , , , ,0 the things I easily write in block writing. 24 I believe the motives to teach cursive handwriting in primary 80 11, , , , ,3 schools is meaningless. 25 I hate cursive handwriting , , , , ,9 26 I believe cursive handwriting improves 94 13, , , , ,8 my aesthetic taste. 27 Cursive handwriting has so many interesting 66 9, , , , ,0 aspects in my opinion. 28 I do not plan to use cursive handwriting 58 8, , , , ,8 outside school. -88-

95 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 82-95, 1April, I get mad when I think about the fact that in my professional life I will be forced to use cursive handwriting. 30 The most meaningless and useless course I have ever taken in my academic life is cursive handwriting. 31 I feel anxious about teaching cursive handwriting. 32 Weekly cursive handwriting classes should be more in number. 33 I believe primary education cursive handwriting classes are quite effective. 34 Cursive handwriting will mean not much to me while I teach. 35 The attention I pay while using cursive handwriting is reflected in the same manner to different events in my daily life. 36 I believe I write more aesthetically and faster in cursive handwriting. 37 Compared to the former type of writing I believe I provide faster and more readable products in cursive handwriting. 38 I feel like I am performing a work of art while using cursive handwriting. 39 In my professional life I shall advise my students to use block writing. 40 Since I will not be using cursive handwriting while teaching professionally I do not pay much attention to this course 41 I become happy since I produce an appraisable piece of work with 92 13, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,2 44 6, , , , ,1 65 9, , , , , , , , , ,3 58 8, , , , ,7 56 7, , , , ,4 42 6, , , , ,1 38 5, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,2 64 9, , , , ,0-89-

96 The Attitudes of Primary School Pre-Service Teachers Ruhan Karadağ cursive handwriting. When the responses to all the items regarding cursive handwriting taken into consideration on the scale, the feelings of the participants are as follows: 27.5% of the pre-service teachers did not want to use cursive handwriting; 26.1% of them considered it futile; 23.8% did not like it; and 27.0% stated they got bored when reading materials in cursive writing. Moreover, 25.1% of the participants thought it was boring, 27.7% considered it a torture and 28.1% did not demand their students to use cursive handwriting in their teaching practices. In addition to this, 32.1% of pre-service teachers stated that they did not feel comfortable when using cursive handwriting; 24.7% expressed that they found cursive handwriting courses useless in the primary school education; 28.5% stated learning cursive handwriting was complicated and 30.5% said it was a waste of time to write in cursive. In the light of the findings mentioned above, it might be stated that the attitudes of primary school pre-service teachers were not positive. As for the gender variable, whether the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards cursive handwriting differ was shown in Table 4. Table 4. The attitudes of pre-service teachers towards cursive handwriting regarding gender Gender N Sd t P Male Female Df=sd= 703 According to Table 4, the average mean score for male participants attitudes towards cursive handwriting is =2.815 and it is =2.777 for females. The analysis of the data revealed no statistically significant difference between male and female participants in terms of their attitudes towards cursive handwriting. In addition to gender variable, One-Way ANOVA was computed to investigate whether the attitudes of the participants differed regarding their year of study at university was shown in Table 5. Table 5. The results of ANOVA about the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards cursive handwriting in terms of their year of study at university Source Variance Between groups of Sum Squares of df Mean Squares 32, Within groups 483, Total 516, of F p 23,977,000 As it is seen in Table 5, the results indicated a statistically significant difference in the attitudes of pre-service teachers regarding the year of study at university. In order to compare the differences in the scores according to the year of study, the data was analyzed to see whether it followed a normal distribution. For the nonhomogeneous groups [(Levene F=3,273); (p=,038)], to find out where the differences were Kruskal-Wallis was computed.

97 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 82-95, 1April, 2014 The results of this analysis are illustrated in Table 6. Table 6. The results of Kruskal-Wallis test of the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards cursive handwriting regarding the year of the study at university Mean SD Kruskal- p Rank N Sd Wallis Year of Study Chi² 2nd year ,31 3rd year ,81 4th year , ,522,000 As seen in Table 6, the results of Kruskal-Wallis test indicated that year of study at university influenced the attitudes of primary school pre-service teachers towards cursive handwriting (p<0.05). 3rd year (juniors) pre-service teachers had higher attitudes towards cursive handwriting than 2nd and 4th year (sophomores and seniors) pre-service teachers majoring primary school education. As for the variable university, one-way ANOVA for independent samples was computed to investigate whether the attitudes of the participants differed significantly regarding the university they are studying (Table 7). Table 7. The comparison of the attitudes of primary school pre-service teachers towards cursive handwriting regarding the university variable The Source of Sum of Mean of University N Sd df F p Variance Squares Squares Studied MKU Between Groups BEU Within ESOGU Groups MU Total Total Note: MKU=Mustafa Kemal University; BEU=Bulent Ecevit University, ESOGU=Eskisehir Osmangazi Unviersity; MU=Mersin University As illustrated in Table 7, the analysis of the data revealed no significant difference in the attitudes of primary school pre-service teachers towards cursive handwriting regarding the university they studied (F(3.70)=2.15, p>.05). Conclusions and Discussion This study has been carried out to detect the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards cursive handwriting with respect to different variables. The results of the study indicated that the attitude scores of pre-service teachers towards cursive handwriting is moderate ( =2,80). In the literature, there are some studies that have explored the attitudes of different sampling groups towards cursive handwriting. The findings of this study do not correspond to the findings of the studies which revealed that the attitudes of primary school teachers towards cursive handwriting was positive (Yıldırım and Ateş, 2010) and students were glad to have cursive handwriting skills (O Neill, 2008).

98 The Attitudes of Primary School Pre-Service Teachers Ruhan Karadağ Street (2003) underlines the fact that the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards writing are correlated to their practices of teaching writing. Besides, in the literature there exist other studies that demonstrate the important relationship between the attitudes of teachers towards writing and their performance in the classroom (Bratcher and Stroble, 1994; Grossman et al, 2000; Schmidt and Kennedy, 1990). Florio-Ruane and Lensmire (1990) state that preservice teachers possess background knowledge about writing and teaching and they reflect this knowledge in their teaching profession. In this sense, it is essential for pre-service teachers to have positive attitudes towards writing in order for them to teach cursive handwriting effectively in their teaching career because it is the teachers primary responsibility to teach writing and promote motivation and interest in writing (Ceran, 2013). Therefore, it would contribute to stimulate motivation in their future students for cursive handwriting if future teachers have positive attitudes towards it. Research show that writing attitudes of students can be changed positively by effective university courses (Chambless and Bass, 1995; Franklin, 1992). In addition to this, Coşkun (2007) emphasizes the fact that if pre-service teachers have negative attitudes towards cursive writing, in the first place, precautions should be taken to reinforce positive attitudes and eliminate fears and negative feelings. Developing negative attitudes towards cursive handwriting will also lead to inefficiencies in teaching and using this type of writing. Some research (Bayraktar, 2006; Bektaş, 2007; Beyazıt, 2007; Coşkun and Coşkun, 2012; Turan 2007) revealed the fact that teachers consider themselves incompetent in using and teaching cursive handwriting. This incompetency might be related to the negative attitudes they have developed as pre-service teachers and the lack of training they have received about cursive handwriting. As a matter of fact, the study conducted by Coşkun and Coşkun (2012) revealed the fact the success of teachers in teaching cursive handwriting is moderate, which supports the findings of the present study. Another important purpose of the study is to investigate the relation between the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards cursive writing and gender. The analysis indicated no statistically significant relationship between these two, which demonstrates that gender is not a key determinant for the formation of attitudes towards cursive writing. The results of the study indicated a statistically significant relationship between the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards cursive handwriting and year of study. Junior (3rd year) preservice teachers were found to have higher positive attitudes than sophomores (2nd year) and seniors (4th year). This result corresponds to the research showing a decrease in the success of senior students (4th year) in teaching cursive writing (Coşkun and Coşkun, 2012). This result might lead to the conclusion that the year of study of the pre-service teachers had an important impact on the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards cursive handwriting. The fact that sophomore (2nd year) pre-service teachers had relatively lower attitudes towards cursive handwriting might be the result of the quality of the education they received in handwriting techniques classes; the quality of the teaching-learning processes; the promotion of motivation in pre-service teachers in the classroom; and the incomplete perceptions they had about the importance of cursive handwriting. Moreover, the reason why senior (4th year) pre-service teachers had lower attitudes towards cursive handwriting than juniors (3rd year) might arise from the fact that seniors had higher anxiety levels due to the Public Personnel Selection Examination (the Turkish acronym is KPSS) they were to take after graduation. It might be argued that Turkish Language and Primary Education courses given to junior (3rd year) students in Education Faculties and the content information provided on the qualities and importance of cursive handwriting in these courses might contribute to the formation of higher attitudes of junior pre-service teachers towards cursive handwriting. The results of the study also indicated no statistically significant relationship between the -92-

99 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 82-95, 1April, 2014 attitudes of pre-service teachers towards cursive handwriting and the university they were studying. This might be associated with the quality of teaching-learning processes and the standard curricula implemented in teacher education programs. Before making some generalizations and suggestions based on the research findings, the limitations of the study are to be pointed out. First of all, this study is limited to the research population and sample size. Thus, conducting this study with diverse samples of students at different grades and universities might indicate different implications and suggestions. Second, as one of the important criteria in designing the study, the participants were supposed to take handwriting techniques class to participate in the study. However, their success in the class was not taken into consideration; thus, the relationship between their success and their attitudes towards cursive handwriting could not be explored. This relationship might also be explored. In addition to this, based on the results of the study, suggestions for further studies might be presented as follows: The variables affecting the attitudes of primary school pre-service teachers towards cursive handwriting may require in-depth research. The future training activities may be designed and implemented by taking into consideration these variables. The attitudes of pre-service teachers and currently working primary school teachers towards cursive handwriting might be explored. The attitudes of primary school students towards cursive handwriting might be investigated. This study might be conducted to different research populations. The reasons why pre-service teachers have negative attitudes towards cursive handwriting and possible solutions might also be investigated. The data of this study was analyzed using quantitative data analysis procedures. The perceptions and opinions of pre-service teachers about cursive handwriting might be investigated thoroughly by employing qualitative data analysis procedures. References Akyol, H. (2000). Yazı öğretimi [Writing instruction]. Milli Eğitim, S. 146, Akyol, H. (2007). Türkçe ilk okuma yazma öğretimi: Yeni programa uygun [Turkish primary reading and writing instruction: According to the new program]. Ankara: Pegem A Yayıncılık. Arslan, D., Aşıkcan, M. & Özarslan, P. (2010, May). Sınıf öğretmeni adaylarının bitişik eğik yazı kullanımına yönelik görüşleri [Opinions of classroom teacher candidates about cursive handwriting using]. Paper presented at the 9. Sınıf Öğretmenliği Eğitimi Sempozyumu, Elazıg, pp: Bayraktar, Ö. (2006). The mistakes done by the first year primary school students in cursive writing (Unpublished master s thesis). Gazi University Institute of Educational Sciences, Ankara. Bektaş, A. (2007). The evaluation of the literacy education with the sound based sentence method. (Unpublished master s thesis). Çukurova University Institute of Social Sciences, Adana. Beyazıt, N. (2007). Evaluation of analysis method and sound based sentence method in gaining first reading writing instruction with different view angle (Unpublished master s thesis). Mustafa Kemal University Institute of Social Sciences, Hatay. Bratcher, S. & Stroble, E. J. (1994). Determining the progression from comfort to confidence: A longitudinal evaluation of a national writing project site based on multiple data sources. Research in the Teaching of English, 28, (1),

100 The Attitudes of Primary School Pre-Service Teachers Ruhan Karadağ Ceran, D. (2013). Turkish teachers attitudes towards the evaluation of writing training course. Turkish Studies- International Periodical for the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic, 8/1, Chambless, M. S. & Bass, J. A. (1995). Effecting changes in student teachers attitudes toward writing. Reading Research and Instruction, 35, (2), Coşkun, E. (2007). Yazma becerisi [Writing skills] In A. Kırkkılıç & H. Akyol (Eds), İlköğretimde Türkçe öğretimi. [Turkish instruction in primary education] (pp: 49-91). Ankara: Pegem-A Yayıncılık. Coşkun, E. & Coşkun, H. (2012). The evaluation of cursive italic hand writing success level of primary school students. Teachers of Primary Education and Turkish Language. GEFAD / GUJGEF, 32(3), Florio-Ruane, S. & Lensmire, T. J. (1990). Transforming future teachers ideas about writing instruction. Curriculum Studies, 22, (3), Franklin, M. R. (1992). Learning the writing process in teacher education classes. Action in Teacher Education, 14 (2), Graham S, Berninger, V.W., Abott, R. D., Abott, S. & Whitaker, D. (1997). The role of mechanics in composing of elementary school students: A new methodological approach. J. Educ. Psychol. 89, Graham, S, Harris, K. R, Mason, L, Fink-Chorzempa, B, Moran, S. & Saddler, B. (2008). How do primary grade teachers teach handwriting? A national survey. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary J. 21(1-2), Grossman, P. L., Valencia, S.W., Evans, K., Thompson, C., Martin, S. & Place, N. (2000). Transitions into teaching: Learning to teach writing in teacher education and beyond. Journal of Literacy Research, 32, Güleryuz, H. (2002). Turkce ilkokuma yazma ogretimi [Turkish primary reading and writing instruction] Ankara: Pegem A Yayincilik. Güneş, F. (2007). Türkçe öğretimi ve zihinsel yapılandırma [Turkish instruction and mental configuration]. Ankara: Nobel Yayın Dağıtım. Hagin, R. A. (1983). Write right-or left: A practical approach to handwriting. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 16, Harvey, C. & Henderson, S. (1997). Children s handwriting in the first years of school: Consistency over time and its relationship to academic achievement. Handwriting Rev. 11, Karasar, N. (1994). Bilimsel araştırma yöntemi [Scientific research method]. (6 th ed). Ankara: 3A Araştırma Eğitim Danışmanlık Ltd. Kavcar, C. (1987). Yüksek öğretmen okulunun öğretmen yetiştirmedeki yeri. [Place of higher teacher education in teacher education]. Paper presented at the Öğretmen Yetiştiren Yükseköğretim Kurumlarının Dunu, Bugünü, Geleceği Sempozyumu, Ankara Gazi Üniversitesi Yayınları, Kennedy, M. (1998). Learning to teach writing: Does teacher education make a difference? New York: Teachers College Press. Köksal, K. (1999). Okuma yazmanın öğretimi [Reading and writing instruction]. Ankara: Pegem A Yayincilik. O Neill, B. (2008). Japanese University student attitudes toward english cursive writing. Paper presented at the 9th Association for Language Awareness International Conference (Hong Kong, China). Abstract retrieved from ttitudes%20toward%20english%20cursive%20writing.pdf. Phelps, J. & Stempel, L. (1989). Help for handwriting: Procedures developed at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital. Education, 109 (4),

101 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); 82-95, 1April, 2014 Rosenblum, S., Weiss, P. L. & Parush, S. (2003). Product and process evaluation of handwriting difficulties. Educ. Psychol. Rev, 15(1), Saraç, C. (2002). Turkish literature/profeciency of candidates of Turkish language teachers and their ambitions toward their teaching carees. (Unpublished doctoral thesis), Ankara University Institute of Educational Sciences, Ankara. Schmidt, W.H., & Kennedy, M. M. (1990). Teachers and teacher candidates beliefs about subject matter and about teaching responsibilities. East Lansing, MI. Michigan State University, National Center for Research on Teacher Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED ). Sever, S. (2004). Türkçe öğretimi ve tam öğrenme [Turkish education and the mastery learning]. Ankara: Anı Yayıncılık. Shrofel, S. (1991). Developing writing teachers. English Journal, 23 (3), Street, C. (2003). Pre-service teachers attitudes about writing and learning to teach writing: Implications for teacher educators. Teacher Education Quarterly, Summer: Street, C. (2002). The P.O.W.E.R. of process writing in content area classrooms. Journal of Content Area Reading (1), 1, Street, C. (1999). Preservice teachers writing attitudes and the role of context in learning to teach writing. (Unpublished doctoral thesis). The University of Texas, Austin. Tseng, M. H, Cermak S. A. (1993). The influence of ergonomic factors and perceptual-motor abilities on handwriting performance. Am. J. Occup. Ther. 47(10), Turan, M. (2007). An investigation of the effectiveness of sound-based sentence method implemented in the first grade literacy program in Turkish lesson. (Unpublished doctoral thesis). Fırat University Institute of Social Sciences, Elazığ. Yıldırım, K. & Ateş, K. (2010). Views of primary grade teachers in regard to their ınstructional practices in handwriting. Pamukkale University Journal of Social Sciences, 5,

102 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 4(1), pp , 1 April, 2014 Available online at High School Students Stereotypic Images of Scientists in South Korea Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: EunJin Bang * School of Education, Iowa State University, Iowa, U.S.A. Sissy S. Wong College of Education, University of Houston, Texas, U.S.A. Tonya D. Jeffery College of Education, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, Texas, U.S.A. This study explored stereotypical images of scientists held by tenth-grade students at three different gender organized institutions. The three institutions included an all-male, an all-female, and a co-educational high school located in South Korea. A total of 393 tenth-grade students from these three respective schools participated in a Draw-A-Scientist-Test (DAST), which was designed to reveal students perceptions about what scientists look like. After initial assessment of the DAST results, small numbers of students from each school were selected for follow-up focus group interviews. A mixed methods technique was used in order to analyse the DAST scores and data from the transcribed interviews. Quantitative results indicated that the groups from the three different types of schools were significantly different in terms of their stereotypical images of scientists in that the male and female students from the co-ed school had significantly fewer stereotypical images of scientists versus Key words: stereotypic images of scientists; gender; high school; South Korea Introduction students in the all-male school. Qualitative results from analysis of selected students at the all-male, the all-female, and the co-ed schools corroborated the quantitative findings. Additional discussions address possible ways to improve equitable learning opportunities in South Korea. Culture, gender, and society in relation to science learning are positioned as some of the most important core research strands in the field of science education (Abell & Lederman, 2010). Research on culture, gender, and society within science education has been studied from various angles, but this study is primarily concerned with equitable learning opportunities, gender, and the masculine nature of science. This study is also aligned with the view of pluralism, in that understanding science knowledge is a product of its culture (McKinley, 2010). The working definitions of terms in this study are as follows: An equitable learning opportunity is defined as addressing the needs of both girls and boys, rather than questioning whether each receives the same thing (Banks, 2001, p 260). * [email protected]

103 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 The masculine nature of science is constructed and reproduced by the boyorientated curriculum packaging and the classroom interactions, whereby gender is re-contextualized (Kelly, 1985, p. 133). Gender is defined as a social construction, usually based upon the biology of one s body (Scantlebury & Baker, 2010, p.258). Social construction is defined as a process through which a given community assigns, institutionalizes and legitimizes gender roles (Mlama et al., 2005, p. 2). Gender stereotype is defined as the constant portrayal, such as in the media, conversation, jokes, or books, of women and men occupying social roles, according to traditional gender roles or division of labor (Mlama et al., 2005, p.1). Gender responsiveness is defined as taking action to correct gender bias and discrimination so as to ensure gender equality and equity (Mlama et al., 2005, p. 2). During , there was a controversial debate among researchers over whether the differences in school type, namely, single sex schools vs. co-educational (co-ed) schools, affected girls or boys performance, achievement, and self-esteem (Bang & Baker, 2013). Although researchers have mixed opinions about the benefits of single-sex schools and co-ed schools, advocates of single-sex schools have the following assertions: 1) they fear coeducation would shatter family values, because they would erase the differences between males and females; 2) girls in single-sex schools have higher self-esteem, are more interested in non-traditional subjects such as science and math, and are less likely to form stereotypes about jobs and careers; 3) single sex schools offer more opportunities for students to find rolemodels and mentors; 4) in single-sex schools, girls can be educational players rather than spectators; 5) girls are more likely to believe that there is nothing unusual about girls being leaders; and 6) all-girl schools let students be themselves, without worrying about how they look, and without being pressured and embarrassed by guys (Sadker & Sadker, 1995). On the other hand, promoters of coeducation put forth the following claims; 1) boys and girls learning together is a more natural, realistic situation and therefore a better preparation for functioning successfully within a democratic society; and, by extension, 2) single-sex schools prepare students poorly for a sexually unsegregated world (as cited in Bang & Baker, 2013). Due to the concerns of whether the types of school impacts student learning, it is important to reconsider how school types, namely all-male, all-female, and co-ed, play a role in the formation of high school girls and boys stereotypical images of scientists. Furthermore, when evaluating educational elements in a place like South Korea, where this study was conducted, the following factors need to be considered: 1) there is essentially one relatively homogenous ethnic group; 2) the educational system has a very nationalized, teacher-centred curriculum which means most science classroom situations lack diversity; 3) the lives of most high school students are focused on preparing for college entrance exams; 4) students learn science with a mastery test book or through rote memorization; 5) the line of gender roles is more apparent than in Western schools due, in part, to the influence of Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism; and 6) this study s findings can be significant with regards to the future evolution of science education in South Korea. -97-

104 High School Students Stereotypic Images E. Bang, S.S. Wong & T.D. Jeffery Purpose of the Study The purpose of the study is to unpack differences and similarities in perceptions of scientists among high school students from different school types in South Korea using a mixed methodology (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007). The authors of this study postulate that the results of the study will help galvanize dialogue among science educators in regards to providing equitable learning opportunities for both male and female students, and the ramifications of the perceived masculine nature of science. Research Questions 1. Do students who have been taught in all-male, all-female, and co-educational school settings have different stereotypical images of scientists? 2. How do high school students in South Korea describe an image of a scientist coming from these three different school settings? Related Literature History of Draw-A-Scientist-Test (DAST) For over fifty years, numerous studies have focused on elementary and secondary school students images of science and scientists. In their famous study with U.S. high school students, Mead and Metraux (1957) found that the popular perception of the scientist was that of a white male with facial hair, wearing eyeglasses and a laboratory coat, working alone in a lab and using chemicals and test tubes. The following citation generalizes the stereotypical images of the scientist: The scientist is a man who wears a white coat and works in a laboratory. He is elderly or middle aged and wears glasses. He is small, sometimes small and stout, or tall and thin. He may be bald. He may wear a beard, may be unshaven and unkempt. He may be stooped and tired. He is surrounded by equipment: test tubes, Bunsen burners, flasks and bottles, a jungle gym of blown glass tubes and weird machines with dials. The sparkling white laboratory is full of sounds: the bubbling of liquids in test tubes and flasks, the squeaks and squeals of laboratory animals, and the muttering voice of the scientist. He spends his days doing experiments. He pours chemicals from one test tube into another. He peers raptly through microscopes. He scans the heavens through a telescope, or a microscope. He experiments with plants and animals, cutting them apart, injecting serum into animals. He writes neatly in black notebooks (Mead & Metraux, 1957, pp ). In addition, one of Holland and Eisenhart s (1990) study participants, named Paula, described the following image of science students when she tried to get advice about getting into medical school: I need to talk to somebody who knows what s going on all the people I know are business majors except, I guess, the people in chemistry class. And I don t want to get into a detailed conversation [with them] half the people in chemistry are weird they could be mad scientists hunchbacks, running around with their lab coats on (Holland and Eisenhart, 1990, p 165). Such images of scientists were prevalent in the Western world regardless of age or country -98-

105 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 (Song & Kim, 1999). Further research conducted in the 1960 s and 1970 s continued to utilize written instruments to study people s stereotypical images of scientists, and these works confirmed Mead and Metraux s (1957) findings that many students held sterotypical images of scientists (as cited in Painter, Jones, Tretter, & Kubasko, 2006). Decades later, Chambers (1983) created the Draw-a-Scientist Test (DAST), and administered it to 4,708 students in grades K-5 to determine at what age children first developed distinct images of scientists. He also studied the impact of variables such as gender and socioeconomic class on the formation of these images (Painter et al., 2006). Chamber (1983) found that children held similar images of scientists when compared to the American high school students studied by Mead and Metraux (1957). He reported that stereotypic items as lab coats, eyeglasses, growth of facial hair, and laboratory equipment that began to appear in the drawings of the youngest children (Chamber, 1983, p259). Interestingly, he found that only girls drew women scientists. Chamber (1983), however, warned us that when using the DAST, a number of interpretive difficulties may arise which implies the test is more useful in identifying rather than measuring attitudes. Mason, Kahle, and Gardner (1991) state that classroom learning environments can change these pervasive social stereotypic images of scientists. In their study, they used the DAST as a tool for sensitizing both teachers and students. Results indicated that when used in this manner, the DAST modified the stereotypic image of scientists held by many students and teachers. For instance, teachers tried to avoid sex-role stereotyping by using non-sexist language to refer to scientists and their activities. Also, teachers presented equitable numbers of men and women who have been successful within the scientific community (Mason, Kahle & Gardner, 1991). The DAST has been shown to enable science education researchers to obtain data from students with limited written or verbal skills; however, the instrument was criticized because the criteria for scoring were not explicit. Therefore, Finson, Beaver, and Cramond (1995) redeveloped Chambers original DAST instrument, to produce an enhanced version called the Draw-a-Scientist Checklist (DAST-C). The checklist provides researchers with a list of stereotypical descriptors likely to be found in the illustrations submitted by students. Stereotypical Images of Scientists In Korea, researchers have explored the differences between male and female students images of science. These stereotypical images of scientists were also held by teachers (Song, 1993). Song (1993) also found that kindergarten teachers had more stereotyped images than secondary science teachers did. About 86% depicted scientists as male. Only 5% depicted scientists as women, and they were drawn by mostly female teachers (75%). Noh and Choi (1996) found that students held more masculine associations with scientists and more feminine characteristics in their own self-images. The perceived differences between the images of scientists and self-images were greater for female students than male students. Also, the differences between the perceived images were negatively correlated with negative science-related attitudes. Jeon, Yeo, and Woo (2002) found that after the designed instrument was administered, students were able to successfully cast away the stereotyped images of scientists. Also, there were significant differences between the experimental group and the control group in the perceived gender of a scientist. Namely, more students in the experimental group had drawn pictures of female scientists than those in the control group. -99-

106 High School Students Stereotypic Images E. Bang, S.S. Wong & T.D. Jeffery Newer studies are also contributing to a growing body of evidence that sociocultural influences and traditions are deeply connected to students perceptions of science and their views of scientists. Koren and Bar (2009) have posited that in industrialized countries, the image of the scientist is stereotypical with a certain percentage perceiving scientists as mad. On the other hand, in undeveloped countries, the scientist is perceived as heroic, brave and intelligent, helping other people, curing the sick, and improving the standard of living. For example, Medina-Jerez, Middleton, and Orihuela-Rabaza (2011) administered the DAST-C to 1,017 Colombian and Bolivian students in grades 5-11 to find out how these students pictured scientists and science. Medina-Jerez et al. (2011) found that Colombian and Bolivian students produced stereotypical images of the scientist, which were revealed in previous studies, via images of white males, conducting experiments indoors, and wearing lab coats and glasses. However, there were some differences in how students perceived scientists based on nationality, grade, and school type. For example, in regards to the gender of a depicted scientist, 85% of Bolivian students included male scientists, while 78% of Colombian students chose male characters to represent scientists. In addition, 9.5% of Colombian students drew female scientists, while 6% of Bolivian students depicted scientists as females (Medina-Jerez et al., 2011). Laubach, Crofford, and Marek (2012) examined the perceptions of scientists of 133 Native American high school students in grades 9-12 by using the DAST instrument to see if differences existed between grade level, gender, and level of cultural tradition. They found that Native American students who practiced native cultural traditions at home were more able to successfully integrate indigenous knowledge and modern western science than their non-practicing counterparts. In one study of 1,137 Korean students from three different age groups (11, 13 and 15), Song and Kim (1999) found that students stereotypical views of scientists were influenced more by affective and ethical personal characteristics of scientists than by their cognitive abilities. Along the same vein, Miller, Blessing, and Schwartz (2006) examined gender differences in 79 U.S. high-school students perceptions of science and scientists. They found that males liked mathematics and science courses more than females did, and that females tended to find science uninteresting and scientists lifestyles unattractive. The study also presented several implications for institutional changes regarding science education, and several pedagogical techniques for attracting females to the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Despite the wealth of information from many years of study, there is still a lack of research on images held by students in non-western countries, specifically in South Korea. Students conceptions of science and their perceptions of scientists are related to their views of scientific knowledge and practice and to their attitudes towards science and career aspirations (Christidou, 2011). Investigating Korean students stereotypical views of scientists may be the first step in getting students in western and non-western countries to consider future careers in the STEM fields (Painter et al., 2006). Hence, the purpose of this study is to explore the stereotypical images of scientists held by Korean high school students in an effort to improve inquiry-based science teaching and learning and educational policies in South Korea

107 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Methods Data collection Participants and Contexts Participants for this study were from 10th grade high schools. They lived in one of the big suburban cities named Suwon, which is 30 minutes from the capital city of Seoul, South Korea. The first author of the study and one of the earth science teachers from an all-male school, Mr. Namu (pseudonym), met to select schools in which to conduct the research. The science teacher had already been informed about the study s purposes and characters via e- mail correspondence with the first author. The science teacher and the first author selected three schools, and its students, based on similarities in socio-economic status and school rankings based on standardized tests. Before the researcher visited and interviewed each school and its students, (1) the principals and the science teachers were informed through a letter by the researcher about this study s purposes and aims; 2) the science teachers were informed that the participants of this study were to be chosen by a cluster sampling method, in which intact groups were randomly selected (Gay & Airasian, 2003), the researcher chose interviewees by the same method and; 3) the teachers and interviewees were informed that there would be assistants present during the interview phase in order to video-record sessions. Contexts: Women, South Korean Society, and the Influence of Confucian Virtues In traditional Korean society, women were largely confined to the home. From a young age, women were required to learn the Confucian virtues of subordination and endurance to prepare for their future roles as wives and mothers. Their roles were limited to the management of the large extended family, and the production of a male heir so that the family line could continue unbroken (Korean Women s Studies Institute [KWSI], 2002). This situation began to improve, however, thanks to the education of women, which followed the opening of the country to the outside world during the late 19 th century. With the establishment of the Korean Republic in 1948, women achieved the clear constitutional rights to equal education, job opportunities, and participation in public life (KWSI, 2002). Today, in compliance with the changing social environment, the government established the Ministry of Political Affairs to handle women s issues in In addition, in 1991, the Family Welfare Division with female chiefs in towns, counties, and wards was also founded to deal with women s welfare issues. On June 25, 1994, a Special Committee on Women was established at the National Assembly as a permanent body to discuss and legislate laws related to women. With the launch of the Government of the People in 1998, the Presidential Commission on Women s Affairs was established to handle women s issues. Despite these efforts, the number of women holding policy-making positions in administration and management remained very small (Elizabeth, 1998). Table 1 depicts a brief summary of women s lives in South Korea reported by the Korea National Statistical Office (KNSO) in

108 High School Students Stereotypic Images E. Bang, S.S. Wong & T.D. Jeffery Items Table 1: Women s Lives in South Korea (June, 2013) Female Female population 50.0% Female house holders 27.4% Marriage 29.4 years (first marriages) Life expectancy 84.5 years College enrolment rate 74.3% of the total female high school graduates Labour force participation rate 49.9% (the participation rate for females aged 25 to 29 recorded the highest figure) Opinions on housework sharing 57.0% of females thought that wives should do house work) Wage gap between males and females 68.0% of the wages of males Medical sector (esp. pharmacists) 64% Lawmakers 15.7% Local council members 20.3% Government employees 7.3% Victims of violent crimes 83.8% Emergency call for counselling Domestic violence is the largest share Methods of Data Collection DAST (Draw-A-Scientist-Test) The study followed Mason, Kahle, and Gardner s (1991) DAST. At this phase of data collection, the researcher emphasized that all processes would be administered anonymously for the survey and confidentiality would be maintained for the follow-up interview. The researcher and the assistants handed out coloured pencils to the students and asked them to draw pictures of scientists. The researcher told students that they could write comments about their drawings. Besides that, the researcher did not give the participants any other directions. The DAST sessions lasted 15 minutes. Focus group interviews As a follow-up to the DAST, the first author conducted focus group interviews with 11 students who came from the three differing school environments. All interviewees obtained parental consent for video-recording of their interviews, and were notified that pseudonyms would be used throughout the study. All of the interview citations in the study are worked in translation, as it were, from Korean to English. Each focus group interview, which was conducted outside of the school setting, took approximately one to one and onehalf hours. Interview questions were adapted from the Mason et al. study (1991) and were revised with feedback from researchers in the area of the nature of science. The main interview questions are listed below: 1. Tell me about your picture (Draw-a-Scientist-Test) 2. Can you describe your image of scientists, what they do and what kind of people they are? 3. What is the scientist s nationality? Why do you think the scientist is from that particular country? -102-

109 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, From where did you get your image? 5. Do you think more scientists today are men or women? Why do you think this is the case? Do you think this is changing? Do you think this change is good for science? Data Analysis This study used a mixed model, in which the researcher used both a quantitative method and a qualitative method for in-depth analysis (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007). For the quantitative method, the following steps were administered: 1) The DAST drawings from the participants were scored and coded using Microsoft EXCEL; 2) After data entry and coding, the researcher rechecked 30% of the scores for data processing 3) The results of the scored data were transferred to data summary sheets for further uses; and 4) a One-Way analysis of variance (ANOVA, F-test, α=. 05) followed by a Post Hoc test were performed on the stereotypic DAST scores, to test the statistical significance of the differences using Microsoft SPSS Any p-value less than or equal to.05 was considered significant. As for the qualitative method, the first author transcribed the recorded interviews in Korean and English, then used the constant comparison analysis method to find the important themes or issues in the data (Gay & Airasian, 2003). Approximately 516, 10 th graders were selected by cluster sampling for the stereotypic images of the scientists. Only 393 out of 516 (76.16%) students from each school participated in a 15-minute Draw-A-Scientist-Test (DAST) for the stereotypic images of scientists. The Draw-A-Scientist-Test (DAST) rubric that was adapted from Mason et al. s (1991) study was modified by the researchers and checked by nature of science researchers to make it more applicable to this study. See table 1 for the rubric. One of the modifications to the rubric included adding questions to check whether participants drew a Korean scientist or a Westerner. Each of the 14 items that represents the stereotypic images of scientists was given 1 point. For this study, inclusion of multiple images of the same type in a single drawing counted as one image. For example, if a drawing contained televisions, telephones, and computers which are images of technology, only one point would be given. Below are the indicators for the stereotypic images of the scientist. Finally, 23 % of the total DAST data were eliminated from the study when the drawings were defined as unrecognizable (e.g. stick figures without any comments or notes). Table 2: Indicators for the Stereotypic Images of Scientists Stereotypic Image Score Note Lab coat 1 Usually but not necessarily white. Eyeglasses 1 Wearing eyeglasses. Facial hair 1 Beard, moustache, abnormally long sideburns. Symbols of research 1 Scientific instruments, lab equipment of any kind, Types of scientific instruments / equipment. Symbols of knowledge 1 Books, filing cabinets, clipboards, pens in pockets, and so on. Technology represented 1 Televisions, telephones, missiles, computers, and so on

110 High School Students Stereotypic Images E. Bang, S.S. Wong & T.D. Jeffery Relevant captions 1 Formulae, taxonomic classification, the "eureka!" syndrome, Why? Fail and so on. Male gender only 1 Western or Caucasian only Taken off when was analysed. Middle-aged or Elderly Taken off when was analysed. scientist** Mythic stereotypes 1 Frankenstein creatures, Jekyll/Hyde figures, etc. Indications of secrecy 1 Signs or warnings that read "Private," "Keep Out," "Do Not Enter," "Go Away," "Top Secret," and so on. Scientist working indoors 1 Scientist working indoors Indications of danger 1 Mask, protective gloves, and glasses etc. *Note: Several images of the same type in a single drawing counted as one image (for example, two scientists each with eyeglasses received only one check, not two). **When the researcher tried to analyse this item, although many students drew scientists as very old, the reasons were not quite matched with this image. The most common reason was because they were working day and night, that they were just worn-out. Therefore, this image also had to be taken off. Findings All-male, all-female, males and females in co-ed situations were examined using ANOVA. An α level of.05 was used to test for significance between groups. The independent variable the school type factor included four levels: students in the all-male school, students in the all-female school, male students in the co-ed school, and female students in the co-ed school. The dependent variable was the stereotypic images of scientists. The results are shown in Table 3. The mean scores and standard deviation for DAST scores for the school types are also presented in Table 3. Table 3: Analysis of Variance, Mean Scores, and Standard Deviations for DAST Scores DAST Scores Students from the all-male school vs. Students from the co-ed school Sig. Male students from the co-ed school vs. Female students from the co-ed school n.s. Students from the all-male school vs. Students from the all-female school n.s. Students from the all-female school vs. Students from the co-ed school n.s

111 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 There was a significant difference in the means between the students from the all-male school and the students from the mixed school, but no significant differences between the male students in the co-ed school and the female students in the co-ed school. There were also no differences between the students from the all-female school and the students from the mixed school, or between the students from the all-male school and the students from the all-female school. Using a boxplot as the graphical method, Figure 1 shows the DAST scores for the school types N = 73 Al l-male 79 Al l-female Male in Co-ed Femal e in Co-ed Figure 1: The Boxplot of DAST Scores Draw-A-Scientist-Test (DAST) Drawings The DAST data on stereotypic images of the scientist were drawn by 302 students (allmale = 73, all-female = 79, males in co-ed = 78, and females in co-ed = 72) from the same three schools. A close scrutiny of student drawings illustrates the very similar images that Mead and Metraux found from their American high school students in However, there were interesting drawings that mirrored Korean scientists predicaments, contemporary science issues and technology, and group work

112 High School Students Stereotypic Images E. Bang, S.S. Wong & T.D. Jeffery Figure 2: Examples of Students Drawings The researcher found ten common images of the scientists from the participants: 1) a scientist who has Mead and Metraux s (1957) standard stereotypic image; 2) a scientist who is in agony because of dated science equipment and poverty; 3) a chemist; 4) a female scientist; 5) a scientist who works with computers and robots; 6) a scientist who is wearing protective clothing; 7) a scientist who is evil or magical; 8) Western scientists; 9) scientists working in a group and; 10) a shy scientist. The images presented in Figure 2 are example drawings of scientists from some of these categories. The Interviews Images of Scientists The interviewer (Int.) asked about the images of scientists, including details such as the kinds of people the scientists were, where the students got these images, and what the -106-

113 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 nationalities of the scientists were. The students had drawn stereotypic images of scientists that depicted men in white laboratory coats, worked in a laboratory, might be unshaven and unkempt, and and/or surrounded by equipment doing experiments. DeaShik s (am S2) ideas and description of a scientist were perfectly matched with Mead and Metraux s (1957) findings. JeeSun (af S2), who was from the all-female school, consistently described what scientists were doing, and said that science was very difficult and complicated. However, most of the students from the co-ed school thought that scientists were not that different from normal people, that they simply had science-related jobs. These students verbal responses correlated with the results of the students DAST scores, but the students from the all-male school had the most stereotypical images of scientists: Q 1. Int.: Can you describe your image of scientists, what they do and what kind of people they are? --all-male-- DeaShik (am S2): white hair, because scientists think and do experiments too much, blowing things up or exploding something. Because they are so into their experiments, their eyes are getting bad, so they wear black-rimmed glasses. They always stay inside the lab, so their shoulders become smaller they are always holding a flask, mixing something, blowing something up. They are always sitting, so their legs are so short. They are worn out. They always work 24 hours they are thinking about their experiments even while they are eating. When they succeed, then they come out to see the sun --all-female-- JeeSun (af S2): Of a scientist? Well, the first thing that cames to my mind is an image from a cartoon book. I think scientists are not just doing experiments; for instance a teacher who teaches science is also a scientist. I think I might have been narrowminded when I drew this [she looks at her drawing]. I drew this because science is very complicated and difficult; therefore, when you study it, you will change into or become a stranger person. Studying science is too hard. Also, scientists are the people who do lots of experiments and who have a lot of curiosity and who always pick apart anything, because they want to know the reason for everything. So, from a layperson s point of view, they seem invasive. --co-ed male- YoungTae (com S2): I don t think they always wear a white coat and do experiments. In my mind, scientists would vary; like they can invent something new to improve our lives or they can build a spaceship. There are no big differences between normal people and scientists. However they are interested in very tiny, trivial things that are related to science. --co-ed female- Sook (cof S1): They are just doing experiments or doing science-related works in their lab. I think they are just like normal people. I don t think they are that much different. In terms of the nationality of scientists, most of the students from the three schools imagined them as Westerners, like Einstein. Only two students, SuSup (am S1) and Sunny (cof S2), envisioned them as a Korean. Q2. Int.: What is the scientist s nationality? --all-male-- DeaShik (am S2): When I heard the word scientist a Westerner s image came to me Especially white people Einstein s image is very strong

114 High School Students Stereotypic Images E. Bang, S.S. Wong & T.D. Jeffery SuSup (am S1): Off the top of my head, the image of scientist is Korean. Look, I drew his nose very small. --co-ed male-- JunHyuck (com S1): I also thought of scientist as foreigners, especially the Japanese scientist who got the Nobel Prize. YoungTae (com S2): as Edison or Einstein. So to speak, white people I think white people --co-ed female-- Sook (cof S1): Of course the Westerners, especially Einstein who is really famous There are many foreigners in the books that I had read when I was a child. So Sunny (cof S2): Korean scientists came to my mind first. The students learned these images mostly from the media, cartoons, photographs, video games, and science-related books. SuSup (am S1) admitted that he had to rely on his imagination because, for him, scientists were so distant. Also, SeoungMin (am S3) indicated that he had never met a scientist before: Q3. Int.: From where did you get your image? --all-male-- SuSup (am S1): When I drew this, I used half of my imagination and half of my experience Media and cartoons are the sources that I have about scientists Envisioning their characteristics are so difficult because they are so far from us SeoundMin (am S3): but I ve never met a scientist at all --all-female-- SoonHee (af Sl): TV shows scientists who are conducting experiments When I was in elementary school, I saw many boys who wanted to be scientists. --co-ed male-- ByungChan (com S3): Probably science books --co-ed female-- Sook (cof S1): I ve thought this since I was young or I got it from the TV just learned naturally. To summarize, both quantitative and qualitative findings indicate that the students from the all-male school had a higher likelihood of maintaining their stereotypic images of scientists than the students from the co-ed school. The focus group interviews indicated that the students at three different gender organized institutions held slightly different degrees of stereotypic images of scientists. Conclusions In this study we explored stereotypic images of scientists, as perceived by high school students from three different types of schools in South Korea. These stereotypical images of scientists were captured and reported in the form of drawings and verbal follow-up interviews. The study revealed that the students from the all-male school showed the highest DAST scores, which was significantly different from the students from the co-ed school. This -108-

115 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 suggests that the students from the all-male school had a more limited and stereotypical understanding of scientists. The students from the co-ed school had the lowest DAST scores and were thus less likely to hold stereotypical images of scientists. Generally, a scientist was perceived as a Western male wearing a lab coat and eyeglasses, and had facial hair. Symbols of research and knowledge were represented by the following: (1) A female assistant holding a beaker or flask tray, following a male scientist (2) A male scientist holding cylinders or stirring chemicals in a beaker, situated within a laboratory (3) A male scientist looking through a microscope apparently discovering something (4) A male scientist surrounded by the results of his scientific work such as cloned humans, the first cloned sheep, Dolly, or an atomic bomb. In terms of stereotypes regarding the character of scientists, students perceived scientists as magical, shy, dangerous, and secretive people who generally worked alone in a laboratory. The follow-up interviews indicated that these images of scientists were garnered from the amalgam of images in mass media (e.g. TV, cartoon books, science books). Finally, this study supports the notion that the images of scientists from students in the all-male school aligned with the findings and descriptions from Mead and Metraux s (1957) study. Equitable learning opportunity The results of the study indicated that attending the co-ed school accounted for a few positive effects on both male and female students. This is not to imply, however, that the students experiences of science in the single-sex schools were unimportant. Taking into account that all three of the schools environments were the same in terms of the centrality of the college entrance exam (Ann, 2003; Kim, 2001) schools should provide enhanced curricula by providing multiple opportunities for students to participate in science fairs, or various out-of-school science activities, such as science camps and field trips to well known laboratories. Another noteworthy finding was that students from the all-male high school held increasingly more stereotypical ideas of women s and men s roles as scientists than male students from coeducational schools. Therefore, having male and female students participate in various science fairs and out-of-school science activities together can encourage the development of more gender-equitable and supportive environments for all students. Curriculum and classroom interactions Barton s (2010) description of composite culture offers insights on which learning environments and factors best support the process of students successfully developing an egalitarian view of science and scientists. As she summarized, science learning, when viewed as enculturation, can be understood as mediated by the intersections of the experiences that students bring to the classroom, the pedagogical ideals of the teacher, and the teacher s explicit understanding of how to bring together the dimensions of professional science practice and pedagogical ideals (Barton, 2010, p. 332). Through this lens, science is seen as a collective enterprise, and the role of science teachers is positioned as critical and important especially their skills in negotiating different or conflicting perspectives and capabilities (Hogan & Corey, 2001). For many science educators in South Korea, this may sound impractical due to the current educational policy and the long tradition of teacher-centered, textbook-centered, and lecture-style science teaching and learning methods (Ann, 2003; Kim, 2001). Yet, creating a classroom culture or even a school -109-

116 High School Students Stereotypic Images E. Bang, S.S. Wong & T.D. Jeffery support system that respects experiences and perspectives from all involved is worth further investigation. Certain pedagogical interventions in school can also mitigate the masculine nature of science. For instance, gender responsive pedagogy (Mlama et al., 2005) furnishes several elements such as (1) raising awareness of involved individuals, (2) training students, teachers, and the school community, (3) empowering female and male students to accept gender equity in a positive light, (4) providing scholarships and support as well as gender responsive infrastructures, (5) designing and teaching activities to promote the participation of girls in STEM fields, and other issues. Gender Roles and Science The study sheds light on the fact that gender that was socially constructed affected high school students access to science learning via somewhat insidious mechanisms of culture. According to Geertz (1973), culture is defined as an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols and a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms, by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life (p. 89). Through the lens of Geertz s (1973) concept of culture, it is not surprising to find that gender inequity is still prevalent in some of the results informed by the KNSO, on women s lives in South Korea. Moreover, the results of the study depict societal and culture expectations of what it means to be scientists for students in South Korean high schools, where gender roles are so clearly drawn. The results also reinforce the masculine nature of science (Kelly, 1985). Yet, living in a technology-intensive world, it is time for South Korean policy makers to join the dialogues initiated by countries like Australia and New Zealand, in terms of sexism within schools (Scantlebury & Baker, 2010). This daunting job can be initiated by investigating the factors influencing the reproduction of traditional gender roles in the context of current educational policies in South Korea. Last, but not least, it is not unusual to hear in a conversation between Koreans the assertion that, the biggest problem in Korea s education is the college entrance exam (Ann, 2003). Students learn science through textbooks, and concentrate on mastery books in school and in private institutions called Hakwon to learn subjects like Korean, English, Mathematics, and Science. Many mothers who are housewives have to find extra work just to pay their children s expensive private lesson fees. When possible, some affluent parents send their children to the United States and Canada to study. According to the KNSO report in 2012, 69.4 % of the total student population in South Korea takes lessons in private institutions, lessons averaging approximately 340 U.S. dollars a month per student. Considering all the cultural and contextual factors described in this section, the authors of the study urge policy makers to develop stronger foundations that more effectively nurture educational policies and science education, rather than stifle school administrators, teachers, and students. Furthermore, it is suggested that science educators and educational planners in South Korea broaden their perspectives and endeavor to incorporate a variety of workable measures and activities to improve science education in Korea. The most effective first step may be to revise teacher education programs in a way that allows future science teachers an ample opportunity to explore the complex relationships among culture, gender, and society in relation to science learning and teaching. To conclude, policy makers need to listen to the voices of students, teachers, administrators, parents, teacher-educators, and pay closer -110-

117 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 attention to researchers findings to accelerate advancements in education. Acknowledgements: This study is a part of a large gender study that dealt with student achievement, attitudes, job aspiration, school science studies, and images of scientists. The authors of the paper would first like to thank the participants of this study. Additionally, a special thank you goes to Dr. Dale Baker and Dr. Michael who always encourage us to excel. References Abell, S.K. & Lederman, N.G. (2010), Handbook of research on science education, New York, NY: Routledge. Ann, J. O. (2003). The Republic of Education - Rebuild the Crazy Country (in Korean). Eulalbook. Bang, E. & Baker, D. (2013). Gender differences in Korean high school students science achievements and attitudes towards science in three different school settings. Mevlana International Journal of Education, 3(2), Banks, J. (2001). Cultural Diversity and Education. Allyn and Bacon. Barton, A.C. (2010). Science learning in urban settings. In S. K. Abell & N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Handbook of research on science education, (pp ). New York, NY: Routledge. Chambers, D. (1983). Stereotypic images of the scientist: The Draw-a-Scientist Test. Science Education, 67(2), Christidou, V. (2011). Interest, attitudes and images related to science: Combining students' views with the voices of school science, teachers, and popular science. International Journal of Environmental & Science Education, 6(2), Creswell, J. W. & Plano Clark, V.L. (2007). Designing and conducting: Mixed methods research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Elizabeth, N. (1998). Facts about KOREA. Hollym. Finson, K. D., Beaver, J. B., & Cramond, B. L. (1995). Development and field test of a checklist for the Draw-a-Scientist Test. School Science and Mathematics, 95(4), Gay, L. R. and Airasian, P. (2003) Educational Research: Competencies for Analysis and Applications. Merrill Prentice Hall. Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York: Basic Books. Hogan, K., & Corey, C. (2001). Viewing classrooms as cultural contexts for fostering scientific literacy. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 32, Holland, D. & Eisenhart, M. (1990). Educated in Romance: Women, Achievement, and College Culture. The University of Chicago Press. Jeon, H. Y., Yeo, S. I., & Woo, K. W. (2002). Effects of reading materials about scientists on the attitude toward science and images of scientists-focusing on gender differences (in Korean). Journal of the Korean Association for Research in Science Education, 22, Kelly, A. (1985). The construction of masculine science. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 6(2), Kim, C. H. (2001). Korea's School Culture and the Drama of Entrance Exam in University (in Korean). Moonumsa. Korean Women s Studies Institute (KWSI). (2002). History of Korean Women (in Korean). Chungyunsa

118 High School Students Stereotypic Images E. Bang, S.S. Wong & T.D. Jeffery Koren, P., & Bar, V. (2009). Science and it's images - Promise and threat: From classic literature to contemporary students' images of science and "The Scientist". Interchange, 40(2), Korea National Statistical Office (KNSO). (2012). The current status of Korean elementary and secondary students who are participating in private institutions (in Korean). Retrieved from Korea National Statistical Office (KNSO). (2013). Women s lives through statistics in 2013 (in Korean). Retrieved from Laubach, T. A., Crofford, G. D., & Marek, E. A. (2012). Exploring Native American students' perceptions of scientists. International Journal of Science Education, 34(11), Mason, C. L., & Kahle, J. B., &Gardner, A. L. (1991). Draw-A-Scientist Test: Future implications. School Science and Mathematics, 91(5), McKinley, E. (2010). Postcolonialism, indigenous students, and science education. In S. K. Abell & N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Handbook of research on science education, (pp ). New York, NY: Routledge. Mead, M., & Metraux, R. (1957). Image of the scientist among high school students: A pilot study. Science, 126, Medina-Jerez, W., Middleton, K., & Orihuela-Rabaza, W. (2011). Using the DAST-C to explore Colombian and Bolivian students' images of scientists. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 9(3), Miller, P., Blessing, J., & Schwartz, S. (2006). Gender differences in high-school students' views about science. International Journal of Science Education, 28(4), Mlama, P., Dioum, M., Makoye, H., Murage, L., Wagah, M., & Washika, R. (2005). Gender responsive pedagogy: A teacher. Retrieved from Noh, T. H. & Choi, Y. N. (1996). Gender differences in science classroom climate perceived by students in mixed classes (in Korean). Journal of the Korean Association for Research in Science Education, 16, Painter, J., Jones, M., Tretter, T., & Kubasko, D. (2006). Pulling back the curtain: Uncovering and changing students' perceptions of scientists. School Science and Mathematics, 106(4), Sadker, M. & Sadker, D. (1993). Failing at Fairness: How Our Schools Cheat Girls. Simon & Schuster. Scantlebury, K. & Baker, D. (2010). Gender issues in science education research: Remembering where the difference lies. In S. K. Abell & N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Handbook of research on science education, (pp ). New York, NY: Routledge. Song, J. W. (1993). Teachers' images of scientists and their respected scientists (in Korean). Journal of the Korean Association for Research in Science Education, 13, Song, J., & Kim, K. (1999). How Korean students see scientists: The images of the scientist. International Journal of Science Education, 21(9),

119 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 4(1), pp , 1 April, 2014 Available online at Clustering Analysis of Students Attitudes Regarding Distance Education: Case of Karadeniz Technical University Ozcan Ozyurt * Software Engineering Department, Faculty of Technology, Karadeniz Technical University, Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Key words: distance education, cluster analysis, attitude, hierarchical clustering, performance of distance education Introduction Trabzon, Turkey This study aims to determine the clustering tendency of computer programming students attitude variables regarding distance education who are educated by this method. This study was carried out in fall semester of academic year. Sample of the study consists of 92 students studying in the department of distance education computer programming in Karadeniz Technical University. Distance Education Attitude Survey consisting of 35 items is used as a data collecting tool. The obtained data is analyzed with Ward method which is one of the hierarchical clustering methods. According to the cluster analysis, it is seen that attitudes of the students regarding distance education are collected in three main groups as A, B and C. Among these clusters, cluster A has sub clusters as A1 and A2 and, cluster C has also sub clusters as C1 and C2. These clusters are named in accordance with the variables they consist as follows: A1: Positive effects of distance education on learning, A2: Content and materials of distance education, B: Place and importance of distance education, C1: Deficiency and unreliability of distance education, C2: Inferiority of distance education and its negative effects on socialization. When it is evaluated generally, it is seen that clusters A and B reflect the positive attitude variables, C on the other hand reflects the negative attitude variables. Developments in information communication technologies have brought lots of innovation to education as any other field. In recent years, Internet has become an indispensable part of the daily life and education/teaching activities have been began to be performed in this environment. This situation provides significant opportunities to educational institutions in different level, especially to universities for creating environment being available for every one (Aggarwal, 2000). In terms of this the influence of Internet on education may be in high level (Horzum & Balta, 2008). Increasing number of students and work conditions have resulted in the rise of distance education as an alternative education model for traditional education (Akça, 2006). At the present time, lots of tools like asynchrony, synchrony, virtual classes, bilateral interactive voice and video components are included into distance education environment (Beldarrain, 2006; Kesim & Ağaoğlu, 2007). This situation increases the quality of education performed in distance education environment. Karadeniz Technical University, Faculty of Technology, Department of Software Engineering, Of, Trabzon. [email protected] Phone: /8482.

120 Clustering Analysis of Students Attitudes Regarding O. Ozyurt There are a lot of studies comparing distance education with face to face education. Results of these studies have shown that when some requirements are performed in distance education, the education made in this environment is as successful as the one performed in face to face education (Uzunboylu & Ozdamli, 2009). Several researches related to education have shown that there is a positive and significant relation between the affective characteristics and academic success of the students (Islim, 2006; Şimsek, 2012). It is known that one of the most important signifiers of affective characteristics of the students about the course is their attitudes toward the course. (Erden & Akman, 1995). In current literature, it is generally focused on effectiveness of these environments such as technical support, learning outcome, methods, interactions, communication, adaptability and motivation (Abdous & Yoshimura, 2010; Guichon, 2010; Karaman, Aydemir, Küçük, & Yıldırım,2013; Kidd & Stamatakis, 2006; Ng, 2007; Yüksekdag, 2012). In the studies conducted for investigating attitudes regarding distance education in literature, the relation between the attitude and different variables (gender, level of computer using etc.) is generally researched. There is not any study related with the clustering tendency of the attitude variables relating distance education. The aim of this study is to determine the clustering tendency of the attitudes of distance education computer programming students regarding distance education. Attitudes of the students should be determined well in order to increase the efficiency of distance education. In this regard, clustering tendency of the students attitude variables regarding distance education will enlighten the studies to be made in this field. In this regard research question of this study is as follows: What are the clustering tendency of students attitude variables relating the distance education studying in distance education computer programming? Related Works In the literature, there are various studies on attitudes of students regarding distance education. Ateş and Altun (2008) analyse the attitudes of the 3rd and 4th class students from department of Computer and Teaching Technologies Education regarding distance education in terms of gender, class level, getting distance education, and experience for computer using, perceived computer skill and learning styles. The results of this study shows that the attitude regarding distance education does not necessarily differ relating to gender or class. On the other hand, whether they get distance education before or not, their experience for computer using and their perceived computer using skills have a significant effects on students attitudes regarding distance education. Brinkerhoff and Koroghlanian (2005) analysed the computer skills of the university students and their attitudes regarding the Internet based education in two stages. They looked firstly for relation between their skill for computer using, experience for computer, whether they get Internet based class or not and their attitudes. The attitudes of students are generally seen as neutral in this stage but it is confirmed that the ones who take Internet based education before have more positive attitudes. They inspected whether there is a change within the time in attitudes of students toward the Internet based education in the second stage. According to this it is seen that even if there are some improvements in students attitudes in four years period, they stay relatively stable. Dick, Case, and Burns (2001) inspected the attitudes of 270 graduate and undergraduate students regarding distance education in USA and Australia. According to the findings obtained from this study, it is shown that their attitudes regarding distance education is at a level near to indecisive and majority of the students see distance education as a -114-

121 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 secondary choice. Drennan, Kennedy, and Pisarski (2005) evaluated the views of 248 students from different class and departments about a distance education class supported with face to face class environment. According to the results of this study, in this class for which distance education method is used, students easy access to class materials, being able to use these materials, and autonomous, independent learning and having inner audit focus as learning style influence the learning. And another result is that the students who have computer using skill in advanced level can adapt these classes easily, solve the probable technical problems and have positive views about distance education. Şahin (2007) used Distance Education Learning Environment Interview (DELEI) and investigated the relation between the determinant variables stated below: support of educator, student interaction and cooperation, personal interest, specific learning, active learning and student autonomy. 917 students from Anadolu University participated in this study. Finding of this study shows that four of the 6 variables of DELEI which are named as personal interest, support of educator, active learning and specific learning have an important and positive relation with satisfaction of student. Şahin and Shelley (2008) produced a model in order to determine the satisfaction of university students about distance learning named distance education student satisfaction model. The sample of investigation consists of 195 students. Researchers have tried to determine the student satisfactions by using four factors (computer knowledge, flexibility of distance education, efficiency of distance education and the satisfaction of distance education). According to the findings it will be beneficial to take into consideration the students computer knowledge and flexibility of distance education, and perceives such as the perceived efficiency of distance education for determining their satisfaction with class technology and their success in online learning environment. Results of the study put forwards that these factors are necessary for supporting the student satisfaction. Çalli at al. (2013) researched the effects of some variables on the learning process of 930 distance education students. Findings of this study shows that among these variable perceived entertainment, easy to use, effectiveness of multimedia content have an important influence on perceived usefulness. It is also observed that perceived usefulness and entertainment, and multimedia content effectiveness influence the satisfaction. Yüksekdağ (2012) in his study used a survey to investigate the attitudes of psychiatry nurses according to their demographic features and their status for using computer/internet besides their attitudes regarding distance nursery education. This research shows both that the survey is valid and reliable, and the sub dimensions of the nurses attitudes regarding interactions in distance nursery education. Karaman et al. (2013) carried out a research to reveal the key components for making an effective virtual class section in terms of environment and method. Researchers used faculty of theology, degree of undergraduate completion distance education virtual class environment in their studies. In this program semi structured interview has been regularly applied to 20 participants consisting of 8 educators, 10 students and 2 technical officers. This study revealed that virtual class environment can be arranged better and it should include interactive activities besides a better technical support. The important educational technics for virtual classes should be thought as active participation of student, summary of the materials, capturing the attention of the student and a partnership with real life in high level. Method Descriptive approach and relational screening design from general screening methods are used in this study. It is aimed to determine the existence and degree of covariance between two or more variables in relational screening method. (Karasar, 2006)

122 Clustering Analysis of Students Attitudes Regarding O. Ozyurt Study Group This study is conducted with 92 students studying in Karadeniz Technical University, distance education computer programming in the academic year. Data Collection Instrument Distance Education Attitude Survey (Kışla, 2005) consisting of 35 items is used in this study in order to determine the attitudes of student regarding distance education. Data Analysis Ward method, one of the Hierarchical Clustering methods is used in order to determine the clustering tendency of the attitude variables of distance education computer programming students toward distance education. Quadric Euclidean distance is chosen as similarity/difference measure in calculation of the distance between the variables. Similarities between the variables of attitudes are presented in dendrograms. SPSS 16.0 statistical pocket program is used for the analysis of data. Findings On the purpose of answering the research question, the data obtained from survey consisting of 35 items used for determining the attitudes of distance education computer programming students regarding distance education are subjected to the hierarchical clustering analysis. Ward method is used for determining the clustering tendency of data. Quadric Euclidean distance is chosen as distance measure. The obtained data is presented in Figure 1. It is seen that views of the students are collected in three main cluster as A, B and C according to the dendrogram in Figure 1. These clusters are named as; cluster A Positive Effects of distance education on learning, and content, cluster B Adapting the necessity and importance of distance education, cluster C Negative effects of distance education on application, education and socialization relating to the variables they include. Furthermore it is observed that Cluster A has sub clusters as A1 and A2, and cluster C has sub clusters as C1 and C

123 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Figure 1. Dendrogram for the Attitude Variables of distance education computer Programming Students Clusters and sub clusters in which there are attitude variables of distance education computer programming students are showed in Table 1. Table 1. Clusters And Sub clusters Which Includes Attitude Variables of distance education Computer Programming Students regarding Distance Education Clusters Sub clusters Variables Cluster Manes A A1 X19, X29, X22, X23, X9, X2, X4, X5 Positive effects of distance education on learning A2 X11, X26, X15 Content and materials of distance education -117-

124 Clustering Analysis of Students Attitudes Regarding O. Ozyurt B X16, X34, X33, X1, X14, X25, X28 Place and importance of distance education C C1 X21, X32, X20, X17, X30, X3 Inefficiency and unreliability of distance education C2 X6, X35, X24, X12, X13, X18, X27, X31, X7, X8, X10 Inferiority and negative effects of distance education on socialization Cluster A A1: (X19) I get motivated better to the class that I take with distance education. (X29) I learn better with distance education (X22) Distance Education has positive influence on my creativity. (X23) Distance education increase the efficiency through its structure. (X9) Distance education increases the quality of education. (X2) Distance education improves the learning capacity of the individual. (X4) Distance education easies the learning. (X5) Distance education arouses my curiosity. A2: (X11) I think the written materials used in distance education are qualified in terms of their content. (X26) Variety of the materials used in distance education takes my attention. (X15) I think tools and equipment used in distance education are sufficient. Cluster B (X16) I am interested in distance education. (X34) Distance education attracts my attention. (X33) Importance of distance education increases day by day. (X1) I want to take distance education. (X14) Distance education is at least as prestigious as classical education. (X25) I think distance education will be the future form of education. (X28) I am in favour of some classes being given with distance education in universities. Cluster C C1: (X21) I think that the ones participated in distance education is sufficient in terms of knowledge and skill. (X32) the certificate taken through distance education does not meet the tuition paid for it. (X20) I do not thrust distance education programs in Turkey. (X17) Evaluation methods of institutions giving distance education is not convenient. (X30) There is a communication gap between the lecturers and students in distance education. (X3) Most of the classes cannot be made through distance education C2: (X6) I think, I can have a good friendship relations while taking distance education. (X35)I believe distance education will limit socialization. (X24) It discomforts me that there is not continuous face to face interaction in distance education. (X12) I believe the certificate that I will take at the end of distance education will be valid

125 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 (X13) Employment possibilities of the ones graduated from distance education are low. (X18) I think open learning in our country is sufficient. (X27) The education given through distance education is not useful. (X31) Distance education declines the success of student. (X7) Distance education makes people lazy. (X8) I think distance education is luxurious for our country. (X10) I do not think distance education will be appropriate for me. Discussion and Conclusion According to the results of the clustering analysis, it is observed that the attitudes of students regarding distance education are collected under three main cluster as A, B and C. Among this clusters Cluster A has sub clusters as A1 and A2 and cluster C has sub clusters as C1 and C2. These clusters are named as below: Sub cluster A1: Positive Effects of distance education on learning Sub cluster A2: Content and materials of distance education Cluster B: Place and importance of distance education Sub cluster C1: Inefficiency and unreliability of distance education Sub cluster C2: Inferiority and negative effects of distance education on socialization. When the clusters are examined together with the variables they include, it is observed that Clusters A and B reflect the positive attitude variables and cluster C reflects the negative attitude variables. Aydın (2012) has stated that students participated in video conference based distance education conducted with 56 students from Anadolu University Faculty of Open Learning have positive attitudes regarding the educators, content and applied strategy. Findings obtained from this study support this study in one hand but it shows a contrary situation on the other hand. While sub cluster A2 includes attitude variables parallel to this study, sub cluster C1 is seen as contrary to this study with the variable (X21) I think that the ones participated in distance education is sufficient in terms of knowledge and skill. In literature, importance of face to face interaction in education is frequently stated (Guichon, 2010; Karaman et al., 2013; Tipton et al., 2011; Yüksekdağ, 2012). Birisçi (2013) has found out that according to students some problems arising from the lack of face to face interaction between the students and the educator decrease the interest for the class. The variable (X24) it discomforts me that there is not continuous face to face interaction in distance education included in sub cluster C2 displays a parallel connection with this result of Birisçi s (2013) study. Ayyıldız, Günlük, and Erbey (2006) state that the biggest disadvantageous of distance education is that distance education is not able to provide the cultural interaction and socialization opportunity as in formal education. There is a consistency between the variables (X6) I think, I can have a good friendship relations while taking distance education and (X35) I believe distance education will limit socialization in sub cluster C2 with this finding of Ayyıldız et al. (2013). Besides, the variable (X24) It discomforts me that there is not continuous face to face interaction in distance education in sub cluster C2 is the problem which is mentioned by Elcil and Şahiner (2013) in their studies on communicational problems in education

126 Clustering Analysis of Students Attitudes Regarding O. Ozyurt Clusters obtained from the clustering analysis of the students attitude variables can be analyzed in detail in the following studies. Furthermore influence of the factors such as gender, class, computer skill on these clusters can be inspected. And distribution of these clusters can be examined with qualitative data. References Abdous, M. & Yoshimura, M. (2010). Learner outcomes and satisfaction: A comparison of live video-streamed instruction, satellite broadcast instruction, and face-to-face instruction. Computers & Education, 55(2), Aggarwal, A. (2000). Web-based learning and teaching technologies: Opportunities and challenges. Hershey-USA: Idea Group Publishing. Akça, Ö. (2006). SAÜ uzaktan eğitim öğrencilerinin iletişim engelleri ile ilgili öğrenci görüşleri [Student views of SAÜ distance education students about handicaps of communication]. (Unpublished post graduate thesis). Sakarya Üniversitesi/Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Sakarya. Ateş, A. & Altun, E. (2008). Bilgisayar öğretmeni adaylarının uzaktan eğitime yönelik tutumlarının çeşitli değişkenler açısından incelenmesi [Investigating preservice computer teachers attitudes regarding distance learning regarding various variables]. Gazi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 28(3), Aydın, İ.E. (2012). Relationship between affective learning, instructor attractiveness and instructor evaluation in videoconference-based distance education courses. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 11(4), Ayyıldız, S.Ü., Günlük, M. & Erbey, S. N. (2006). Muhasebe öğretim elemanlarının uzaktan eğitim ve uzaktan muhasebe eğitimine yönelik tutumları üzerine bir araştırma [The attitudes of accounting academics on distance education and distance accounting education]. Muhasebe ve Finansman Dergisi, 32. Beldarrain, Y. (2006). Distance education trends: Integrating new technologies to foster student interaction and collaboration. Distance Education, 27(2), Birişçi, S. (2013). Video konferans tabanlı uzaktan eğitime ilişkin öğrenci tutumları ve görüşleri [Students' attitudes and opinions regarding video conferencing based distance education]. Journal of Instructional Technologies & Teacher Education, 1(2), Brinkerhoff, J. & Koroghlanian, C. M. (2005). Student computer skills and attitudes toward Internet-delivered instruction. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 32(1),

127 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Çalli, L., Balçikanlı C., Çalli, F., Cebeci, I. & Seymen, F. (2013). Identifying factors that contribute to the satisfaction of students in e-learning. The Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 14(1), Dick, G.N., Case, T.L. & Burns, O.M. (2001). Adopting distance education what do the students think?. Proceeding of The International Academy for Informational Management (IAIM) Annual Conference: International conference on Informatics Education & Research (ICIER), New Orleans, LA. Drennan, J., Kennedy, J. & Pisarski, A. (2005). Factors affecting student attitudes toward flexible online learning in management education. Journal of Educational Research, 98(6), Elcil, Ş. & Şahiner, D.S. (2013). Uzaktan eğitimde iletişimsel engeller [Communicative barriers in distance education]. Sosyal ve Beşeri Bilimler Dergisi, 5(2), Erden, M. & Akman, Y. (2011). Eğitim psikolojisi (Gelişim-Öğrenme-Öğretme) [Educational psychology (Development-Learning-Teaching)]. Ankara: Arkadaş Yayınları. Guichon, N. (2010). Preparatory study for the design of a desktop videoconferencing platform for synchronous language teaching. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 23(2), Horzum, M.B. & Balta, Ö.Ç. (2008). Students achievement, motivation and computer anxiety level in different web based learning environments. Hacettepe University Journal of Education, 34, İslim, Ü. (2006). Öğrencilerin duyuşsal karakteristiklerinin fizik dersi başarısına etkisi [The influence of students affective characteristics on their success in physic class]. (Yayımlanmamış yüksek lisans tezi). Selçuk Üniversitesi/Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, Konya. Karaman, S., Aydemir M., Küçük, S. & Yıldırım, G. (2013). Virtual classroom participants views for effective synchronous education process. The Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 14(1), Karasar, N. (2006). Bilimsel Araştırma Yöntemi [Scientific Research method]. Ankara: Nobel Yayın Dağıtım. Kesim, E. & Ağaoğlu, E. (2007). A paradigm shift in distance education: Web 2.0 and social software. The Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 8(3), Kışla, T. (2005). Üniversite öğrencilerinin uzaktan eğitime yönelik tutumları [Attitudes of university students regarding distance education]. (Yayımlanmamış yüksek lisans tezi). Ege Üniversitesi/Sosyal Bilimleri Enstitüsü, İzmir

128 Clustering Analysis of Students Attitudes Regarding O. Ozyurt Kidd, R.S. & Stamatakis, M.K. (2006). Comparison of students' performance in and satisfaction with a clinical pharmacokinetics course delivered live and by interactive videoconferencing. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 70(1). Ng, K.C. (2007). Replacing face-to-face tutorials by synchronous online technologies: Challenges and pedagogical implications. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 8(1), Şahin, I. (2007). Predicting student satisfaction in distance education and learning environments. The Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 8(2), Şahin, I. & Shelley, M. (2008). Considering students perceptions: Distance education student satisfaction model. Educational Technology & Society, 11(3), Şimşek, A.S. (2012). Bilişsel ve duyuşsal özelliklerin yükseköğretimdeki akademik başarıyı yordama gücü [Cognitive and affective characteristics predictive power for academical success in higher education.]. (Yayımlanmamış yüksek lisans tezi). Ankara Üniversitesi/Eğitim Bilimleri Enstitüsü, Ankara. Tipton, P.H., Pulliam, M., Allen, S.H. & Sherwood, C. (2011). Lessons learned: Pointers for successfully teaching via videoconferencing. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 6(1), Uzunboylu, H. & Ozdamli, F. (2009). The perceptions of university students on using , chat & discussion groups for educational purposes. Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences, 1(1), Yüksekdağ, B.B. (2012). Interaction in distance nursing education. The Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 13(4),

129 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 4(1), pp , 1 April, 2014 Available online at Article history Received: Geography Teacher Candidates Perceptions of Geotourism Hilmi Demirkaya * Department of Social Studies, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey Mustafa Sagdic Department of Social Studies, Yıldız Technical University, İstanbul, Turkey Received in revised form: Accepted: Ali Osman Kocalar Department of Geography Teacher Education, Marmara University, İstanbul, Turkey This study examines geography teacher candidates perceptions of geotourism. Qualitative phenomenological method of study has been used to understand the geography teacher candidates perceptions of geotourism. Semi-structured interviews have been used to report the participants perceptions about geotourism. Interviews have been carried out with 100 volunteer geography teacher candidates at Marmara University Faculty of Education, Department of Geography in İstanbul in academic year. At the evaluation stage, an inductive content analysis has been carried out. In order to analyze the data, teacher candidates definitions have been categorized, and the frequency of each category has been determined. The research results indicate that teacher candidates look upon geotourism as the tourism activity that is carried out in order to see on site the landforms, the structure of the earth, geological and geomorphological formations. Geography teacher candidates rate ecotourism as a more comprehensive type of tourism that also includes geotourism. Geography teacher candidates think that people have negative attitudes and behaviors towards cultural heritage in Turkey. Geotourism applications provide an opportunity for the sustainable development of rural areas. Key words: geotourism, geography, teacher candidates perceptions, qualitative research, content analysis Introduction Many ideas that have an impact on geotourism have taken their places in the area of sustainable tourism since Brundland Report (WCED, 1987). The purpose of geotourism is to hand down a place to future generations without destroying its character. Geotourism is not only traveling to unspoiled natural areas or people s activity centers but also visiting the destinations where nature and people come together in order to create a landscape that protects and works on its character and features. The realization of this aim mostly depends on the tourists visiting the destination and the local community s taking action in line with the same targets. This will enable the tourist to lead an authentic life with the distinctive characteristics of the visited geotourism center. Geotourism is a kind of natural area tourism that specifically focuses on geology and [email protected]

130 Geography Teacher Candidates Perceptions of Geotourism H. Demirkaya, M. Sagdic & A. O. Kocalar landscape. Geotourism promotes tourism activities, protection of geo-sites and geodiversity, and understanding of earth sciences through appreciation and learning. This has been accomplished through the use of geo-trails and view points, guided tours, geoactivities, conservation of geo-site visitor centers and independent visits to landforms (Newsome and Dowling, 2010). McIntyre (1993) defines sustainable tourism as providing the visitors with lives of high quality based on host communities quality of life and maintaining the characteristics of the environment depending on hosts and visitors. In this regard, sustainable tourism can be regarded as an alternative tourism that is thought to get rid of the negative effects of traditional mass tourism (Boley, Nickerson and Bosak, 2011). Beeton (1998) defines ecotourism as a type of tourism that is based on ecological sustainability and has a protective and sensitive approach towards environmental and cultural values. The newest discussions aimed at minimizing the negative impacts of mass tourism carry on based on geotourism. Geotourism is the type of tourism that maintains and strengthens its geographical character by including the environment, heritage, culture and the local residents of a place (Boley, Nickerson and Bosak, 2011). Geotourism involves the visits and travel activities that are aimed for examining the nature and geological heritage (Kazancı, 2010b). Geotourism is a kind of tourism that is mistaken by some people for geological tourism as if geo was not the synonym of earth but geology. As one of the pioneers of the concept of modern geotourism, Hose (1995:17) defines geotourism as the provision of interpretative facilities and services to enable tourists to acquire knowledge and understanding of the geology and geomorphology of a site beyond the level of mere aesthetic appreciation. Geotourism has the feature of integrating the basic concepts of sustainable tourism, which seeks for the ways of protecting and treating the nature, culture and resources with respect (Gladfelter and Mason, 2012). The concept of geotourism is a quite new concept in Turkey. The first geological conservation district is Kızılcahamam- Çamlıdere Geopark with its area of 2000 km 2 and 250 geosites. During the Geological Legacy in National Parks Project which was conducted through the cooperation of Ankara University, the Turkish Association for the Conservation of Geological Heritage (JEMİRKO), Mineral Research & Exploration General Directorate (MTA) and General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks with the support of The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) between 2006 and 2009, it was seen that many geosites exist around Kızılcahamam, and it was aimed to protect these geosites and provide the region with economic return. However, there are uncertainties about the role of local residents in the areas of geoparks and how their protection and use can be balanced since the works are generally quite new in the area of geotourism (Esengil, 2003). Aim of the Research The aim of the research is to analyze geography teacher candidates perceptions of the concept of geotourism and their opinions about it. In accordance with this main purpose, answers have been sought for the following -124-

131 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 questions: What are teacher candidates perceptions of the concept of geotourism? What are teacher candidates travel habits? What are teacher candidates opinions on the elements of geotourism? Significance of the Research Geotourism has been increasing its fame among countries and agencies. Although the importance of geotourism is known by everyone, it is seen that these tourism activities are not maintained as a tourism policy of the country or region but by some local entrepreneurs. The academic studies about geotourism, a type of sustainable tourism, are still limited in number in Turkey. Therefore, it is hoped that this study will help tourism sector, local tourism administrators and the academicians studying in this field to gain a viewpoint. This study has been designed depending on all these reasons, and it is thought that identification of geography teacher candidates perceptions of the concept of geotourism, which has such a significant place within the system of tourism sector, provides an answer for an important question. Research Method Qualitative research method has been used in the study. Qualitative research is the research method in which the data are produced without any statistical processes or numerical means (Altunışık et al, 2005). Qualitative research techniques enabling sensitivity to the natural environment, the researcher s having the role of a participant, having a holistic approach, enabling the perceptions to come out, the existence of flexibility in the research design and the occurrence of an inductive analysis are important features of qualitative research (Yıldırım and Şimşek, 2000). Purposeful sampling has been employed in the study. A small sample group is used in qualitative research studies so that the sample can be studied in detail. Thus, purposeful sampling is preferred rather than random sampling (Miles and Huberman, 1994). The important criteria are determined for the sample selection, and it is thought that the sample selected according to these criteria can represent the population of the research with all of its qualities (Tavşancıl and Aslan, 2001). In this regard, 100 teacher candidates studying Geography Teaching in Atatürk Faculty of Education in Marmara University in academic year constitute the study group of the research. There are 62 male and 38 female participants in the research. 32 of the participants are second year students, 25 of them are third year students, 29 of them are fourth year students, and 14 of the participants are fifth year students. The technique of semi-structured individual interview has been implemented in the research. After conducting a pilot study of the interview form, the researchers got an expert opinion from academic staff working in the divisions of Geography Teaching, and Curriculum and Instruction. The appropriateness of the questions for the interview was discussed. For the interviews to be conducted via the final form of the interview form, the researchers got permission and made an appointment beforehand. The interviews lasted approximately minutes. Before starting to code the data, each interview text was read line by line, and the researchers tried to find out a holistic -125-

132 Geography Teacher Candidates Perceptions of Geotourism H. Demirkaya, M. Sagdic & A. O. Kocalar viewpoint about the opinions of the students. During the analysis of the interview data, inductive content analysis was implemented. The texts written on the papers were coded as sentences according to the identified criteria, and the frequency of the categories was found out by counting the codes. In order to ensure external validity, the research process was explained in detail. In the present study, students answers have been provided through direct quotations without any changes. The findings have been briefly described in a systematic and explicit way, and the descriptions have been organized and interpreted. Three themes have been identified in the research. The themes and the questions belonging to these themes are as follows: Theme 1: What are teacher candidates perceptions of the concept of geotourism? What are the features of geotourism that make it different from ecotourism? Please evaluate the present status of geotourism in Turkey. What are your opinions about geotourism potential of Turkey? Theme 2: What are teacher candidates travel habits? Have you participated in an activity of geotourism? Where did you go? What kind of activities did you do? What kind of activities do you prefer to take part in while traveling? What kind of places do you enjoy going around while traveling? What do you look for first in the places you travel to? Theme 3: What are teacher candidates opinions on the elements of geotourism? What do you think about people s attitudes and behaviors regarding the cultural heritage? What do you do in your daily life in order to protect the environment? What is the role and status of the local residents in tourism regions? How should it be? Findings The findings belonging to teacher candidates perceptions of the concept of geotourism, which constitute the first theme in the interview form, are as follows: Theme 1: What are teacher candidates perceptions of the concept of geotourism? -126-

133 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Table 1. Frequencies regarding teacher candidates perceptions of geotourism Theme Codes f Definition of geotourism Seeing the landforms(f:25), examining the structure of the earth(f:17), thermal spring tourism(f:16), site tourism(f:15), Pamukkale travertines(f:15), geological and geomorphological formations(f:15), Cappadocia (fairy chimneys)(f:14), Caves(f:12), Canyons(f:10), Visits to interesting landformsf:8), seeing the landforms that take their sources in the depths of the earth(f:7), examining the formation and development of landforms(f:6), volcanic areas(f:5), Grand Canyon (USA)(f:4), fault lines(f:3), Sinkholes and dolines(f:3), Holes of Heaven and Hell(f:3), Düden waterfall(f:3), seeing the geysers(f:2), Kula volcanoes(f:2), Mount Nemrut(f:2), Saklıkent Canyon(f:1), Ulubey Canyon (f:1), National Park tourism(f:1), Etna volcano(f:1), Gulfs(f:1), Meke saltpan(f:1), the tourism carried out by protecting the landforms(f:1) 194 As can be seen in Table 1, the definition of geotourism has been asked to the teacher candidates in accordance with the first theme. The teacher candidates have given Landforms (f:25) as an example in their answers for the definition of geotourism the most. After this code, it is seen that the codes of examining the structure of the earth (f:17), thermal spring tourism (f:16), site tourism (f:15) and geological and geomorphological formations (f:15) come to the fore in terms of the features of geotourism. According to the answers given by the teacher candidates, the concepts of Cappadocia (fairy chimneys)(f:14), Caves(f:12), Canyons(f:10), Visits to interesting landforms(f:8), seeing the landforms that take their sources in the depths of the earth(f:7), examining the formation and development of landforms(f:6), volcanic areas(f:5), Grand Canyon(USA)(f:4), fault lines(f:3), Sinkholes and dolines(f:3), Holes of Heaven and Hell(f:3), Düden waterfall(f:3), seeing the geysers(f:2), Kula volcanoes(f:2), Mount Nemrut(f:2), Saklıkent Canyon(f:1), Ulubey Canyon(f:1), National Park tourism(f:1), Etna volcano(f:1), Gulfs(f:1), Meke saltpan(f:1) and the tourism carried out by protecting the landforms(f:1) define geotourism respectively. Samples of teacher candidates statements are presented below: Respondent 20: It is the type of tourism that is carried out in order to go around and see the landforms that came out on the earth as a result of natural processes, and to get informed about them. For example, karst area trips. Respondent 42: It is the kind of tourism that deals with the formation of landforms and their distinctive features, and turns it into an entertainment activity. Respondent 46: It is the type of tourism that is carried out in order to see an interesting geological structure. For instance; caves, fairy chimneys, canyons, sinkholes, dolines, etc. Respondent 75: It is the use of landforms that are created on the earth via internal and -127-

134 Geography Teacher Candidates Perceptions of Geotourism H. Demirkaya, M. Sagdic & A. O. Kocalar external forces for tourism purposes. For example; Karstic Caves of Heaven and Hell. Respondent 95: It is the type of tourism that is carried out in the areas about the earth and the structure of the earth. For instance; caves in calcareous areas and Pamukkale travertines. Table 2. Frequencies regarding the features of geotourism that make it different from ecotourism according to teacher candidates Theme Codes f Geotourism - Ecotourism Geotourism is the type of tourism that is carried out in order to see the landforms created by geological and geomorphological processes, and Ecotourism is the type of tourism in which the natural environment on the earth (landforms, plants, animals, water, etc.) is visited (f:42), Geotourism is the type of tourism about visiting nonliving resources on the earth, and Ecotourism is the tourism activity that is carried out in order to see human and cultural values (f:14), Ecotourism is a more general concept compared to geotourism. Ecotourism comprises geotourism. The subjects of geotourism concern ecotourism, too. However, geotourism deals with just landforms out of the subjects of ecotourism (f:12), While geotourism is carried out for scientific research, Ecotourism is done for sightseeing (f:9), Geotourism is the type of tourism that is carried out for seeing and observing natural formations, and Ecotourism is the type of tourism that is carried out by protecting the environment and conserving natural areas (f3), I have no idea (f:20) 100 As can be seen in Table 2, teacher candidates have been asked about the features of geotourism that make it different from ecotourism in accordance with the first theme. The most prominent answer about this issue is Geotourism is the type of tourism that is carried out in order to see the landforms created by geological and geomorphological processes, and Ecotourism is the type of tourism in which the natural environment on the earth (landforms, plants, animals, water, etc.) is visited (f:42). The answers of Geotourism is the type of tourism about visiting non-living resources on the earth, and Ecotourism is the tourism activity that is carried out in order to see human and cultural values (f:14), Ecotourism is a more general concept compared to geotourism. Ecotourism comprises geotourism. The subjects of geotourism concern ecotourism, too. However, geotourism deals with just landforms out of the subjects of ecotourism -128-

135 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 (f:12), While geotourism is carried out for scientific research, Ecotourism is done for sightseeing (f:9) and Geotourism is the type of tourism that is carried out for seeing and observing natural formations, and Ecotourism is the type of tourism that is carried out by protecting the environment and conserving natural areas (f:3) follow this answer. Samples of teacher candidates explanations are provided below: Respondent 38: Ecotourism is more general, and it comprises the whole environment. As for geotourism, it only deals with the features regarding the formation of the earth by being more specific. Respondent 33: Landforms are more dominant in geotourism whereas plant varieties are more dominant in ecotourism. Respondent 46: Geotourism is the type of tourism that is carried out to see and observe the natural formations, and ecotourism is the type of tourism involving social and cultural activities besides that and conserving the environment and natural areas. Respondent 68: While geotourism is directly related with the internal structure of the earth, ecotourism is about the natural beauties on the earth. Respondent 74: Geotourism is the type of tourism that is mostly carried out according to the formation of the earth and different landforms. As for ecotourism, it is the type of tourism that is more about climate and vegetation. Respondent 75: Ecotourism is a more general concept compared to geotourism. Ecotourism comprises geotourism. However, geotourism deals with just landforms out of the subjects of ecotourism. Table 3. Teacher candidates opinions regarding the present status of geotourism in Turkey and geotourism potential of Turkey Theme Codes f Status of geotourism in Turkey and geotourism potential of Turkey Geotourism has not developed in Turkey; however, it is quite rich in terms of geotourism resources (f:43), Geotourism is not known enough in Turkey, but its geotourism potential is high (f:23), Geotourism has just come out in Turkey. Its geotourism potential is high (f:13), In Turkey, geotourism is not attached importance, but its geotourism potential is high (f:10), I have no idea about this issue (f:11). 100 As can be seen in Table 3, the present status of geotourism in Turkey and the geotourism potential of Turkey have been asked in accordance with the first theme. Most of the findings about this issue are in Geotourism has not developed in Turkey; however, it is quite rich in terms of geotourism resources (f:43). When the answers are analyzed, prominent answers are Geotourism is not known enough in Turkey, but its -129-

136 Geography Teacher Candidates Perceptions of Geotourism H. Demirkaya, M. Sagdic & A. O. Kocalar geotourism potential is high (f:23), Geotourism has just come out in Turkey. Its geotourism potential is high (f:13) and In Turkey, geotourism is not attached importance, but its geotourism potential is high (f:10). Samples of teacher candidates statements are presented below: Respondent 1: Although Turkey has a high potential of geotourism, it cannot fully utilize this potential, advertise it enough or make its infrastructural adjustments. Therefore, it is necessary for Turkey to use this potential more. Respondent 9: Geotourism has not developed enough in Turkey. People either have quite a few ideas about this issue or do not have any ideas. It has not been learnt enough. I think that more information should be given about it, and more activities should be organized. Respondent 46: It is a branch of tourism that should be developed. Turkey has a high potential in terms of natural formations. Respondent 53: Since Turkey has a structure of young formations, quite different and interesting landforms have come out as a result of many factors. Thus, geotourism potential is high in Turkey. Respondent 76: In my opinion, it is not so undeveloped. The reason for this is the coastal tourism s being more attractive. However, it has a potential that is open to improvement. There are many places to visit such as Mount Nemrut, Mount Ağrı, thermal springs, Lake Tuz, fairy chimneys and Pamukkale travertines. I think that domestic tourism will develop if the amount of per capita income increases. Theme 2: What are teacher candidates travel habits? Table 4. Frequencies regarding teacher candidates participation in geotourism activities Theme Codes f Participation in geotourism activities I participated (f:27), Pamukkale travertines (f:11), Cappadocia (Fairy chimneys) (f:8), Thermal springs (f:5), Field trips under the guidance of the teacher (f: 4), Saklıkent canyon (f:3), Karst forms (f:1), Horsts and grabens in Western Anatolia (f:1), Çoruh valley (f:1) I did not participate (f:73) 100 As can be seen in Table 4, teacher candidates have been asked whether they participated in geotourism activities in accordance with the second theme. While 27 of the teacher candidates stated that they have participated in geotourism activities, 73 of them said that they have not participated in these activities. When the interviews conducted with teacher candidates are analyzed in detail, it is found out that the activities which are thought to be geotourism activities by teacher candidates are just field trips of geography or superficial trips with tours indeed. The places visited by teacher candidates within the scope of geotourism activities are Pamukkale travertines (f:11), -130-

137 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Cappadocia (Fairy chimneys) (f:8), Thermal springs (f:5), Field trips under the guidance of the teacher (f:4), Saklıkent canyon (f:3), Karst forms (f:1), Horsts and grabens in Western Anatolia (f:1) and Çoruh valley (f:1). Samples of teacher candidates statements are provided below: Respondent 1: I went to Saklıkent canyon and Pamukkale travertines. I walked on the travertines. Respondent 4: Yes, I did. I participated in an Aegean trip. Starting from Aegean Coastal Area, I saw all the horst and graben structures. Moreover, I saw its geographical features in general terms. Respondent 41: I did not, but I particularly participated in thermal spring trips since the place I live in is rich in terms of thermal springs. Investigation of hot water sources that come out as result of fault lines can be a kind of geotourism. Respondent 70: I participated in a Cappadocia trip organized by our school in the second grade at high school. Respondent 91: Yes, I went to Pamukkale. I wandered around travertines, travertine quarries and ancient city. Table 5. Frequencies regarding the activity types teacher candidates prefer during the trips Theme Codes f Activities participated in during the trips Activities organized in natural and historical places (f:29), Geographical field trips under the guidance of expert guides (f:14), Trekking (f:12), Culture tours (f:10), Different activities (f:8) Types of entertainment, meal meetings (f:8), City tours (f:4), Sportive activities (f:3), Sea, sand and sun (f:1), I have no idea (f:12) 100 As can be seen in Table 5, teacher candidates have been asked about their preferences of activities during the trips in line with the second theme. The most prominent answers for this question are Natural and historical places (f:29), Geographical field trips under the guidance of expert guides (f:14), Trekking (f:12), Culture tours (f:10), Different activities (f:8), Types of entertainment, meal meetings (f:8), City tours (f:4), Sportive activities (f:3) and Sea, sand and sun (f:1) respectively. Samples of teacher candidates statements are provided below: Respondent 1: I particularly prefer participating in trekking activities during the trips. By this way, I have the opportunity to observe the places I wander around in detail. Respondent 2: The place s being far from people and having a natural structure is -131-

138 Geography Teacher Candidates Perceptions of Geotourism H. Demirkaya, M. Sagdic & A. O. Kocalar important for me if I will travel to a place. Respondent 4: While traveling, I prefer participating in activities that involve practices, trips, observations and geographical activities. Respondent 40: Since I am studying geography, I want to travel for cultural tourism more in order to learn different cultural characteristics. Respondent 75: I prefer the places where I can see the historical, geographical differences and the differences about the landforms. Table 6. Frequencies regarding the places teacher candidates enjoy going around while traveling Theme Codes f The places preferred for travel Natural beauties (f:61), Historical places (f:54), Landforms (f:19), Cultural environments (f:9), I have no idea (f:4) 147 As can be seen in Table 6, teacher candidates have been asked about the types of places they enjoy going around while traveling in accordance with the second theme. The issues that the teacher candidates gave the most answers for have been Natural beauties (f:61) and Historical places (f:54). Most of the teacher candidates mentioned historical places and natural areas together. As for the other answers given by teacher candidates, they are Landforms (f:19) and Cultural environments (f:9) respectively. Samples of teacher candidates statements are provided below: Respondent 9: I enjoy going to the places where I can visually understand all the concepts of geography, which is in touch with nature. Respondent 24: I enjoy going to the places attracting attention with their formation and appearance. Respondent 42: For me, the places having different characteristics is a reason for preference. I pay attention to their having cultural and geographical characteristics different from the place I live in. Respondent 55: I enjoy wandering around the places with a historical and cultural heritage. Respondent 100: I enjoy analyzing natural areas and historical textures

139 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Table 7. Frequencies regarding the things teacher candidates look for first in the places they travel to Theme Codes f The thing looked for first about travel Transportation, accommodation and the quality of services (f:52), Level of preserving naturality (f:39), Elements of cultural heritage (f:15), Attractiveness of the environment (f:10), Diversity of landforms (f:5), I have no idea (f:3), 124 As can be seen in Table 7, teacher candidates have been asked about what they principally look for in the places they travel to in accordance with the second theme. The issues that teacher candidates answered the most have been Transportation, accommodation and the quality of services (f:52) and Level of preserving naturality (f:39). As for the other answers of teacher candidates, they are Elements of cultural heritage (f:15), Attractiveness of the environment (f:10) and Diversity of landforms (f:5) respectively. Samples of teacher candidates statements are presented below: Respondent 3: First of all, it is necessary to have a good transportation, comfortable accommodation, good opportunities and alternatives. Respondent 16: I look for clean and fresh air first. I look for a natural environment with green areas and a quiet and tranquil place. Respondent 48: First of all, it should be clean. After that, attitudes of the people living there to the tourists are also quite important. Respondent 70: I want the places I travel to have an unspoiled nature, and I want them to protect the cultural structure. Respondent 75: I prefer the places I will travel to be affordable and unspoiled first. I avoid going to crowded touristic regions. Respondent 99: I prefer a place that gives importance to the cultural values. Theme 3: What are teacher candidates opinions on the elements of geotourism -133-

140 Geography Teacher Candidates Perceptions of Geotourism H. Demirkaya, M. Sagdic & A. O. Kocalar Table 8. Frequencies of teacher candidates opinions about people s attitudes and behaviors regarding the cultural heritage in Turkey Theme Codes f Attitudes and behaviors regarding the cultural heritage There is not enough consciousness and awareness (f:35), They do no protect it, and they even damage it (f:25), The level of consciousness is increasing day by day (f:12), The level of education is the determining factor (f:11), It is not appreciated. I think that it is protected just for commercial purposes (f:9), Most of the people do not attach importance to it (f:4), I have no idea (f:8) 100 As can be seen in Table 8, teacher candidates have been asked about their opinions on people s attitudes and behaviors regarding the cultural heritage in accordance with the third theme. The issues teacher candidates answered the most have been There is not enough consciousness and awareness (f:35) and They do no protect it, and they even damage it (f:25). As for the other answers given by the teacher candidates, they are The level of consciousness is increasing day by day (f:12), The level of education is the determining factor (f:11), It is not appreciated. I think that it is protected just for commercial purposes (f:9) and Most of the people do not attach importance to it (f:4) respectively. Samples of teacher candidates statements are provided below: Respondent 3: I do not think that cultural heritage is given the necessary importance in Turkey. However, people become more conscious day by day and try to be more careful. Respondent 21: It is not appreciated. It is protected just for commercial purposes. Respondent 32: The importance of our cultural heritage was not realized well in previous years, and it was damaged. However, awareness has come out today although it is not adequate. Moreover, many institutions have been making an effort for this. Respondent 50: While people with a high level of education have a more moderate and protective attitude towards cultural heritage together with curiosity, the people with a low level of education in the society remain insensitive to these issues. Respondent 59: With the widespread occurrence of popular culture, cultural heritage has started to vanish rapidly. Old customs and traditions have started to be forgotten. People do not give importance to cultural heritage. Respondent 78: Cultural heritage is regarded as just economic capital, and it is not appreciated morally. Otherwise, historical places could not have been turned into dumps. Respondent 88: People are not knowledgeable enough about cultural heritage. Many cultural heritages are demolished and lost due to the lack of awareness

141 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Table 9. Frequencies regarding teacher candidates activities aimed at protecting the environment in their daily lives Theme Codes f Protecting the environment in daily life I do not throw trash on the ground (f:55), I attach importance to recycling and classify the trash (f:34), I warn the people polluting the environment and try to raise their awareness (f:20), I economically use energy, water, papers, etc. (f:13), I try to protect the nature and green spaces (f:11), I do not use deodorants or smoke (f:4), I throw the trash I see on the ground in the trash can (f:1), I do not make noise (f:1), I have no idea (f:8) 147 As can be seen in Table 9, teacher candidates have been asked about what they do in order to protect the environment in their daily lives in accordance with the third theme. The issues teacher candidates answered the most have been I do not throw trash on the ground (f:55) and I attach importance to recycling and classify the trash (f:34). As for the other answers of teacher candidates, they are I warn the people polluting the environment and try to raise their awareness (f:20), I economically use energy, water, papers, etc. (f:13), I try to protect the nature and green spaces (f:11), I do not use deodorants or smoke (f:4), I throw the trash I see on the ground in the trash can (f:1) and I do not make noise (f:1) respectively. Samples of teacher candidates statements are provided below: Respondent 2: I particularly act responsibly about throwing trash. In addition, I do not use perfumes or deodorants. Respondent 4: First of all, I try not to pollute the environment, and I properly warn the people who pollute it in my daily life. Moreover, I inform the individuals who behave insensibly. Respondent 23: I save waste oil and batteries, use energy saving light bulbs, and classify domestic wastes according to their recycling features. Respondent 40: First of all, it is not about just the pollution around the environment I live in. All the people want to reach fresh air and natural food sources. Therefore, I became a member of TEMA Foundation (The Turkish Foundation for Combating Soil Erosion, for Reforestation and the Protection of Natural Habitats) during my high school years. I worked for raising people s awareness of environmental protection. Respondent 70: I do not leave the wastes in nature anywhere in daily life, and I support recycling the products. Respondent 94: Especially, I try not to throw trash on the sea, and I help for the forestation of the environment

142 Geography Teacher Candidates Perceptions of Geotourism H. Demirkaya, M. Sagdic & A. O. Kocalar Table 10. Frequencies regarding teacher candidates perceptions about the roles and status of local residents in tourism regions Theme Codes f Local residents role in tourism Local residents attitudes, behaviors and hospitality to the tourists are important (f:54), Local residents awareness should be raised regarding the protection of natural and historical values (f:20), Local residents are passive in tourism sector (f:12), Local residents regard tourism just as a means to make money (f:10), Local residents should display the local culture in an effective way (f:8), If local residents run tourist facilities, they can protect the environment better (f:4), Local residents should learn foreign languages in order to help tourists (f:2) 100 As can be seen in Table 10, teacher candidates have been asked about the role of local residents in tourism regions in accordance with the third theme. The issues teacher candidates answered the most have been Local residents attitudes, behaviors and hospitality to the tourists are important (f:54) and Local residents awareness should be raised regarding the protection of natural and historical values (f:20). The other answers given by teacher candidates are Local residents are passive in tourism sector (f:12), Local residents regard tourism just as a means to make money (f:10), Local residents should display the local culture in an effective way (f:8), If local residents run tourist facilities, they can protect the environment better (f:4) and Local residents should learn foreign languages in order to help tourists (f:2) respectively. Samples of teacher candidates statements are provided below: Respondent 10: Local residents are interested in financial profits and employment opportunities of tourism more. However, local residents should act responsibly and protect it from the detrimental effects of tourism in the first place. Respondent 14: Local residents of the tourism region should preserve natural and historical beauties of the region, and their awareness should be raised about the importance of this issue. Respondent 15: People become more conscious day by day. Especially local residents should adopt the protection of these regions rather than the authorities. Respondent 32: Local residents are the main people to protect tourism regions. Keeping them away from these activities will lead to the loss of the liveliness of tourism. Local residents should actively take part in it. Respondent 50: Local residents attitudes, behaviors and hospitality towards tourists are so important. Tourism is also an important activity for the place with its provision of employment opportunities to local residents. Respondent 93: Local residents should tell the history of that region to tourists and attract their attention. I think that local residents remain a bit passive about tourism

143 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Discussion and Conclusion In this part of the research, the conclusions reached through findings have been provided. The results attained through the research have been compared to the other research results in the literature, and the reasons for the findings of the research have been discussed together with these results. In this research, geography teacher candidates perceptions of geotourism have been examined. Semi-structured interview forms have been used in the study. The results have been evaluated via text content analysis. The research results indicate that teacher candidates regard geotourism as the tourism activity that is carried out in order to see on site the landforms, the structure of the earth, geological and geomorphological formations. The examples given by the participants emphasize that landforms, which are a subject of geotourism, should be interesting at the same time. Gray (2008) claims that Grand Canyon is one of the most popular geotourism locations in the world. Geography teacher candidates regard ecotourism as a more comprehensive type of tourism that also comprises geotourism. While describing ecotourism as the tourism activity that is carried out with a protective approach to all the beauties of the landforms on the earth, plants and animals, they defined geotourism as the tourism activity that is done in order to examine the landforms that come out through geological and geomorphological processes. Rodrigues, Machado and Freire (2011) point out the importance of knowing the concepts of geodiversity, geoheritage and geotourism in order to protect and support the non-living natural heritage, and to be aware of how this value can contribute to sustainable regional development. Teacher candidates think that geotourism has recently come out in Turkey. They believe that it is not known well, and that it is only carried out by some local administrators amateurishly. They stated that people do not have a protective approach towards the values of geotourism. In addition, almost all of the participants think that Turkey has an extremely high potential of geotourism. Akbulut (2012) asserts that both geopark and geotourism are concepts that have recently been dealt with in Turkey although Turkey has a rich geological and geomorphological heritage due to its geological evolution. Whereas 27% of geography teacher candidates stated that they participated in a geotourism activity, 73% of them asserted that they did not. Based on the statements and examples of the participants who stated that they participated in a geotourism activity, it is seen that this was done just by seeing the geological and geomorphological elements superficially or as a part of geography field trips. Akbulut and Gülüm (2012) indicate that Cappadocia is a tourism center that has all the criteria for calling it a geopark area in Turkey. While geography teacher candidates prefer participating in activities about nature and history more during the travels, some of them prefer the activities in the city and cultural activities. Since the participants are geography teacher candidates, it is also seen that they also prefer field trips under the guidance of expert guides. Geotourism focuses on geological and geomorphological areas, elements, rural landscapes and cultural structure as a type of mainly educational and scientific tourism (Koçan, 2012). It is seen that approximately 90% of the teacher candidates prefer visiting natural places -137-

144 Geography Teacher Candidates Perceptions of Geotourism H. Demirkaya, M. Sagdic & A. O. Kocalar and historical places that are in touch with nature for travel. Some of the participants have specifically pointed out landforms along with natural and historical places. It is understood that approximately 10% of the participants prefer cultural environments. Geotourism provides an opportunity for living in geological environments and getting acquainted with sceneries and different geological products (Gray, 2008). Almost all of the geography teacher candidates stated that they firstly look for transportation, accommodation and the quality of service in the places they travel to, and that they look for such factors as the naturality and attractiveness of the destination, and cultural heritage after these issues. Geography teacher candidates think that people have negative attitudes and behaviors towards cultural heritage in Turkey. They indicate that people do not preserve the elements of cultural heritage, and they sometimes damage these elements. They think that this is due to their not having enough knowledge and awareness about the importance of cultural heritage. They believe that the preserved elements of cultural heritage are protected either by the state or due to their being revenue generating resources. Geological heritage does not have the quality to be collected and protected in the museums as a whole. It is mostly necessary to take it under protection in its own place. Hence, it is essential for everyone from an everyday citizen to the highest authority to have this awareness (Kazancı, 2010). It is realized that geography teacher candidates firstly pointed out their not throwing trash on the ground in order to protect the environment in their daily lives, and they stated that they take part in such activities as recycling, raising environmental awareness, energy and water saving. Geography teacher candidates emphasized the importance of local residents attitudes, behaviors and hospitality towards tourists in tourism regions. Furthermore, they asserted that local residents should actively take part in tourism activities, and wanted them to raise their awareness more in terms of protecting tourism values and handing down these values to future generations. They also indicated that local residents are passive especially in mass tourism centers in Turkey. Miller and Washington (2009) claim that geotourism provides various benefits to local residents, and that they do not only take pride in the place they live in but also support the principles of protecting natural resources, culture, heritage and traditions. When local residents realize the income generating role of geotourism, the development of geotourism will be much more rapid and successful in the area (Dowling, 2008). Geotourism practices provide an opportunity for the sustainable development of rural areas. Thus, it is necessary for the management plan to have tourism infrastructure and support of local residents. Within the scope of the project, local guides should be trained, and village ethnography galleries and sales units of village products should be created (Kazancı, 2010). With the new geotourism vision, new products (like geo-products, geo-menus in restaurants), new works (geo-tours, geo-restaurants and rural hotels) and new recreational activities (geo-sports, geo-monuments, geoparks, etc.) will come out (Farsani, Coelho and Corsa, 2011). Akbulut (2012) points out that the most important factor for the proper and planned -138-

145 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 development of geotourism is local residents, and asserts that the people living in the countryside should get informed about geotourism and how they can protect the resources and their economic values. Since geotourism provides various opportunities for local residents, there will be a significant decrease at the rates of unemployment and migration by means of local residents participation in geotourism activities (Farsani, Coelho and Corsa, 2011). Acknowledgement This paper was presented at the VI International Tourism Congress (ITC 13 ), November 2013, Peniche -Portugal. References Akbulut, G. (2012). Geotourism potential of the Ardahan-Kars-Ağrı-Iğdır provinces. I. International Igdır Symposium. Social Sciences Proceedings April- Igdır. Turkey. Pp: Akbulut, G., and Gülüm, K. (2012). Suggested geopark site: Cappadocia. Journal of Balkan Ecology, 15(4), Altunışık, R., Coşkun, R., Bayraktaroğlu, S. and Yıldırım, E. (2005). Sosyal bilimlerde araştırma yöntemleri (Research methods in social sciences). Sakarya: Sakarya Kitabevi. Beeton, S. (1998). Ecotourism: A practical guide for rural communities. Australia: Land Links Press. Boley, B. B., Nickerson, N. P., and Bosak, K. (2011). Measuring geotourism: Developing and testing the geotraveler tendency scale (GTS). Journal of Travel Research, 50(5), Dowling, R. K. (2008). The emergence of geotourism and geoparks. Journal of Tourism, 9(2), Esengil, A. (2003). Principles of ecotourism and its applications in Köprülü Kanyon (Unpublished doctoral dissertation) Gazi University, Ankara. Farsani, N. T., Coelho, C., and Costa, C. (2011). Geotourism and geoparks as novel strategies for socio-economic development in rural areas. International Journal of Tourism Research, 13, Gladfelter, S., and Mason, R. J. (2012). Beyond boundaries: An assessment of the Yosemite National Park geotourism initiative. Tourism Planning & Development, 9(4), Gray, M. (2008). Geodiversity: developing the paradigm. Proceedings of the Geologists Association, 119, Hose, T. A. (1995). Geotourism engineering geology and environment, selling the earth to Europe (P. Marinos, G. Koukis, G. Tsiambcos e G. Stournas, eds.), Balkema, Rotterdam, pp Kazancı, N. (2010). Jeolojik Koruma -Kavramlar ve Terimler- [Geologic protection concepts and terms]. Ankara: Chamber of Jemirko and TMMOB geology Engineers Publications. Koçan, N. (2012). Ecotourism and sustainable development: Kızılcahamam-Çamlıdere (Ankara) geoparks and geotourism project. The Black Sea Journal of Science, 6(2), McIntyre, G. (1993). Sustainable tourism development: Guide for local planners. Madrid: World Tourism Organization

146 Geography Teacher Candidates Perceptions of Geotourism H. Demirkaya, M. Sagdic & A. O. Kocalar Miller, R. K., and Washington, K. (Eds.). (2009). Geotourism, travel & tourism market research handbook 2009 (chap. 22, pp ). Ireland: Key Note Publications Ltd. Miles, B. M. and Huberman A. M., (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded source book. 2nd ed. California, USA: Sage Publications, p:27. Newsome D, and Dowling R. (2010). Setting an agenda for geotourism. In Geotourism: The tourism of geology and landscape, Newsome D, Dowling R (eds). Good Fellow Publishers: Oxford; 4. Rodriegues, M. L., Machado, C. R., and Freire, E. (2011). Geotourism routes in urban areas: A preliminary approach to the Lisbon geoheritage survey. GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites, 8(2), Tavşancıl, E. and Aslan, E. (2001). İçerik analizi ve uygulama örnekleri (Content analysis and application samples). İstanbul: Epsilon Yayıncılık World Commission on Environmental and Development (WCED). (1987). Our common future. New York: Oxford University Press. Yıldırım, A. and Şimşek, H. (2000). Sosyal bilimlerde nitel araştırma yöntemleri (Qualitative research methods in social sciences). Ankara: Seçkin Yayıncılık

147 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 4(1), pp , 1 April, 2014 Available online at Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Preservice Teachers Preferences About Instructor Gender Senay Yapici * Department of Educational Sciences, Amasya University, Amasya, Turkey This is a qualitative research. Interview technique was used to collect data and the data were analyzed using quantifying the qualitative data. The participants were selected using convenience sampling method. They comprised 99 (51 female, 48 male) preservice teachers studying at eleven education faculties around Turkey. The consistency percentage of the Key words: teacher; preservice teacher; gender; preferences Introduction research was found 89%. In response to the question about their preferences of instructor gender, 16 % of the male preservice teachers who preferred female instructors stated that they do so because they increase motivation, while 44% of the female preservice teachers preferred female instructors because they are more understanding as they are mothers and they understand us better as were are of the same gender. On the other hand, 85 % of the male preservice teachers who preferred male instructors stated that they do so because I prefer male instructors because female instructors cannot establish authority, 45% said they preferred because male instructors are honest and close and because female instructors are not understanding against male students, while 73% of the female preservice teachers preferred male instructors because female instructors are fastidious and extremely regulatory,63% preferred because female instructors have poor communication competence, 60 % preferred because male instructors are authoritarian and control the class. When we look from a narrow perspective, social structures can be seen as a composition of gender roles constructed by cultural practices of child raising. The main reason underlying the transformation from matriarchic societies to patriarchic societies can be considered to be the transformation of the meaning attributed to gender roles. To Kagitcibasi (1998), the reason for children and adults in different cultural settings to attribute different meanings to the same behaviours is related with the fact that they attribute environmentdependent meanings on what is normal or abnormal. For example, the meanings and values attributed to the child and adult behaviours are different in US where children are raised with a rather free discipline understanding and in Japanese culture where a strict understanding of child raising is used. When the reflections of gender roles into everyday lives, it is seen that the value systems of cultural structures are similar. For example, male children are expected to have dominant characteristics in terms of assertiveness and physical superiority, while female children are expected to be harmonious and dependent. Therefore, role and behaviours related with the gender develop in harmony with cultural values. The way a family grows up a child differs Amasya University, Educational Faculty, Department of Educational Sciences, Amasya/Turkey, [email protected]

148 Preservice Teachers Preferences S.Yapici according to gender generally through cultural subconscious. The gender-based division of labour generally begins from early childhood. An analysis of the common practices of child raising in Turkish society would reveal that the judgements about a behaviour or attitude are done predominantly according to the meanings attributed to the genders and role behaviours formed in relation to these meanings. Based on the different conditions of the society that an individual is born into, the meanings attributed to these roles can involve much freedom or firmness. As the level of wealthy increases, types of traditional relationships also change quickly. It is a social learning process for the individuals to learn their gender roles mainly by imitating and observing (Zimmerman&Rosenthal, 1974; Bandura, 1977). Moreover, children can learn gender roles by observing and imitating each other (especially the young children observing the older children) (Azmitia, 1988). Considering the Piaget s (1964) concepts of accommodation, assimilation and equilibrium, it is obvious that the learned gender roles have a more or less persisting impact on people s lives. It can be said that whatever an individual does or does not do, or say or does not say is affected by the gender roles. We can see the implications of the personalization of gender roles by an individual everywhere including school, home, and street. School not only socializes the individuals but also provides them with society s accepted gender roles. Gender refers to the biological differences (Dokmen, 2010). Yet gender role is something beyond biological differences. Yogev (2006) argues that social gender is formed by culture, and comprises gender roles, identity, status and responsibilities developing independent of biological gender. Social gender roles are the culturally determined attitudes and behaviours, including stance and body language, such as code of conduct, personality traits, emotions which are the most representative characteristics of being a male or female in a certain culture (Firestone, 1993; Erdogan, 2008; Dokmen, 2010). Gender socialization, which is one role acquired in the social life (Chodorow, 1978; Connell, 1998), is experienced to a great extent in the school. It is observed that the roles attributed to female or male students are also followed by parents and teachers as well, thus the same is attributed to female and male teachers roles. Studies on course books (Zimet, 1976; Kalia, 1980) suggest that women are usually illustrated as mother and housewives at home, or as teachers or nurses in line with the traditional female professions. In terms of behaviours and attitudes males are handled in relation with bravery, intelligence and success, while females are illustrated with such characteristics as abiding, self-sacrifice and dependency. Some research in Turkey (Kulahci,1989; Dokmen, 1995; Helvacioglu, 1996; Esen and Turkan, 2002) also found similar results. Given that schools should be the places where gender discrimination is observed the least, it can be said that gender socialization in society is very strong and it will take long years to lose its effect. However, as a social accelerator, school should take a more active role. Unfortunately, the schools, which are just the extensions of social structures, are seen to be not so much active. The metaphor studies about teachers show that one of the most common metaphors used for teachers is mother-father (Clarken, 1997; Saban, 2004). Definitely, this metaphor itself cannot be regarded as towards gender preference. It can also be the result of the students need for love and affection. Yet, even with this form, this metaphoric belief among students can be claimed to be a derivative of gender socialization as a reflection of cultural child raising system. Therefore, gender roles reflected in metaphors can well transform into actual experiences in the form of attitudes and codes of conduct -142-

149 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Method In the present study, participating preservice teachers were asked two main questions: Would you prefer your instructors to be female or male?, What are the reasons for your preference? The interview form was developed utilizing the relevant literature (Miles&Huberman, 1994; Yildirim&Simsek, 2006; Glesne, 2012). Instrument Interview method was used as the data collection instrument in the study. The purpose of the interview is to understand the individuals viewpoints, feelings, experiences, thoughts, goals, perceptions and evaluations (Patton, 2002). The qualitative data obtained with interview technique were quantified producing frequencies and percentages. Participants The participants of the research were selected using convenience sampling method (Yildirim&Simsek, 2006). They consisted of 99 freshmen (51 female, 48 male) studying at the first classes of eleven faculties of education. Freshmen were selected so as to be able to analyze the reflections of their previous school experiences on today and thus make analysis and interpretations for future. The participating preservice teachers came from eleven universities including Amasya University (9 Female, 7 Male ), Adıyaman University (6 Female, 8 Male ), Afyon Kocatepe University (5 Female, 6 Male ), Usak University (8 Female, 5 Male ), Akdeniz University (5 Female, 4 Male ), Dokuz Eylül University (4 Female, 4 Male ), Ankara University (5 Female, 7 Male ), Pamukkale University (3 Female, 4 Male ), Nigde University (2 Female, 2 Male ), Marmara University (2 Female, 1 Male ), Ondokuz Mayıs University (2 Male ). Interview The researcher interviewed the participants in advance and informed them about the purpose of the study and ensured them that they would not be asked about their identities in anyway, the content of the interview would not be used for any other purpose, no statement including their identity would be disclosed. After granting their permissions the interview content was registered by taking notes and notes were shown to them in order to get their final consent. Interviews were done between June 2011 and December 2012 during holidays in Adıyaman, Afyonkarahisar, Amasya and İzmir by the researcher. Data analysis The interview notes were first registered one by one in sentence form.next, the statements considered to have same meaning were combined and transformed into main propositions and their frequencies and percentages were produced. Finally, an external instructor was asked to repeat he data analysis with the same method and both classifications were compared to estimate the agreement percentage. The reliability estimation of the study was done using Miles & Huberman s (1994) Agreement Percentage Formula[ P = ( Na / Na + Nd ) x 100] (P: Agreement Percentage, Na: Number of Agreement, Nd: Number of Disagreement). The minimum agreement percentage of 70% is considered reliability of analysis (Yildirim and Şimşek, 2006). The agreement percentage in this study was found 89%

150 Preservice Teachers Preferences S.Yapici Findings This part presents frequencies and percentages about preservice teachers preferences of their instructors gender and their reasons. Table 1: Participants answers to the question Would you prefer your instructors to be female or male? I prefer I prefer Gender does Female Male not matter f % f % f % Male preservice teachers Female preservice teachers While 37% of the male preservice teachers prefer their instructors to be female, this rate of preference is 17% for females. While 41% of the male preservice teachers prefer their instructors to be male, this rate of preference is 58% for females. While 20% of the male preservice teachers state instructor s gender does not matter, this rate of indifference is 23% among female preservice teachers. Table 2: The reasons of the male preservice teachers for preferring female instructors Male preservice teachers reasons f % Because they increase motivation 3 16 Female instructors lessons are more interesting 2 11 Because they are beautiful 2 11 Because they are mothers (Affectionate) 1 5 Among those male preservice teachers who preferred female instructors, 16% stated they prefer female instructors because they increase motivation, 11 %said female instructors lessons are more interesting and they are beautiful, 5% said they are mothers (affectionate). Table 3: The reasons of the female preservice teachers for preferring female instructors Female preservice teachers reasons f % They are more understanding as they are mothers 4 44 They understand us better as we are of the same gender 4 44 Because we can communicate more easily 2 22 As they are understanding and tolerant 2 22 Among those female preservice teachers who preferred female instructors, 44% stated they prefer female instructors because they are more understanding as they are mothers and they understand us better as we are of the same gender, and 22% said because we can communicate more easily and as they are understanding and tolerant

151 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Table 4: The reasons of the male preservice teachers for preferring male instructors Male preservice teachers reasons f % I prefer male instructors because female instructors cannot establish authority As male instructors are honest and close 9 45 I prefer male instructors as female instructors are not understanding against male students 9 45 I prefer male instructors as female instructors do gender discrimination (doing positive discrimination in favour of female students) 7 35 I prefer male instructors because females are unlikable 4 20 I prefer male instructors as female instructors proficiency in the subject field is inadequate 2 10 They distract me with their sexuality and I cannot learn, thus I prefer male instructor 1 5 I prefer male instructor because it is a sin for a female instructor to lecture male student 1 5 Among those male preservice teachers who preferred male instructors, 85% stated they prefer male instructors because female instructors cannot establish authority,45% said as male instructors are honest and close and as female instructors are not understanding against male students, 35% said they preferred male instructors as female instructors do gender discrimination (doing positive discrimination in favor of female students). Moreover, the reason I prefer male instructors because females are unlikable constitutes 20 %, while I prefer male instructors as female instructors proficiency in the subject field is inadequate constitutes 10% of the reasons. Table 5: The reasons of the female preservice teachers for preferring male instructors Female preservice teachers reasons f % I prefer male instructors because female instructors are female instructors are fastidious and extremely regulatory I prefer male instructors because female instructors have poor communication competence They are authoritarian and control the class They are understanding I prefer male instructors because female instructors are capricious and arrogant As they are objective and consistent As I can communicate well I prefer male instructors as female instructors lessons are boring I prefer male instructors because female instructors are emotional and touchy I prefer male instructors because female instructors discriminate (in favor of male) 9 30 I prefer male instructors because female instructors reflect private lives to the lesson 7 23 I prefer male instructors because female instructors -145-

152 Preservice Teachers Preferences S.Yapici are mean in their grades 6 20 As their proficiency in their subject field is better 5 16 As the male instructors know better about the real life 2 6 As they do not beat the female students 2 6 As they are tolerant 1 3 I prefer male instructors because female instructors shout more 1 3 Among those female preservice teachers who preferred male instructors, 73% stated they prefer male instructors because female instructors are fastidious and extremely regulatory, 63 % said they prefer male instructors because female instructors have poor communication competence, 60 % said male instructors are authoritarian and they can control the class, 56% said because they are understanding,and50% saidthey prefer male instructors because female instructors are capricious and arrogant. Moreover, the reason As they are objective and consistent, As I can communicate well and I prefer male instructors as female instructors lessons are boring constitutes 40 % of the reasons; and I prefer male instructors because female instructors are emotional and touchy constitutes 36% of the reasons; I prefer male instructors because female instructors discriminate (in favor of male) constitutes 30% of the reasons; and I prefer male instructors because female instructors reflect private lives to the lesson constitutes 23 % of the reasons. Table 6: The reasons of male preservice teachers who said gender does not matter Male preservice teachers reasons f % The quality and how the lesson is conducted is more important 8 80 Instructor s being authoritarian is important 7 70 The ability to communicate is important 7 70 Being understanding and tolerant is important 5 50 Being full of love is important 3 30 It is important not to discriminate 2 20 Giving few assignments is important 1 10 Lecturing well is important (my learning) 1 10 Not using rude and bad language is important 1 10 Among those male preservice teachers who responded that gender does not matter, 80% stated that the quality and how the lesson is conducted is more important, 70% said instructor s being authoritarian is important and the ability to communicate is important. Moreover, the reason being understanding and tolerant is important constituted 50%, being full of love is important constituted 30% and it is important not to discriminate constituted 20% of the reasons. Table 7: The reasons of female preservice teachers who said gender does not matter Female preservice teachers reasons f % Being understanding and tolerant is important 9 75 Lecturing well is important 9 75 It is important to communicate well with students 6 50 I have had good teachers of both genders 3 25 Personality traits are important 1 8 My female teachers at primary school were good, -146-

153 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 but my male teachers at high school were good 1 8 It is important to speak and act politely 1 8 Establishing the authority is important 1 8 Being specialized in their subject field is important 1 8 To be trusting is important 1 8 Among those female preservice teachers who responded that gender does not matter, 75% stated that Being understanding and tolerant is important and Lecturing well is important, 50% stated that It is important to communicate well with students. Moreover, the reason I have had good teachers of both genders constituted 25%, Personality traits are important, My female teachers at primary school were good, but my male teachers at high school were good, It is important to speak and act politely, Establishing the authority is important, Being specialized in their subject field is important and to be trusting is important constituted 8% of the reasons. Discussion When we look at the preservice teachers preferences of their instructors gender, male preservice teachers were found to prefer female instructors because they increase motivation (16%), Female instructors lessons are more interesting and Because they are beautiful (11%). It is believed that the underlying phenomenon behind this is sexuality. These preferences of male preservice teachers can be asserted to stem from how they have been raised by their family and the conservative social life. The reason of because they are mothers (Affectionate) stated at a rate of 5% can be asserted to stem from hospitalism. Considering that boys in traditional Turkish family structure are behaved with a perceived message of be strong or see a thing through, male students can be said to compensate the lack of love at school with the female teacher (possibly attributing the role of mother). When we look at the female preservice teachers reasons, they were found to prefer female instructors because of such reasons as They are more understanding as they are mothers and They understand us better as we are of the same gender (44%), Because we can communicate more easily and As they are understanding and tolerant (22%). It is seen that these reasons are predominantly sensitive. This sensitiveness can be asserted to stem from the manner of child raising in family and mother s being a dominant role model while raising the female child. It was found that the reasons of male preservice teachers who preferred male instructors included I prefer male instructors because female instructors cannot establish authority at a rate of 85%, as male instructors are honest and close and I prefer male instructors as female instructors are not understanding against male students at a rate of 45%, and I prefer male instructors as female instructors do gender discrimination (doing positive discrimination in favor of female students) at a rate of 35%. Also, the reason I prefer male instructors because females are unlikable constituted 20 %, while I prefer male instructors as female instructors proficiency in the subject field is inadequate constituted 10%, and They distract me with their sexuality and I cannot learn, thus I prefer male instructor and I prefer male instructor because it is a sin for a female instructor to lecture male student constituted 5% of the reasons. An overall look at the reasons suggests that the reasons of male preservice teachers who preferred male instructors were justified not directly but indirectly over female instructors. This is regarded as an interesting situation. For example, the phenomenon of female -147-

154 Preservice Teachers Preferences S.Yapici instructors failure to establish authority is quite interesting. Considering the Turkish social family structures, it is a well known phenomenon that man (father) is regarded as a figure of authority and woman (mother) prevail so much in this structure. Among those female preservice teachers who preferred male instructors, 73% answered they preferred male instructors because female instructors are fastidious and extremely regulatory, 63 % said they preferred male instructors because female instructors have poor communication competence, 60 % said male instructors are authoritarian and they can control the class, 56% said because they are understanding, and 50% said they prefer male instructors because female instructors are capricious and arrogant. Also, the reasons As they are objective and consistent, As I can communicate well and I prefer male instructors as female instructors lessons are boring were preferred at a rate of 40 %; and I prefer male instructors because female instructors are emotional and touchy was stated at a rate of 36%; I prefer male instructors because female instructors discriminate (in favor of male) was stated at a rate of 30%; and I prefer male instructors because female instructors reflect private lives to the lesson was mentioned at a rate of 23 %. Other reasons by female preservice teachers for preferring male instructors included I prefer male instructors because female instructors are mean in their grades (20%), As their proficiency in their subject field is better (16%), As the male instructors know better about the real life, and As they do not beat the female students (6%). A general look at the female preservice teachers reasons may suggest that they believe that female instructors are adversely affected by psychological and emotional problems and thus cannot perform well as a teacher. This can be said to stem from female instructors suffering underlife burdens of women (statuses of mother, wife and teachers) working in the male-dominant society. Among those male preservice teachers who responded that gender does not matter, 80% were found to believe the quality and how the lesson is conducted is more important, and 70% believed instructor s being authoritarian is important and the ability to communicate is important. Also, the reason being understanding and tolerant is important was preferred at a rate of 50%, being full of love is important was preferred at a rate of 30%, it is important not to discriminate was preferred at a rate of 20%, and the reasons of Giving few assignments is important, Lecturing well is important (my learning) and Not using rude and bad language is important were preferred at a rate of 10%. When we look at the reasons of male preservice teachers who said gender does not matter, it can be said that they stem from an emphasis on the phenomena of academic achievement and discipline. Among those female preservice teachers who responded that gender does not matter, 75% were found to put forward that being understanding and tolerant is important and Lecturing well is important, 50% suggested that It is important to communicate well with students. Moreover, the reason I have had good teachers of both genders was preferred at a rate of 25%, and reasons of Personality traits are important, My female teachers at primary school were good, but my male teachers at high school were good, It is important to speak and act politely, Establishing the authority is important, Being specialized in their subject field is important and to be trusting is important were preferred at a rate of 8%.When we look at the reasons of female preservice teachers who said gender does not matter, it can be said their preferences were shaped based on academic achievement and interpersonal relationship

155 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 References Azmitia, M. (1988). Peer interaction and problem solving, Child Development, 59, Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Chodorow N. (1978). The reproduction of mothering, psychoanalysis and the sociology of gender, London: University of California Press, Ltd. Clarken, R. H.(1997, March). Five metaphors for educators, Paper presented at the annual meeting of the american aducational research association, Chicago, pp Connell, R. W. (1998). Gender and Power Society. (Turkish: C. Soydemir), İstanbul: Ayrıntı Pub. Dokmen, Z. (1995). Examination of primary school textbooks in terms of gender roles. Psikiyatri Psikoloji Psikofarmakoloji dergisi, 3(2), s.: Dokmen, Z. Y. (2010). Gender. İstanbul: Remzi Pub. Erdogan, T. (2008). Sex role differentiation as an order provider component of the social system. Turkish Journal of Social Research, 12/3, Esen, Y. & Bagli, T. M. (2002). A research on male female figures in the elementary school textbook. Ankara University Journal of Faculty of Educational Sciences, 35/ 1-2, Firestone, S. (1993). The dialectic of sex. (Turkish: Y. Salman), İstanbul: Payel Pub. Glesne, C. (2012). Becoming qualitative researchers. (Editors of Turkish: A. Ersoy- P.Yalcinoglu), Ankara: Ani Pub. Helvacioglu, F. (1996). Gender differences in textbooks. İstanbul: Kaynak Pub. Kağıtcıbasi, C. (1998). Family and human development across cultures. İstanbul:YKY Pub. Kalia, N. N. (1980). Images of men and women in indian textbooks, Comparative Education Review, 24 (2), s.: Kulahci, S. G. (1989). The other size in textbooks. Education and Science, 13 (71), 3-8. Miles, M.B, & Huberman, A.M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis, 2nd Ed., Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods, Third Edition, London: Sage Publication. Piaget, J. (1964) Cognitive development in children, Journal of Research in Science Teaching 2, Saban, A. (2004). Entry level prospective classroom teachers metaphors about the concept of teacher. Journal of Turkish Educational Sciences, 2/2, Yildirim, A. Ve Simsek, H. (2006). Qualitative research methods in social sciences. (6. ed.) Ankara: Seckin Pub. Yogev, Ş. P. (2006). Gender role acquisition among adolescents-the effect of family school and friends. (Unpublished mater thesis), Ankara: Ankara University Zimet, S. G. (1976). Print and Prejudice, London: Hodder and Stoughton. Zimmerman, B.J. & Rosenthal, T.L. (1974). Observational learning of rule-governed behavior by children, Psychological Bulletion, 81,

156 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 4(1), pp , 1 April, 2014 Available online at Classroom Emotions Scale For Elementary School Students (Ces-Ess) Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Ahmet Yamac * Elementary Education, Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey Recently, there has been growing interest in emotions ignored in learning settings by many scholars. To date, research on emotions has been limited to anxiety studies but many emotions beyond anxiety are experienced in educational settings. Although there are some studies regarding the relationships between emotions and cognition, motivation and achievement, more research is clearly needed to produce cumulative and refined information on these relationships. The first aim of the current study was to construct an instrument that measures students enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom in a Turkish elementary school context. The second aim of current study was examine students emotions in terms of gender and class level. This first version of the scale was administered to 391 elementary school students (201 fourth and 190 fifth graders) for exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis. The second version of the scale was administered to 274 elementary students for confirmatory factor analysis. The principal component analysis of the CES-ES yielded a three-factor structure (enjoyment, boredom and anxiety). The internal consistency ranged from.78 to.85. The CFA supported the item selection of the EFA. Moreover, students classroom emotions differed in terms of gender and class level.the findings provide some evidence for the validity and reliability of the CES-ES. Key words: Classroom emotions, anxiety, enjoyment, boredom, and elementary school students. Introduction Recently, there has been growing interest in emotions ignored in learning settings by many scholars (Frenzel, Thrash, Pekrun, & Goetz, 2007; Goetz, Frenzel, Pekrun, & Hall, 2006; Govaerts & Gr egoire, 2008; Lichtenfeld, Pekrun, Stupnisky, Reiss, & Murayama, 2012; Pekrun, Goetz, Titz, & Perry, 2002a; Pekrun, Goetz, Perry, Kramer, Hochstadt, & Molfenter, 2004; Pekrun, 2006; Schutz & Pekrun, 2007; Villavicencio, 2011). To date, research on emotions has been limited to research on anxiety (Zeidner, 1998) but many emotions beyond anxiety are experienced in educational settings (Govaerts & Gr egoire, 2008; Pekrun et al., 2002a; Pekrun, Goetz, Frenzel, Barchfeld, & Perry, 2011). In the past 10 years, research has focused on the relationships between emotions and achivement, motivation, cognition, learning, and the learning environment (Auano, 2011; Aultman, & Schutz, 2009; Bush, 2006; Decuir-Gunby, Goetz, Preckel, Pekrun, & Hall, 2007; Frenzel, Pekrun & Goetz, 2007; Goetz, Frenzel, Hall & Pekrun, 2008; Pekrun, Elliot & Maier, 2009; Schutz, Benson, & Decuir-Gunby, 2008; Stephanou, 2011; Stephanou, Kariotoglou, & Dinas, 2011; Trigwell, Ellis, & Han, 2012). Research on academic emotions have two important issues. Academic emotions don t have the operational definition and there is a need the reliable and valid scales for measuring. [email protected]

157 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 (Govaerts & Gr egoire, 2008). The control-value theory of achievement emotions provide a framework for defining emotions and developing scales (Pekrun, 2006). The control-value theory of achievement emotions provides an integrative framework for analyzing the roots and effects of emotions experienced in achievement and academic settings (Pekrun, 2006; Pekrun et al, 2011). Pekrun s control-value theory (2006) describes emotions through taxonomy with three dimensions: valence (positive-negative), the level of activation (activating-deactivating), and object focus (achievement activities-achievement outcomes). For example, enjoyment, hope, and pride are positive-activating, while hopelessness and boredom are negative-deactivating. Additionally, enjoyment experienced during a class is a positive, activating and activity-related emotion, while anxiety when facing a test is a negative, activating outcome-related emotion. The control value theory asserts that emotions consist of four elements: affective, cognitive, motivational, and physiological. For example, negative feeling (affective), worrying (cognitive), avoiding (motivational), and sweating (physiological) can be the symptoms of anxiety (Pekrun et Al., 2011) Table 1. A Three-Dimensional Taxonomy of Achievement Emotions (Pekrun, Frenzel, Goetz, & Perry, 2007) Positive Negative Activating Deactivating Activating Deactivating Activity focus Enjoyment Relaxation Anger Boredom Frustration Outcome focus Joy Hope Pride Gratitude Contentment Relief Anxiety Shame Anger Sadness Disappointment Hopelessness In line with this model, achievement emotions are defined as emotions that are directly linked to achievement activities or achievement outcomes (Pekrun, Goetz, &Perry, 2005, p. 4). Emotions are important for students motivation, learning, performance, identity development, and health (Schutz & Pekrun, 2007; Pekrun, 2006). Pekrun et al. (2011) asserts that emotions are expected to influence students intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Furthermore, emotions may facilitate students use of learning strategies as well as promote self-regulation. Pekrun, Goetz, Titz, & Perry (2002b) propose that positive emotions are essential for human behavior and adaption because they help to envision goals and challenges, open the mind to thoughts and problemsolving, protect health by fostering resiliency, create attachments to significant others, lay the groundwork for individual self-regulation, and guide the behavior of groups, social systems, and nations (pp. 149). There are some instruments developed for the assessment of academic emotions in different cultures and contexts. One of these instruments is The Academic Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ) developed by Pekrun et al. (2011) AEQ is a multidimensional self-report instrument designed to assess college students achievement emotions. The AEQ measures a number of different emotions in three achievement situations, which is attending class, studying, and writing tests and exams. This instrument was first developed in German. There are also English and Chinese versions of the scale. The Achievement Emotions Questionnaire- Elementary School (AEQ-ES) is an instrument assessing elementary students achievement emotions (Lichtenfeld, et al., 2012). The AEQ-ES assesses students' enjoyment, anxiety, and -151-

158 Classroom Emotions Scale A.Yamac boredom pertaining to three types of academic settings (i.e., attending class, doing homework, and taking tests and exams). The reliability and validity of the scale were tested on German and American elementary school students. The Academic Emotions Scale (AES) is a French self-report questionnaire assessing six emotions (enjoyment, hope, pride, anxiety, shame and frustration) in the context of school learning (Govaerts & Gr egoire, 2008). The structure of the scale was examined in a sample of secondary school students. The AES measures secondary students emotions in the situation of math exam preparation. In another study, Chiang ve Liu (2013) developed a scale about university students emotions related to science education. Their scale included three settings: attending science class, learning scientific subjects, and problem solving. Considering research on academic emotions, some studies have addressed the relationships between students emotions and academic achievement (Frenzel et al., 2007; Pekrun, Elliot & Maier, 2009; Pekrun et al., 2002a; Pekrun, Goetz, Daniels, Stupnisky & Perry, 2010; Pekrun, Goetz, Perry, Kramer, Hochstadt & Molfenter, 2004). Some studies have found relationships between achievement goals and emotions (Elliot & McGregor, 1999; Pekrun, Elliot & Maier, ; Tanaka, Takhara & Yamauchi, 2006). Furthmore, students emotions have been shown to be related to the classroom environment (Frenzel, Pekrun & Goetz, 2007; Goetz et al., 2006; Stephanou, 2011). Althought there are studies that develop and translate scales on academic emotions in different cultures and contexts, given the elements of the classroom setting, such as the perspective of teacher, the number of students in class, classroom management, teaching methods, curriculum and lesson time can differ from culture to culture, the causes and outcomes of emotions that students experience in classroom settings may vary. Thus, culturespesific conditions can emerge. For this reason, the development of a scale in Turkish context has been decided. In conclusion, although there are some studies regarding the relationships between emotions and cognition, motivation and achievement, more research is clearly needed to produce information on these relationships. Additionally, the research on elementary students' emotions is restricted because the number of measurement instruments is less. It is important to have valid and reliable instruments for measuring emotions. Linnenbrink-Garcia and Pekrun (2011) assert that more research is needed to understand how different contexts and cultures shape emotion. Accordingly, the first aim of the current study was to construct an instrument that measures students enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom in a Turkish elementary school context. The second aim of current study was examine the students emotions in terms of gender and class level. Method Sample This first version of the scale was administered to 391 elementary school students (201 fourth and 190 fifth graders) for exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis. The students mean age was 10.3, and the sample was 46.3% boys and 53.7% girls. The second version of the scale was administered to 274 elementary students for confirmatory factor analysis. The students mean age was 10.4, and the sample was 53.3% boys and 46.7% girls in this second sample (96 fourth graders and 178 fifth graders)

159 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Instrumentation Development The item pool of the scale consisted of 64 items, evaluating three emotions (enjoyment, boredom, and anxiety) experienced in classroom settings. The items were chosen based on Pekruns control-value theory in which each emotion has affective, cognitive, motivational, and physiological elements. In addition, the items of the scale were generated based on 30 elementary school students written opinions, and existing academic emotions scales such as The AEQ (Pekrun et al., 2011), The AES (Govaerts & Gr egoire, 2008), and The AEQ-ES (Lichtenfeld, et al., 2012). To investigate students emotions in classroom setting students were asked to answer eight open-ended questions in written form. Some of the questions about classroom emotions were as following: Could you tell about enjoyable conditions in classroom setting? What do you do when you are bored in lesson? Could you tell about conditions that you are nervous and afraid? Descriptive analysis was used in analyzing the data obtained from students and some items of the scale was generated based on this data. Some of students views about emotions were as following:.i am really bored when my teacher talks and I sit listening for long periods of time.when I don t know the answer, I am worried if my teacher asks a question about problem The first scale with 64 items was sent to four experts. Experts reviewed the items for ease of understanding, item content, and comprehensiveness of item coverage. Following the experts opinions, a scale with 48 items was created. These items were classified as follows: 16 items measured enjoyment (I am motivated to learn new topics because I am prepared for lessons), 15 items measured boredom (I participate reluctantly in lessons), and 17 items measured anxiety (I feel tension my stomach when a question is asked to me). Procedure The students were asked to rate each of the items on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 ( I don t agree at all ) to 5 ( I totally agree ). Students completed the study scale during regular classroom hours. Before administering the scale, students were informed of the confidentiality of their responses. Most students finished the scale in about 15 minutes. Analysis To examine the validity of the scale, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were used. Cronbach Alpha value was computed for reliability analysis. Furthmore, itemtotal correlation was computed to evaluate the discrimination of items. Finally, independent samples t-test was used to examine if classroom emotions differ in terms of gender and grade level

160 Classroom Emotions Scale A.Yamac Results Exploratory Factor Analysis and Reliability Analysis To examine construct validity of CES-ES, all 48 items were submitted to principal components analyses with varimax rotation. Based on both a minimum Eigen value and scree criteria, a three-factor solution was created. The resulting three factors accounted for 40% approximately of the total variance. The items with factor loadings below.40 were removed. The eigenvalues of the three factors were 9.245, 2.636, and 1.712, respectively. This solution showed a very good Kaiser- Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy (.91). Factor I (boredom) consisted of 12 items with factor loadings ranging from.66 to.47 and accounted for 27% of the variance in the total scale. Factor II (enjoyment) consisted of 13 items with loadings ranging from.68 to.44 and accounted for 7.8 % of the variance in the total scale. Factor III (anxiety) consisted of 9 items with loadings ranging from.64 to.40 and accounted for 5% of the variance in the total scale. In addition, a Cronbach Alpha and a 95% confidence interval for reliability coefficients were calculated to determine the internal consistency of the scores obtained from the scale. The three retained subscales showed a good internal consistency. The standardized Cronbach s alpha coefficients were.85 for the boredom subscale,.85 for the enjoyment subscale, and.78 for the anxiety subscale. In order to find out the item discrimination of the CES-ES items, the item-total correlation was calculated. According to Buyukozturk (2009), a positive and high item-total correlation demonstrates that the internal consistency of the scale is higher..30 or greater values for item-total correlation indicate good distinctiveness. The corrected item-total correlations ranged from.46 to.64 for boredom,.41 to.67 for enjoyment, and.40 to.58 for anxiety. Table 2. Factor Loadings for Classroom Emotions Scale-Elementary Students Boredom Enjoyment Anxiety Item-total (Factor 1) (Factor II) (Factor III) Correlations Item 20,661 -,160,152,59 Item 44,658 -,252,070,60 Item 17,627 -,184,335,64 Item 41,603 -,106,155,53 Item 29,601 -,123,177,54 Item 32,561 -,045,158,47 Item38,558 -,125,121,57 Item35,547 -,241,216,47 Item14,535 -,311,258,58 Item8,514 -,117,143,46 Item26,502 -,224,198,46 Item2,478 -,212,189,50 Item16 -,088,682 -,075,58 Item34 -,327,659 -,127,67 Item25 -,233,654 -,038,60 Item31 -,337,648 -,006,

161 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Item19 -,243,614 -,033,56 Item28,041,600 -,201,47 Item13 -,130,593 -,090,51 Item22,044,590 -,213,48 Item40 -,153,544,005,47 Item43 -,332,478 -,006,48 Item10 -,020,460 -,373,41 Item7 -,269,450 -,168,45 Item4 -,275,449,016,42 Item21,074,007,649,46 Item33,202 -,129,643,54 Item6,165 -,080,630,51 Item30,131 -,179,604,49 Item39,341 -,226,570,58 Item48,192,058,527,41 Item12,366,019,468,44 Item18,310 -,187,422,42 Item47,248 -,280,404,40 Eigen values Percent of variance 27,2% 7,8% 5% Coefficient alpha,85,85,78 Table 3 presents intercorrelations among the three factors. Positive correlations between unpleasant emotion (boredom) and unpleasant emotion (anxiety), and negative correlations between pleasant emotion (enjoyment) and unpleasant emotions (anxiety and boredom) were observed. Correlation coefficients were significant for all relationships. According to Kline (2005), estimated correlations should not exceed.85 for discriminant validity. These correlations ranged from -.41 to.61. Table 3.Intercorrelations Among Factors Factors Boredom 1 2. Enjoyment -.55** 1 3. Anxiety.61** -.41** 1 Confirmatory Factor Analysis The three factors of the CES-ES were confirmed in another sample (n=274) with similar characteristics as the first sample. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted using LISREL 8.70 for Windows in order to test whether to test the initial model suggested by the EFA (Jöroskop & Sörbom, 1996). EFA is considered to be more of a theory-generating than a theory-testing procedure. In contrast, CFA is generally based on a strong theoretical or empirical foundation that allows the researcher to specify an exact factor model in advance (Stevens, 2009, pp.345). The three-factor solution was tested and each item on the scale was assigned to the specified factor. Several different indexes were used to -155-

162 Classroom Emotions Scale A.Yamac evaluate the model fit including the chi-square fit, the standardized root mean squared residual (SRMR), the comparative fit index (CFI), and the root-mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), Normed fit index (NFI). Hu and Bentler (1999) suggest that values of.08 or below for SRMR, values of.06 or below for RMSEA and values of.95 or greater for CFI indicate good fit. According to Schumacker & Lomax (2004), values of.05 or below for RMSEA and values close to.95 indicate good fit. For RMSEA, values less than.07 indicate a good model fit (Stieger, 2007). According to Kline (2005), values of the SRMR less than.10 are considered favorable. Figure 1. Confirmatory factor analysis model for Ces-Es The results of CFA showed that the model attained adequate fit shown by the chi-square (X²=777.1, p<.05), Standardized Root Mean Square Residuals (SRMR=.055), Root Mean Square Error Approximation (RMSEA=.040) Comparative Fit Index (CFI=.98), Normed Fit Index (NFI=.94)

163 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Gender Differences To determine whether students classroom emotions differ in terms of gender, independent t-test was used. T-test results were presented Table 4. Table 4. Differences in Students Emotions According to Gender Male Female M SD M SD t p Cohen s d Boredom Enjoyment Anxiety The results indicated that means was significantly different for two emotions. As compared with male students, female reported more enjoyment. Male students reported more boredom than female students. However, there was no significant mean difference for anxiety. Class Level Differences To determine whether students classroom emotions differ in terms of class level, independent t-test was used. T-test results were presented Table 5. Table 5. Differences in Students Emotions According to Class Level Fourth Grade Fifth Grade M SD M SD t p Cohen s d Boredom Enjoyment Anxiety The results indicated that means was significantly different for boredom and anxiety. As compared with fourth grade students, fifth grade students reported more anxiety. Furthermore, fifth grade students reported more boredom than fourth grade students. However, there was no significant mean difference for enjoyment. Discussion The aim of this study was to develop an instrument that would examine students emotions in classroom settings. Students emotions are often ignored by educators in educational settings. Linnenbrink-Garcia and Pekrun (2011) argue that research on students emotions is in the initial stage. However, emotions are essential for social interaction, cognitive functions, and engagement. The CES-ES is a scale assessing elementary school students classrooms emotions. The reliability and validity of the scale have been established by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, alpha coefficients and item-total correlations. The study was conducted with two different samples. The first sample was used for exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis. The second sample was used for confirmatory factor analysis. The results of this study provide initial evidence for the reliability and validity of the CES-ES

164 Classroom Emotions Scale A.Yamac This final solution confirmed the three factor structure that we postulated. The final version of the CES-ES includes 34 items in three factors. The EFA showed that the scale has three factors: enjoyment (12 items), boredom (13 items), and anxiety (9 items). This structure is consistent with other studies (Linchtenfeld et al., 2012; Pekrun et al., 2002a; Pekrun et al., 2011). However, Govaerts and Gr egoire (2008) found that the items of the anger and boredom subscales did not appear as separate factors and the boredom and anger subscales loaded on the same factor. They labeled as this factor frustration. The reliability of each factor was shown to be satisfactory by the use of the Cronbach alpha coefficient. Cronbach coefficients were.85 for enjoyment and boredom and were.78 for anxiety. The item-total correlation of the scale was calculated for internal consistency. These results show that the internal consistency of the scale is high. The study findings demonstrate that elementary school students achievement emotions are significantly related. Specifically, enjoyment correlated negatively with anxiety and boredom. In contrast, boredom correlated positively with anxiety. Previous studies have produced similar findings (Govaerts & Gr egoire, 2008; Linchtenfeld et al., 2012; Pekrun et al., 2011). The result of the CFA demonstrated that a significant fit was obtained (X²=777.1, p<.05; SRMR=.055; RMSEA=.040; CFI=.98; NFI=.94). Finally, the results indicated that students classroom emotions differed in terms of gender and class level. Female students reported more enjoyment, while male students reported more boredom. In Pekrun et al. s study (2011) on classroom emotions, although female university students reported more enjoyment, students boredom did not differ in terms of gender. Furthermore, female university students reported more learning-related anxiety and more testrelated anxiety. In Lichtenfeld et al. s study (2012) on the elementary school students emotions in mathematics, for second grade students, male students reported more classrelated enjoyment, less class-related anxiety, and less learning-related boredom than female students. For third grade students, female students reported less enjoyment and more anxiety across the three achievement settings. Female students reported more class-related boredom. Moreover, students classroom emotions differed in terms of class level. Fifth grade students reported more class-related boredom and anxiety than fourth grade students. In Turkish settings, subject teachers teach students upwards fifth grade, while classroom teachers teach students between first and fourth grades. The reason why fifth grade students reported more anxiety and boredom can be this diversity. The current study has some implications for further studies. Firstly, the context of development of the CES-ES was a classroom setting. There is a need for more studies to measure other academic settings in Turkish culture. Secondly, the current study was conducted with elementary school students. The findings can be tested at different grade levels. Thirdly, the CES-ES can be used to assess classroom emotions in academic domains such as mathematics, language arts, and social studies by adapting the items accordingly. Finally, the CES-ES can be used to study the relationships between emotions and cognitive and motivational variables. References Auano, J.A. (2011). Motivational antecedents of academic emotion in Filipino college students. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 20(1),

165 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Bush, A.M. (2006). What comes between classroom community and academic emotions: testing a self-determination model of motivation in the college classroom. Unpublished dissertation. The University of Texas at Austin. Buyukozturk, S. (2009). Sosyal bilimler için veri analizi el kitabi.[handbook of data analysis for social sciences] Ankara: Pegem Akademi. Chiang, W. W., & Liu, C. J. (2013). Scale of academic emotion in science education: Development and validation. International Journal of Science Education, 36(6), Decuir-gunby, J., Aultman, L.P., & Schutz, P.A.(2009). Investigating transactions among motives, emotional regulation related to testing, and test emotions. The Journal of Experimental Education, 77(4), Elliot, A. J., & Mcgregor, H. (1999). Test anxiety and the hierarchical model of approach and avoidance achievement motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, Frenzel, A.C., Pekrun, R., & Goetz, T.(2007). Perceived learning environment and students emotional experiences: A multilevel analysis of mathematics classrooms. Learning and Instruction, 17, Frenzel, A.C., Thrash, T.M., Pekrun, R., & Goetz, T.(2007). Achievement emotions in Germany and China :A cross-cultural validation of the academic emotions questionnaire-mathematics. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 38(3), Goetz, T., Preckel, F., Pekrun, R., & Hall, N.C. (2007). Emotional experiences during test taking: Does cognitive ability make a difference?. Learning and Individual Differences, 17, Goetz, T., Frenzel, A.C., Hall, N.C. & Pekrun,R. (2008). Antecedents of academic emotions: Testing the internal/external frame of reference model for academic enjoyment. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 33, Goetz, T., Pekrun, R., Hall, N. & Haag, L. (2006). Academic emotions from a socialcognitive perspective: Antecedents and domain specificity of students affect in the context of Latin instruction. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, Goetz, T., Frenzel, A. C., Pekrun, R., & Hall, N. C. (2006). The domain specificity of academic emotional experiences. Journal of Experimental Education, 75(1), 5 29 Govaerts, S & Gr egoire, J. (2008). Development and Construct Validation of an Academic Emotions Scale. International Journal of Testing, 8,

166 Classroom Emotions Scale A.Yamac Hu, L., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, Jöreskog, K., & Sörbom, D. (1996). LISREL 8.7: User s reference guide [Computer software manual]. Lincolnwood, IL: Scientific Software International. Kline, R. B. (2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press Lichtenfeld, S., Pekrun, R., Stupnisky, R.H., Reiss, K., & Murayama, K. (2012).Measuringstudents' emotions in the early years: The Achievement Emotions Questionnaire Elementary School (AEQ-ES), Learning and Individual Differences, 22,(2), Linnenbrink-Garcia, L. & Pekrun, R. (2011). Students emotions and academic engagement: Introduction to the special issue. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 36, 1-3. Pekrun, R., Goetz, T., & Perry, R. P. (2005). Academic emotions questionnaire (AEQ)-User s manual. Department of Psychology, University of Munich. Pekrun, R. (2006). The control-value theory of achievement emotions: Assumptions, corollaries, and implications for educational research and practice. Educational Psychology Review, 18, Pekrun, R., Goetz, T., Perry, R. P., Kramer, K., Hochstadt,M., & Molfenter, S. (2004). Beyond test anxiety: Development and validation of the test emotions questionnaire (TEQ). Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 17, Pekrun, R., Goetz, T., Daniels, L. M., Stupnisky, R. H., & Perry, R. P. (2010). Boredom in achievement settings: Control-value antecedents and performance outcomes of a neglected emotion. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102, Pekrun, R., Goetz, T., Titz, W., & Perry, R. P. (2002a). Academic emotions in students' selfregulated learning and achievement: A program of qualitative and quantitative research. Educational Psychologist, 37, Pekrun, R., Goetz, T., Titz, W., & Perry, R. P. (2002b). Positive emotions in education. In E. Frydenberg (Ed.),Beyond coping: Meeting goals, visions, and challenges (pp ). Oxford, UK: Elsevier. Pekrun, R., Elliot, A. J., & Maier, M. A. (2006). Achievement goals and discrete achievement emotions: A theoretical model and prospective test. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98,

167 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Pekrun, R., Frenzel, A., Goetz, T., & Perry, R. P. (2007). The control-value theory of achievement emotions: An integrative approach to emotions in education. In P.A. Schutz & R. Pekrun (Eds.), Emotions in education (pp ). San Diego:Academic Press. Pekrun, R., Elliot, A.J., & Maier, M.A. (2009). Achievement goals and achievement emotions: testing a model of their joint relations with academic performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101(1), Pekrun, r., Goetz, T., Frenzel, A. C., Barchfeld, P., & Perry, R. P. (2011). Measuring emotions in students learning and performance: The Achievement Emotions Questionnaire(AEQ). Contemporary Educational Psychology, 36, Schumacker, R.E. & Lomax, R.G. (2004). A beginner s guide to structural equation modeling. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum. Schutz, P.A., Benson, J., & Decuir-gunby, J.T. (2008). Approach/Avoidance motives, test emotions, and emotional regulation related to testing, Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 21(3), Schutz, P. A., & Pekrun, R. (2007). Introduction to emotion in education. In P. A. Schutz, &R. Pekrun (Eds.), Emotion in education (pp. 3 10). San Diego, CA: Academic Press. Steiger, J.H. (2007). Understanding the limitations of global fit assessment in structural equation modeling, Personality and Individual Differences, 42 (5), Stephanou, G. (2011). Students classroom emotions: Socio-cognitive antecedents and school performance. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 9(1), Stephanou, G., Kariotoglou, P., & Dinas, K. (2011). University students emotions in lectures: The effect of competence beliefs, value beliefs and perceived task-difficulty, and the impact on academic performance. The International Journal of Learning, 18(1), Stevens, J.P. (2009). Applied multivariate statistics for the social sciences (5th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. Tanaka, A., Takehara, T., & Yamauchi, H. (2006). Achievement goals in a presentation task: Performance expectancy, achievement goals, state anxiety, and task performance. Learning and Individual Differences, 16, Trigwell, K., Ellis, R.A., & Han, F. (2012). Relations between students' approaches to learning, experienced emotions and outcomes of learning. Studies in Higher Education, 37(7),

168 Classroom Emotions Scale A.Yamac Villavicencio, F.T.(2011). Critical thinking, negative academic emotions, and achievement: A mediational analysis. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 20(1), Zeidner, M. (1998). Test anxiety: The state of the art. New York: Plenum Press

169 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 APPENDIX Classroom Emotions Scale For Elementary Students (Ces-Es): Sample Items for Turkish Version. Eğlence Derslerde enerji doluyum. Derslerde yeni bilgiler öğrenmekten zevk alırım. Derslerde bulunmaktan keyif aldığım için gerekenden daha fazla çalışırım. Sıkılma Derslerde hayallere dalmaya başlarım. Saati öğrenmeye çalışırım. Derslere isteksiz bir şekilde girerim. Kaygı Bana sorulan bir soruyu cevaplıyorken kalbim küt küt atmaya başlar. Bana bir soru sorulduğunda karnımda gerilme hissederim. Anlatılan konuyu öğrenip öğrenemeyeceğim hakkında endişelenirim. Classroom Emotions Scale For Elementary Students (Ces-Es): Sample Items for English Version. Enjoyment I am full of energy in class. I enjoy learning new knowledge in class. I study more than required because I enjoy occupying in class Boredom I start daydreaming in class. I try to learn what time it is. I reluctantly go to class. Anxiety My heart starts pounding while answering a question asked me. When asked me a question, I feel tension in my stomach. I worry whether I will be able to learn the subject

170 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 4(1), pp , 1 April, 2014 Available online at General Behaviours of Students with Poor Listening Skills or Who Do Not Listen To the Lectures According To the Teachers Opinions Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Key words: Listening skill, education, teachers opinions Introduction Selim Emiroglu * Turkish Education, Mevlana (Rumi) University, Konya, Turkey There are four linguistic skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing). Among these, the most important and the most used one is listening. Listening is the primary way for education and learning as well as communication. Listening is a crucial skill in the academic success and education of the student. The teacher should be able to care about students that do not listen as well as those who do. The way to accomplish this lies in detecting which students have poor listening skills and whether they listen to the lecture or not. The purpose of this study is to reveal the general behaviours of students with poor listening skills or who do not listen to the lectures and to develop opinions and approaches to resolve the identified negative behaviours. For this purpose, the opinions of 53 different teachers and academicians from different levels of academic and branches from the city of Konya in Turkey during the academic year. The data put forth by the participants was analyzed with content analysis technic and were classified into three categories. These are body language movements, verbal behaviours and material usage. The participants stated that the general behaviours of students with poor listening skills or who do not listen to the lectures can be understood 45% by body language movements, 34% by verbal behaviours and 21% by material usage. The effects of the gender factor were not observed in the study. Listening is the foundation of understanding. Listening is the process of clearly hearing the sounds and stimulants and their analysis, and it is an important skill in many areas of life. There is consciousness in listening. Listening should be a conscious process of effort and the sounds caught by the ear should be attempted to be understood (Özbay, 2009: 47). In listening, not the sole effect of the ear is considered. Although listening is done by the ear, it requires the connection between the ear and the brain and due analysis. Therefore, listening is primarily about the brain and requires an active mind work. Listening is Selecting the heard information, arranging them, integrating what the speaker conveys with pre-possessed information and structuring all in the mind (Güneş, 2007: 74). Listening also includes giving appropriate responses as well as understanding the incoming messages correctly. From this perspective, listening can be defined as Flawless understanding of the message the speaker intends to convey and to react appropriately against this mentioned stimulant (Demirel and Şahinel, 2006: 72). [email protected] Phone Number:

171 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1 April, 2014 Learning begins with listening. The first learning for the baby inside her mother s womb is via listening. While initially began as hearing, listening evolves into a conscious effort in time. Thus, the individual begins to interpret what he/she hears. The individual creates the information, feeling and thought universe accumulated via listening before enrolling in organized education (Temur, 2010: 305). Education largely takes place in a classroom. While educating in the class environment, it is assumed that certain skills and talents of the students are already developed. A chief one among these is the listening skill. Students with underdeveloped listening skills show typical movements in the classroom. The teachers, who teach the course and also care about their students behaviours, are the ones who observe these movements the best. While the teacher tries to keep the natural flow of the lecture, he/she also tries to check the behaviours of the students at the same time (Çelik, 2009:119). But besides the teacher s efforts, the student is responsible to listen to the lecture. Because the teacher is generally the speaker while the student is generally the listener during the intra-classroom communication. Especially in lectures with recital lecturing method, the student should prepare himself for listening. Most of the teachers in our schools use the straight lecturing, or recital method. In these situations, the time allocated by students for listening increase greatly, and almost 83% of what they learn is obtained via listening. This means that a student with insufficiently listening skills will have an unproductive learning process despite not having weak cognitive capacities (Çifçi, 2001: 169). Students have the responsibility to listen to their lecturers the best way possible, therefore associating the productivity of the lesson solely with the lecturing is not right. Educational activities require the effective participation of both the student and the teacher, and communication is a critical point of this. Communication is the process of information creation, conveying and interpretation (Dökmen, 1998: 19). One of the two skills at the heart of communication is listening (the other one is talking). First of all, the student needs to accomplish effective listening in the lecture. This type of listening requires effort and labour. A good listener is in a creative efficiency state, otherwise there is no complete communication (Taşer, 2000: 207). During listening, the brain of the listener shows more performance compared with the lecturer s brain. The lecturer focuses on the subject and what he will convey. On the other hand, the listener can think of other subjects besides the content to listen to. This may negatively affect listening. The researches show that a regular lecturer speaks at a rate of between 100 and 150 words a minute, while the perceptional capacity of the listener is between words a minute. The listener needs to appropriately fill in this gap and manage his thoughts, internal conversations in a way that will develop and expand on what the lecturer is conveying. Under the light of these informations, the listener should suppress the internal conversations and should direct himself towards the lecturer and the subject. It is not possible to understand the words of the lecturer without stopping his internal dialogue first. Furthermore, while listening to the teacher, he should not catch just the words but also the core of the message being conveyed. Because While listening, we do not spend time on each word but the holistic meaning of what is being said (Aksan, 1995: 221). Considering that the student spends a great deal of time listening to lectures in the classroom, it is important to keep in mind that his actions will affect both his classmates -165-

172 General Behaviours of Students with Poor Listening Skills S. Emiroglu and his teacher. The behaviours of a non-listening student will not interrupt just himself but his classmates as well and disrupt the flow of the course. The student not listening to the lecture and furthermore distracting his classmates fall into the category of undesired actions, as stated by the researchers (Bull and Solity, 1996). Furthermore, these undesired actions are shown to be problems in the teaching of the lesson. The students being involved in or reading things not related with the lesson, talking during the lecture, direction towards non-lecture related activities are considered to be problematic behaviours (Emmer, Evertson and Worsham, 2000). For the individual to conduct listening in the desired manner, preparations are in order. A listener who prepares himself towards understanding the subject will be more successful than those listeners who are just present there and who benefit from the lecture within the extent of their interest. Learning how to listen is the core of learning. Listening is considered to be a dominant skill during the studentship years. The lectures greatly appeal to the listening skill. In order to understand a course in the classroom, the student should be conscious about listening and should use this skill in the most appropriate way. Because when the student cannot listen and understand well during the lecture, he will need to spend a great more amount of time to repeat and understand the subject later. From this perspective, a student should apply listening strategies during the lectures and should practice effective listening in a silent, non-disturbing manner (Emiroğlu, 2013: 275). Aim of the Research This research reveals the general behaviours of students with poor listening skills or who do not listen to the lectures from the perspective of the teachers. Importance of the Research The research is important from the perspective of identifying the general behaviours of students with poor listening skills or who do not listen to the lectures, the classification of these and devising appropriate solutions. Method of the Research This is a qualitative research. In the analysis of the data obtained from the research, content analysis technic was used. Content analysis refers to a systematic, iterative technic in which a script is summarized in smaller categories of its words via codes based on certain rules (Büyüköztürk, 2012: 240). Data Collection and Analysis The participants of the research are teachers that are working in the city of Konya in Turkey, in primary schools, middle schools, high schools and universities in different branches. Opinions of 53 teachers from 14 different schools (Minik İstikballer, Elele, Okyanus and Tıfıl Daycares and Selçuklu Primary School, Vali Necati Çetinkaya Middle School, Şehit Sadık Primary School, Cengiz Topel Primary and High School, Abdullah Aymaz Primary and High School, A. Hazım Uluşahin Religious Vocational High School, Muhittin Güzel Kılınç Anatolian High School, Özel Merve Güventaş Anatolian and Science High School, Konya High School and Mevlana University) were used during the research. The participating teachers were asked the open-ended question -166-

173 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1 April, 2014 From which reactions do you detect students with poor listening skills or who do not listen to the lectures? to obtain the opinions of them towards the reactions of students in the classroom setting during lectures. Experts in the field stated that in their opinions, this open-ended question is appropriate for the purpose of the research. The responses from 53 teachers provided the data of the research. These obtained data were analyzed using the content analysis technic. Certain codes were identified via the content analysis and these codes were aggregated via themes. Furthermore, to support these themes, the opinions stated by the teachers were included as well. These opinions were stated as codes as well (T.1: Teacher 1). During the analysis process, field experts were consulted to review whether the categories and teacher responses were stated correctly or not. The experts were asked whether the titles, sub-titles are suitable or not, and the agreed upon points were included in the analysis process, and the disputed points were excluded from said process. The field experts generally stated similar views and corrections were made in line with the suggestions from the experts. Participants A total of 53 teachers participated in the research, with 12 lecturing in the university, 14 in high schools, 17 in middle schools, 5 in primary schools and 5 in preschools. The branches of the teachers and the academicians are provided separately from each other. The distribution of the participants with respect to gender, branches and level of academic are presented in the table below. Table 1. Distribution of the participants with respect to gender, branches and level of academic Branches Level of Gender Total Academic Female Male (f) Pre-school teacher Pre-school 5 University 1 6 Primary school teacher Primary School Turkish/Turkish literature teacher Middle 8 8 School High School University 1 3 History teacher High School Mathematics teacher High School 1 University 1 2 Visual arts teacher High School 1 1 Philosophy teacher High School 2 2 Guidance and psychological Middle 1 counselling teacher School 3 High School 1 University 1 Nutrition and dietician teacher University 1 1 Education sciences teacher University Biology teacher High School

174 General Behaviours of Students with Poor Listening Skills S. Emiroglu Geography teacher High School 1 1 Computer Sciences teacher University 2 2 Total (f) Total % % 51 % When Table 1. is reviewed, 27 of the participating 53 teachers is female while 26 are male. 51% of the participants are female, while 49% are male. It can be seen that the percentage of female and male teachers are very close to each other. Findings In this section, the opinions of the participating teachers on the open-ended question From which reactions do you detect students with poor listening skills or who do not listen to the lectures? were handled. The findings are presented with the themes created based on the teacher opinions and sample teacher opinions that support these themes. The frequency and percentage for teacher opinions for each theme is presented as well. All of the teachers presented multiple opinions. It was observed that teacher suggestions are generally similar, but different opinions were presented based on the level of academic. According to the teacher opinions, behaviours of the students with poor listening skills or who do not listen to the lectures are handled under three main titles which are body language movements, verbal behaviours and material usage. These mentioned behaviours are developed with the explanations that include sample teacher opinions. An effective and productive teaching takes place in an environment with reciprocal actions from both the teacher and the student. In situations where the teacher is the lecturer and the student is the listener, it s the students responsibility to listen. In order to fulfill this responsibility, the student should have a developed listening skill and should be benefiting from listening. But certain students do not show this expected behaviours. The teachers should win back the students that they identify as nonlisteners, should handle their listening issues and should be able to attract the attention of those students who for some reason lost touch with the lecture via different methods and technics. 1. Body Language Movements Students with poor listening skills or who do not listen to the lectures show certain behaviours as they do not productively listen to the lecture. The leading behaviours among these is the body language movements shown in the class environment. Based on teacher opinions, the general behaviours of students with poor listening skills or who do not listen to the lectures will first be explained with body language movements. These body language movements are listed in the table below. Table 2. Teacher opinions, frequencies and percentages regarding body language movements Body Language Movements (f) % Student watching outside 13 % 8 Putting the head on desk, dozing off or sleeping 20 %12 Trying to listen to the lecture with the head on his hand 5 % 3 Constant shaking of the legs or feet 4 %

175 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1 April, 2014 Looking with empty, expressionless or distracted eyes 11 % 6 No eye contact with the teacher, avoiding the eyes 8 % 5 Not giving any sign of agreement with his head or any other part of the body 8 % 5 Constant movement in the spot, trying to get up 10 % 6 Not facing the teacher, turning his back or side 15 % 9 Constant bowing of the head or throwing the head backwards 5 % 3 Hiding behind the classmate in front of him 2 % 1 Grimacing 1 % 1 Constantly sitting in a cross-armed position 2 % 1 Very frequent or rare usage of gestures and mimics 6 % 3 Showing unexpected moves such as surprise, sorrow 2 % 1 Constant playing with the hair 3 % 2 Acting like he s sick 3 % 2 Too much playing with the hands, fingers and cracking of the fingers 2 % 1 Constant playing with the nails 3 % 2 Showing delayed reactions 2 % 1 Sitting in the back of the class or withdrawing to the corners 9 % 5 Easily being distracted by the stimulants (sounds, lights, movement, color and shapes) in the environment 5 % 3 Paying attention to the clothes of the lecturer 2 % 1 Too much scratching or petting of certain parts of the body (Nose, ears, forehead, cheeks, neck, elbow, arm, chest, legs etc.) 7 % 4 in a manner that attracts attention Frequent yawning 14 % 8 Frequent stretching 2 % 1 Frequently going up to the trash bin to dispose things 3 % 2 Knocking of the fingers on the desk, table etc. in a manner that attracts attention 5 % 3 Total 172 % 100 When Table 2. is observed, a total of 172 opinions were stated by the teachers regarding how they understand via body language movements that when there are students with poor listening skills or who do not listen to the lectures. The percentage values of these opinions are presented on the right hand side of the table. When the opinions are classified within themselves, the body language movements that are on top 5 are as follow: The students: 1. Putting their heads on desk, dozing off or sleeping (%12) 2. Not facing the teacher, turning their backs or sides (% 9) 3. Frequently yawning (% 8) 4. Watching outside (% 8) 5. Looking with empty, expressionless or distracted eyes (% 6) Some of the opinions of the teachers under this title are listed below: T. 13: When a student is not facing the teacher, I understand that they are not listening to my lecture. T. 6: Students with poor listening skills listen to the teacher with empty eyes

176 General Behaviours of Students with Poor Listening Skills S. Emiroglu T. 45: The slightest movement in the classroom distracts the attention of students who cannot listen effectively. T. 37: They can be tired or there may be other reasons, but yawning shows that the student does not listen to the lecture. T. 50: Students with poor listening skills knock their fingers on the desks and tables. 2. Verbal Behaviours Another important indicator that students listen to their teachers and the lecture is their verbal reactions. The teacher can assess the feedback from the student to speculate on whether he is listening or not. Again, the verbal reactions of the students between themselves or within themselves show whether they are listening or not. The research deals with verbal behaviours as the second top title. Based on teacher opinions, the general behaviours of students with poor listening skills or who do not listen to the lectures will first be explained with verbal behaviours. These verbal behaviours are listed in the table below. Table 3. Teacher opinions, frequencies and percentages regarding verbal behaviours Verbal Behaviours (f) % Not asking questions on parts that are not understood 3 % 2 Whispering and talking with the classmates around 38 % 29 Providing general answers to asked questions, failing to provide the desired answer 24 % 19 Unnecessary or extreme jokes, using humor on most of what is being said 9 % 7 Giving exaggerated approval expressions (wow! really! I am really surprised! etc.) 4 % 3 Saying things like Argh, enough, let it end, can t listen anymore 28 % 22 Asking questions to the teacher or classmates such as the time, when it will end, when is the break 10 % 8 Responding to questions in a dull tone 4 % 3 Frequently asking for permission to go outside for various reasons (toilet break, telephone call etc.) 3 % 3 Making comments or evaluations on the words chosen by the teacher or by the physical appearance of the teacher rather than the content of the 6 % 5 lecture Total 129 % 100 When Table 3. is observed, a total of 129 opinions were stated by the teachers regarding how they understand via verbal behaviours that when there are students with poor listening skills or who do not listen to the lectures. The percentage values of these opinions are presented on the right hand side of the table. When the opinions are classified within themselves, the verbal behaviours that are on top 5 are as follow: The students: 1. Whispering and talking with the classmates around (% 29) 2. Saying things like Argh, enough, let it end, can t listen any more (% 22) -170-

177 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1 April, Providing general answers to asked questions, failing to provide the desired answer (% 19) 4. Asking questions to the teacher or classmates such as the time, when it will end, when is the break (% 8) 5. Unnecessary or extreme jokes, using humour on most of what is being said (% 7) Some of the opinions of the teachers under this title are listed below: T. 18: Students with poor listening skills constantly whisper to their nearby classmates during the lectures. T. 2: Students asking for the time during lectures show that they are not listening well. T. 25: Students that make various sounds and show their boredom through certain sounds without their control have poor listening skills. T. 51: Students that makes a joke of what is being said right away are not listening to the lecture very well. T. 33: I know that when a student provides a distant and unnecessary answer to a question I ask during my lecture, he is not listening to my lecture. 3. Material Usage While listening to the lectures, the students can also use certain materials. Notepads, books, pens, tablet PCs, computers, paper, pictures, banners etc. can help them listen more effectively, yet they may also prevent obtaining the due productivity because of these tools and materials. The students need to be careful at this point, and prevent the materials at hand from negatively affecting their listening to the lecture. In this research, the third top title was chosen as material usage. The research deals with verbal behaviours as the second top title. Based on teacher opinions, the general behaviours of students with poor listening skills or who do not listen to the lectures will first be explained with material usage. These material usages are listed in the table below. Table 4. Teacher opinions, frequencies and percentages regarding material usage Material Usage (f) % Not taking notes, not writing down the important points 16 % 20 Doodling stuff that are not associated with the lecture, drawing pictures % or shapes Getting busy with technological tools (cellphones, computers, tablet PCs etc.) in a manner that is not relevant with the lecture 24 % 29 Reading books or publications that are not relevant with the lecture 9 % 11 Playing with watches, pencils, books, papers, accessories, personal % 11 9 properties, clothes etc. Exchanging letters with the classmates during the lecture 3 % 4 Total 82 % 100 When Table 4. is observed, a total of 82 opinions were stated by the teachers regarding how they understand via material usage that when there are students with poor listening skills or who do not listen to the lectures. The percentage values of these opinions are presented on the right hand side of the table. When the opinions are classified within themselves, the material usages that are on top 5 are as follow: The students: -171-

178 General Behaviours of Students with Poor Listening Skills S. Emiroglu 1. Getting busy with technological tools (cell phones, computers, tablet PCs etc.) in a manner that is not relevant with the lecture (% 29) 2. Doodling stuff that are not associated with the lecture, drawing pictures or shapes (% 26) 3. Not taking notes, not writing down the important points (% 20) 4. Reading books or publications which are not relevant with the lecture (% 11) 5. Playing with watches, pencils, books, papers, accessories, personal properties, clothes etc. (% 11) Some of the opinions of the teachers under this title are listed below: T. 46: Students who are not taking notes cannot accomplish efficient listening. T. 7: A student who checks his watch and constantly looks at the time clearly does not listen to the lecture well. T. 28: While students with poor listening skills are taking notes, they draw pictures or shapes that are not relevant with the lecture and are swayed off. T. 20: Students who use the computers and the Internet to check out things not relevant with the lecture instead of reaching relevant information are those who do not listen to the lecture very well. T. 36: Books of other classes or popular books are not read during the lectures. Students acting so fail to listen to the lecture well. When the opinions provided by the teachers regarding the general behaviours of students with poor listening skills or who do not listen to the lectures are reviewed in general, the table provided below appears: Table 5. The opinions of the participants in general, their frequencies and percentages Opinions Total (f) % Body language movements 172 % 45 Verbal behaviours 129 % 34 Material usages 82 % 21 Total 383 % 100 When Table 5. is observed, a total of 383 teacher opinions can be seen. 45% of these are about body language movements, 34% are about verbal behaviours and 21% are about material usage. It is being understood that the general behaviours of students with poor listening skills or who do not listen to the lectures dominantly emerge as body language movements. Conclusion, Discussion and Suggestions In this research where 53 teachers from different levels of the academic, schools and branches stated their opinions regarding the general behaviours of students with poor listening skills or who do not listen to the lectures, and these opinions were categorized under certain titles. It was observed that all of the participants declared multiple opinions. This introduced a width to the research. 53 teachers stated a total of 383 opinions. The research was not affected by the gender factor, and the categorized behaviours were supported by sample teacher opinions. In line with the teachers opinions, the general behaviours of students with poor listening skills or who do not listen to the lectures were separated into three categories

179 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1 April, 2014 These are body language movements, verbal behaviours and material usage. Within these behaviours, body language movements were observed to be the dominant behaviours. A total of 172 opinions under the body language movements title were consolidated under 28 lines. Following body language movements, the second title that showed lack of listening to the lecture by students was determined to be verbal behaviours. 129 opinions were consolidated under 10 lines under this title. Last title is the material usage of students during lectures. 82 total opinions were consolidated under 6 lines here. Under the body language movements title, putting their heads on desk, dozing off or sleeping, not facing the teacher, turning their backs or sides, frequently yawning, watching outside, looking with empty, expressionless or distracted eyes emerged as dominant behaviours. Most of the teachers agree that these behaviours are observed often. Usually the body movements of the students reveal that their listening skills are not developed or they are not listening to the lecture. Body language also has more of an effect than voice and words in inter-personal relations, and it is also a very important measure that reflects the degree of success in listening. Someone can speculate whether a person is an effective listener or not by observing the body language movements of that person. A listener that constantly moves at his place, who fails to establish eye contact, cannot sit upright, shows defensive movements, that fails to show positive and lively body reactions, that channels his attention to himself or the body or accessories of the talking person instead of the talk itself is clearly not a good listener. Therefore, primarily, in order to understand whether the students listen to the lecture or not, their body reactions and the behaviours shown via body language should be observed. Under the verbal behaviours, whispering and talking with the classmates around, saying things like Argh, enough, let it end, can t listen any more, providing general answers to asked questions, failing to provide the desired answer, asking questions to the teacher or classmates such as the time, when it will end, when is the break, unnecessary or extreme jokes, using humor on most of what is being said emerge as the dominant behaviours. Most of the participating teachers stated that these are pretty common among students. Although not as much as the body language movements, verbal behaviours reveal whether students listen to the lecture or not as well. The questions directed by the teacher to students or vice versa, talking among the students, the sounds they make, their dialogues, comments, the toning and intonation in the voice of the students are measures that reveal whether their listening skills are developed or whether the lecture is being listened to or not. The teacher should carefully analyze the responses reflecting from the students, should identify the students with poor listening skills or who do not listen to the lectures and do his/her best to earn them into the lecture. Under the material usage, getting busy with technological tools (cell phones, computers, tablet PCs etc.) in a manner that is not relevant with the lecture, doodling stuff that are not associated with the lecture, drawing pictures or shapes, not taking notes, not writing down the important points, reading books or publications that are not relevant with the lecture and playing with watches, pencils, books, papers, accessories, personal properties, clothes etc. emerge as the dominant behaviours. The teachers state that these are among the behaviours of students with poor listening skills or who do not listen to the lectures

180 General Behaviours of Students with Poor Listening Skills S. Emiroglu Such as body language movements and verbal behaviours, another measure that reveal whether the students listening skills are developed or whether the lecture is being listened to or not is the material usage of the student during the lecture. The student should not let the materials used prevent him from listening to the lecture. The student should take notes appropriately and should prevent the materials around from distracting him. He should know that electronic devices are tools as well, just like pencils, books and notebooks, and should use these materials accordingly in a manner that will positively affect the listening. From this perspective, material usage is important and teachers should pay attention to these. A student who does not listen will not just keep himself but others around him from benefiting from the lecture. Therefore, the students showing these behaviours should be attracted back into the flow of the lecture accordingly, and negative behaviours should be driven away. Otherwise, moving forth from the fact that these behaviours are contagious, the other students in the classroom will be affected by these students who fail to listen sufficiently or not listen at all. For example, a student who frequently yawns may negatively affect other students who want to listen to the lecture with this infectious behaviours and may cause them to yawn and distract them from the lecture. From this perspective, the teacher should be careful, and the moment he/she understands that a student is drifting away from listening to the lecture, make due interventions to invigorate the students. These interventions may range in a wide variety of actions, from calling out to the student with his name to changing how the lecture is being taught. There are many factors that affect listening. One of them is age. In accordance with the age of the individual, the listening time and quality increase. The research done show that listening problems become less frequent from the university to all the way back to pre-school. Yet, listening problems differentiated as well as decreasing. For example, behaviours such as frequently asking for permission to go outside for various reasons (toilet break, telephone call etc.), frequently going up to the trash bin to dispose things, watching outside, constant movement in the spot, trying to get up, exchanging letters with classmates during the lecture that are observed in pre-school and primary school students change into behaviours such as looking with empty, expressionless or distracted eyes, sitting in the back of the class or withdrawing to the corners, making comments or evaluations on the words chosen by the teacher or by the physical appearance of the teacher rather than the content of the lecture, not taking notes, not writing down the important points during the high school and university years. From this perspective, an outcome showing that the behaviours of the students who fail to listen to the lecture change with respect to the level of academic. It is thought that the students know how to listen, and they are not provided with any education or guidance on this subject. The findings of this research show which student behaviours reflect that the students are not listening to the lecture or when they have undeveloped listening skills. These findings should be considered in assisting the students and to decrease the negative behaviours of the students that have issues in listening. When the teacher realizes that listening is not accomplished in the classroom, he/she can allocate a certain part of the lecture to remove the negative listening behaviours. The general tendency of teachers to face the students who are listening to the lecture while lecturing will work to the advantage of the students with non-developed listening -174-

181 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1 April, 2014 skills or who do not listen to the lecture, and those students will be glad. The interest of the teacher is relevant with the student s interest as well. A teacher whose students do not pay attention to the lecture cannot perform well, cannot provide the lecture in a productive and effective way. In order to overcome the listening problems in the classroom, the listening duration should be increased and the negative listening behaviours should be eliminated. Only through doing these, the class altogether can obtain sufficient productivity from the lectures. As in every other period of time, listening preserves its crucial importance in the age of technology. Effective listening is required especially in the educational environments. It is known that a person learns two thirds of all that is taught in the schools via learning. A teacher who pays attention to the data obtained from the research will be able to take the necessary precautions to ensure that the lectures are listened to in an improved way. References Aksan, D. (1995). Her Yönüyle Dil [Language with Every Aspect]. Ankara: Türk Dil Kurumu Yayınları. Bull, S. L., & Solity, J. E. (1996). Classroom Management: Principles to Practice. London and New York: Routledge. Büyüköztürk, Ş. vd. (2012). Bilimsel Araştırma Yöntemleri (11. Baskı) [Research Methods. (11th edition)]. Ankara: Pegem Akademi Yayıncılık. Çelik, V. (2009). Sınıf Yönetimi [Classroom Management]. Ankara: Nobel Yayınları Dağıtım. Çiftçi, M. (2001). Dinleme Eğitimi ve Dinlemeyi Etkileyen Faktörler [Listening Education and The Factors of Affecting Listening]. Afyon Kocatepe University Journal of Social Sciences, II, (2), Demirel, Ö. ve Şahinel, M. (2006). Türkçe öğretimi [Turkish Teaching]. Ankara: PegemA Yayıncılık. Dökmen, Ü. (2005). İletişim Çatışmaları ve Empati [Communication Conflicts and Empathy]. İstanbul: Sistem Yayıncılık. Emiroğlu, S. (2013). Türkçe Öğretmeni Adaylarının Dinleme Sorunlarına İlişkin Görüşleri [Opinions of the Turkish Teacher Candidates on Issues of Listening]. Adıyaman University International Journal of Social Science, Special Issue on Teaching Turkish, 11, Emmer, E. T., Evertson, C. and Worsham, M. E. (2000). Classroom Management For Secondary Teachers. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Güneş, F. (2007). Türkçe Öğretimi ve Zihinsel Yapılandırma [Teaching Turkish and Cognitive Structuring]. Ankara: Nobel Yayınları. Özbay, M. (2009). Anlama Teknikleri II: Dinleme Eğitimi [Technics for Understanding II: Training for Listening]. Ankara: Öncü Kitap. Taşer S. (2009). Konuşma Eğitimi [Talking Education]. İstanbul: Pegasus Yayınları. Temur, T. (2010). Dinleme Metinlerinden Önce ve Sonra Sorulan Soruların Üniversite Öğrencilerinin Dinleme Beceri Düzeyine Etkisi [Effect of the Questions Prior and After Listening to a Script on the Comprehension Skill Level of University Students]. Ahmet Keleşoğlu Journal of Faculty of Education, 29,

182 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 4(1), pp , 1 April, 2014 Available online at Factors Influencing Assessment Practices among University Academic Staff: A Multiple Regression Analysis Musa Matovu * Institute of education, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Ainol Madziah Zubairi Institute of education, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia This study investigated the factors influencing assessment practices among academic staff in universities, in Uganda. Academic levels, type of the university, specialisation, class size, and assessment-based training were hypothesised as factors influencing the university academic staff s assessment practices. A purely quantitative approach was adopted to collect and analyse data for this study. An Assessment Practice Inventory Modified scale was used to collect data from 321 university academic staff considering their categorisations. Using multiple regression analysis, out of the five predictors included in the model academic levels and assessment-based training were found to be significant predictors of the university academic staff s assessment practices; (F [2, 310] = , p <.001). According to the results revealed in this study, it is recommended that universities should ensure that their academic staff rise in academic levels and also, they should provide them with assessment-based training to improve their competencies and skills in assessing students. Key words: Assessment practices, university academic staff, multiple regression analysis Introduction Assessment is a logical approach of gathering data about students academic progress in order to improve on the student learning and the learning process (Cartwright, et al., 2009; Ewell, 2009; Lindholm, 2009; Marsh, 2007; Scroggins, 2004). Assessments clarify on what students have learnt and also, act as accountability points in the learning process (Alkharusi, 2011, 2012; Koh, 2011; Phamotse et al., 2011). In the process of assessing students, teachers use various approaches to understand what the students have learnt in relation to the curriculum expectations (Harlen, 2005; Timperley, Wilson et al., 2007). Assessments in learning are undertaken on individual students or groups, in form of formative or summative evaluation, or as standardised or informal assessments. In general, assessments provide evidence about the learning outcomes, learning process, individual students, institutions, and programmes to the teachers, students, administrators, and other education stakeholders (Mundia, 2010). There are different types of assessments which have been highlighted in the various studies. The type of assessments include; assessment for learning, assessment of learning, and assessment as learning. Assessment for learning can be equated to formative assessment in learning. Assessment for learning is used to collect information about the learning process and individual students during the learning process for improvement purposes (Black & Wiliam, 1998). Also, assessment for learning helps students to revisit their mistakes, learn from their peers and their past experiences to improve their learning and learning environment (Black, et al., 2004; Boston, 2002; Duncan & Noonan, 2007; Rolheiser & Ross, 2000). In assessment for learning, consecutive assessments are undertaken onto the * Corresponding author: Musa Matovu, [email protected]

183 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 students across the study period of a given course (Nicol & MacFarlane-Dick 2006; Swaffield, 2011). Assessment of learning is equivalent to summative assessment when it is used in the learning process. Assessment of learning is a single shot appraisal that involves examining what the students have learnt and the study programme at the end of a given course(s). Assessment of learning is used to understand whether the students have attained the required knowledge in totality at end the course(s) they have undertaken (Gipps, 1994). Assessment as learning involves students making self-assessment on themselves (McDowell et al., 2011). Students engage in personal evaluation of their learning and also, use the obtained information to improve their learning and academic career. Assessment as learning helps the students to discover their own mistakes and also, learn from their peers in order to improve their learning (Earl, 2003). According to the different studies conducted in assessment and assessment practices, several factors have been mentioned to influence the academic staff s assessment practices (Duncan & Noonan, 2007). The factors which have been highlighted to influence the academic staff s assessment practices in the different studies include academic levels, subject or area of specialisation, class size, type of university, and assessment-based training acquired by the academic staff (Duncan & Noonan, 2007). Literature Review Academic levels According to research that has been conducted in assessment it has been mentioned that academic levels or academic staff qualifications influence their assessment practices (Noordin & Jusoff, 2009). Progressing through academic levels is linked to experience which can influence the assessment practices of the academic staff at the university level. It is mentioned in some studies that academic staff assessment practices can improve if the academic staff have consecutive interactions with assessing students (Sato et al., 2008). The continuous interaction with assessments gives an advantage to the academic staff who have taught for a longer period of time, with more experience, and high academic levels to have good assessment practices (Masole, 2011; Sato et al., 2008). On the other side, other studies have highlighted that academic levels do not influence academic staff s assessment practices (Masole, 2011). This highlights a gap of conclusive research about assessment practices among university academic staff according to their academic levels. Area of Specialisation Efficiency in assessment is influenced by subject area or specialisation of the academic staff (Dunca & Noonan, 2007). According to Dunca and Noonan (2007) subject specialisations have a lot to explain in the assessment practices of the academic staff. On the other hand, Susuwele-Banda (2005) highlighted that academic staff s areas of specialisation did not contribute to the academic staff s assessment practices. In some studies it is highlighted that there are differences in assessment practices of the academic staff according to their different areas of specialisation or qualifications (Adams & Hsu, 1998; Bol et al., 1998; Koloi-Keaikitse, 2012; Stiggins & Conklin, 1992), while others disagree that the differences do not exist (Dunca & Noonan, 2007). The differences in assessment practices among the academic staff have been much highlighted between the academic staff in the specialisations of science and arts subjects (McMillan, 2003; Stiggings & Conklin, 1992). Class Size From the studies done on assessment practices, academic staff s assessment practices have been inclined to the nature of class sizes assessed (Black & Wiliam, 1998; Dunca & Noonan, 2007; Koloi-Keaikitse, 2012; Monk & Haller, 1993; Susuwele-Banda, 2005). Studies done in assessment highlight that the nature of class size influences the way the academic staff assess their students -177-

184 Factors Influencing Assessment Practices M. Matovu & A.M. Zubairi (Gibbs & Simpson, 2004; Masole, 2011). Large class sizes in assessment are viewed as a threat to the quality of assessments on the side of the teacher and might result into misconducts on the side of the students. In the different studies done in assessment, teachers have acknowledged that they assess large classes which makes them assess poorly the students they teach (Masole, 2011). Class size reduction has been mentioned as one of the ways which can improve student assessment and their learning (Graue et al., 2007; Susuwele-Banda, 2005). This is because large class sizes lead to poor use of assessment equipment and materials, giving of general marks to students, lack of concentration by lecturers when assessing, crisis of time on the side of the lecturers, inadequacy of tools and resources, and development of negative attitudes by the lecturers on the side of assessment (Masole, 2011). Classes appropriate for good assessment and performance of students need to be sizable or, small in number for lecturers to adequately handle the assessments (Finn et al., 2003; Jones, 2006; Masole, 2009, 2011). In situations where the classes are too big, they should be reduced to smaller classes which lecturers can handle effectively when assessing students (Bennel & Molwane, 2008; Susuwele- Banda, 2005). This would give lecturers room to attend to students individually during the instruction process and also, to adequately assess and grade their work during the assessment process (McMillan, 2003; Miller et al., 2007). On the other hand, some studies have mentioned that there is a negative relationship between class size and assessment practices (Duncan & Noonan, 2007; Locastro, 2001; Reynolds et al., 2001; Welsh, 1989). The contradicting finding on whether class size influences academic staff s assessment practices or not, highlights lack of grounded studies on the relationship between class size and assessment practices (Locastro, 2001; Reynolds et al., 2001). Assessment-Based Training Effective assessment of students by the academic staff in any learning institution depends on the quality of assessment training attained in assessing students (Zhang & Burry-Stock, 2003). Availing assessment training courses are some of the ways in which institutions can equip their academic staff with the required assessment competencies and skills in assessing students (Duncan & Noonan, 2007; Harlen, 2005; Sato et al., 2008; Tindal & Haladyna, 2002). Empirical studies that have been undertaken in assessment-based training have highlighted that training influences academic staff s assessment practices (Brookhart, 2003; Duncan & Noonan, 2007; Guskey, 2003; Masole, 2009; Phamotse et al., 2011; Stiggins, 2002, 1999; Zhang & Burry-Stock, 2003). Studies have also found that academic staff s possession of good assessment competencies and skills make as the adequate in assessing students (Stiggins, 1999, 2002; Zhang & Burry-Stock, 2003). Giving an opportunity to academic staff to assess students without proper assessment competencies and skills can be equated to academic suicide in a learning environment (Popham, 2004, 2009). This is because during assessment academic staff undertake critical academic decisions on students and the study programme without the required expertise. In a general analysis of studies done in assessment, it has been highlighted that most of the academic staff in institutions have inadequate competencies and skills in assessing students (Phamotse et al., 2011; Stiggins, 1999; Zhang & Burry-Stock, 2003). It has been mentioned in research that academic staff with assessment-based training have better assessment practices than those who have not undertaken any assessment-based training (Masole, 2011). Lecturers who lack adequate competencies and skills in assessing students are likely to have poor assessment practices (Howie, 2006; Stiggins, 2002). In studies which have analysed the assessment competencies and skills of academic staff it was discovered that most academic staff in institutions were incompetent in assessing students and also, a few academic staff had undertaken assessment-based training (Alkharusi, 2011, 2012; Masole, 2011; Phamotse et al., 2011; Zhang & Burry-Stock, 2003). In universities where majority academic staff train in their professions assessment-based training is optional to students, while in other universities they do not have such training for both students and their lecturers. In such a situation, this highlights that assessment-based training areis not taken as an important issue in these particular institutions (Phamotse et al., 2011), though it is known that assessments are inevitable in the learning process (Pellegrino et al., 2001). It is of great importance that academic staff be equipped with adequate competencies and skills in -178-

185 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 assessing students, that is, in the way they design, administer, interpret, and apply the results obtained from the assessments (Koloi-Keaikitse, 2012). In the different studies done in assessment education stake holders have advocated for assessment-based training to the academic staff in order to improve their assessment practices. This would improve on the way the academic staff assess students in the classrooms (Guskey, 1994, 2003; Stiggins, 1999, 2001, 2002). Types of University In Uganda there are both public and private universities. All the different types of universities operate under the National Council for Higher Education guidelines, which also controls quality in all aspects the universities undertake including student assessment. Although few, public universities admit larger numbers of students compared to private universities. The classes in most of the courses in public universities are relatively larger in number than those in private universities. According to research, large classes are likely to hinder instructors objectives in meeting students academic needs in the teaching and assessment process (Dunca & Noonan, 2007; Reymond et al., 2001). Public universities have more funds and resources, better infrastructure and facilities as they are funded by government than their counterparts. Also, public universities have bigger libraries, modern lecture theatres, better internet facilities and services, bigger research grants and upgrading opportunities for their academic staff. Mainly, private universities depend on private funds raised from students tuition fees, and sometimes from donor agencies Purpose of the study This study investigated the significant factors influencing assessment practices among academic staff in Ugandan universities. This study has investigated how factors such as academic levels, type of university, specialisation, class size, and assessment-based training influence the assessment practices of the academic staff in universities. Research Question The study was guided by the following research question; Do academic levels, specialisations, type of university, class size, and assessment-based training predict assessment practices among academic staff in Ugandan universities? Methods This highlights the different approaches used to conduct the study of the factors influencing assessment practices among academic staff in universities. This study adopted a purely quantitative study. Sample and Sampling techniques The data analysed in this study was collected from 321 academic staff randomly selected from four universities. The sample of academic staff was selected from two public and two private universities in consideration of their academic levels (Teaching assistants, assistant lecturers, lecturers, associate professors, and professors) and specialisations (Arts, human sciences, sciences, and education). Instrument An Assessment Practice Inventory Modified questionnaire (Matovu & Ainol, 2013) which has 13 demographic questions and 50 items on the likert scale was used to collect the data for the study. The 50 items on the likert scale (1 = not-at-all-skilled, 2 = a-little-skilled, 3 = some-what-skilled, 4 = -179-

186 Factors Influencing Assessment Practices M. Matovu & A.M. Zubairi skilled, 5 = highly-skilled) collected information about the academic staff assessment practices while the 13 demographic questions identified the academic staff and also, acted as the predictor variables in the study. According to the results of the Cronbach s alpha coefficients the reliability of the Assessment Practice Inventory Modified was.967, which indicated that it was an excellent instrument in measuring assessment practices among university academic staff (Garson, 1998; Gleim & Gleim, 2003; Tavakol & Dennick, 2011). Data Collection Different research assistants were assigned to collect data from the different universities which were selected randomly from their respective cohorts (Private and public) to participate in the study. The research assistants randomly selected academic staff from the different faculties and departments in the selected universities, and distributed the questionnaires to them by hand. Also, in the selection of the academic staff their academic levels, areas of specialization and the sizes of the classes they teach were put into consideration. Whether academic staff had taken an assessment-based training or not, was not considered in selecting them. This method of selecting participants for the study helped in having a representative sample for all the attributes which were under investigation in this study. Data analysis To analyse the data multiple regression analysis was used to find out the amount of gradient equated to the size of the bivariate correlations between the different predictor variables (Academic levels, type of university, specializations, class size, and assessment-based training) and assessment practices. The step-wise method of multiple regression analysis was employed to determine the predictive power of each individual independent variable in model onto assessment practices. FINDINGS Assumption checks Multiple regression assumption checks were conducted to examine normality, linearity, multicollinearity, outliers, and independence of errors within the data before the main analysis. For normality, the descriptive statistics of both skewness and kurtosis for the items in the data were in a normal range; between -1.0 and Also, the normal probability plot of the regression standardised residual points approximates a positive straight diagonal line from the left to right verifying the assumption of normality for the errors in the model (Baylor et al., 2010) (Figure 1). This suggests that the data was normal due to the absence of major deviations from the normal, with the data requiring no transformation. The histogram in Figure 2 highlights that some variables are not within a perfect normal distribution, but the mean (2.09E-15) for the distribution is very close to zero which confirms the normality of the data

187 Figure 1. Normal Plot (P-P) for the Regression Standardised Residuals Figure 2. Normal Distribution Curve Analysing the scatter plot of the regression standardised residuals, most of the errors are located in the centre of the scatter plot (around 0 point) with the residuals approximating a rectangular distribution. This also suggests that the data was normally distributed (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007) as seen in Figure 3. In the regression scatter plot, the error terms in the plot are relatively constant to highlight that the error variances are constant with predictor (independent) variables (see Figure 3). This concludes that the assumption of homoscedasticity was met, and heteroscedasticity was not an issue of concern in the regression model. Figure 3. Standardised Residuals for the Multiple Regression Data Linearity of the data was determined by examining the relationship between the five predictor variables and assessment practices. The obtained correlation coefficients in the multiple regression model in Table 3 highlight a statistically significant relationships as in model 1 (.469) and model 2 (.480). The probability of the correlation coefficient in model 2 of Table 3 is.043 which is less than the critical level (p <.05). The null hypothesis was rejected to conclude that a linear relationship existed between the variables. The bivariate correlations in the correlation matrix (Table 1) have significant relationships to reflect linearity of the data. This also highlights that there were no great concerns of multicollinearity in the data set. The significant correlation coefficients in the correlation matrix in Table 1 show that assessment practices of the academic staff are significantly correlated with specialisation r =.131 (p <.05, 313), academic levels r =.469 (p <.01, 313), and assessment-based training r =.121 (p <.05, 313). Other statistically significant correlations in the correlation matrix table include academic levels and specialisations r =.144 (p <.05, 313), and assessment-based training with university r =.404 (p <.01, 313). 181

188 Factors Influencing Assessment Practices M. Matovu & A.M. Zubairi Table 1. Correlation Matrix of Five Predictors and Assessment Practices Variables Assessment University Specialisation.131* Academic Levels.469** * Class Size Assessment-based.121*.404** training Note: **p <.01, *p <.05 The outliers in the data were checked using both the univariate and multivariate multiple regression procedures. The scatter plot for the regression standardised residuals (Figure 3) shows that there existed some outliers in the data set. The studentized residuals were used to check the univariate outliers for the dependent variable using the z-scores computed based on the data for all the cases while the multivariate outliers were checked using mahalanobis distance. 8 cases were selected as outliers in the data set. Results According to the descriptive results from the multiple regression analysis universities (M =.313, SD =.4645), area of specialisation (M =.096, SD =.295), academic levels (M =.061, SD =.239), class size (M =.345, SD =.476), and assessment-based training (M =.546, SD =.499) were analysed. The results of ANOVA in Table 2 reveal that the probability of the F statistics (46.331) of the regression relationship for the variables of academic levels and assessment-based training, the p- values was both.000, which is less than the critical level (p <.001). The ANOVA results of multiple regression analysis in Table 2 highlight a statistically significant relationship between the two predictor variables and assessment practices (F [2, 310] = , p <.001). The results rejected the null hypothesis that there is no relationship between the predictor variables and the dependent variable. Table 2. ANOVA Table for Multiple Regressions Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. 1 Regression * a Residual Total Regression * b Residual Total Note: *p <.001, a. Predictors: (Constant), academic levels, b. Predictors: (Constant), academic levels, assessment-based training The multiple regression summary model results in Table 3 show that there are two statistically significant variables when all the predictor variables were analysed in the step-wise regression model. Out of the five factors which were analysed as predictor variables of assessment practices, the two significant variables yielded an R of.480 and R 2 of.230 that were statistically significant at p <.05; (F [2, 310] = 4.122, p =.043) as in Table 3. The combined model that yielded the R 2 of.230 included academic levels and assessment-based training. Three insignificant variables which were excluded from the model include; type of university, specialisation, and class size. The adjusted R 2 of.225 in Table 3 indicates that about 22.5% of the variability in the academic staff s assessment practices is accounted for by the academic levels and assessment-based training. The Durbin-Watson results of are within the required range (1-4) which show that there was no autocorrelation, or, there was independence of errors in the data which was analysed

189 Model Model Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Table 3. Multiple Regressions Summary Model Change Statistics R Std. Error R Adjusted Square of the Durbin- R Square R Square Change Estimate F df1 df2 Sig Watson a * b * Note: *p <.05, a. Predictors: (Constant), academic levels, b. Predictors: (Constant), academic levels, assessment-based training From the results of the regression coefficients the standardized coefficients highlight that the two significant predictive variables in the model, academic levels (.465) have the strongest effect on the dependent variable followed by assessment-based training (.101). The observed standardised beta values or the size of influence indicate that the greatest influence upon the dependent variable was from academic levels (β =.465, p <.001), followed by assessment-based training (β =.101, p <.05) (Table 4). The results of the coefficients for multiple regression show that the two statistically significant predictive variables have a significant contribution to the academic staff s assessment practices. The tolerance revealed in the combined model of academic levels and assessment-based training which were the significant predictors of the assessment practices among university academic staff is.998. The Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) for both academic levels and assessment-based training is (Table 4). There is no tolerance score below.1 and all the VIF scores are beneath 10 which are the relative threshold levels to highlight multicollinearity in the data. Table 4. Regression Coefficients and Results of Significant Tests for the Final Model Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients Collinearity Statistics B Std. Error Beta t Sig. Tolerance VIF 1 (Constant) ** Academic Levels ** (Constant) Academic Levels ** Assessment-based * training Note: *P <.05, **P <.001, R 2 for the final model was.230 According to the results of the regression coefficient in Table 4, the slope associated to academic level is.660 suggesting that the academic staff s rise in academic levels leads to an increase of.660 units in their assessment practices than when they have not risen academically. The slope coefficient for assessment-based training is.069 suggesting that assessment-based training has an associated increase of.069 units in academic staff s assessment practices when academic levels are kept constant. On the other hand, it can also be interpreted that each unit increase in academic levels (β =.660, p =.000) leads to a 66.0% increase in the academic staff s assessment practices. For the beta coefficient of assessment-based training (β =.069, p =.043), every unit increase in assessment-based training yields an increase of 6.9% in the academic staff s assessment practices. It can be drawn from the findings of this study that the academic staff who have high academic levels and have undertaken assessmentbased training have higher assessment practices than those who have not developed academically and taken an assessment-based training. Discussion Five factors were included in the multiple regression models as predictor variables to the assessment practices of the academic staff. Among the included five predictor variables in the model, only two variables were statistically significant; academic levels and assessment-based training. These findings are similar to those which revealed that assessment practices of teachers are predicted by their academic levels and the assessment training they had attained (Khalid et al., 2012; Noordin & Jusoff, -183-

190 Factors Influencing Assessment Practices M. Matovu & A.M. Zubairi 2009). The results of multiple regressions reveal that academic levels contribute more to the academic staff s assessment practices than assessment-based training but, all are significant predictors. These results support the findings of the study which highlighted that the higher the academic qualification, the higher the assessment practices and teaching skills (Susuwele-Banda, 2005). Assessment-based training has also been identified to be a significant predictor of the assessment practices of the university academic staff. This finding supports the findings which highlighted that assessment-based training improves assessment practices of academic staff (Jere, 2000; Stiggins, 1999; Susuwele-Banda, 2005). The training programmes undertaken by the university academic staff would help them to improve their assessment competencies and skills (Harlen, 2005; Zhang & Burry- Stock, 2003). Again, the findings of this study which have found that assessment-based training is a significant predictor of university academic staff assessment practices have supported the finding of Phamotse et al. (2011) and, Zhang and Burry-Stock (2003) who highlighted that academic staff s ability to execute assessment tasks largely depends on their levels of training in undertaking student assessments. It can be noted from the results of this study that assessment-based training undertaken by the academic staff is relevant for their practice, and if not undertaken, it can affect the way they assess students. According to Tindal and Haladyna (2002) they mentioned that academic staff who are lacking adequate assessment skills are not expected to effectively assess the students they teach. If they tend to assess effectively, then, their major aim of assessing concentrates on the learning outcomes rather than improving the learning process (Tindal & Haladyna, 2002). It is concluded that if academic staff lack proper assessment-based training in the various assessment components such as designing, administering, interpreting, and applying the results got from the assessments they are expected to have poor assessment practices (Kanjee & Sayed, 2008; Masole, 2011). Some of the hypothesised predictor variables of the academic staff s assessment practices were found to be insignificant such as the type of university, class size, and specialisations. These findings also support findings of other studies which revealed that class size had no significant effect on the teachers assessment practices (Duncan & Noonan, 2007). Though this is the finding of the study, generally smaller class sizes have been preferably mentioned to be better than larger classes in number when teaching and assessing students (ATA, 2003; Black & Wiliam, 1998; Susuwele-Banda, 2005). Also, the finding of this study contradict with findings of Koloi-Keaikitse (2012) who articulated that there are differences in the assessment practices of academic staff according to their class size and subject area or, specialisation. These results might be different from those of this study because the study was conducted in schools while the current study has been done on academic staff in universities. Recommendations and conclusion From the findings of this study it can be recommended that universities should provide assessment-based training to their academic staff to ensure that they have proper assessment practices to assess their students as effectively (Duncan & Noonan, 2007; Harlen, 2005; Masole, 2009, 2011 Mertler, 1998). This is because studies have mentioned that most of the academic staff in institutions have inadequate competencies and skills in assessing students (Brookhart, 2003; Duncan & Noonan, 2007; Guskey, 2003; Howie, 2006; Masole, 2011; Mertler, 2003; Stiggins, 2002, 1999; Stockking et al., 2004; Vandeyar & Killen, 2007; Zhang & Burry-stock, 2003). Academic staff who undertook assessment-based training at their degree or diploma levels, the courses they attained focused on large scale assessment which might not necessarily apply in universities (Gullickson, 1986; Stiggins & Bridgeford, 1985). Assessment-based training programmes would help these academic staff to strengthen their competencies and skills in designing and using rubrics, become better in planning and constructing tests, improve on their grading expertise, be able to standardise tests, and to interpret assessment results appropriately. This would also help the students to enjoy fair assessments as they would be assessed adequately by the academic staff (Alkharusi, 2011, 2012; Koloi-Keaikitse, 2012). It can be concluded that universities ought to support their academic staff to rise in their academic levels and also, avail them with assessment-based training programmes. This is because academic levels and -184-

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195 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 4(1), pp , 1 April, 2014 Available online at Exploring Internet Addiction, Academic Procrastination and General Procrastination among Pre-Service ICT Teachers Ahmet Murat Uzun * Computer Education and Instructional Technology, Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey Erhan Unal Computer Education and Instructional Technology, Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey Saniye Tugba Tokel Computer Education and Instructional Technology, Middle East Technical University, Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Key words: Pre-service ICT teachers, academic procrastination, general procrastination, internet addiction Introduction Ankara, Turkey Internet addiction is regarded to be as a psychological issue with potential sociological effects. Considering this reality in mind, the purpose of this research is to investigate the existence of internet addiction among pre-service ICT teachers. The study also aimed at examining relationships among academic procrastination, general procrastination and internet addiction. Internet Addiction Test (IAT), General or Life Routine Procrastination Scale (GP) and Academic Procrastination (AP) Scale were used as data gathering tools. Adopting survey model, 194 pre service ICT teachers, studying at one of the public universities in Turkey, participated to the study. The results indicated that (1) internet addiction existed among pre-service ICT teachers; (2) there were significant relationships among the variables of academic procrastination, general procrastination and internet addiction, and finally (3) general procrastination was found to be a better predictor than academic procrastination in predicting internet addiction. The findings of the study were discussed in the lights of the literature on internet addiction, general procrastination and academic procrastination. Recently a survey on Information and Communication Technology Usage indicated that computer and internet use on households and individuals increased dramatically in Turkey. By 2013, the proportion of regular internet usage among individuals aged between 16 and 74 was found to be 39.5 % (Turkstat, 2013). Likewise, in USA, a recent survey on internet use revealed that 86 % of American adult users use internet actively. Based on the CEIT Department, Faculty of Education, Afyon Kocatepe University, 03200, Afyonkarahisar /Turkey, Phone Number: , [email protected]

196 Exploring Internet Addiction, Academic Procrastination A.M.Uzun, E. Unal & S.T. Tokel 2011 survey, 74 % of the internet users go online for no specific purpose, just for having fun or killing time (Pew Internet, 2013). Such high adoption rates could be attributed to the new possibilities provided by the internet which has the potential to get, create and distribute knowledge easily. To an extent, it is obvious that internet has many benefits for the students. On the other hand, the internet might have also detrimental effects on students if it is not used properly (Yang & Tung, 2007; Odaci, 2011). In this sense, Davis (2001) made a distinction between the terms of healthy and unhealthy internet use. Healthy internet use refers to using internet for a specific purpose and a reasonable period of time. Contrary to this, unhealthy internet use refers to spending abnormal amounts of time in a pathological way in the internet with having no specific purposes. This kind of internet use is regarded to be as a psychological issue with potential sociological effects. For example, people who overuse the internet believe that internet is the only place where they feel themselves in a state of wellbeing. In addition, these people are preoccupied with internet while they are offline, expect more online time and spend excessive amount of money for internet related activities (Davis, 2001). Many people find themselves on the internet as surfing while they should be working or studying on a specific task (Lavoie & Pychyl, 2001). These people put off their work or academic related responsibilities and spend excessive amount of time on the internet (Davis, 2001). This kind of behavior was regarded as modern type of procrastination mediated by the internet in most of the research (Lavoie & Pychyl, 2001; Davis, 2001; Thatcher, Wretschko & Fridjhon, 2008). Studies showed that both internet addiction and procrastination are so common among college students (Solomon & Rothblum, 1984; Lay, 1986 ; Yang & Tung, 2007, Tice & Baumeister, 1997; Kandell, 1998). However there are not many studies focusing on the internet addiction and its relation to procrastination among college students who belong to Information and Communication Technology related departments. Using computer related technologies more than the others; such departments may be more vulnerable to internet addiction and procrastination. Given this situation, the purpose of this research study is to examine pre-service ICT teachers internet addiction levels and its relation to two procrastination measures which are defined as academic procrastination and general procrastination. Literature review Internet Addiction The term internet addiction has been described in the literature with a variety of terms such as pathological internet use (Davis, 2001), problematic internet use (Caplan, 2010) and internet addiction (Young, 1998). For the current study, the term internet addiction was used which was regarded as the most popular one (Byun et al., 2009). Also in the literature no standard definition was provided for internet addiction. However there is a consensus among the researchers that the phenomenon exists (Chou, Condron & Belland, 2005). According to Kandell (1998), internet addiction is a psychological dependence on the internet, regardless of the type of activity once logged on (p. 12). In addition to this view, one school of thought asserted that it is also important to consider the activities performed on internet as well as the amount of the time spent on the internet (Davis, 2001; Caplan, 2010). As Griffiths (1998) stated, excessive use of the Internet may not be problematic in most cases but the limited case study evidence suggests that for some individuals, excessive Internet use is a real addiction and of genuine concern (p. 73). Stern (1999) stated that although technology increases our capacity and makes life easier, -190-

197 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 excessive and abuse of it may influence our life negatively. The literature showed that negative outcomes of the internet were discussed widely (Thatcher et al., 2008; Caplan, 2010; Young, 1996). In a review research article on internet addiction Chou et al. (2005) examined frequent problems caused by internet addiction and found that most of heavy internet users suffered from poor time management skills while using the internet. Distractors of the internet environment, deficient self-regulation mechanisms and poor time management skills may cause individuals to use internet as a way to postpone their responsibilities (Lavoie & Pychyl, 2001; Davis, 2001). Procrastination The literature provides various definitions of procrastination all of which includes delay or postpone of a task or a goal (Ferrari, Johnson & McCown, 1995; Lay, 1986). Generally Lay defined procrastination as putting off of that which is necessary to reach some goal (p. 475). In addition, procrastination has been regarded as the inconsistency between one s intention to act and actual performance of that act (Blunt & Pychyl, 2005). Most of the literature on procrastination research argued that the procrastination is a complex phenomenon that includes emotional, cognitive, and behavioral aspects (Fee & Tangney, 2000). The behavioral tradition asserts that procrastination is a learned behavior. Reinforcement theory of behavioral tradition tries to explain the procrastination within the reward and punishment context. That is, procrastination occurs more in students if they are rewarded by pleasing activities for such behavior (Ferrari et al., 1995). Psychodynamic theory regards procrastination as symptoms of underlying conflicts that exist in subconscious and defense mechanism to avoid from those conflicts (Rückert, 2008). Cognitive-behavioral approaches argued that there are various factors explaining procrastination process. Irrational perfectionism, irrational beliefs, self-criticism, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, learned helplessness and self-control are some of cognitive- behavioral aspects of procrastination discussed in the literature (Ferrari et al., 1995; Çakıcı, 2003). Although various definitions of different types of procrastination could be made, most of the literature on procrastination is grouped under the two major headings, which are situational procrastination and trait procrastination (Ferrari & Scher, 2000). According to situational procrastination, people usually tend to procrastinate in order to avoid tasks that they find unpleasant or too difficult (Ferrari et al., 1995). Situational procrastination occurs dependently on the nature and context of a task and is related with certain parts of one s life. Academic procrastination which is widely discussed in literature is a sub form of situational procrastination (Çakıcı, 2003; Odacı, 2011; Solomon & Rothblum, 1984). Generally, college students tend to perform their academic responsibilities that must be completed within the desired time interval. However, they mostly fail to do so (Ferrari et al., 1995; Lay, 1986; Solomon & Rothblum, 1984). Trait procrastination is defined as people s predispositions to delay or postpone tasks (Milgram, Mey-Tal & Levison, 1998; Çakıcı, 2003). That is, unlike academic procrastination, trait or dispositional procrastination is not related with characteristics of the situation or the task. Instead, trait procrastination occurs depending on the personality traits of the individuals who continuously and chronically procrastinate (Ferrari et al., 1995). General or life routine procrastination is regarded to be a sub dimension of trait procrastination which is defined as experienced difficulty in scheduling when to do the many recurring life routines and in doing them on schedule (Milgram et al., 1998, p.276). In the literature, procrastination is more viewed as a generalized personality trait rather than being situational (Milgram et al, 1998). For instance, Ferrari and Scher (2000) found that students suffered more frequently from general or life routine procrastination than academic procrastination. Furthermore, in the -191-

198 Exploring Internet Addiction, Academic Procrastination A.M.Uzun, E. Unal & S.T. Tokel literature, some of the researchers (Atkinson, Atkinson, Smith & Bem, 1990) argued that both personality traits and situational factors may have roles in explaining procrastination. Overall, it may be concluded from the literature that both academic and general procrastination may have deleterious effects on one s intra- and inter-personal functioning (Milgram et al., 1998; Ferrari et al., 1995). Purpose of the study Procrastination is thought to be associated with academic failure and health problems among college students (Tice & Baumeister, 1997). Dysfunctional use of internet is also regarded as a cause of physical, psychological and other problems which draw college students attention away from their studies (Yang & Tung, 2007). Bearing this fact in mind, it is hypothesized that procrastination could be linked with internet addiction. The literature provides little evidence regarding the relationship between internet addiction and procrastination (Odaci, 2011; Thatcher et al., 2008; Davis, 2001; Lavoie & Pychyl, 2001). Besides, most of the studies were conducted with general college students population. Specifically, this study dealt with the college students who were studying Information and Communication Technology. Those students are using computer related technologies in their everyday lives to carry out their projects. With this in mind, college students who are studying ICT are predicted to be vulnerable to internet addiction and procrastination. For this reason, research is needed to clarify the internet addiction and procrastinating behaviors for such departments. The results of the current study will make a significant contribution to our understandings about the prevalence of internet addiction and procrastination behaviors among pre service ICT teachers which will in turn make possible to diagnose the disease and take necessary precautions to protect students from negative effects of the internet. Considering the literature given above, the aim of the current study is to examine the status of internet addiction and it s relation to academic and general procrastination for pre-service ICT teachers. The following research questions were proposed: What are the internet addiction levels of pre-service ICT teachers with respect to demographics? Do two measures of procrastination (academic procrastination and general procrastination) correlate with internet addiction for pre-service ICT teachers? How well do two measures of procrastination (academic procrastination and general procrastination) predict internet addiction for pre-service ICT teachers? Method Participants The research group consisted of 194 pre-service teachers studying ICT (Computer Education and Instructional Technologies) at one public university located in Turkey. 48% of the group was female and 52% of the group was male. The age of group ranged from 17 to 33. All students reported that they used internet frequently. As can be seen from the Figure 1, of all students, 66 % of the students used internet for more than 5 years, 23 % of the students used it for 3-5 years, 8 % of the students used for 1-3 years and 4 % of the students used internet for less than 1 year

199 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Figure 1 Internet usage experiences of students Furthermore, 15 % of the students reported that they use internet for 4-8 hours, 61 % of the students use internet for 1-4 hours and 24 % of them reported that they use internet for less than 1 hour in a day (see Figure 2). Data gathering tools Figure 2 the amount of daily internet usage Internet Addiction Test (IAT), General or Life Routine Procrastination Scale and Academic Procrastination Scale were used as data gathering tools. A personal information form was also used to collect data regarding demographics. The form consisted of variables such as age, gender, grade level, internet usage experience and daily internet usage. Internet Addiction Test (IAT) Internet Addiction Test was developed by Young (1998) and adapted into Turkish culture by Bayraktar (2001). IAT is a 20-item questionnaire that measures individual s levels of Internet Addiction. Each question was rated on six points likert type items. The items were scored as 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively. Scores obtained from the test vary between 0 and 100. One who gets 39 points and below from the test is interpreted as average online user,

200 Exploring Internet Addiction, Academic Procrastination A.M.Uzun, E. Unal & S.T. Tokel to 69 points as being experienced occasional or frequent problems because of the Internet and one who gets 70 points and above from the test is classified as internet addicts. For the current study, the value of cronbach alpha was found to be.90. General or Life Routine Procrastination Scale (GP) The scale which was developed by Cakici (2003) consisted of 18 items. Each item was rated on five points likert type scale ranging from 1 (totally not true for me) to 5 (totally true for me). Scores obtained from the test vary between 18 and 90. The scale does not have normative cut off scores however, higher scores on the scale show tendency to procrastination. The reliability analysis showed that the scale is quite reliable with cronbach alpha coefficient value of.91. Academic Procrastination Scale (AP) Academic Procrastination Scale was developed by Cakici (2003) to measure the levels of academic procrastination. The scale consisted of 19 questions. Each item was rated on five points likert type scale ranging from 1 (totally not true for me) to 5 (totally true for me). Scores obtained from the test vary between 19 and 95. Higher scores obtained from the scale indicate higher tendency to procrastination. The alpha coefficient value of the scale was.92. Data analysis The data were analyzed by using SPSS 18 (PASW Statistics 18). Descriptive analyses were used in order to reveal internet addiction levels of pre-service ICT teachers. Independent sample t test was conducted to examine mean difference in IAT scores according to gender. One way ANOVA was used to explore mean differences IAT scores according to demographics. Correlation analysis was used to explore relationship between academic procrastination, general procrastination and internet addiction. Finally simultaneous multiple linear regression was used to assess how well two measures (academic procrastination and general procrastination) predict internet addiction for pre-service ICT teachers. Results Internet addiction levels of pre-service ICT teachers with respect to demographics The results of the analysis indicated that Internet Addiction Test Scores (IAT) of preservice ICT teachers ranged from 3 to 84 points with a mean score of M = (SD = 14.25). Based on the Young s (1998) addiction criteria the majority of the pre-service ICT teachers (84%) were classified as average internet users with a mean score of M = (SD = 9.21). That is to say, most of the students may spend a bit too long time on the internet but they have control over their internet usage. Moreover, 14.4% of them were interpreted as potential or possible internet users who are experiencing occasional or frequent problems because of the internet (M = 50, SD =7.02). The remaining part of the group (1.5%) was classified as heavy internet users (internet addicts) who are experiencing significant problems related to overuse of internet (M = 75.33, SD = 7.57). Totally almost 16 % of the group was identified as ones who are internet abusers. To examine gender differences in IAT scores, independent sample t test was conducted. The results indicated that t test was significant t -194-

201 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 (173.23) = 3.67, p =.00. IAT scores of boys (M=31.32, SD= 16.25) were greater than IAT scores of girls (M=24.16, SD= 10.57). One-Way ANOVA was conducted to explore if students IAT scores differed significantly according to grade level, amount of daily time spent online (hours) and internet usage experience (years). The results indicated that IAT scores did not differ significantly with respect to grade level and internet usage experience (years) but differed significantly with respect to amount of daily time spent online as expected, F (2, 191) = 7.37, p =.00. Follow up Post Hoc tests were conducted to examine the pairwise mean difference. The Levene s test was significant (p =.01, p<.05) indicating that variances were not homogenous across groups. Therefore Dunnett s C test was used as a method of pairwise mean comparison (Green & Salkind, 2005). The test indicated that there was a significant mean difference between those who spent less than 1 hour on internet in a day (M=23.34, SD= 14.71) and those who spent more than 4 hours on the internet (M=35.98, SD= 18.37). On the other hand no significant mean difference was observed between those who spent less than 1 hour on internet in a day and those who spent 1 to 4 hours on the internet. Table 1. Descriptive statistics according to demographics N Mean SD Gender Female Male Grade Level Grade Grade Grade Grade Internet Usage Experience Daily Internet Usage Less than 1 Year Years Years More Than 5 Years Less than 1 Hour Hours More than 4 Hours Correlation between academic procrastination, general procrastination and internet addictions scores Pearson s product moment correlation coefficients were computed among academic procrastination (AP), general procrastination (GP) and internet addiction test scores (IAT). The results of the correlation analysis were presented in Table 2. Table 2. Correlations between academic procrastination (AP), general procrastination (GP) and internet addiction test scores (IAT) (N = 194) Variable AP GP IAT AP - GP.60 ** - IAT.39 **.45 ** - *p <.05, **p <

202 Exploring Internet Addiction, Academic Procrastination A.M.Uzun, E. Unal & S.T. Tokel AP = Academic procrastination, GP = General procrastination, IAT = Internet Addiction Test Scores As Table 2 indicated, all correlations are significant at p <.01 level. The strength of the correlation between IAT and AP (r =.39) and IAT and GP (r =.45) were medium (Cohen, 1988, pp. 79). Overall, it could be concluded from the analysis that higher levels of procrastination behaviors (academic and general) are linked with higher levels of Internet Addiction Test Scores. Prediction of internet addiction by academic procrastination and general procrastination Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to examine how well academic procrastination and general procrastination predict internet addiction. Preliminary analysis was conducted to ensure no violation of normality, linearity, homoscedasticity and multicollinearity. Since general procrastination and academic procrastination are similar concepts, the most significant problem in the study was possible multicollinearity in procrastination measures. Generally the unacceptably perfect correlations between two independent variables like value of.90 or greater could be interpreted as the signal of the multicollinearity. Also the tolerance value should be greater than.20 and VIF value should be lower than 5 in order not to violate multicollinearity assumption (Field, 2009). The coefficient table indicated that Tolerance and VIF values are.64 and 1.56 respectively which was interpreted as multicollinearity problem did not exist. After preliminary analysis, simultaneous multiple regression analysis were performed. The results of the multiple linear regression analysis were shown in Table 3. Table 3. Regression Analysis Summary for Procrastination Variables Predicting Pre-service ICT Teacher s Internet Addiction Variable B SE B β t r s (r s ) 2 Academic procrastination (AP) * General procrastination (GP) * R 2 =.22 (N = 194) Note. *p <.05. The analysis showed that the regression model significantly explained the relationship between ICT Teacher s Internet Addiction Test Scores (IAT) and the linear combination of the Academic Procrastination (AP) and General Procrastination (GP), R 2 =.22, F(2, 191) = 27.36, p <.001. Moreover, approximately 22 % of variance in Internet Addiction Test Scores (IAT) can be accounted for by Academic Procrastination (AP) and General Procrastination (GP). Although both Academic Procrastination (AP) and General Procrastination (GP) significantly contributed to the prediction of Internet Addiction (IAT), General Procrastination (GP) received stronger beta weight than Academic Procrastination (AP). That is, General Procrastination (GP) is a better predictor than Academic Procrastination (AP) in predicting Internet Addiction Scores (IAT). The unique variance explained by Academic Procrastination and General Procrastination indexed by the squared structure coefficients were quite low accounting for 2% and 7% of the total variance respectively

203 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Discussion The current study aimed at examining internet addiction levels of pre-service ICT teachers. The study also focused on pre-service ICT teachers procrastinatory behaviors (academic and general) and their relation to internet addiction. The findings of the study were that (1) internet addiction existed among pre-service ICT teachers; (2) there were significant correlations between academic procrastination and internet addiction and also were significant correlations between general procrastination and internet addiction; (3) academic procrastination and general procrastination explained a significant amount of variance in preservice ICT teachers internet addiction scores. Internet addiction levels of pre-service ICT teachers The first aim of the study was to explore the status of internet addiction among preservice ICT teachers. Results indicated that internet addiction exists among pre-service ICT teachers. Over %14 of them identified themselves as possible internet users who have occasional or frequent problems associated with their internet usage. On the other hand, 1.5% of the group was found to be heavy internet users who have serious internet related problems in their lives. Totally, almost 16 % of pre-service ICT teachers seemed to have some problems related to their internet usage. The percentage of internet addicted users is relatively low compared to other studies in the literature (Morahan-Martin & Schemacher, 2000; Ghassemzadeh, Shahraray & Moradi, 2008). This is maybe due to the fact that different instruments, samples, context and culture were used in those studies. In addition, since the current study had a small sample size, it was not surprising to encounter such a low ratio. For example, in a recent study, Adiele and Olatokun (2014) found that the prevalence of heavy internet users was 3.3 % among 1022 university adolescents. No matter what the sample size and the ratio were, it was found that internet addiction existed and was an issue of concern. Thus, the results of the study could be seen as remarkable and should be taken into consideration. In the current study, it was not surprising to find that males seemed to be at a higher risk of internet addiction than females. This finding was also supported by previous studies on internet addiction conducted around world (Chou & Hsiao, 2000; Griffiths, 1998; Scherer, 1997; Morahan-Martin & Schumacker, 2000; Ceyhan, 2008). Internet addiction levels of pre-service ICT teachers were examined based on their grade level. Before analysis, according to developmental theory, it was assumed that first grade students might be more vulnerable to pathological internet use because of having more leisure times than the other grades (DiNicola, 2004). However the study found no significant differences in internet addiction scores according to grade levels. Having found similar results, DiNicola (2004) argues that internet addiction is much more complex phenomenon than comparison of grade levels can provide. In the current study, experience on internet usage was not found to be linked with internet addiction. On the other hand the amount of daily internet usage (hours) was a significant factor explaining internet addiction among pre- service ICT teachers. This finding is consisted with previous research on internet addiction and daily time spent online (Caplan, 2005; Davis, 2001). In short, the study suggested that regardless of experience on internet usage, higher levels of daily time spent online associated with higher levels of internet addiction for preservice ICT teachers

204 Exploring Internet Addiction, Academic Procrastination A.M.Uzun, E. Unal & S.T. Tokel Correlation between academic procrastination, general procrastination and internet addictions scores The second aim of the study was to explore relationships between two measures of procrastination (academic procrastination and general procrastination) and internet addiction scores. The findings showed that there was a positive correlation between academic procrastination and internet addiction meaning that pre-service ICT teachers who procrastinate in their academic life also tend to use internet in a pathological manner. Although limited studies addressing academic procrastination have found no significant correlation between academic procrastination and internet addiction (Odacı, 2011), our study found that academic procrastination is significantly linked with internet addiction. Although this is a significant finding, it may also be attributed to the nature of the study group. That is, pre-service ICT teachers are hypothesized to use internet more frequently than the others in their daily lives. The correlation between academic procrastination and internet addiction was also supported by the literature indirectly. For example Scherer (1997) concluded that excessive internet use is problematic when it results in impaired functioning such as compromised grades or failure to fulfil responsibilities (Scherer, 1997, p. 656). Kubey, Lavin, and Barrows (2001) found that academic grades of addicts were significantly lower than those of non-addicts. This study also proved that there was a significant correlation between general procrastination and internet addiction. This finding suggested that ones who delay their life routine responsibilities also tend to be more vulnerable to be internet addicts. The previous research studies were also in the supposed direction. Deficient time management skills may result in students failing to fulfill their daily routine responsibilities which may have an influence on being dependent on the internet (Lin & Tsai, 1999; Chou & Hsiao, 2000). Prediction of internet addiction by academic procrastination and general procrastination The third and last aim of the study was to explore the strength of the academic procrastination and general procrastination in predicting internet addiction. The findings indicated that academic procrastination and general procrastination together significantly predicted the degree of internet addiction among pre-service ICT teachers. In addition general procrastination was found to be a better predictor than academic procrastination. That is, students who perceived themselves as general procrastinators also tend to be more vulnerable to be internet addicts. In literature, two dominant forms of procrastination were discussed including trait and situational procrastination. As stated before, trait or dispositional procrastination is highly related with general or life routine procrastination (Çakıcı, 2003). That is, individuals who habitually procrastinate, delay their daily routine responsibilities. Likewise, academic procrastination is considered as a form of situational procrastination. Situational procrastination assumes that students tend to procrastinate if they find a specific task as unpleasant or too difficult (Ferrari et al., 1995). Our study found that general procrastination which is related to personality traits is a better predictor of internet addiction than academic procrastination which is related to situational or conditional factors. Hence, it may be concluded based on this finding that one s own personality traits may be more important than situational factors in explaining procrastination behaviors which may in turn have a predictive effect on explaining the levels of pre-service ICT teachers internet addiction. There are limited studies in the literature exploring the strength of internet -198-

205 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 prediction by academic procrastination and general procrastination. However, as literature on procrastination research indicated, procrastination is thought to be more related to personality traits than situational factors (Milgram et al., 1998; Ferrari & Scher, 2000) This may be an answer to the question of why general procrastination (personality traits) is a better predictor than academic procrastination (situational procrastination) in predicting the level of internet addiction among pre-service ICT teachers. Conclusion This study adds internet addiction literature by examining the relationship between procrastination behaviors and internet addiction for pre-service ICT teachers. Although, academic procrastination and general procrastination together explained a significant portion of variance in internet addiction, the unique variances explained by each of predictors were small. Nevertheless, considering the limited literature on internet addiction and procrastination behaviors for college students who belong to technology related departments, this study would be beneficial for school administrators to gain an insight about the status of internet addiction and procrastination among pre-service ICT teachers. Based on our understandings about internet addiction and its relation to procrastination, maybe it will be possible to detect the diseases at an early stage and take necessary precautions. The present study has some limitations. First of all, since the study used correlational design, it did not provide causal relationship between procrastination and internet addiction. That is, the results of this study do not imply that procrastination causes internet addiction or vice versa. Further longitudinal studies are needed to explore causality among procrastination measures and internet addiction. Secondly, the generalizability of the results is restricted to the setting where data were gathered. In addition, findings are based on the qualities of selfreported measures used for the study. Further studies may explore causes and consequences of internet addiction and procrastination for pre-service ICT teachers with systematic analysis through in-depth interviews and observations. Thirdly, many different applications (online social networking, online shopping) exist in internet some of which may be hazardous. Therefore as Thatcher et al. (2008) suggested, further studies are needed to explore whether specific internet applications have an influence on internet addiction then the others. References Adiele, I., & Olatokun, W. (2014). Prevalence and determinants of Internet addiction among adolescents. Computers in Human Behavior, 31, Atkinson, R. L., Atkinson, R. C., Smith, E. E., & Bem. (1990). Personality theory and assessment. In introduction to psychology (10th ed.). San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Bayraktar, F. (2001). İnternet kullanımının ergen gelişimindeki rolü [The role of Internet use in adolescent development]. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Ege University, Izmir, Turkey. Blunt, A., & Pychyl, T. A. (2005). Project systems of procrastinators: A personal projectanalytic and action control perspective. Personality and Individual Differences, 38(8), Byun, S., Ruffini, C., Mills, J. E., Douglas, A. C., Niang, M., Stepchenkova, S., Atallah, M. (2009). Internet addiction: metasynthesis of quantitative research. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 12(2),

206 Exploring Internet Addiction, Academic Procrastination A.M.Uzun, E. Unal & S.T. Tokel Caplan, S. E. (2005). A Social skill account of problematic internet use. Journal of Communication, 55(4), Caplan, S. E. (2010). Theory and measurement of generalized problematic Internet use: A two-step approach. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(5), Ceyhan, A. & Aykut. (2008). Predictors of problematic internet use on Turkish university students. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 11(3), Chou, C., Condron, L., & Belland, J. C. (2005). A review of the research on Internet addiction. Educational Psychology Review, 17(4), Chou, C., & Hsiao, M.-C. (2000). Internet addiction, usage, gratification, and pleasure experience: the Taiwan college students case. Computers & Education, 35(1), Cohen, J. W. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Çakıcı, D. Ç. (2003). Lise ve Üniversite Öğrencilerinde Genel Erteleme ve Akademik Erteleme Davranışının İncelenmesi [An Examination of the general procrastination behavior and academic procrastination behavior in high-school and university students]. (Unpublished master s thesis). Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey. Davis, R. A. (2001). A cognitive-behavioral model of pathological Internet use. Computers in Human Behavior, 17(2), DiNicola, M. D. (2004). Pathological Internet Use Among College Students: The Prevalance of Pathological Internet Use and Its Correlates (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Ohio University. Fee, R. L., & Tangney, J. P. (2000). Procrastination: A means of avoiding shame or guilt? Journal of Social Behavior & Personality. Ferrari, J. R. (2000). Procrastination and attention: Factor analysis of attention deficit, boredomness, intelligence, self-esteem, and task delay frequencies. Journal of Social Behavior & Personality. Ferrari, J. R., Johnson, J. L., & McCown, W. G. (1995). Procrastination and task avoidance: Theory, research, and treatment. Springer. Ferrari, J. R., & Scher, S. J. (2000). Toward an understanding of academic and nonacademic tasks procrastinated by students: The use of daily logs. Psychology in the Schools, 37(4), Field, A. (2009). Discovering statistics using SPSS. Sage publications. Ghassemzadeh, L., Shahraray, M., & Moradi, A. (2008). Prevalence of Internet addiction and comparison of Internet addicts and non-addicts in Iranian high schools. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 11(6), Green, S., & Salkind, N. (2005). Using SPSS for Windows and Macintosh: Understanding and analysing data. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Griffiths, M. (1998). Internet addiction: does it really exist? In Gackenbach (Ed.), Psychology and the Internet: Intrapersonal, interpersonal, and transpersonal implications (pp ). San Diego, CA: Academic Press. Griffiths, M. (2000). Internet addiction-time to be taken seriously? Addiction Research & Theory, 8(5), Kandell, J. J. (1998). Internet addiction on campus: The vulnerability of college students. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 1(1), Kubey, R. W., Lavin, M. J., & Barrows, J. R. (2001). Internet use and collegiate academic performance decrements: Early findings. Journal of Communication, 51(2), Lavoie, J. A. A., & Pychyl, T. A. (2001). Cyberslacking and the procrastination superhighway: A web-based survey of online procrastination, attitudes, and emotion. Social Science Computer Review, 19(4),

207 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Lay, C. H. (1986). At last, my research article on procrastination. Journal of Research in Personality, 20(4), Li, H., Wang, J., & Wang, L. (2009). A survey on the generalized problematic Internet use in Chinese college students and its relations to stressful life events and coping style. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 7(2), Lin, S. S., & Tsai, C.-C. (1999). Internet Addiction among High Schoolers in Taiwan. Poster presented at the American Psychology Association (APA) Annual Convention, Boston, USA. Lin, S. S., & Tsai, C.-C. (2002). Sensation seeking and internet dependence of Taiwanese high school adolescents. Computers in Human Behavior, 18(4), Milgram, N. N., Mey-Tal, G., & Levison, Y. (1998). Procrastination, generalized or specific, in college students and their parents. Personality and Individual Differences, 25(2), Morahan-Martin, J., & Schumacher, P. (2000). Incidence and correlates of pathological Internet use among college students. Computers in Human Behavior, 16(1), Odaci, H. (2011). Academic self-efficacy and academic procrastination as predictors of problematic internet use in university students. Computers & Education, 57(1), Pew Internet & American Life Project. (2003). Usage Over Time. Retrieved from Rückert, H.-W. (2008). Procrastination: Loitering with intent will begin later. Retrieved from Scherer, K. (1997). College life online: Healthy and unhealthy Internet use. Journal of College Student Development, 38(6), Solomon, L. J., & Rothblum, E. D. (1984). Academic procrastination: Frequency and cognitive-behavioral correlates. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 31(4), Stern, S. E. (1999). Addiction to technologies: A social psychological perspective of Internet addiction. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 2(5), Thatcher, A., Wretschko, G., & Fridjhon, P. (2008). Online flow experiences, problematic Internet use and Internet procrastination. Including the Special Issue: Internet Empowerment, 24(5), Tice, D. M., & Baumeister, R. F. (1997). Longitudinal study of procrastination, performance, stress, and health: The costs and benefits of dawdling. Psychological Science, TurkStat. (2013). Turkish Statistical Institute Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Usage Survey on Households and Individuals. Retrieved from Yang, S. C., & Tung, C.-J. (2007). Comparison of Internet addicts and non-addicts in Taiwanese high school. Computers in Human Behavior, 23(1), Young, K. S. (1996). Psychology of computer use: XL. Addictive use of the Internet: a case that breaks the stereotype. Psychological Reports, 79(3), Young, K. S. (1998). Caught in the net: How to recognize the signs of internet addiction--and a winning strategy for recovery. John Wiley & Sons

208 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 4(1), pp , 1 April, 2014 Available online at Computer versus Paper-Based Reading: A Case Study in English Language Teaching Context Article history Received: Ekrem Solak * Amasya University, Faculty of Education, Department of English Language Received in revised form: Accepted: Key words: computer versus paper-based reading, prospective English teachers choice of reading format, computer versus paperbased reading in English Language Teaching Context. Introduction Teaching, Amasya, Turkey This research aims to determine the preference of prospective English teachers in performing computer and paper-based reading tasks and to what extent computer and paper-based reading influence their reading speed, accuracy and comprehension. The research was conducted at a State run University, English Language Teaching Department in Turkey. The participants were 96 prospective English teachers, 74 females and 22 males. Two types of data were collected in this research. First, the Questionnaire for Online Reading Comprehension was used to collect data about the participants views on their computer and paper-based reading activities. Second, one experiment was conducted with 14 volunteering subjects to understand their reading speed, accuracy and comprehension in both computer and paperbased reading activity. The results of the research suggested that prospective English teachers preferred paper-based reading to computer version and their performance was higher in paper-based reading than computer. The study also revealed that reading speed on a computer screen was nearly 12% faster than paper-based reading for prospective English teachers. Reading is composed of various activities with several purposes (Lorch et al, In a reading process, text may be read by skimming rapidly, be scanned for a specific piece of information, and be read for comprehension. In addition to how a text is read, the reason why a text is read also contributes greatly to these reading processes (O'Hara, 1996). The use of computer in comparison to paper in a reading process continues to attract research interest. Bolter (1991) considers the computer as the fourth great document medium, next to the papyrus, the medieval codex, and the printed book. Some predict that technological advances in computer technologies, wireless, mobile computing technology, new input techniques, the Web, new hypertext applications, digital libraries, and digital document reading devices will make books out of date. These advances can also alter the relationship between authors and readers. Moreover, they can change our concept of traditional libraries in the form of physical volumes (Selen& Harper, 1996). In spite of these improvements, recent studies prove that paper still continues to be the preferred means for reading activities. [email protected]

209 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 This research aims to determine the preference of prospective English teachers in performing computer and paper-based reading tasks and to what extent computer and paper-based reading influence their reading speed, accuracy and comprehension. In this study, online reading refers to reading text from a computer screen including tablets and e-book readers whether the source is internet or the computer itself. The result of the study is important for prospective English teachers because their choice of reading format highly influences their academic success. What makes this study significant is that computer and paper-based reading are compared in English language teaching context among prospective English teachers in Turkey. Review of Literature Online versus paper-based reading Experimental comparisons of computer- and paper-based tasks date back to the emerge of computers. The majority of early studies comparing the reading of paper versus computer documents focus on outcome measures of reading, such as speed, reading accuracy and comprehension. The results of earlier studies presented below on computer and paperbased reading tasks suggested that paper-based tasks were superior to computer- based tasks in terms of speed, accuracy and comprehension. Dillon (1994) revealed that reading was nearly 20 to 30% slower with regard to performance from a computer screen than a paper. While some studies found minimal differences (Creed et al., 1987; Cushman, 1986; Keenan, 1984), Oborne & Holton (1988), Muter & Maurutto (1991) reported no significant difference between two formats. However, it is noteworthy that computer technology at that time was undeveloped when it is compared with today s contemporary technology. When considering reading accuracy, findings proved that paper prevailed computer. Muter et al. (1982) and Creed et al. (1987) found the degree of accuracy in reading tasks to be lower for computer-based text. However, Askwall (1985), Gould et al. (1987) and Oborne & Holton (1988) reported no significant difference between the two formats for accuracy. Ziefle (1998) also found that paper was superior to computer because of the screen qualities which caused tiredness in the eye more quickly. Recent literature especially after 2000s comparing computer and paper-based reading has supported the findings of early studies and favored paper-based reading. Mayes et al. (2001) found computer-based reading significantly slower. In their study, Wa stlund et al. (2005) provided a psychological and physical explanation that computer-based reading caused a greater level of tiredness and stress. These effects required an increase in cognitive demands, that is, the activation of more perceptual, executive and cognitive resources. Although Noyes et al. (2004) found no significant difference in the comprehension scores for the two means, participants reported more workload from the computer-based tasks (Noyes & Garland, 2008). Yen & Wang (2002) conducted an experiment which tested the university students experience regarding electronic- or paper-based reading. The results showed that most people did not deal with e-based reading well. The main obstacles were the lower level of manmachine interactions and self-control during e-reading process. Destefano & Lefevre (2007) studied the role of cognitive load in hypertext reading and results -203-

210 Computer versus Paper-Based Reading E.Solak revealed that readers with low memory and background knowledge were generally disadvantaged in screen-based reading. However, low background knowledge could be advantages, if the hypertext structure were in line with the knowledge domain. Shepperd et al. (2008) examined the perceptions and performance of 392 psychology students who used an electronic versus a traditional paper textbook. The results suggested that two formats did not differ in academic achievement. However, students reported that they spent less time in screen-based reading, but generally they did not like reading electronic text. Ackerman et al. (2011) examined subjective and objective differences between on-screen and on-paper reading in terms of a set of cognitive and metacognitive components. The results suggested that the main differences between the two study media were not cognitive but rather metacognitive. Dundar & Akcayır (2012) compared primary school 5th-class students performance with regard to reading speed and comprehension with tablet PCs and printed books in Turkey. They found no significant difference between the groups in reading speed or the level of reading comprehension Kim (2013) examined differences between a LCD monitor and a traditional paper format in reading performances of teenagers. The results showed that teenagers scored significantly higher on the paper reading comprehension tests than on the electronic ones. Furthermore, it was reported that it took longer time to read passages and answer questions on the screen. Mangen et al. (2013) explored the effects of the technological interface on reading comprehension among 72 tenth graders from two different primary schools in Norway. Main findings showed that the participants academic achievement was higher in paper-based reading than screen-based reading. The common characteristic of early and recent literature reveals that readers performance is higher in paper-based reading and they prefer paper to computer screen. The debate over the choice of computer and paper-based tasks will probably go on and there will always be some tasks which are better performed in one form than in the other. However, the situation is changing through the technological advancements and the findings can differ from one study to another. Method Quantitative research design was used in this study; in addition, this research design was supported by empirical data. It is hypothesized that prospective English teachers perform better in paper-based reading tasks, so they prefer paper-based reading tasks and tests to online versions. Therefore, this study will answer the following research questions: 1. What are the views of prospective English teachers about computer and paper-based reading? 2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of computer-based reading for the subjects? 3. To what extent does computer-based reading influence participants reading performance like reading speed, accuracy and comprehension? -204-

211 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Participants The research was conducted at a State-run University, English Language Teaching Department in Turkey. The participants were 96 prospective third grade English teachers majoring English Language Teaching and taking up the lecture of teaching language skills during academic year. The group whose native tongue was Turkish had similar characteristics with respect to age and educational background. In other words, they finished Anatolian Teacher Training High Schools and took the same University Entrance Exam. Gender distribution was 74 (77%) females and 22 (22,9%) males. The participants are believed to be an ideal group for the research, because they are exposed to reading tasks in most of their academic studies. Instruments and Procedure Two types of data were collected in this research. First, The Questionnaire for Online Reading Comprehension (Tseng, 2010) was used to collect data about the participants views on their online and paper-based reading activities. Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected through the research. Quantitative data was collected from the questionnaire and qualitative data collected from open discussion questions. The questionnaire was administered to 96 subjects and composed of two parts. The first part consisted of 10 questions which aimed to understand participants ideas on online and paperbased reading activities. The first group was designed in a five point Likert scale from I strongly disagree (1) to I strongly agree (5). The second part covered two open-ended questions. These questions were designed to explore students views about the advantages and disadvantages of reading from computer screens. Second, following the completion of the questionnaire, one experiment was conducted to 14 volunteering subjects out of 96 to understand their reading speed, accuracy and comprehension in both computer and paper-based reading activity. In the experiment, an advanced level reading text which consisted of 968 words in English language followed by eight wh- comprehension questions was assigned to two groups, seven subjects as online readers and seven subjects as paper-based readers, to determine subjects reading speed, accuracy and comprehension. In the experiment, one computer was assigned for each online reader and time was set to measure their reading speed. After completing text reading, they answered the comprehension questions by keyboard. As of paper-based readers, they were in a classroom and the reading assignment was given as a three-page paper. They answered the questions by pencil on the paper. In the questionnaire, relevant data extracted were analyzed using an SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). Open-ended questions and results of the experiment were presented in tables in excel program. Findings and Results In this section, the findings of the study were presented in three tables as the views of the participants about online and paper-based reading, disadvantages and advantages of online reading and the performance of paper-based and online readers. Table 1 illustrates the views of the participants about online and paper-based reading. Table 1: The Views of the Participants about Online and Paper-based Reading -205-

212 Computer versus Paper-Based Reading E.Solak Items N Mean Std. Deviation Item 1 It is easier to do the reading Comprehension questions on paper. 96 4,44,90 Item 2 It is easier to do the reading Comprehension questions on computer 96 1,79,97 screens. Item 3 If I have the choice, I would Prefer to read articles on computer 96 1,72,96 screens. Item 4 If I have the choice, I would 96 Prefer to read articles printed on paper. 4,44,85 Item 5 To me, there is no difference Between reading on computer screens 96 1,87 1,10 And reading on paper. Item 6 I think hyperlinks are helpful when I read on computer screens. 96 3,41,99 Item 7 I think the scroll bar is helpful when I read on computer screens. 96 3,57 1,06 Item 8 I think the cursors are helpful when I read on computer screens. 96 3,30,85 Item 9 I like to read articles on computer screens. 96 1,93,93 Item 10 I like to read articles on paper. 96 4,25 1,04 Valid N (listwise) 96 In Table 1, most of the items were cross-checked by another item to verify the data. Items 1-2, 3-4, 6-7-8, 9-10 were cross-checked by each other. In this group, participants cited in Item 1 with a mean of 4.4 that it was easier to the reading comprehension questions on paper. Next, item 4 saying if I have the choice, I would prefer to read articles printed on paper got a mean of 4.4. Following this, in Item 10, participants maintained with a mean of 4.2 that they liked to read articles on paper. In Item 7 with a mean of 3.5, they thought scroll bar was helpful when they read on computer screens. Finally, as stated in item 5 which got the lowest mean 1.8, there were differences between reading on computer screens and reading on paper for the participants. Table 2 shows the views of the participants about the advantages and disadvantages of online reading. Table 2: Disadvantages and Advantages of Online Reading Disadvantages Advantages irritating eyes 40 easy access to many 36 (42%) resources (38%) tiring free of charge (23%) (10%) cannot use reading strategies 20 (21%) more effective 5 (5%) hard to follow on the screen 17 (18 %) save time 5 (5%) -206-

213 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 cannot motivation don't like on-line reading concentrate\negative 14 (15%) 10 (10%) forget the text easily 6 ( 6%) cannot carry the computer with me 5 (5%) more abstract 3 (3%) external factors ( power failure etc.) 3 (3%) access to update resources 2 (2%) Table 2 was formed on the basis of answers given by the subjects to open-ended questions. As for disadvantages, 42% of the subjects stated online reading irritated their eyes. Next highest percentage 23% belonged to the item that online reading was tiring since they sat before a computer during the activity; 21% cited that they cannot use reading strategies effectively like taking notes, circling and underlining during online reading ; 18% maintained that it was harder to follow on the computer screen; 15% stated that they cannot concentrate or motivate while reading online ; 10% explained they did not like or prefer to read online; 6 % cited they forgot the text during the process and 5% maintained they couldn t carry the computer with them. Finally, 3% considered online reading more abstract and external factors like power failure and setting influenced their online reading negatively. As to advantages of online reading, 38% of the participants stated that they had easy access to many resources online; 10% found online resources free of charge. While 5 % considered online reading more effective than paper-based reading, 5% believed that they saved time and energy. Finally, 2% stated they could access to update resources. All in all, participants expressed more disadvantages of online reading than advantages. Table 3 displays the performance of online and paper-based readers in terms of reading speed, accuracy and comprehension. Table 3: The Performance of Paper-based and Online Readers Online readers Paper-based readers subjects Duration (minute) number of correct answers subjects Duration (minute) number of correct answers out of out of out of out of out of out of out of out of out of out of out of out of out of out of 8 Average 27,4 5,8 Average 24,28 6,8 In Table 3, there were totally 14 volunteering subjects, seven as online readers and seven as paper-based readers and they read the same text but in a different format. As for online readers, the average duration of completing the tasks, including answering the questions, was 27.4 minutes and the average of correct answers was 5.8. As for paper-based readers, the average duration of completing reading tasks including answering the questions, is 24.2 minutes and the average of correct answers is 6.8. Comparing the two groups, paper-based readers completed reading tasks nearly 3.2 minutes earlier and answered one more question -207-

214 Computer versus Paper-Based Reading E.Solak correctly than online readers. Moreover, during the experiment, it was observed that paper-based readers used reading strategies like underlining, circling, going back and forth quickly, and taking notes more often than online readers. Discussion and Conclusion Reading is an important skill especially for academic purposes and by means of technological advancement, readers choice over paper-based or online reading in reaching reading objectives has been under discussion for decades. Glancing at some research done in this field, readers favor paper-based reading to online reading especially in early literature, yet the innovations in computer and internet technology sometimes have contradicted these findings and reported no significant differences. According to the data collected in this study, the result of the present study is consistent with the findings of the early and recent literature. Participants highly preferred paper-based reading to the computer version; therefore, they reported more disadvantages than advantages while performing online reading. The reasons for the disadvantages were mainly physical, in other words, computer screens irritated their eyes and reading from a screen was tiring for them. In addition, in terms of cognitive load, participants expressed that they could not use reading strategies effectively and could not concentrate on the screen. On the other hand, participants reported some advantages to online reading such as easy access to many resources and they considered online reading more effective in terms of practicality and free of charge. The findings of Yen & Wang (2002), Wa stlund et al. (2005) and Destefano &Lefevre (2007) supported the results of this research. Yen & Wang (2002) showed that most people did not deal with e-based reading well. The main obstacles were the lower level of man-machine interactions and self-control during e-reading process. In their study, Wa stlund et al. (2005) provided that computer-based reading caused a greater level of tiredness and stress. These effects required an increase in cognitive demands. Destefano &Lefevre (2007) also revealed that readers with low working memory and low prior knowledge were usually disadvantaged in hypertext. Analyzing the performance of the participants, it was observed that reading speed, accuracy and comprehension in paper-based reading and testing were better than the computer version. In paper-based reading, reading speed was nearly 12% faster than reading on computer screen. Moreover, the rate of comprehension based on the correct answers given in the test was approximately 15 % more accurate than online reading. In other words, participants performed better in paper-based reading and there was a difference for them between paperbased and online reading. This finding is in consistent with Dillon s study. Dillon (1994) found that reading was some 20 to 30% slower in terms of reading performance from a computer screen than a paper. Moreover, Kim (2013) and Mangen et al. (2013) also revealed that students who read texts in print scored significantly better on the reading comprehension test than students who read the texts digitally. On the other hand, Noyes et al. (2004) found no significant difference in the comprehension scores for the two means andshepperd et al. (2008) suggested that two formats did not differ in course grades for psychology students. As for Turkish context, Dundar&Akcayır(2012) also found no significant difference reading fromtablet PCs and printed books for Turkish elementary school students in Turkey. In conclusion, in the light of data collected, prospective English teachers preferred paperbased reading to online version and their performance was higher in paper-based reading than -208-

215 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 online. Although paper-based reading has become a habit throughout their educational background, their approach to online reading can shift with time by means of technological advancements in computer, e-book and internet technology. It can be the focus of other studies. References Ackerman, R. & Goldsmith, M. (2011). Metacognitive regulation of text learning: On screen versus on paper. Journal of Experimental Psychology,,17(1), Askwall, S., (1985). Computer supported reading vs. reading text on paper: A comparison of two reading situations. International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 22, Bolter, J.D. (1991). Writing space: The computer, hypertext, and the history of writing. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum. Creed, A., Dennis, I., & Newstead, S. (1987). Proof-reading on VDUs. Behaviour & Information Technology, 6, Cushman, W.H. (1986). Reading from microfiche, VDT and the printed page. Human Factors, 28, Destefano, D. & Lefevre, J. (2007). Cognitive load in hypertext reading: A review. Computers in Human Behaviour. (23), 3, Dillon, A. (1994). Designing usable electronic text: Ergonomic aspects of human information usage. London: Taylor & Francis. Dundar, H. &Akcayır, M. (2012). Tablet vs. Paper: The effect on learners' reading erformance. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education. 4(3), Gould, J.D.et al., (1987). Reading is slower from CRT displays than the paper: Attempts to isolate a single-variable explanation. Human Factors, 29, Keenan, S.A. (1984). Effects of chunking and line length on reading efficiency. Visible Language, 18, Kim, J. (2013). Reading from an LCD monitor versus paper: Teenagers reading performance. International Journal of Research Studies in Educational Technology. (2) 1, Lorch Jr., R.F., Lorch, E.P. & Klusewitz, M.A. (1993).College students' conditional knowledge about reading. Journal of Educational Psychology, 85, Anne Mangen, A., Walgermo, B.,& Brønnick, K. (2013).Reading linear texts on paper versus computer screen: Effects on reading comprehension. International Journal of Educational Research 58, Mayes, D.K., Sims, V.K., & Koonce, J.M. (2001). Comprehension and workload differences for VDT and paper-based reading. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 28, Muter, P., Latremouille, S.A., Treunit, W.C. & Beam, P. (1982). Extended reading of continuous text on television screens. Human Factors, 24, Muter, P. &Maurutto, P. (1991). Reading and skimming from computer screens and books: The paperless office revisited? Behaviour & Information Technology, 10, Noyes, J.M., Garland, K.J., & Robbins, E.L. (2004). Paper-based versus computer-based assessment: Is workload another test mode effect? British Journal of Educational Technology, 35, Noyes, J.M. & Garland, K.J. (2008). Computer- vs. paper-based tasks: Are they equivalent? Ergonomics, (51), No. 9, Oborne, D.J. & Holton, D. (1988). Reading from screen versus paper: There is no difference. International Journal of Man-Machine Studies,28,

216 Computer versus Paper-Based Reading E.Solak O'Hara, K. (1996). Towards a Typology of Reading Goals. Rank Xerox Research Centre Technical Report.EPC Sellen, A.J. & Harper, R.H.R. (1996). Paper as an analytical resource for the design of new technologies. Atalanta, Georgia. Shepperd, J., Grace, Jodi L. &, Erika J. (2008). Evaluating the electronic textbook: Is it time to dispense with the paper text? Teaching of Psychology, 35:1, 2 5 Tseng, M. (2010). Factors that influence online reading: An investigation into EFL students perceptions. The Reading Matrix. (10),1. Wa stlund, E. et al., (2005). Effects of VDT and paper presentation on consumption and production of information: Psychological and physiological factors. Computers in Human Behavior, 21, Yen, C. & Wang, M. (2002). Study of user experiences on electronic- and paper- based reading. Retrieved from Ziefle, M. (1998). Effects of display resolution on visual performance. Human Factors, 40,

217 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 APPENDIX Questionnaire for Online Reading Comprehension (Adapted from Tseng, 2010) PART 1 Perceptions toward Hypertext 1 It is easier to do the reading comprehension questions on paper It is easier to do the reading comprehension questions on computer screens If I have the choice, I would prefer to read articles on computer screens If I have the choice, I would prefer to read articles printed on paper To me, there is no difference between reading on computer screens and reading on paper I think hyperlinks are helpful when I read on computer screens I think the scroll bar is helpful when I read on computer screens I think the cursors are helpful when I read on computer screens I like to read articles on computer screens I like to read articles on paper PART 2 Open-discussion Questions 1 What are the advantages of online reading in comparison to paper-based reading? 2 What are the disadvantages of online reading in comparison to paper-based reading? -211-

218 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 4(1), pp , 1 April, 2014 Available online at The Relationship Between the Achievement Goal Orientation and the Self Efficacy Beliefs of the Candidate Teachers Nese Ozkal Akdeniz University, Alanya Education Faculty, Konaklı/Alanya/Antalya Vesile Yildiz Demirtas Dokuz Eylül University, Buca Education Faculty, Hale Kasap Sucuoglu Dokuz Eylül University, Buca Education Faculty, Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Key words: Achievement goal orientations, self efficacy beliefs, candidate teachers Cem Oktay Guzeller * Akdeniz University, Education Faculty The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the achievement goal orientations and self-efficacy beliefs of the candidate teachers. Moreover, another aim of the study is to determine whether the self-efficacy beliefs and the achievement goal orientations of the candidate teachers differ according to their gender, grades and departments. The study was carried out with the students of Faculty of Education who are studying at 2 and 4 th grade of the departments Preschool Education, Primary School Education, Primary Science Education, Social Studies Education and Turkish Language Education at Dokuz Eylül University in the Academic Years, Spring Term. The data for the study was gathered through the scales Teacher Self-efficacy Scale and Achievement Goal Orientations Scale. Findings showed that achievement goal orientation was significantly and positively correlated with self-efficacy beliefs. Findings also indicated that the achievement goal orientation tendency was a significant predictor of student engagement, instructional strategies, classroom management, and total professional self-efficacy beliefs; and performance avoidance orientation was an important predictor of instructional strategies, classroom management, and total professional self-efficacy beliefs. Finally it was found ascertained that the professional self-efficacy beliefs of the candidate teachers didn t significantly differ according to their genders and the achievement goal orientations differed according to the gender, grade level, and the departments. Correspondence: Oktay Guzeller, Akdeniz Üniversity, Education Faculty, [email protected]

219 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Introduction The learners are motivated to gain a goal or do a task by approaching to the positive results or avoiding the negative events. While the ones that have the instinct of approaching try to obtain positive results, the ones that have the instinct of avoidance try to avoid the negative results (Elliot, 1999; Atkinson cited in: Darnon et al, 2007). Starting out from these two patterns, the achievement goal orientation theory, one of the most widely used theories to understand the student success instinct in the recent years, was developed. Achievement goal orientation can be defined as the instinct that the learners have to complete the given academic tasks, the belief, feeling, and the attributions on the basis of the learning goal (Ames, 1992). Achievement goal orientation specifies how the learner interprets the events and his/her own efficacy, and how she/he reacts (Dweck & Legett 1988). The achievement goal orientations are dealt with as 2x2 mastery approach-avoidance and performance approach-avoidance in the literature. The ones with mastery approach orientations get themselves as reference and have the aim of gaining new knowledge and skills, even if they become unsuccessful, they do not yield, they are still determined, they do not compare themselves with others. The ones with performance approach orientations care what others think about them, they study not for themselves but to get the positive judgments of the others, therefore they always compare themselves with others, try to be better than them, and they compete with others. They try to seem intelligent and skillful. The learners with performance avoidance orientations also care what others think about them. Since the performance avoidance orientation is based on a high level of success fear and low level of competence expectancy, the learners are focused more on being unsuccessful. These learners want to avoid the others negative judgments. They do not want to seem as unsuccessful and incompetent. In order to avoid this, they keep away from the tasks that exceed their capacities and that they think they cannot do. They show low level of interest and performance to the tasks. They refuse to get responsibilities and they avoid tasks. The ones with the mastery avoidance orientations are the perfectionist learners that avoid doing mistakes in the tasks given and worry about not being able to learn the subjects (Ames, 1992; Chan et al., 2012; Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Elliot, 1999, Barron& Harackiewicz, 2003, Hsieh et al., 2008; Kaplan et al., 2002; Pintrich; 1999; Schunk; 1994). When the literature is reviewed, it is seen that the mastery approach orientation has positive relations with many compatible variables such as effort, academic success, strategy use, rapport, strategies to actively cope with stress, self-perception, seeking social support, problem focused coping, self-compassion, self-kindness, common humanity, mindfulness, decisiveness, participation to the lesson, and self-efficacy (Ames, 1992; Akın 2008a; Barron & Harackiewicz, 2003; Çetin & Akın, 2009, Dweck & Legget, 1988; Gerthardt & Brown, 2006; Hsieh et al.; 2008; Odacı et al., 2013; Özkal, 2013, Wolters et al., 1996; Pitrich, 1999) and it has negative relations with incompatible variables such as self-judgment, isolation, and over- identification, depression, anxiety and stress, passively dealing with stress, and avoiding tasks (Akın, 2008a, Akın, 2008b, Çetin & Akın, 2009). Mastery avoidance orientation has positive relations both with the compatible variables such as self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness (Akın, 2008a), and with the incompatible variables such as selfjudgment, isolation, over-identification, depression, and anxiety and stress (Akın, 2008a; Akın, 2008b). Performance approach and avoidance has positive relations with incompatible variables such as passively dealing with stress, avoidance of tasks, self-judgment, isolation and over-identification, depression, anxiety and stress (Akın, 2008a; Akın, 2008b; Çetin & Akın 2009; Barron & Harackiewicz, 2003). Moreover, the studies that show the positive relations between performance avoidance and the compatible variables like metacognitive -213-

220 The Relationship between the Achievement N. Ozkal, V. Yildiz Demirtas, H. K. Sucuoglu &C.O. Guzeller skills (Kahraman, 2011; Sungur & Şenler, 2009) and between performance approach and the compatible variables such as academic success (Kahraman, 2011; Chan et al., 2012) are also present in the literature. Although the results of the studies differ because of the subject, task difficulty, cultural factors, when the studies done are examined in general, it is seen that the results related to mastery orientations are more positive compared to the others, and the learners with mastery approach orientations have the ideal student features. There are many factors for learners to internalize their achievement goal orientations. Self- efficacy is one of these. Self-efficacy belief is one s belief on his/her self-skills to successfully undertake and perform a specific task within a specific context (Bandura, 1997). Self-efficacy and an individual s being aware of his/her capabilities also affect his/her desire to achieve the given goals (Hsieh et al., 2008). Self-efficacy beliefs motivate learners to learn through selfsupervision processes such as setting goals, monitoring oneself, evaluating his/her own, and strategy use. Self-efficacy belief affects the effort given, resistance in difficult moments, and performance. The learners with high levels of self-efficacy beliefs are better at dealing with the difficulties and more tenacious on achieving a target. The ones with low self-efficacy have the judgment that they will not be able to achieve their targets. They exaggerate the problems and get stressed. These learners might be unsuccessful when they have doubts about their own performances or when they have low levels of motivations even if they have the necessary knowledge and skills (Bandura, 1994; Schunk & Meece, 2006; Zimmerman, 2000). It has been figured out that, in general, the ones with high self-efficacy have the approaching orientation, and the ones with low self-efficacy have the avoidance orientation (Akın, 2008b; Odacı et al., 2013; Gerthardt & Brown, 2006; Hsieh et al., 2007; Kahraman, 2011). It is also emphasized that as the learners study on the given task and as they show progress, their selfefficacy beliefs are supported too. However, the learners self-efficacy beliefs decrease when they compare themselves with others and have difficulties (Schunk, 1994). Therefore, selfefficacy belief and achievement goal orientation affect each other. Other factors in internalizing the achievement goal orientations are the teachers and the families. (Eccles & Wigfield, 2000, 2002 cited in Kahraman 2011; Pitrich, 1999). The mastery orientations gained from the teachers are related to the students own mastery orientation goals (Kahraman, 2011). The studies done also show that the atmosphere of the class is related to the achievement goal orientations of the learners. It was found out that the mastery orientation is related to mastery approach tendency with the goal oriented classes, and the performance approach and performance avoidance orientations are related to the performance based class environments. The students who consider classes as mastery oriented have highlevel of participation and evaluations. However, the ones that have a high level of performance orientation have lower levels of participation and evaluation. (Barron & Harackiewicz, 2003; Wolters, 2004). The one that determines the classroom atmosphere is the teacher (Gage & Berliner cited in: Açıkgöz, 2012). Kahraman (2011) has found out that there is a positive relation between the teachers mastery oriented perception and the students metacognitive strategy uses. It is found out that, when the students think that their teachers care about having high grades, when they think their teachers are performance oriented, they tend to blame others, disregard being unsuccessful, and use the incompatible strategies like denial and not being able to overcome more. In this sense, it can be concluded that the teachers achievement goal orientations and selfefficacy beliefs are important to determine the learners achievement goal orientations. The teacher self-efficacy belief, which can also be defined as the capacity to affect the students performance is directly related to the student success (Akkoyunlu et al., 2005; Bandura 1997). The self-efficacy belief of a teacher is effective in preparing a learning environment that 214

221 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 supports the cognitive development of the students and raising the students motivation on learning (Midgley et al., 1989). The teachers with high levels of efficacy belief tend to try to find out better ways of teaching, to be more organized, to use new teaching materials, and use new teaching methods (Allinder 1994 cited in Gorozidis & Papaioannou, 2011). When the explanations given above and the results of the study are examined together, it has been considered that it will contribute to the literature to examine the relation between the candidate teachers achievement goal orientations and self-efficacy beliefs. Thus, the following questions were tried to be answered in this study: (1) Do the candidate teachers achievement goal orientations significantly differ according to their genders, grade levels, and departments? (2) Do the candidate teachers professional self-efficacy beliefs significantly differ according to their genders, grade levels, and departments? (3) What are the relations between the candidate teachers achievement goal orientations and their professional self-efficacy beliefs? (4) Do the achievement goal orientations of the candidate teachers predict their professional self-efficacy beliefs? Method Participants The study was carried out with the students of Faculty of Education who are studying at 2 and 4 th grade of the departments Preschool Education, Primary School Education, Primary Science Education, Social Studies Education and Turkish Language Education at Dokuz Eylül University in the Academic Years, Spring Term. The participants consist of 292 girls (65.3%) and 155 boys (34.7%), 447 candidate teachers in total. 85 (19%) of the candidate teachers were studying to be Turkish teachers, 87 (19.5%) of them were studying to be Classroom teachers, 87(19,5%) of them were studying to be Science teachers, 80 (17.9%) of them were studying to be Social Studies teachers, and 108 (24.2%) of them were studying to be Preschool teachers. 195 (43.6%) of the candidate teachers were at the 2 nd grade and 252 (56.4%) of them were 4 th grade students. Instruments As data collection tools, Teacher Self-efficacy Scale and 2x2 Achievement Goal Orientations Scale were used. 2x2 Achievement Goal Orientations Scale 2x2 Achievement Goal Orientations Scale which was developed by Akın (2006), was used in order to evaluate the candidate teachers achievement goal orientations. 2x2 Achievement Goal Orientations Scale is a 5 point likert scale that consists of 26 items. 2x2 Achievement goal Orientations Scale has four subscales as mastery approach, mastery avoidance, performance approach, and performance avoidance. The factor loads of the scale are between.41 and.98, total item correlations of it are between.56 and.73. The internal consistency coefficients are between.92 and.97 for the subscales, and the test-retest coefficients are between.77 and

222 The Relationship between the Achievement N. Ozkal, V. Yildiz Demirtas, H. K. Sucuoglu &C.O. Guzeller Teacher Self-Efficacy Perception Scale In order to gather the data on candidate teachers self-efficacy beliefs, Teacher Selfefficacy Scale was used. It was developed by Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy (2001) and adapted to Turkish by Çapa, Çakıroğlu & Sarıkaya (2005), and they also did the validity and reliability studies of the scale, too. The Teacher Self-efficacy Scale is comprised of 24 items of 9 point likert scale, and three subscales. The responses each item range from 1 (insufficient) to 9 (very sufficient). The Cronbach Alpha coefficients of scale were found to be.93,.82,.86, and.84 for the total scale, student engagement subscale, instructional strategies subscale and classroom management subscale, receptively. Data analysis In the data analysis, the standard deviations and the means of the groups were calculated by keeping the sub problems of the study in mind. After the suitability of the parametric tests was tested, independent sample t-test and analysis of variance, (one- way ANOVA s with Post Hoc LSD Multiple Comparison Test) were used to determine whether the differences among the means are significant or not. LSD Test was done to find out the sources of the differences. To examine the relationships between the study variables, Pearson Correlations were calculated. Finally, Multiple Regression Analysis was used to explore predictors of participants achievement goal orientations. Procedure The research was conducted in the spring term of academic year. The measures were administered to students during 50-minute class periods on in groups of The measures were counterbalanced in administration. Prior to administration of measures, all participants were told about purposes of the study. Candidate teachers voluntarily participated in research. Results In order to find out whether the candidate teachers self-efficacy beliefs differ according to their genders or not, t-test was done and the results are given in Table 1. Table 1: The Means and Standard Deviations of Self-Efficacy Subscale and Total Scale Scores in Terms of Gender Self Efficacy Gender n Student engagement Girls 292 x Boys 155 Instructional Strategies Girls 292 Boys 155 Classroom Management Girls 292 Boys 155 Total Girls 292 Boys SD DF t p When Table 1 is examined, it is seen that girls means are higher than the boys in terms of student engagement and instructional strategies subscales, and boys means are higher than the girls in terms of classroom management subscales and the total scale points. As a result of the independent t-test, it was found out that the candidate teachers professional selfefficacy beliefs do not differ according to their genders. 216

223 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 T-test was done to find out whether the professional self-efficacy beliefs of the candidate teachers differ according to the grade levels or not, and the results are shown in Table 2. Table 2: The Means and Standard Deviations of Self-Efficacy Subscale and Total Scale Scores in Terms of Grade Level Self- Efficacy Grades n x SD DF t p Student engagement Instructional Strategies Classroom Management Total *P< According to Table 2, it is seen that the means of the candidate teachers at the 2 nd grade are higher than the ones at the 4 th grade in all subscales. As a result of the independent t-test, it was found out that there is a significant difference in terms of grade levels in all subscales; candidate teachers professional self-efficacy [t(445)=2.80, p<.05), student engagement [t(445)=3.24, p<.05)], instructional strategies [t(445)=2.04, p<.05)], and classroom management [t(445)= 2.56, p<.05)]. In order to find out whether the candidate teachers professional self-efficacy beliefs differ according to their departments or not, variance analysis was done and the results are shown in Table 3. According to Table 3, it is clear that in all subscales and in total, the candidate Turkish and the Social Studies teachers have the highest professional self-efficacy beliefs means. Within the student engagement subscale, the candidate Science teachers; and within the instructional strategies and classroom management subscales, the candidate Class teachers have the lowest means. As a result of the variance analysis, it was found out that the selfefficacy beliefs of instructional strategies [F (4,442) =2.87, p<.05)] differ according to the departments but not the classroom management and student engagement efficacy perceptions. According to the LSD Test results that was done to find out the source of this difference, within the instructional strategies subscale, there is a significant difference between Turkish Language Education and Primary School Education, it is on behalf of Turkish Language Education and there is also a significant difference between Social Studies Education and Primary School Education, which is on behalf of Social Studies Education Table 3: The Means and Standard Deviations of Self-Efficacy Subscale and Total Scale Scores in Terms of Department Department n x SD F P Student engagement Turkish Class Science Social Studies Preschool *.04*.01*.01* Instructional strategies Turkish Class Science Social Studies Preschool * Turkish

224 The Relationship between the Achievement N. Ozkal, V. Yildiz Demirtas, H. K. Sucuoglu &C.O. Guzeller Classroom Management Class Science Social Studies Preschool Total P<.05 Turkish Class Science Social Studies Preschool To see whether the candidate teachers achievement goal orientations differ according to their genders or not, t-test was done and the results are shown in Table 4. Table 4: The Means and Standard Deviations of Goal Orientations Subscale and Total Scale Scores in Terms of Gender Goal Orientations Gender n x SD DF t p Mastery Approach Mastery Avoidance Performance Approach Performance Avoidance *P<.05 Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys When Table 4 is analyzed, it is seen that girls mastery approach and mastery avoidance orientation means are higher than the boys while in performance approach and performance avoidance orientation, the boys means are higher than the girls. As a result of the independent t-test, it was realized that mastery approach [t (445)=2.79, p<.05)] and mastery avoidance [t(445)=2.04, p<.05)] orientations differ according to gender. According to these results, it can be said that girls are more oriented towards mastery approach and mastery avoidance than boys. An independent samples t-test was used to determine whether the candidate teachers achievement goal orientations differ according to the grade level or not, and the results are presented shown in Table 5. Table 5: The Means and Standard Deviations of Goal Orientations Subscale and Total Scale Scores in Terms of Grade Level Goal Orientations Grades n x SD DF t p *P<.05 Mastery Approach Mastery Avoidance Performance Approach Performance Avoidance *.04* * 218

225 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 It is seen Table 5 presents that the 2 nd graders mastery approach and mastery avoidance orientation means are really close to the 4 th graders. However, in performance approach and performance avoidance orientation, the means of the 2 nd graders are higher than the 4 th graders. As seen in Table 5, significant grade level differences were found in performance avoidance scores according to grade level [t (445)= 2.02, p<.05)], while learning approach, learning avoidance, and performance approach do not. Thus, it can be concluded that the 2 nd graders have more performance avoidance orientation than the 4 th graders. In order to investigate department differences in teachers achievement goal orientations subscales, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted. Variance analysis was done to find out whether the candidate teachers achievement goal orientations differ according to their departments or not, and the results are presented in Table 6. Results indicated that the highest means belong to the candidate Social Studies teachers and the lowest means belong to the candidate preschool teachers. Furthermore, in mastery avoidance, the candidate Turkish teachers have the highest means, while the candidate classroom and Social Studies teachers have the lowest means. In performance avoidance and performance approach, candidate class teachers have the highest means, and the candidate Social Studies teachers have the lowest means. As a result of the variance analysis, it was found out that mastery approach [F(4,442) =3.14, p<.05)] and mastery avoidance [F(4,442) =2.76, p<.05) orientations differ according to the departments; however, performance approach and performance avoidance dimensions do not differ. To find out the source of the significant difference, LSD Test was done and it was seen that there is a significant difference in mastery approach among the candidate Social Studies teachers, Class teachers, and Preschool teachers on behalf of the Social Studies, and between the candidate Turkish teachers and Preschool teachers; the difference is on behalf of Turkish. Therefore, it can be said that the candidate Social Studies teachers and Turkish are more mastery approach oriented than the others. In the mastery avoidance subscales, there is a significant difference between the candidate Class teachers of and Science teachers, and between the Social Studies Teachers and Science teachers on behalf of the Science teachers. It can be said that the candidate Science teachers are more oriented to mastery avoidance than the others. Table 6: The Results of the Achievement Goal Orientation Means, Standard Deviations, and Variance Analysis of the Candidate Teachers According to by Their Departments Goal Orientations Department n x SD F p Mastery Approach Turkish Class Science Social Studies Preschool * Mastery Avoidance Turkish Class Science Social Studies Preschool * Performance Approach Turkish Class Science Social Studies Preschool

226 The Relationship between the Achievement N. Ozkal, V. Yildiz Demirtas, H. K. Sucuoglu &C.O. Guzeller Performance Avoidance *P<.05 Turkish Class Science Social Studies Preschool Pearson Correlation analysis was used to examine the relation between the candidate teachers achievement goal orientations and self-efficacy beliefs and the results are given in Table 7. Table 7: Pearson Correlations Between Achievement Goal Orientations and Self-Efficacy Beliefs Participation Strategy Management MA MAV PA PA V Student engagement 1 Instructional Strategies.81** 1 Classroom Management.78**.82** 1 Mastery Approach.38**.39**.37** 1 Mastery Avoidance.14*.09.12*.34** 1 Performance Approach ** 1 Performance Avoidance ** **.67** 1 MA: Mastery Approach MAV : Mastery Avoidance PA: Performance Approach PAV: Performance avoidance, **p < 0,01, *p<.05 According to the results, candidate teachers mastery approach orientations was found to be significantly and positively correlated with student engagement (r=.38), instructional strategies (r=.39), classroom management (r=.37), and the self-efficacy perceptions. While there is a low level of relation between the candidate teachers mastery avoidance orientation and student engagement (r=.14) and classroom management (r=.12) self-efficacy perceptions, there is no significant relation between mastery avoidance orientation and instructional strategies (r=.09) self-efficacies. There is no significant relation between performance approach and student engagement (r=-.03), instructional strategies (r=-.05), and classroom management (r=-.01). There is a significant negative relation between performance avoidance and instructional strategies (r=-.16) and performance avoidance has no significant relation with student engagement (r=-.07) and classroom management (r=-.08). The power of the achievement goal orientations of the candidate teachers on predicting selfefficacy beliefs was also examined; the results of the multiple regression analysis by the subscales are given in Table 8. Table 8 shows that the achievement goal orientations of the candidate teachers can predict student engagement [F(4, 442) = 18.93, p<.01], instructional strategies [F(4, 442) = 23.84, p<.01], classroom management [F(4, 442) = 19.33, p<.01], and general self-efficacy beliefs [F(4, 442) =24.13, p<.01]. The independent variables accounted for 15% of variance in student engagement self-efficacy beliefs, 18% of the instructional strategies self-efficacy beliefs, 15% of the classroom management self-efficacy beliefs, and 18% of the total self-efficacy beliefs. When the t-test results on the meaningfulness of regression coefficients are examined, it was found that mastery approach goal orientation was a significant predictor of student engagement [(β=.35, p<.01), t(4, 442) = 7.28, p<.01], instructional strategies [(β=.37, p<.01), t(4, 442) = 7.77, p<.01],, classroom management [(β=.35, p<.01), t(4, 442) = 7.30, p<.01],, and total professional self-efficacy beliefs [(β=.38, p<.01), t(4, 442) = 8.10, p<.01]. Also, performance avoidance goal orientation was found to be a significant predictor of instructional strategies, classroom management, and total professional self-efficacy beliefs. However, it was seen that candidate teachers performance avoidance goal orientation was significantly and negatively correlated with instructional 220

227 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 strategies [(β=-.21, p<.01), t(4, 442) = -3.41, p<.01], classroom management [(β=-.15, p<.05), t(4, 442) = -2.32, p<.05], and total professional self- efficacy perceptions [(β=-.17, p<.05), t(4, 442) = -2.62, p<.05]. Performance approach and mastery avoidance do not have a significant contribution to the model. Table 8 Results of Multiple Regression Analysis Predicting Self- Efficacy Beliefs Subscales Variables B SD β t p Student engagement Stable Mastery Approach Mastery Avoidance Performance Approach Performance Avoidance **.00** R=.38 R2 =. 146 P=.000 **p<.001 Instructional Strategies Stable Mastery Approach Mastery Avoidance Performance Approach Performance Avoidance R=.42 R2 =.177 P=.000 **p<.001 Classroom Management Stable Mastery Approach Mastery Avoidance Performance Approach Performance Avoidance R=.39 R2 =.149 P=.000 **p<.001 Total Stable Mastery Approach Mastery Avoidance Performance Approach Performance Avoidance R=.42 R2 =.18 P=.000 **p< **.00** **.00**.00** *.00*.00* * Discussion and Conclusion In the study, it was found out that the candidate teachers self-efficacy beliefs do not significantly differ according to their genders. This result is parallel with the previous studies on the candidate teachers (Akbaş & Çelikkaleli, 2006; Aksu, 2008; Akkuzu & Akçay, 2012; Baykara, 2011; Harurluoğlu & Kaya, 2009; Kahyaoğlu & Yangın, 2007; Kutluca & Ekici, 2010; Yılmaz et al., 2006) and the teachers (Korkut & Babaoğlan, 2012; Yılmaz & Bököoğlu, 2008). However, there are also some studies that show that the self-efficacy beliefs of the candidate teachers differ according to their genders. For instance, Ekici (2006) found out a difference on behalf of the female teachers on the teacher self-efficacy beliefs of the vocational high school teachers and Demirtaş et al. (2011) found out that the candidate teachers self-efficacy beliefs differ on behalf of the males on classroom management and instructional strategies subscales. In the study, it was specified that the candidate teachers professional self-efficacy beliefs significantly differ according to their grade levels and departments. According to their grade levels, the professional self-efficacy beliefs of the 2 nd graders are higher than the 4 th graders. In his study, Baykara (2011) found out that the self-efficacy beliefs of the candidate teachers differ according to the class levels and that the difference is on behalf of the first graders -221-

228 The Relationship between the Achievement N. Ozkal, V. Yildiz Demirtas, H. K. Sucuoglu &C.O. Guzeller when compared with the third graders. It was ascertained that there was not a difference on the self-efficacy beliefs according to the class level by Kahyaoğlu & Yangın (2007) for the candidate primary school teachers, by Akkuzu and Akçay (2012) for the candidate chemistry teachers, and by Yılmaz et al. (2006) for the candidate biology teachers on computers. Although it is expected that the self-efficacy beliefs of the candidate teachers should rise as they have the pedagogical knowledge and teaching profession lessons, it is seen that the second graders have a higher professional self-efficacy beliefs than the fourth graders. It will be useful to have deep interviews on the difference seen at the candidate classroom teachers. Since the data collected in the present study was analyzed during the yearend holiday of the candidate teachers, there was no chance of meeting the candidate teachers and thus, the result could not be interpreted through qualitative data. It was found out that, according to the departments, the Candidate Turkish and Social Studies teachers professional self-efficacy beliefs are higher, and the candidate classroom teachers professional self-efficacy beliefs are lower than the others. In the study, it was found out that the self-efficacy beliefs of the candidate teachers on instructional strategies significantly differ and the source of this difference are the candidate classroom teachers. Different from the others, the candidate class teachers are responsible for all education and teaching of their students. The class teachers have to both teach Math, science, Social Studies and provide the behavioral education. This might have caused the class teachers to feel more responsibility, and thus, more inefficacy. Demirtaş et al. (2011) found out that the candidate Turkish, social, arts, and music teachers perceive themselves more efficient than the candidate preschool, classroom and Math teachers. Kahyaoğlu & Yangın (2007) detected that the candidate Science teachers have a higher level of professional self-efficacy when compared with the candidate teachers of other subjects. Üstün & Tekin (2009) found out that the candidate Social Studies and Turkish teachers have the highest self-efficacy beliefs on student engagement and the candidate Math teachers have the lowest. However, it was found out by Yılmaz &Bököoğlu (2008) on primary school teachers, by Kutluca and Ekici (2010) on candidate teachers perceptions on computer assisted education, and by Aksu (2008) on candidate classroom, Science and preschool teachers that there are no significant differences according to the programs the candidate teachers are enrolled in terms of their self-efficacy beliefs. The differences seen as a result of the studies can be inferred as related to the candidate teachers faculty, the instructor, and the experiences they had. It is thought that this can be understood more clearly when similar studies are done at different faculties of education in different parts of Turkey. In the present study, it was found out that the achievement goal orientations have significant differences according to genders and the grade levels. Girls are more oriented on mastery approach and mastery avoidance. When the literature is reviewed, it was found out that girls tend to be more oriented to mastery approach and mastery avoidance (Odacı et al., 2013). Küçükoğlu et al. (2010) found out that there is no significant difference in performance avoidance orientation in terms of gender, but in terms of both learning and performance avoidance orientations, there is a significant difference on behalf of female students. Odacı et al. (2013) found out in a study done with the students of psychological counseling and guidance that female students are more oriented to learning avoidance than the males, however, in mastery approach, performance approach, and performance avoidance, there is no difference according to the gender. According to the grade level, the 2 nd year students are more performance avoidance oriented than the 4 th graders. Küçükoğlu et al. (2010) found out that the candidate class teachers have no significant difference in terms of the grade variable on performance avoidance orientation, and in mastery and performance approach, there is a 222

229 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 difference between 1 st and the 4 th graders on behalf of the first graders. Odacı et al. (2013) found out that the first grade students of psychological counseling and guidance are more oriented on mastery approach than the 2 nd, 3 rd, and the 4 th graders, and the 2 nd graders more oriented on mastery avoidance than the 1 st, 3 rd, and the 4 th graders. This result that was gained in the study is surprising when it is thought that the 2 nd graders self- efficacy beliefs are higher than the 4 th graders. Although, according to the literature, it is expected that the individuals with more self-efficacy should internalize the mastery approach more, the 2 nd graders are more oriented to mastery avoidance. This might have happened because the 2 nd graders are afraid of doing mistakes more since they have less experience compared with the 4 th graders. However, it will be useful to search the result in detail in following studies. It was found out in the study that the achievement goal orientations significantly differ according to the departments. However, Arslan (2011) found out that the candidate science, Social Studies and the classroom teachers achievement goal orientations do not differ according to the departments they attend. The candidate Social Studies and the Turkish teachers are more oriented to mastery approach. In the study, it was found out that the candidate Social and the Turkish teachers have higher professional self-efficacy beliefs. When they are evaluated in this aspect, the findings support each other. Candidate Science teachers were found out to be more oriented to mastery avoidance. This might be because the candidate teachers thought on science s being Math based and so it will be difficult to teach the subjects and reach the targets, and thus their being afraid of being unsuccessful. Moreover, the student engagement self-efficacy belief of the candidate Science teachers is lower than the other departments and in other subscales; it is lower than the candidate Social Studies and Turkish teachers. It was found out that the mastery avoidance oriented candidate teachers have a middle level positive relation with professional self-efficacy beliefs level perceptions. Besides, it was found out that the mastery approach orientation is an important predictor of student engagement, instructional strategies, classroom management, and total professional selfefficacy beliefs. Odacı et al. (2013) found out that the self-efficacy beliefs of the psychological counseling and guidance students and their mastery approach orientations have a positive significant relation. Similarly, Hsieh et al. (2007), Gerhardt & Brown (2006), and Akın (2008b) studied on university students and they found out that there is a positive significant relation between mastery approach orientation and self-efficacy beliefs. Christodoulidis found out that the mastery oriented teachers have higher levels of selfefficacy beliefs and internal motivation (Gorozidis & Papaioannou, 2011). Learners having high levels of self-efficacy beliefs cause them to internalize the goal orientation faster. That is, when learners are aware of what they can do, this helps them to be more enthusiastic on the mastery goal, to be motivated to reach that goal, to show high performance; and it lowers the possibility of their avoiding the performance they need to reach that goal, ignoring having responsibilities, and showing low levels of performance (performance avoidance orientation) (Hsieh et al., 2008). Another result of the present study is that, the candidate teachers with the orientation of mastery avoidance have low level relations with the student engagement self-efficacy beliefs, and have no relation with the instructional strategies self-efficacy beliefs. Moreover, performance avoidance goal orientation is an important predictor of instructional strategies, classroom management, and total professional self-efficacy beliefs, while it has a opposite way relation with self-efficacy beliefs, and this is also one of the results of the present study. Odacı et al. (2013) also found out that there is not a significant relation between mastery avoidance orientation and self-efficacy beliefs. Akın (2008b) found a low level negative -223-

230 The Relationship between the Achievement N. Ozkal, V. Yildiz Demirtas, H. K. Sucuoglu &C.O. Guzeller relation between mastery avoidance orientation and self-efficacy beliefs. Since the learners with mastery avoidance are perfectionists, they avoid making mistakes. And because of the stress and worry of making mistakes (Elliot & Trash, 2001), their perceptions on their selfefficacy beliefs are low. It was found out in the present study that the candidate teachers with performance approach do not have a relation in their professional self-efficacy beliefs. While there is no relation in student engagement and classroom management self-efficacy beliefs with the performance avoidance oriented teachers, there is a negative self-efficacy beliefs on instructional strategies. Akın (2008b) found out that there is an opposite way middle level relation between self-efficacy and performance approach, and again an opposite way but low level relation between self-efficacy and performance avoidance. Performance avoidance and performance approach goals are motivated through the fear failure. Since it is connected to a high level of failure fear and a low level of efficacy expectation, performance avoidance goals cause individuals to focus more on the possibility of being unsuccessful (Darnon et al., 2007). The ones with performance approach orientations wish to have the approval of others, and compete with others, not themselves. Their motivation levels fall when they face a difficult or failure. The individuals with performance avoidance orientation tend to give the least possible effort in order to avoid negative evaluations and their belief in their own capabilities is low. Therefore, it was not surprising to find out that the candidate teachers with performance avoidance orientation have a negative way significant relation with the instructional strategies that require effort. References Açıkgöz, K.Ü. (2012). Effective Learning and teaching, İstanbul: Biliş Press. Akay, H. & Boz, N. (2011). Investigation of the relationship between elementary teacher candidates attitudes towards mathematics, mathematics self-efficacy and teacher self-efficacy beliefs, Journal of Turkish Educational Sciences, 9(2), Akbaş, A. & Çelikkaleli, Ö. (2006). The ınvestigation of the preservice elementary teachers science ınstruction self-efficacy beliefs according to their gender, type of education, and universities, Mersin University Journal of the Faculty of Education, 2(1), Akkoyunlu, B., Orhan, F. & Umay, A. (2005) A study on developing teacher self efficacy scale for computer teachers, Hacettepe University the Journal of Education, 29,1-8. Akın, A. (2006). 2X2 Achievement goal orientation scale, Sakarya University the Journal of Education, 12, Akın, A. (2008a). Self-compassion and achievement goals: A structural equation modeling approach, Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, 31, Akın, A. (2008b). Self efficacy, achievement goals and depression, anxiety and stress: A structural equation modelling, World Applied Sciences Journal, 3(5), Aksu, H. (2008). Examining prospective primary school teachers' self-efficacy beliefs toward mathematics teaching, Abant İzzet Baysal University Journal of the Faculty of Education, 8(2), Akkuzu, N. & Akçay, A. (2012). Examination of the self-efficacy beliefs of prospective chemistry teachers in terms of different variables, Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 12(3), Ames, C. (1992). Goals, structures and student motivation, Journal of Educational Psychology, 84 (3),

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233 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Yılmaz, M., Gerçek, C., Köseoglu, P. & Soran, H.(2006). An analysis of the self -efficacy beliefs about computers of the biology student teachers in Hacettepe University. Hacettepe University Journal of Education, 30, Zimmerman, B. J. (2000). Self-Efficacy: An essential motive to learn, Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25,

234 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 4(1), pp , 1 April, 2014 Available online at The Views of Students and Teachers about using Fun-based Videos in English Language Teaching (ELT) Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Key words: fun-based videos, fun learning, language teaching, students views, teachers views Introduction Veli Batdi * Ministry of Education, Elazig, Turkey This study aims to determine teachers and students views about using fun-based videos in ELT. The research used both qualitative and quantitative methods. The survey method was used as a quantitative method. A sample of 50 teachers 27 female and 23 male was selected from 73 teachers working at Foreign Language High Schools and a sample of 300 students 140 female and 160 male was selected from 1,940 ninth and tenth grade students. The quantitative data was analyzed using the SPSS 15.0 Package Program. On the other hand, the study s qualitative method consisted of action research and the NVIVO-8 Program. It can be concluded from the research findings that fun-based videos are effective in increasing motivation and attention; facilitating recall of information; and creating a close interaction style which builds social support and makes for a more animate classroom environment. According to the results of the research, it can be suggested that, in their lessons, teachers should use fun-based videos more frequently and include them in the English language learning program. Funny materials are good sources of activities for foreign language instruction. They can be used with all kinds of students and for different instructional objectives or activities (Valdes, 1994). For many decades, they have been used, in the classroom, as pedagogical tools (González-Espada, 2003). Therefore, as Arkoudis (2003) pointed out, the use of fun in lessons is not a new method but an interesting method in teaching students at all levels of instruction (as cited in Askildson, 2005). It is a general idea that teachers of English play a crucial role in providing learners with the knowledge and skills they need (Uys et al., 2007). However, students learn better when they enjoy their work in the classroom and, consequently, become more successful (Berk, 2007). Hence, the important point is that, in order to maximize students language learning and enable them to acquire native-like competence appropriate circumstances should be created (Nel & Müller, 2010) and teachers should combine fun with the content of the lesson (Nicholls, 2002). In this respect, videos including fun and laughter are useful and increase their understanding of the content area (Whisonant, 1998). It is recognized that the resulting laughter has many physiological effects such as reducing anxiety and stress; and increasing motivation which can help learning (Russell, 2007; Shmakov & Hannula, 2009; Deiter, 2000; Prensky, 2001; Smidl, 2006; Loomans & Kolberg, 2000). Consequently, if students feel relaxed, they are more likely to acquire items easily and, if they are motivated, they will learn diligently. Dr., Cumhuriyet Anatolian High School, [email protected]

235 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 There were many studies interested in thinking about how to redesign the present style of the learning environment; attract students, and make learning enjoyable for them (Chen et al., 2009). This is because language learners are in need of learning the target language with additional learning efforts and materials (Plessis & Louw, 2008). With this aim, nowadays, funny materials are used more widely as educational resources in the teaching and learning system (Tiemensma, 2009; Toh, 2009). It is noticed that, when the lesson s tasks prove to be enjoyable and challenging, students expend more effort and concentration (Chik, 2005; Colwell, 1981; Hutchinson, 1949; Scott & Ytreberg, 1990). Moreover, enjoyable classroom activities encourage the students to be critical and divergent in their thinking (Whisonant, 1998; Shmakov & Hannula, 2009; Loomans & Kolberg, 2000). In an attempt to make English language more appealing to students, funny videos introduce different kinds of activities that can be applied during the English language lessons and which mean that they are useful semiotic resources for developing instructional presentations (Herbst et al., 2010). On the one hand, there is a theoretical part in which students can watch real-life presentations (Thanajaro, 2000; Çakır, 2006); discuss issues; brainstorm a variety of ideas; and share different experiences. On the other hand, there is a practical part which requires students to work individually, in pairs or in groups (Decker, 2007), in order to solve puzzles and play educational and purposeful games. Mercer s (2000) claims that peer interactions improved problem-solving and enhanced individual progress (as cited in Cameron et al., 2008, p. 6) should be expressed exactly at this point. Therefore, funny videos, which present such activities to the English classes, have significant impact on students. Additionally, as Merilyn (1993) stated, materials including games, stories and plays are one of the best ways to improve students creativity (as cited in Alaba, 2007, p. 916). With such materials in hand, both teachers and students can enjoy presenting and practising grammatical rules or any of the four well- known skills. There are a host of good reasons for using a fun-based video in the classroom. To begin with Zettersten s (1986) expression using fun videos shows real language in real situations (Zettersten, 1986; as cited in Köksal, 2004, p. 62); it increases students confidence (Csabay, 2006) due to the fact they can work at their own pace and it gives them a feeling of being aware of their environment. This gives them, also, the feeling of being able to control the learning process. Klasky (1979) claimed that motivation was always a challenge and educators tried numerous materials to meet this challenge. Alternatively, fun videos, because of comic and interesting content, are one of the most effective materials which make students concentrate on what is being taught. Doff (1988) said that such interesting and charming subjects could catch the students attention easily. With regards to this expression, Cleese said, He who laughs most, learns best." (Grove, 2008). All of these ideas show that fun tools make learning in the classroom more interesting (Tatalovic, 2009; Schmidt, 1994). Also, with the use of fun as a tool in teaching English, the students do not realize that they are learning English which Larsen-Freeman (1986) called Peripheral Learning. This kind of learning works better since students are unaware of their learning and they think they have only to enjoy and laugh. Besides, in the lesson, videos, including fun, evoke students to respond enthusiastically (Brown, 2009). Also, it encourages active student involvement in the learning process in three important ways: firstly, by eliciting oral responses; secondly, by stimulating active listening; and, thirdly, by eliminating student passivity. Hutchinson (1949), Weitkamp and Burnet (2007, as cited in Tatalovic, 2009, p. 8) recommended that the English language classroom would become more interactive hopefully as students came to be more active and productive by means of an enjoyable learning atmosphere. In addition, Lovorn (2008) underlined the importance of fun as one of the benefits of transforming classrooms into warm and inviting learning environments. Moreover, if, genuinely, students enjoy their lessons, -229-

236 The Views of Students and Teachers about V. Batdi teachers will see more proficient (Broner & Tarone, 2001) and skilful students with better attendance and enthusiasm in continuing to study English (Brown, 1994). Alongside these benefits, funny videos include, also, series of actions like a film which, especially for two reasons, result in high achievement. Firstly, as MacGregor (2007) stated, they increase the students curiosity because of the included interesting events and, secondly, they make students watch and follow the video carefully to grasp the clues which will help to complete the activities. In short, with this kind of education tool, students engage in the class and acquire the content unconsciously without paying very careful attention which is, also, a motivating factor for them. A learning environment, which is full of joy, is an alternative way to creating easily friendly and non-threatening conditions (Çelik, 2004). In such a warm atmosphere, students seem more comfortable and interact actively (Shatz & LoSchiavo, 2005). In this relaxed state of consciousness, the brain resembles a sponge which is able to absorb every kind of information (Selman, 2004) and, as a result, learning is facilitated in the comfortable and relaxed environment (Larsen-Freeman, 2000; Burden, 2000). Furthermore, Berk (2000) and Tamblyn (2003) asserted that fun was effective fruitfully in releasing anxiety, stress and tension. Berwald (1992) supported this idea and added that a funny atmosphere could animate not only the classroom environment but, also, could increase motivation toward learning and enhance acquisition (as cited in Punyanunt, 1997). This shows the impact of fun in overcoming the negative effects of factors which affect the learning of a second language. Here, we should recount Oxford s (1990) expression that when students were encouraged to use effective strategies like lowering anxiety memory strategies would become more effective (as cited in Köksal, 2004, p. 64). That is to say, when students overcome their anxiety with the help of fun videos, they can recall the information easily. Freshman et al. (2002) stated that students, who were exposed to a fun-based videos lesson, adapted more easily to the process than students who were not exposed to such humorous content in their studies (as cited in Meers, 2009, p. 662). This is because fun-based learning aims to achieve high quality education (Greishaber, 2008). Comic tools can be successful in combining cognitive skills with the psychomotor domain because of the integration of auditory, kinaesthetic (Wright & Sherman, 1999; as cited in González-Espada, 2003, p. 60) and visual learning varieties (Khoii & Forouzesh, 2010). Sroufe and Wunsch (1972) supported this idea by adding that laughter was a significant link in a person s cognitive and emotional growth (as cited in Smidl, 2006, p. 46). The result is that comic videos, which make students laugh, address both students audiovisual and kinaesthetic intelligence. In a language class, fun-based videos are not only for fun and laughter. There are methodological reasons for teachers to use them. With such materials added to the learning process, it is easier to remember and recall the content. Csabay claimed that comic tools helped students to acquire vocabulary, grammatical and communicative competence and stimulated them (2006) to be more highly motivated which was an important factor in learning (Yule, 1996). That is to say, as Davis (1997) stated, it is the teacher s job to get students to laugh. Because, when their mouths are open, it is not difficult to give them something to eat (acquire knowledge) (as cited in Carter, 2005, p. 14). These all necessitate teachers to use, in their classrooms, fun-based videos as basic educational-instructional resources. In short, fun-based videos can be modified to suit various classroom contexts and student levels and as teaching and learning devices, they are worthy of attention. That s why it is aimed to review all useful aspects of fun-based videos in the learning environment according to the views of teachers and students in this study. At this point it is planned to commentate the views considering gender, teaching experience and school type

237 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 The Purpose of the Research The purpose of this research was to determine teachers and students views with regard to using fun-based videos in ELT. With this aim, the following questions were sought to be answered: In terms of gender and school type, is there a significant difference statistically between the views of ninth and tenth grade students studying at Foreign Language High Schools, with regard to using fun-based videos in ELT? In terms of gender and teaching experience, is there a significant difference statistically between the views of English teachers with regard to using fun-based videos in ELT? Method In terms of qualitative data for the research, what are the views of teachers and students with regard to the effect of fun-based videos on the students academic achievement; affective domain; social development; psychological aspect and learning environment? Research Population and Sampling The research population consisted of 1,940 ninth and tenth grade students studying at Foreign Language High Schools entitled Science, Anatolian, Anatolian Teacher Training and Anatolian Technical and Vocational High Schools. These are public high schools in Elazığ- Turkey in which students have the right to study following success in the Ministry of Education exam. From the 73 English teachers working at these schools, the research sample included 50 teachers, 27 of whom were female and 23 male; also, it consisted of 300 students who agreed to answer the questions contained in the data collection tool in the four different types of schools mentioned above. 160 of these students were male and 140 female, chosen using a random sampling method. As it was thought that ninth and tenth grade students were likely to be more interested in, and desirous of learning foreign languages, the research was applied to this age group. Moreover, since in these schools there were more English lessons provided, a variety of activities were necessary in order to stop lessons becoming boring. On the other hand, eleventh and twelfth grade students were not motivated enough by Turkey s university entrance examinations that decide which department they will attend after the examination as there are not any questions related to English. Therefore, they are not very interested in foreign languages. With regard to this situation, using fun-based videos in English lessons can be effective on students motivation levels in language learning. As far as sampling was concerned, maximum variation sampling which aims to create a relatively small sample and to reflect the diversity of individuals who are part to the problems studied in this research was made use of. Patton (1987) emphasized the two important advantages of this kind of sampling. One of them is that every situation related to the sampling can be defined specifically. The other is that it can be used to find out whether or not there is a common aspect among the different situations, and to clarify the significance of this situation (as cited in Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2008, p. 109). Based on the maximum variation sampling approach, 18 students of three different levels six good, six moderate and six lower from three different types of school were selected randomly in terms of their academic success. Moreover, for the purpose of collecting the qualitative data, 10 teachers -231-

238 The Views of Students and Teachers about V. Batdi from the 50 teacher-sample were selected randomly. In terms of the questions in the questionnaire, the aim was to examine the use of fun-based videos in ELT within the frame of sub-problems such as motivation, retention, communication and student psychology. The research was limited to ninth and tenth grade students studying at Foreign Language High Schools and to English teachers working during the academic year at such schools in Elazığ-Turkey. Research Method and Design This research used a mixed method involving both qualitative and quantitative methods (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004). In other words, triangulation was used. This means the combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches in the same study (Denzin, 2010). This approach was applied to the research in order to enhance confidence in the ensuing findings (Byrman, n.d.). Simultaneously, while a survey method was used for the quantitative aspect of the research, an action research method was used for the qualitative approach. In this regard, Yıldırım and Şimşek (2008) stated that there was flexibility in the action research method which allows researchers to study by themselves or with others in order to understand and solve the problems faced during the research process. In this context, the researcher being an English teacher, proved convenient for the data collection process. Simultaneously, within the quantitative dimension of the research, the Content Validity Index (CVI) - defined as the value which is significant at the level of = 0.05 and is obtained from the sum of Content Validity Ratio (CVR) average of the items to be taken to the final form - was determined, with a view to providing evidence of the validity of the questionnaire. That s why the technique developed by Lawshe (1975) was used in determining the Content Validity Ratios. First, the outline of the questionnaire form was presented to 14 experts who were deemed good in their field (from the Education Sciences Department: two associate professors, three assistant professors; English Language Teaching Department: an assistant professor; three Turkish teachers and five English teachers). Later on, as Yurdugül and Aşkar (2008) stated, each item was rated as "required", "useful, but insufficient" and "unnecessary" by the experts. In the light of their opinions, items were combined in a form and the CVR and the CVI were calculated for each item. The CVI values related to the sub-problems of Motivation; Retention; Psychological Effect and Communication were 0.93, 0.972, and respectively. The CVI items were seen to be higher than Hence, it can be said that the items were statistically meaningful. Moreover, the questionnaire s general CVI value was seen to be higher than the CVC (Content Validity Criterion) value [CVI > CVC (0.92>0.51)]. The CVI value was obtained in terms of the items showing a 0.05 significance level, and in terms of the total CVC means of the items (Yurdugül, 2005). As the CVI value (0.92) of items was higher than the CVC value (0.51) [(0.92>0.51) (CVI>CVC)], it can be stated that the content validity of the items in the questionnaire were statistically meaningful. Beside the quantitative data of the research, teachers and students were asked about the effect of fun-based videos related to the students academic achievement, affective domain, social development, psychological aspect and learning environment. The qualitative data was collected through interviews with both student and teachers, and were encoded by two encoders and the adjustment values (Cohen Kappa) were calculated. Dawson-Saunders and Trapp Robert (1994) pointed out that the Kappa value is used to test the agreement between two encoders rating the same object. The Kappa coefficient takes values in the range 0 to 1 and, accordingly, outcomes can be defined as follows: from 0.93 to 1: excellent, 0.81 to 0.92: very good, 0.61 to 0.80: Good, 0.41 to 0.60: moderate level, 0.21 to 0.40: below the medium -232-

239 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 and 0.01 to 0.20: poor adjustment (as cited Boyacıoğlu & Güneri, 2006, p. 81). Within the present study, Kappa values in terms of the teachers views related to the effect of fun-based videos on students academic achievement, affective domain, social development, psychological aspect and learning environment are respectively identified as follows: 0.63, 0.70, 0.75, 0.61 and On the other hand, Kappa values in terms of the students views related to the same sub-themes are respectively determined as follows: 0.76, 0.60, 0.64, 0.77 and These values show that a good level of adjustment values concerning the themes was obtained. Collecting and Analyzing the Data A NVIVO-8 program was used to model the qualitative data. In analyzing the data, the views of both researchers were taken into consideration. The participants were coded as P4-M T or P8-M S including Participator and Number- Gender Teacher/Student information. Moreover the model used T (Teacher) and S (Student) codes to indicate the participation frequency of teachers and students. Throughout the research, teachers and students were asked for their views with regard to using fun-based videos in ELT. A questionnaire which the researcher developed after a review of the literature with the help of Education Science experts views was used for collecting the data. There were 30 items in the questionnaire, 21 of which were Likert type, five open-ended and four related to the teachers and students personal information. An SPSS 15.0 Package program was used to analyze the collected data. The research used, in particular, frequency (f), percentage (%) and chi square (x2) values. The collected data was evaluated in terms of gender, school type and teaching experience. Findings Findings related to the Quantitative Aspect of the Research The study s findings relate to the examination of using fun-based videos in ELT within the frame of sub-problems such as motivation; retention; communication and student psychology concerning teachers and students views in terms of gender; type of school; and teaching experience. Table 1. Distribution of the items about motivation in terms of students gender and school type and teachers gender and teaching experience. Variables S T U D E N T S T E A C H E R S Motivation Gender variable School types Gender variable Teaching Experience The lesson with fun-based videos; X 2 P X 2 P X 2 P X 2 P 1.focuses students concentration and encourages * learning 2. promotes deeper learning generates students interest in class * increases awareness of other cultures by teaching * *.01 appropriateness and suitability * p<0,05 df:2 df:1 In Table 1, students views are examined in relation to the first item questioning fun-based videos effect on students learning concentration and courage and the fourth item including its -233-

240 The Views of Students and Teachers about V. Batdi effects on the awareness of other cultures. Consequently, it was found that there was a significant difference, in those items, in terms of the school type variable (first item: x 2 = 34.65; fourth item: x 2 = 29.35, df = 2, p<0.05) related to motivation. Moreover, the difference was seen to be in favour of Anatolian High Schools (Sequentially: 87.3%, 61.8%). These results showed that Anatolian High School students agreed with the relevant item more than the others. On the other hand, when teachers views related to the items The lesson with funbased videos generates students interest in class and it increases awareness of other cultures by teaching appropriateness and suitability were examined in the table, it was seen that there was a significant difference in favour of teachers having 1-5 years of service (x 2 = 4.13, x 2 = 6.35, df = 1, p<0,05). This means that the relevant items were adopted more by the teachers with 1-5 years of service than by the others. Table 2. Distribution of the items about retention in terms of students gender and school type and teachers gender and teaching experience. Variables S T U D E N T S T E A C H E R S Retention Gender variable School types Gender variable Teaching Experience The lesson with fun-based videos; X 2 P X 2 P X 2 P X 2 P 1. improves information recall * creates memorable visual images strengthens audiovisual stimuli by activating students background information 4. provides audiovisual perceptions and generates prediction 5. establishes auditory, visual and mental links that helps improve students longterm memory * * * * * * p<0,05 df:2 df:1 In Table 2, there seems to be significant difference statistically in terms of school type variable in the above mentioned third item (x 2 = 26.34, sd = 2, p<0,05). It is understood that this significant difference was in favour of Anatolian High School (%72.5). In other words, it can be said that, more than the other school types, the Anatolian High School students agreed with the relevant item. Moreover, in the table, it is seen that there are, also, significant differences in the fourth and fifth items questioning the audiovisual fun-based aspect of the lesson with and its helping students to improve long-term memory and, again, in terms of school type (x 2 = 27.54, x 2 = 31.23, sd = 2, p<0.05). These results show that students, in Anatolian High Schools, adopted those items more than the other students (%73.5, %88.2). On the other hand, according to the teachers views, it is stated clearly that there was a significant difference statistically in favour of female teachers (69.6%) in the item it provides audiovisual perceptions and generates prediction (x 2 = 5.26, sd = 1, p<0.05). This means that many more female teachers than male ones thought the lesson including fun-based videos with presenting audiovisual support was effective on students prediction and perceptions. Also, it is seen easily that there was significant difference in favour of the length of service variable with 77.8% and 66.7% respectively in relation to the items it improves information recall. and it strengthens audiovisual stimuli by activating students background information (x 2 = 7.95, x 2 = 5.94, df = 1, p<0,05). This result means that, more than the experienced groups, teachers with 6-10 years of service, agreed with the idea that, the lesson including fun-based videos improved information recall and strengthened audiovisual stimuli. Table 3. Distribution of the items about communication in terms of students gender and school type and teachers gender and teaching experience -234-

241 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Variables S T U D E N T S T E A C H E R S Communication Gender variable School types Gender variable Teaching Experience The lesson with fun-based videos; X 2 P X 2 P X 2 P X 2 P 1. diminishes rivalries and creates group cohesion * has effect on shy students interaction with others * builds a connection with students and teacher * stimulate the flow of ideas * help utilize the latest technology to facilitate language learning 6. increases oral comprehension and stimulate student interaction and communication with other classmates. 7. promotes cross-cultural awareness * p<0,05 df:2 df:2 When Table 3 is examined, it is understood that, in relation to communication in the first item (x 2 = 6.11, p<0,05, df = 2), there was a significant difference in favor of male students (55%). This result shows that many more male students agreed with the idea that the lesson with funbased videos diminished rivalries and created group cohesion. In addition, the most striking point is that there was, also, a significant difference statistically, in terms of school type in the second and third items, in favor of Anatolian High Schools. The percentages of these items were respectively as follows: 85.7% and %57.1%. Those percentages revealed that the related items were adopted more by Anatolian High School students. On the other hand, in the Table 6, according to the views of teachers, it is seen clearly that there was no significant difference in terms of gender or the length of service variable in any item. Table 4. Distribution of the items about psychological effect in terms of students gender and school type and teachers gender and teaching experience Variables S T U D E N T S T E A C H E R S Psychological Effect Gender variable School types Gender variable Teaching Experience The lesson with fun-based videos; X 2 P X 2 P X 2 P X 2 P 1. increases student active participation * boosts students self-confidence * establishes a friendly atmosphere in class * hinders negative classroom atmosphere * * lowers anxiety and tension * * p<0,05 df:2 df:2 In Table 4, the most striking point is that there was a significant difference in school types. In all items, this significant difference was seen in favor of Anatolian High Schools. The percentages of the items were respectively as follows: 80.4%, 65.7%, 74.5%, 70.5%, and 70.6%. These statistical results mean that the items were adopted more by Anatolian High School students. Moreover, in the fourth item questioning the reduction of a negative classroom atmosphere, there was a significant difference statistically in favor of female teachers (73.9%). This means that many more female than male teachers agreed with the idea that the lesson with fun-based videos hinders a negative classroom atmosphere. Findings related to the qualitative aspect of the research This section presents the findings related to the views of teachers and students about the effect of fun-based videos on academic achievement, affective domain, social development, psychological aspect and learning environment

242 The Views of Students and Teachers about V. Batdi In Figure 1, it is seen that fun-based videos were very effective on students academic achievement. Views towards this sub-problem were as follows: the lesson with fun-based videos develops vocabulary span and critical thinking; improves grammatical structures; promotes latent learning; and increases motivation. While, in the research, the participant 7M T stated that fun-based videos promoted critical thinking and provide long-term learning and participant 5M T emphasized that with audiovisual elements, information recall is easier. Related to the same sub-problem, participant 9F S stated that such applications facilitate transforming knowledge into practice, 10M S said that speaking skills are developed especially with oral fluency and, finally, 17M S stated that As fun-based videos include visuality, they promote long-term learning. Moreover, the participants ideas related to the effect of fun-based videos on affective domain comprised that these videos improved positive attitudes toward learning; encouraged students to speak English; stopped lessons being boring and made learning enjoyable. One of those ideas was proposed by 7M T when he said that positive attitudes toward learning are improved while 3M T said those videos increase students learning needs. Finally, 6M S added fun-based videos are like positive reinforcement. When examining the social sub-problem of the qualitative aspect of the research, it is seen that the participants ideas included helping shy students participate actively in the class; making students both laugh and learn; increasing student-teacher rapport; and promoting individual and group working. On this point, 4F S said that shy students participate more actively in the class ; 2M S suggested that Learning can be more effective as students both laugh and learn with such materials ; and, lastly, 1F T stated that Such videos incorporating visual quality develop imagination, facilitate information recall, focus students concentration and make them active in the class. On the sub-problem of Psychological aspect, ideas proposed were such as: fun-based videos create a friendly and enjoyable learning environment; lower anxiety and stress; hinder learning phobia; and decrease formality between student and teacher. Participants ideas, related to the same sub-problem, are illustrated in Figure 1. On this sub-problem, 5F S emphasized that I think comfortable and enjoyable atmosphere is created ; 2M T said that Funny videos lower anxiety and stress and 8F T added that I see fun-based ideas as positive reinforcement and I believe that, if one enjoys, he/she can comprehend faster

243 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Figure 1. The effect of fun-based videos on students achievement, affective domain, social development, psychological aspect and learning environment The research s other sub-problem was learning environment. On this sub-problem, the participants proposed that fun-based videos created comfortable, enjoyable, natural and multisensory learning environments and widened the range of classroom activities At this point, 4MT said that As fun-based videos are enjoyable, they can evoke students enthusiasm and interest and increase learning achievement and 13FS stated that the more senses are used in the learning environment, the more learning will become. After the application of fun-based videos, codes related to negative aspects of fun-based videos in English language teaching were obtained by analyzing the qualitative data obtained from teachers and students. Thus, six sub-themes were respectively identified as follows: time consuming activities, noisy environments, lack of fun-based videos relevant to each aspect of English, lack of focus on the courses and insufficiency of course duration. Concerning the related items, 9M S stated that some students ignored the lessons due to the noisy environment which resulted in a lack of motivation

244 The Views of Students and Teachers about V. Batdi Discussion and Conclusion The study tried to determine students and teachers views with regard to using funbased videos in learning a foreign language. The study examined six sub-problems and the resultant data was analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The first problem was to determine the effect of fun-based videos on motivation. With regard to the students and teachers views, some of the ideas that emerged were that fun-based videos focused students concentration and encouraged learning; increased desire to learn; increased the awareness of other cultures and other students interests. Moreover it was concluded that in terms of school type variable, the Anatolian High School students agreed more with the effect of fun-based videos on concentration and awareness. On the other hand, as far as the teachers were concerned, it was inferred that teachers having 1-5 years of service adopted the idea of fun-based videos increasing interest and awareness more than more experienced teachers. On this point, Parrott (1994) stated that, with fun learning, students were motivated better to learn. In fact, he emphasized fun-based videos positive effect on motivation (as cited in Wyk, 2011, p. 117). In this respect, it can be said that there is a close relationship between motivation and fun-based videos. In the study, the other problem was to determine the contribution of fun-based videos to retention. On this point, both teachers and students stated that fun videos generated prediction and improved information recall. This meant that fun-based videos increased retention levels. However, when the school type variable was taken into consideration, it emerged that the Anatolian High School students agreed more with the view that there were audiovisual and long-term memorable aspects of fun-based videos. Additionally, many more female teachers than male ones were seen to adopt fun-based videos effect on presenting audiovisual support. These results were supported by Musilova s (2010) statement that it was easy for students to remember something which was connected with pleasure or fun. Consequently, it is correct to say that there was a direct relationship between fun-based videos and retention. Communication was another problem examined in the study. Students stated that fun-based videos diminished rivalries and created group cohesion. Thus, communication developed between students. On the other hand, teachers emphasized that fun-based videos promoted cross-cultural awareness, and built a connection between the students and the teacher. Ayan (2009) stated that, in the class, fun and cheerfulness could cultivate friendships, and could create a close interaction style which builds social support. Hence, it can be concluded that, through fun-based videos, communication improves. The last problem addressed in the study was to see the effect of fun-based videos on students psychology. When teachers views were examined, female teachers in particular stated that in the lessons involving fun-based videos, students self-confidence increased, negative classroom atmosphere disappeared, and a friendly atmosphere emerged. Furthermore, the psychological effect of fun-based videos attracted great interest on the part of Anatolian High School students. In this respect, Aboudan (2009) stated that, in learning a language, wish and desire was necessary and, in order to make students feel that they wanted to learn the foreign language, the lesson should include funny content. Among the students ideas, the most striking point was that funny videos increased students active participation. Consequently, it is understood that fun-based videos can have a positive effect on students psychologies. As far as the findings of the qualitative data are concerned, it can be concluded from the academic sub-problem of the research that, with fun-based videos, meaningful and long-term -238-

245 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 learning could appear and information recall was facilitated. Consequently, students cognitive development progressed through the use of such videos. On this subject, many studies supported this result of the research (Lesser & Pearl, 2008; Greishaber, 2008). In addition, with regard to the affective domain sub-problem, it is understood that, with such applications, students interest and enthusiasm increased and, consequently, success was achieved more easily. Similar results were found in most of the studies on this topic (Berk, 2009; Ayan, 2009). From the participants views on the social sub-problem which creates communicative atmosphere, it can be inferred that fun applications increase student-teacher rapport, promote socialization, and help all students to participate actively in the learning process. Another sub-problem was the effect of fun-based videos on students psychology. The findings of qualitative aspect of the research indicated that the existing application created a friendly and enjoyable learning environment, lowered anxiety and stress, and broke down students prejudices towards a foreign language. In this context, it was found that the study results of Berk (2000) and Carter (2005) parallel this research. Moreover, the study examined the relationship between fun applications and the learning environment. The findings showed that natural, enjoyable and comfortable learning environments were created through such funbased materials and, consequently, the learning atmosphere became more vivid, and classroom activities became more various. On this point, Askildson s (2005) study related to this subject matter supported this research s result. Finally, some disadvantages of fun-based videos identified by the research findings could be expressed as time-consuming activities, noisy environment, lack of fun-based videos relevant to each aspect of English, lack of focus on the courses, and insufficiency of course duration. From the above results some suggestions can be made. These are: Fun-based videos should be included in ELT instruction since they make students focus their attention quickly. Using fun-based videos should be increased in order to generate student interest and increase the level of motivation. Fun-based videos should be used systematically, with the aim of promoting effective learning, especially while learning difficult aspects of language. Teachers should benefit from fun-based videos since they stimulate students imagination and creativity. Teachers should choose fun-based videos as language learning activities because they develop such communicative competencies as student-teacher rapport, peer interaction, and the exchange of views. Fun-based videos should be used more frequently in ELT classes because of their ability to increase students self-confidence, encourage active participation and reduce negative atmosphere in the classroom. Anatolian High school students were recognized to be in favour of fun-based videos more than the other students as a result of research findings. The reason of this favour can be attributed to these students being chosen for Anatolian High schools after high school entrance exam. In other words, is can be correct to say that their levels of awareness about English learning are higher. However, it can be recommended to -239-

246 The Views of Students and Teachers about V. Batdi References other researchers to seek for the question of why Anatolian High School students are in favour of fun-based videos more than the other students. Aboudan, R. (2009). Laugh and learn: Humour and learning a second language. International Journal of Arts and Sciences, 3(3), Alaba, S. O. (2007). The use of educational cartoons and comics in enhancing creativity in primary school pupils in Ile-ife, Osun State, Nigeria. Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 3(10), Askildson, L. (2005). Effects of humour in the language classroom: humor as a pedagogical tool in theory and practice. Arizona Working Papers in SLAT, 12, Ayan, S. (2009). How humour makes you friendlier, sexier. Scientific American Mind, March 25, 1-7. Berk, R. A. (1996). Student ratings of 10 strategies for using humour in college teaching. Journal of Excellence in College Teaching, 7(3), Berk, R. A. (2000). Does humor in course tests reduce anxiety and improve performance? College Teaching, 48(4), Berk, R. A. (2009). Multimedia teaching with video clips: TV, movies, YouTube, and mtvu in the college classroom. International Journal of Technology in Teaching and Learning, 5(1), Boyacıoğlu, H. & Güneri, P. (2006). Sağlık Araştırmalarında Kullanılan Temel İstatistik Yöntemler. [Basic Statistical Methods Used in Health Research]. Journal of Hacettepe Dentistry Faculty, 30(3), Broner, M. A. & Tarone, E. E. (2001). Is it fun? Language play in a fifth-grade spanish immersion classroom. The Modern Language Journal, 8, Brown, H. D. (1994). Teaching by principles. USA: Prentice Hall Regents. Brown, M. (2009. Learning can be fun: Combining low-tech teaching methods with high-tech e-learning to promote critical reflection, Proceedings of the M-2009, International Council for Distance Education (ICDE) Conference, Maastricht: Holland. 7-10th June. Bryman, A. (n.d.). Triangulation. Unpublished manuscript. Retrieved 29 November 2013 from Burden, P. R. (2000). Powerful classroom management strategies: Motivating students to learn. California: Corwin Press. Büyüköztürk, Ş., Kılıç-Çakmak, E., Akgün, E., Karadeniz, Ş. & Demirel, F. (2006). Bilimsel araştırma yöntemleri. [Scientific research methods]. Ankara: Pegem A Publication. Çakır, İ. (2006). The use of video as an audiovisual material in foreign language teaching classroom. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology-TOJET, 5(4), Cameron, E. L., Kennedy, K. M. & Cameron, C. A. (2008). Let me show you a trick! : A Toddler s use of humor to explore, interpret, and negotiate her familial environment during a day in the life. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 23(1), Carter, K. (2005). Educating your mind using your funny bone. Staffordshire: Re-Solv Company. Çelik, M. (2004. Humour: what can it do for tertiary? Hacettepe University Education Faculty Journal, 27, Chen, J. H., Wang, T. H., Chang, W. C., Chao, L. R. & Shih, T. K. (2009). Developing an interactive video game-based learning environment. Journal of Software, 4(2),

247 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Chik, M. P. Y. (2005). Humor and reading motivation in Hong Kong elementary school children. Department of Education Studies: Hong Kong. Unpublished manuscript. Retrieved October 19, 2012, from Colwell, C. G. (1981). Humor as a motivational and remedial technique. Journal of Reading, 24(6), Csabay, N. (2006). Using comic strips in language classes. English Teaching Forum Magazine, 1, Decker, E. (2007). Q. what s funny about teaching? A. not enough! Arguing for a comic pedagogy. Educational Insights, 11(3), Deiter, R. (2000). The use of humor as a teaching tool in the college classroom. NACTA Journal, June 2000, Denzin, N. K. (2010). Moments, mixed methods, and paradigm dialogs, Qualitative Inquiry, 16(6), Doff, A. (1988). Teach english: A training course for teachers: Trainer s handbook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. González-Espada, W. J. (2003). Integrating physical science and the graphic arts with scientifically accurate comic strips: Rationale, description, and implementation. Revista Electrónica de Enseñanza de Las Ciencias, 2(1), Greishaber, S. (2008). Fun, play-based education. Presentation at the social justice in early childhood 5 th annual conference. Commission for children and young people, Surry Hills, Sydney. Grove, G. (2008). Whimsical wisdom. AMS Conference, Orlando, FL. Herbst, P., Chazan, D., Chen, C. L., Chieu, V. M. & Weiss, M. (2010). Using comics-based representations of teaching and technology to bring practice to teacher education courses. ZDM The International Journal on Mathematics Education. Springer, Hutchinson, K. H. (1949). An experiment in the use of comics as instructional material. Journal of Educational Sociology, 23(4), Johnson, R. B. & Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2004). Mixed methods research: a research paradigm whose time has come. Educational Researcher, 33(7), Khoii, R. & Forouzesh, Z. (2010). Using comic strips with reading texts: Arewe making a mistake? Literacy Information and Computer Education Journal (LICEJ), 1(3), Klasky, C. (1979). Some funny business in your reading classes. International Reading Association Journal of Reading, 22(8), Köksal, D. (2004). To kill the blackboard? Technology in language teaching. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology-TOJET, 3(3), Larsen-Freeman, D. (1986). Techniques and principles in language teaching (1st ed.). USA: Oxford University Press. Larsen-Freeman, D. (2000). Techniques and principles in language teaching (2nd ed.). USA: Oxford University Press. Lawshe, C. H. (1975). A quantitative approach to content validity. Personnel Psychology, 28, Lesser, L. M. & Pearl, D. K. (2008). Functional fun in statistics teaching: Resources, research and recommendations. Journal of Statistics Education, 16(3), Loomans, D. & Kolberg K. (2000). The laughing classroom: Everyone s guide to teaching with humor and play. California: H J Kramer. Lovorn, M. G. (2008). Humour in the home and in the classroom: The benefits of laughing while we learn. Journal of Education and Human Development, 2(1), MacGregor, L. (2007). Looking at cultural difference in movie trailers. In K. Bradford-Watts (Ed.), JALT 2006 Conference Proceedings. Tokyo: JALT

248 The Views of Students and Teachers about V. Batdi Meers, W. (2009). The funny thing about mediation: A rationale for the use of humour in mediation. Cardozo J. of Conflict Resolution, 10, Musilova, L. (2010). Grammar games in ELT. (Unpublished bachelor thesis). University of Masaryk, Brno. Nel, N. & Müller, H. (2010). The impact of teachers limited English proficiency on English second language learners in South African schools. South African Journal of Education, 30, Nicholls, V. (2002). C est fantastique: Learn French with fun games. Early Years Educator (EYE), 3(9), Plessis, S. & Louw, B. (2008). Challenges to preschool teachers in learner s acquisition of English as Language of Learning and Teaching. South African Journal of Education, 28, Prensky, M. (2001). Fun, play and games: What makes games engaging? From Digital Game- Based Learning (McGraw-Hill, 2001), 1-5. Punyanunt, N. M. (1997). The effect of humor on perceptions of compliance-gaining in the classroom. (Unpublished master s thesis). Communication Studies, Texas. Schmidt, S. R. (1994). Effects of humor on sentence memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 20(4), Scott, W. A. & Ytreberg, L. H. (1990). Teaching english to children. London: Longman. Selman, V. (2004). Non-stop mega-fun learning. Journal of College Teaching & Learning, 1(5), Shatz, M. & LoSchiavo, F. (2005). Humor increases student participation in online courses. E-Journal of Online classroom. Magna Publications, 1-8. Shmakov, P. & Hannula, M. S. (2010). Humour as means to make mathematics enjoyable. Proceedings of CERME, 6, Smidl, S. L. (2006). Portraits of laughter in Kid ergarten children: The giggles and guffaws that support teaching, learning, and relationships. (Unpublished PhD thesis). State University, Virginia. Tamblyn, D. (2003). Laugh and learn: 95 ways to use humour for more effective teaching and training. New York: AMACOM books. Tatalovic, M. (2009). Science comics as tools for science education and communication: A brief, exploratory study. Journal of Science Communication, 8(4), Thanajaro, M. (2000). Using authentic materials to develop listening comprehension in the english as a second language classroom. (Unpublished PhD thesis). State University, Virginia. Tiemensma, L. (2009). Visual literacy: to comics or not to comics? Promoting literacy using comics. World library and information congress: 75th Ifla general conference and council Milan, Italy. Toh, T. L. (2009). Use of cartoons and comics to teach Algebra in mathematics classrooms. In Martin, D., Fitzpatrick, T., Hunting, R., Itter, D., Lenard, C., Mills, T., & Milne, L. (Eds.), Mathematics of Prime Importance: MAV Yearbook 2009, Melbourne: The Mathematical Association of Victoria. Uys, M., Walt, J., Berg, R. & Botha, S. (2007). English medium of instruction: a situation analysis. South African Journal of Education, 27(1), Valdes, G. M. (1994). The use of the comics in foreign language and ESOL instruction. Unpublished manuscript. Retrieved October 14, 2012 from Whisonant, R. D. (1998). The effects of humor on cognitive learning in a computer-based environment. (Unpublished PhD thesis). State University, Virginia

249 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Wyk, M. M. (2011). The use of cartoons as a teaching tool to enhance student learning in economics education. Journal of Social Science, 26(2), Yıldırım, A. & Şimşek, H. (2008). Sosyal bilimlerde nitel araştırma yöntemleri. [Qualitative methods in social sciences], (6th ed). Ankara: Seçkin Publication. Yule, G. (1996). The study of language (2nd ed). New York: Cambridge University Press. Yurdugül, H. & Aşkar, P. (2008). An investigation of the factorial structures of pupils attitude towards technology (PATT): A Turkish Sample. Elementary Education Online, 7(2), Yurdugül, H. (2005). Ölçek geliştirme çalışmalarında kapsam geçerliği için kapsam geçerlik indekslerinin kullanılması. [Using content validity index for content validity in scale development studies] XIV. National Education Sciences Congress, (28-30 September 2005), Pamukkale University: Denizli

250 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 4(1), pp , 1 April, 2014 Available online at Article history Received: The Use of Blogs in Learning English as a Foreign Language Received in revised form: Accepted: Selami Aydin * Balikesir University, Necatibey Education Faculty, ELT Department, Balikesir, Turkey Within the context of English as a foreign language (EFL), using blogs has emerged as a language learning tool. However, how teachers effectively incorporate blogs within the confines of an instructional framework and what the current research shows about using blogs as a learning tool remain unsolved issues. Thus, the current paper presents a review of the research on the use of blogs in EFL learning contexts. The study first introduces blogs and a theoretical framework for the use of blogs within the borders of the constructivist approach. Then, in accordance with the studies reviewed, the research is divided into the following five sections: effects on (1) the awareness of the target culture, (2) interaction and communication, (3) basic language skills, (4) learners motivation, perceptions and attitudes, and (5) autonomous learning. In conclusion, while the current literature reflects that using blogs is a valuable and effective technique that can be readily used in the context of EFL, more research is necessary. Finally, the paper ends with practical recommendations for EFL teachers and researchers. Key words: blogs; English as a foreign language; learning Introduction During recent years, using blogs has emerged as a language learning tool, and accordingly, this technique has come to constitute an important place within the context of EFL. On the other hand, there still remain unsolved issues as to how EFL teachers can effectively incorporate blogs into their teaching activities within their existing curricula and what the research shows about using blogs as an instructional strategy. Thus, the present paper reviews the current research on the use of blogs in EFL learning and presents practical recommendations for EFL teachers and researchers. However, before presenting a review of the studies on the effects of blogging on EFL learning, the term blog and some related concepts as well as the theoretical framework of blogging in accordance with the constructivist approach must be described and clarified. A blog is a site or online journal published on the World Wide Web (WWW) for discussion or informational purposes in a reverse chronological order (Blood, 2000; Dyrud et al., 2005; Kajder & Bull, 2004). Blogs that interactively allow their visitors to leave comments and messages (Mutum & Wang, 2010) consist of web-based journals that are easily linked and cross-linked in online communities (Goodwin-Jones, 2003) or discrete entries or posts that are created by single individuals, small groups or multiple authors. Blogs are themed around Associate Professor Dr. Balıkesir University, Necatibey Education Faculty, ELT Department, Balikesir, Turkey [email protected] Phone and Fax Numbers : (Phone), (Fax)

251 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 certain topics (Kajder & Bull, 2004), and they allow bloggers to create social relations with their readers (Gaudeul & Peroni, 2010), to use unrestricted time and place (Dyrud et al., 2005), and to give personal responses to articles (Jacobs, 2003). While most blogs are textual, a blog typically combines texts, images, videos and links to other blogs and focuses on specific areas such as art (artblogs), photographs (photoblogs), videos (videoblog or vblog), music (MP3blogs), audio (podcasts) or microblogs that feature very short posts. Blogs that are used as instructional resources or for educational purposes are referred to as edublogs. Though blogs are not directly intended for educational purposes and uses, they have drawn attention from EFL educators as they constitute a tool for creating journals without requiring any experience or knowledge about computer programming (Wu, 2006), and they serve as a learning tool with the context of learning a language learning (de Almeida Soares, 2008). As a final note, as of 17 November 2012, there are nearly 81 million Tumblr and 58 million WordPress blogs in existence worldwide. The use of blogs in EFL learning is mainly supported by the constructivist approach, as their use underscores learner interactions (Kern, 2006), learner-centered and constructivist environments, social interactions, and active and social learning (Ferdig, 2007). Accordingly, the constructivist approach emphasizes the cognitive development of the learner to the extent that it is influenced by society and culture (Driscoll, 2005; Vygotsky, 1978). As blogging helps learners to construct knowledge, which refers to the process of constructing meaning from past experiences, it serves as a valuable tool for developing ideas collaboratively with peers and teachers (Jones & Brader Araje, 2002). More specifically, with respect to EFL learning, learners can use their language knowledge in various situations, discuss their opinions with their peers, transfer their knowledge from one basic skill to another, and create a social learning environment that facilitates collaborative learning. Research on the use of blogs in EFL learning This section presents a review of the research, divided into five subsections, on the effects of the use of blogs in EFL learning. The first subsection reviews the studies on the effects of blogs on the awareness of the target culture, while the second one focuses on blog effects on interactions and communications in the target language. The third subsection presents the contributions of blogs to enhancing basic language skills, namely, listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, and the fourth subsection presents the research results on the effects of the use of blogs on EFL learner motivation and the learners perceptions of and attitudes towards the use of blogs. The last subsection focuses on the effects of blogging on autonomous learning, knowledge sharing knowledge, information exchange as well as on blogs as a learning space. Awareness of the target culture The use of blogs in language learning contributes to gaining cultural knowledge, provides opportunities to explore the target culture, and increases cultural awareness. Research shows that learners gain cultural knowledge via blogs (Hauck, 2007) and have opportunities to explore the target language and culture. For example, in a qualitative study, Lee (2009) reported the results of a telecollaborative project through which American and Spanish students created blogs for intercultural exchanges and, hence, suggested that the effective use of task-based instruction for interactive collaboration provides opportunities for exploring the target language and culture. In another example, Chapman (2008), who focused on tools such as message boards, comments, discussion lists, and blogs in BBC Learning -245-

252 The Use of Blogs in Learning English as a Foreign Language S. Aydin English, suggested that student-teacher centered blogging facilitates the exploration of language. With respect to enhancing the learner s awareness of the target culture, Lara and Lomicka (2008), based on their project in which learners participated as blog readers and writers as they examined learners progress, reactions and self expressions, reported that the project enhanced creativity, allowed experimenting with language, facilitated expression, and increased awareness of the target culture. Similarly, Jauregi and Bañados (2008) conducted a study using interactive tools to internationalize academic literacy regarding the Spanish culture and language. They concluded that the project positively affected motivation and learning outcomes regarding language context and cultural issues. Blogs also provide access to popular culture. In this context, Pasfield-Neofitou (2011) examined the use of computer-mediated communication by Australian university students who learned Japanese as a second language. The results of the study indicated that the use of blogs presented opportunities for language acquisition, communication with native speakers and access to popular culture and authentic materials. Accordingly, the current research demonstrates that the use of blogs enhances cultural interaction, competence, communication and exchanges. Lee s study (2012), which involved undergraduates who used blogs to develop their intercultural competence, found that blog tasks afford opportunities to reflect on cross-cultural issues and cultural exchanges with native informants. Similar findings were also reached by Hauck and Youngs (2008) as they reported on task design and learner interactions among native francophone students who participated in a masters' program in distance education at a university in synchronous and asynchronous online environments. They concluded that blogs are efficient in engaging learners in intercultural interactions. Regarding intercultural competence, Elola and Oskoz (2008) examined how intercultural competence is enhanced among Spanish and American students who used blogs as a mediating tool during a semester and found that blog interaction enhances both groups intercultural competencies. Finally, Lee (2011) examined asynchronous computer-mediated communication among American undergraduate students via the use of blogs and face-to-face interactions with native speakers in terms of autonomous learning and found that blogs afford learners the opportunity for independent learning and are beneficial for reflecting upon cross-cultural issues. Interaction and communication Research shows that the use of blogs plays an important role in developing interactions among students and between teachers and students in the target language. As Thorne and Payne (2005) noted, writing environments such as blogs and wikis enhance interactions and communicative practices among learners. Furthermore, as Hsu (2009) study confirmed, the use of blogs by pre-service EFL teachers not only increases their motivation, but it also enriches the discussions and interactions. Similarly, Miceli et al. (2010) shared the experience of integrating a class blog into an advanced Italian as a foreign language course and claimed that blogs played an important role in promoting interactions and developing class community. In addition, de Andrés Martínez (2012) discussed the design and management of an online learning space for a face-to-face undergraduate Spanish course using proprietary technology and suggests that blogs as learning spaces provide opportunities to complement traditional face-to-face courses; to enhance learner confidence, maximize progress, creativity and participation; to create a platform to discuss learner strategies; and to facilitate collaborative and social interactions. Finally, Trajtemberg and Yiakoumetti (2011) identified the interaction strategies among undergraduate EFL students regarding teacher- and -246-

253 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 student-initiated interactions and find that the use of blogs promotes self-expression, interaction, self-evaluation, and language progress. According to some research reports, blogging provides opportunities for communication in the target language. In a study that examined the use of a blog in an intermediate level Spanish as a foreign language class and its influences on learning (Armstrong & Retterer, 2008), it was found that blogging is a way to communicate in a foreign language. From a wider perspective, Hung (2010) examined the implementation of a video blog project in an ESP course and concludes that video blogs help learners to organize and reflect on their learning products; they provide opportunities for professional development, peer learning, visual representation, self-evaluation, technical enhancement, and relief from time constraints; and finally, they facilitate real-time communication. Moreover, based on a case study (Stickler & Hampel, 2010) that focused on two learners who participated in an intensive online intermediate level German course that involved blogs for reflective learning, an online language course was determined to combine different approaches to learning and teaching such as using language communicatively and focusing on form and language practice. In the last reviewed study, Warschauer and Liaw (2011) stated that emerging technologies, such as wikis and blogs, provide flexible means for developing language and literacy skills through collaboration and communication. Basic language skills Studies on the effects of blogging mainly focus on reading and writing skills and show that blogging enhances these skills. However, very few studies have been conducted with respect to the effects of blogging on speaking skills. In a general sense, Rasmussen (2011) described an undergraduate German-language course that aimed to improve students' language and critical thinking skills and concluded that blogging as a web-based e- learning tool enhances learners' language skills. However, learning German in this study was notably in the context of learning a native language. In addition, after providing brief information about blogs and their current uses, Ducate and Lomicka (2005) suggested some ideas such as writing weekly summaries, recording vocabulary, exploring hyperlinks, reading journals, describing pictures, exchanging blog addresses and posting on cultural topics as ways to improve reading and writing skills. Ducate and Lomicka (2008) subsequently reported on a year-long project in which students participated as blog readers and writers and found that blogging fosters ownership and creativity, allows learners to experiment with language, facilitates expression in a relaxed environment, and creates awareness of the target culture. Below, studies that focus on the effects of blogging on speaking, reading and writing skills are reviewed. Speaking skills A fairly limited number of studies on the effects of blogging on speaking skills show that blogs are effective tools for developing conceptualization brainstorming, articulation, monitoring, evaluating, self-presentation and information exchange skills; however, these studies show that blogging has no effects on improving learners fluency, accuracy, pronunciation, or language complexity. First, Sun (2009), in a study that presents findings on using blogs as a platform for language learners' speaking skills, noted that blogging develops skills conceptualization, brainstorming, articulation, monitoring, evaluating, self-presentation and information exchange skills. Next, Sun (2012) examined the effectiveness of an extensive speaking activity on speaking performance and how learners perceived gains in the activity -247-

254 The Use of Blogs in Learning English as a Foreign Language S. Aydin via voice blogs. The author, on the one hand, suggested that learners perceive gains in their speaking proficiency. On the other hand, the author emphasizes that no significant improvement was found regarding learners pronunciation, language complexity, fluency or accuracy. Moreover, Sindoni (2009) analyzed the rationale for the creation of multimedia texts in the EFL context and suggests that podcasts promote a learning experience and encourage peer learning. Last, Hsu et al. (2008) researched the use of audioblogs in English as a second language instruction and found that audioblogging improves learners oral performances and allows individualized oral feedback. Reading skills While the extant research indicates that the use of blogs enhances reading processes, causes positive perceptions of reading, encourages classroom discussions, and develops literacy and critical thinking skills, there is little evidence to support that blogs positively affect learners reading skills. To begin with, in an empirical study on online writing in K 12 classrooms designed to explore the nature of literary responses as communicated via weblogs, it was found that students learn more about the thinking and reading processes and, consequently, increase their level of engagement (West, 2008). In terms of perceptions, de Izquierdo and Reyes (2009) explored the effectiveness of blogs with respect to reading activity in a freshman EFL reading program at a university and find that blogs are very well perceived by most of the participants and that they are used effectively when compared to other new ways of learning in the traditional classroom. Blogs are effective for leading classroom discussions. As an example, Kahn (2007) noted that discussion-based instruction enhances learners achievements in reading skills and that using blogs is an effective technique for leading classroom discussions as students increase their achievement level. The current research indicates that blogging enhances literacy and critical thinking skills. Witte (2007), for instance, in a project entitled the Talkback Project, used blogs as an online discussion environment to involve eighth-grade students, parents and pre-service teachers and claimed that classroom blogging creates opportunities for learners to strengthen their digital fluency and their traditional literacy skills. Moreover, Gebhard et al. (2011) analyzed how a teacher uses systemic functional linguistics to design a blog-mediated writing curriculum to enhance second-grade EFL learners' literacy development and conclude that writing practices afford the learners an expanded audience and increased literacy activities. Furthermore, Johnson (2010), who explored the motivation for and content of young adult learners use of blogs for learning English language arts and literacy skills, find that blogging is beneficial way for students to use the course content information to enhance critical thinking and reading skills. In addition, it was determined that when learners collaborate, it deepens the learning experience and allows them to create and design their own online contributions. In terms of literature, Melin and Laun (2007) suggested that literary skills can be enhanced through the systematic integration of recent literature, blogs and multi-media materials. Similarly, Colwell et al. (2012) reported on a project focusing on pre-service teachers' perceptions and reactions when responding to children s and young adult literature using a Ning blog. They stated that the project facilitated literature responses in a teacher education course, while Webb (2007) claimed that using blogs for the teaching of poetry and commentary enhances learners critical thinking skills. There exists little evidence regarding the effects of blogs on reading tests. In this context, Tse et al. (2010) investigated the types of blogs used by students in a primary school in Hong Kong to assess the influence of blogging on standard tests of Chinese and English reading -248-

255 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 comprehension. They, too, find little evidence to support that using the Internet is related with high grades in either English or Chinese or with high scores on reading tests. In a qualitative study, Yang (2011) explored university students interpretations of shared space contributions to their multilateral exchange experience in a blogging context and report that the effectiveness and success of the multilateral English blogging project is relative to the course content being studied. Writing skills Studies that focus on using blogs to improve writing skills show that blogs can be easily integrated into a virtual EFL writing environment (Murray & Hourigan, 2008). For instance, Palombo s (2011), exploratory and design-based descriptive study revealed that sixth grade students blog experiences facilitated their writing process and improved their written products. Research also demonstrates that integrating blogs into portfolios or e- portfolios contributes to more effective writing, as noted by Klages and Clark (2009) in their study that integrates e-portfolios and blogs, whereas Godwin-Jones (2008) stated that using portfolios as a tool for practicing language skills has the ability to link to blogs. The research indicates that using blogs to enhance writing skills has considerable effects on EFL learners with respect to their writing performance, their ability to monitor writing, their attitudes towards and perceptions of writing, and their interactions and participation in writing projects. For example, Arslan and Şahin-Kızıl (2010) conducted a quasi-experimental study to examine the effects of blog-centered writing on intermediate learners performance and found that blog-integrated writing instruction improved learners writing performances. Similarly, Sun (2010a) compared learners writing performance to determine the effects of extensive writing on writing abilities and conclude that blogs enhance overall writing performance, promote autonomous writing, and result in positive attitudes towards EFL writing. Regarding motivation and attitudes, Lou, Wu, Shih, and Tseng (2010), in a study conducted in a vocational high school in Taiwan, investigated the effects of integrating blogging into their curriculum on students compositions that were written in Chinese. The results of the study suggest that the use of blogs enhances motivation, improves compositional writing skills, results in positive attitudes towards blogging in Chinese language composition, and facilitates interactions between teachers and students. Rivens Mompean (2010) measured the pedagogical value added of such a blog for the development of written expression for the potential to transform blogging potential into a real activity for younger EFL learners. The results of their study demonstrated that the project was successful in improving motivation, participation and interaction in the writing process. Finally, Miyazoe and Anderson (2010) examined the effectiveness of forums, blogs, and wikis and conclude that students have positive perceptions of online writing. In addition to the aforementioned contributions of blogs to EFL learners overall writing, the findings of the further research reports demonstrated that using blogs to promote writing skills has significant effects on developing rhetorical strategies, improving grammar, designing paragraphs and essays, revising written works, giving and receiving feedback and participating in peer reviews. With respect to grammar, Castañeda (2011) examined the differences in levels of achievement regarding the preterite and imperfect aspects in the Spanish language between students who enrolled in video and photo blogs. The results of the study indicate that the students perform better when blogs are used as a learning strategy compared to the use of traditional technologies. In addition, Bloch (2007) examined the use of blogs in a second language writing course that focused on the controversies surrounding -249-

256 The Use of Blogs in Learning English as a Foreign Language S. Aydin plagiarism and found that blogging improves the development of rhetorical strategies. In the same study, however, it is noted that there is less evidence of students demonstrating grammatical control. Research shows that blogging enhances expository, narrative, persuasive and argumentative writing. For instance, Thorne and Reinhardt (2008) examined student-selected or -created digital vernacular texts originating in blogs and noted that blogs enable traditional forms of expository and narrative prose. In addition, as Godwin-Jones (2006) claimed, blogs encourage feedback and the articulation of ideas and opinions, offer opportunities for collaborative projects and debates, and lead learners to engage in developing skills of persuasion and argumentation. Furthermore, the use of blogs to enhance writing skills facilitates the revision of written materials, the giving and receiving of feedback, and the participation in peer-review activities. In a case study regarding the training effects of peer review on peer comments, on revision quality, and on learners perceptions of composing in weblogs as part of an EFL writing class, Liou and Peng (2009) found that freshmen make more revision-oriented peer comments and are more successful in revising their own compositions. Liou and Peng (2009) also stated that blogs constitute a suitable platform for providing opportunities for learners to interact in an EFL writing course. In another study, Lee (2010) required students to blog as an assignment to develop language competence and concludes that blog entries positively affect writing fluency and accuracy, motivation and peer feedback while also increasing the use of the target language. Similarly, Boas (2011) found that blogging activities provide opportunities for learners to engage in the writing process, including pre-writing, drafting, peer reviewing and revising. Moreover, in an experimental study, Ciftci and Kocoglu (2012) examined the effects of online peer feedback via blogs on Turkish EFL students' writing performance and perceptions. They suggest that students who used blogs for peer feedback demonstrate increased performance in their revised drafts. Similarly, Dippold (2009) examined the extent to which blogs can facilitate peer feedback in an advanced level German class and finds that blogs can be used effectively for peer feedback. Finally, the use of blogs has been found to facilitate academic writing. Gallagher (2010), for example, noted that the use of blogs in composition classes increases learners motivation to engage in academic writing. Shin (2009) explored the academic and social purposes of second-grade English language learners in an urban school with respect to their blog-oriented academic writing practices and the interrelations with their goals. The results indicate that learners incorporate blogging with their academic and social goals by drawing on linguistic features. Moreover, Duff, Spangenberg, Carter and Miller (2010) reported on the results of a project called Grammar Gang Blog. This project shared knowledge about the function of grammar in academic writing at the university level and finds that the project contributed to global interactive community building among students, staff and their institution. Last, Sun and Chang (2012) examined the effects of interactive and collaborative features of blogs on EFL learners academic writing knowledge and writer identity. They claim that blogs encourage active and reflective participation in learners generation and knowledge sharing and that they provide a space for purposeful writing. Motivation, perceptions, and attitudes From a broader perspective, research shows that the blogging context is a factor that affects bloggers affective states. For example, Subrahmanyam et al. (2009) examined the connection between adolescents' communications within blogs and their developmental processes, finding that adolescents who use blogs reflect off-line themes in their blogs

257 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Accordingly, they suggest that the learners online and off-line contents are interrelated in a psychological context. The research indicates that the use of blogs has considerable effects on learners levels of motivation. For instance, Shih (2010) explored the effects of blended teaching, that is, online and face-to-face instruction, and used blogging as an instructional strategy in English for specific purpose (ESP) course. They found that the model enhances learners satisfaction and motivation. Similarly, Istifci (2011), in a study that examined elementary school EFL learners opinions regarding weblogs as a distance education tool finds that weblogs enhance motivation. Finally, Stevens et al. (2008) reported the findings of an online project that involved key elements that are essential to collaboration in Web 2.0. They note that participating teachers from several different countries believed blogging enhances motivation. Blogging also positively affects the perceptions of and attitudes towards EFL learning. In terms of perceptions of language learning, Wu and Wu (2011) noted that university students perceptions regarding the use of blogs in EFL learning were positive. Similarly, Peters et al. (2009) examined five French language learners attitudes towards and perceptions of technological activities in the language classroom and note that traditional types of computerassisted activities, such as listening, grammar, and vocabulary exercises, are more appreciated when compared to newer types of activities, such as blogs and WebQuests. However, in a study that provided data about pre-service EFL teachers experiences using a blog as a platform to comment on peer s performance in the classroom, Ozkan (2011) stated that learners offered both positive and negative views with respect to blogging. Regarding attitudes towards language learning, Sun (2010b) examined the possibilities and challenges of integrating blogs into teacher training programs. After administering a blogging project to twelve students seeking a Master s degree, the author found that blogging encourages active engagement in knowledge sharing. The results of the study emphasized that blogging causes positive attitudes about student-teachers professional development. Additionally, Al-Fadda and Al-Yahya (2010) reported on graduate students experiments with blogs and demonstrate positive attitudes towards the use of blogs during pre-class preparation and post-class reflections. Autonomous learning and learning space This study has also focused on the use of blogs as an environment for autonomous learning and knowledge and information sharing as well as a learning space. Petersen et al. (2008) reported on their experience regarding a course in which learners were encouraged to travel to the target country. For this purpose, they introduced a mobile community blog to share knowledge, and they suggest that while a blog is not functional for connectedness, it is an ideal tool for knowledge sharing. In a paper that discussed the validity of the incorporation of online communication in an advanced-level Japanese as a foreign language classroom, Doerr and Sato (2011) concluded that there are different kinds of spaces created in blogs such as a language education environment where native speakers dominate non-native speakers and a place for the exchange of information. Regarding learning space, Absalom and De Saint Léger (2011) compared an online blog and a traditional pen-and-paper learning journal with respect to reflective tasks for enhancing learning and find that reflective tasks within blogs facilitate working habits and offer a space for the use of language. Moreover, Comas-Quinn et al. (2009) discussed the pedagogical challenges related to mobile blogs as language learning tools and claim that blogging provides a supportive environment for learners to engage creatively and to concentrate on their interests. Within the context of reflection, Yang (2009) -251-

258 The Use of Blogs in Learning English as a Foreign Language S. Aydin explored blogs as a reflective platform in EFL teacher training processes and found that the use of blogs creates a medium to provide critical reflection for teachers. In addition, Hajizadeh (2011) researched the potential for a blog to be a medium for reflecting on language learning among university students and suggests that blogs can be an effective tool for encouraging students to reflect on their learning. Last, Chen (2011) examined the reflective practices of integrating informational technology into the English curriculum of an EFL teacher and found that the college blog promotes autonomous learning, while Sykes et al. (2008) explored Web 2.0 technologies and social bookmarking in relation to collaborative content building and dissemination of information and stated that blogs are a medium that provides individualized self-expression. Conclusions and recommendations From this review of studies on the use of blogs in EFL learning, several conclusions can be drawn. First, blogging as a language learning strategy makes significant contributions to enhancing learners cultural knowledge and cultural awareness about the target society. In addition, the use of blogs enhances learners cultural interactions, competencies and exchanges. Second, blogging plays an important role in developing learners interactions and communications in the target language. Third, blogs are effective tools for developing speaking, reading and writing skills. However, with respect to speaking skills, while blogs are effective for developing skills related to conceptualization, brainstorming, articulation, monitoring, evaluating, self-presentation and information exchange, they have no effect on fluency, accuracy, language complexity, or pronunciation. Furthermore, the research indicates that the use of blogs enhances reading processes, results in positive perceptions of reading, encourages classroom discussions, and develops literacy and critical thinking skills. However, the use of blogs has little effect on learners reading test results. Blogging positively affects learners writing performance, their ability to monitor writing, their attitudes towards and perceptions of writing, and their interactions and participation in writing. More specifically, blogs are effective for developing rhetorical strategies, improving grammar skills, designing paragraphs and essays, revising written works, giving and receiving feedback and participating in peer review activities. The use of blogs also facilitates academic writing and enhances the sharing and exchanging of knowledge, provides a learning space for learners to interact, allows for reflection on learning, develops autonomous learning, and improves selfexpression. The use of blogs has also been found to considerably enhance learners motivation, to affect positively students perceptions of learning, and to result in positive attitudes towards learning. However, one study found that students have both negative and positive views regarding blogging. Finally, blogs have been found to enhance autonomous learning and knowledge and information sharing while also serving as a learning space for ELF learners. This paper offers several recommendations regarding the use blogs for language learning. First, teachers can initiate using blogs to increase cultural awareness, interactions, competencies and knowledge of their students. In this sense, as Lee (2011) claims, effective metacognitive and cognitive skills, well-designed tasks, and accessibility to the Internet are the main elements necessary to maximize the use of blogs for autonomous learning and intercultural communications. Second, foreign language teachers should also be aware of the role of blogging in interactions and communications in the target language, as Kim (2011) suggests that blogs can enhance students communication contexts. For this reason, as Larson et al. (2009) claim, learners spend much of their educational journeys using pen and paper in the classroom while also being exposed to information and communication technologies such -252-

259 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 as blogs and wikis. However, it is also obvious that pre- and in-service teacher training programs should include certain elements regarding how to use blogs as a tool to promote interactions and communications among students and between students and teachers, as suggested by Dippold (2009) who asserts that it is necessary to train teachers and students in the use of interactive online tools. In a narrower scope, as Miceli et al. (2010) suggest, teachers must be trained regarding the need to integrate blogs into their course content and structure and regarding their role in moderating blog interaction. Third, teachers should organize activities to develop EFL learners speaking, reading and writing skills. Accordingly, teachers should use blogs to develop learners speaking skills with respect to conceptualizing, brainstorming, articulating, monitoring, evaluating, self-presenting as well as in their ability to effectively exchange information. However, as the research results show that blogs have no effects on improving learners pronunciation, language complexity, fluency or accuracy, teachers should concentrate more on listening skills by using video, music and audioblogs to provide comprehensible input. Moreover, as Hourigan and Murray (2010) state, the use of blogs in the context of second and foreign language learning addresses some of the factors that should be considered by teachers such as skills related to integration, reflection and interpretation. In addition, they should introduce reading activities to develop learners literacy and critical thinking skills. However, it is recommended that teachers avoid blogs to test EFL learners reading skills because there is little evidence to support the effect of blogs on reading tests. Next, teachers should require that learners use blogs as a writing tool to develop their rhetorical strategies and grammar. They should use blogging to enhance paragraphing and essay design and to improve learners skills in revising their writing, in giving and receiving feedback, in participating in peer review activities and in improving their academic writing skills. In this sense, blog-based portfolios and online writing projects are ideal tools that to use for writing instruction, as Schaffhauser (2009) states that online collaborative tools can help teachers and students to collaborate on projects. In other words, teachers can create groups and guide their students as they prepare their projects and portfolios. Fourth, language teachers should use blogs to increase their students motivation level and enhance their perceptions of and attitudes toward foreign language learning as blogging provides students the opportunity to solve problems related to their affective states. Fifth, teachers should organize activities to enhance their students sharing and exchanging of knowledge, their autonomous learning and self-expression, and their use of blogs as a learning space. In conclusion, as Levy and Kennedy (2010) emphasize, foreign language teachers should revise and extend materials related to blogging while considering the current and recent technological developments. As a final point, as the utilization of blogs in the language classroom depends on the teacher s efforts (Arena, 2008), teachers should be trained on how to channel and integrate blogging into their instructional practices. Although Wang and Vazquez (2012) state that blogs have been one of the most studied Web 2.0 tools, Warschauer and Liaw (2010) emphasize that research on various emerging technologies is insufficient. As Teclehaimanot and Hickman (2011) state, a comprehensive understanding of how these technologies can best be utilized in education is still lacking. In other words, given that blogging has significant effects on and makes important contributions to language learning, much more research regarding the use of blogs is warranted considering the tremendous growth and wide use of emerging technologies around the world (Aydin, 2012). Moreover, research should specifically focus on the various uses of blogs in the context of EFL learning as Hourigan and Murray (2010) suggest that applications of expression tools in language learning contexts require further investigation. To conclude, it is evident that research will make it possible to test the current hypotheses, to develop approaches and strategies to help EFL learners (Eberhardt, 2007), and to train teachers in -253-

260 The Use of Blogs in Learning English as a Foreign Language S. Aydin using blogs when teaching EFL. Apart from these practical recommendations for teachers and researchers, the use of blogs in EFL learning can be evaluated from a constructivist perspective. It is evident that the results of the studies reviewed in this paper support the sociocultural theory, which emphasizes the importance of learner interaction (Kern, 2006). In other words, the use of blogs in EFL learning promotes not only social interaction and active and social learning but also knowledge construction within a learner-centered, constructivist environment, as posited by Ferdig (2007). In a socio-cultural framework, it is obvious that blogging constitutes a virtual environment for the cognitive development, which is influenced by society and culture, of EFL learners (Driscoll, 2005; Vygotsky, 1978). Most importantly, given that blogging contributes significantly to peer interaction in EFL learning, the research supports social construction as it allows for learning in both independent work scenarios and in peer and group work scenarios. References Absalom, M., & De Saint Léger, D. (2011). Reflecting on reflection Learner perceptions of diaries and blogs in tertiary language study. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 10(2), Al-Fadda, H., & Al-Yahya. M. (2010). Using web blogs as a tool to encourage pre-class reading, post-class reflections and collaboration in higher education.us-china Education Review, 7(7), Arena, C. (2008). Blogging in the language classroom: It doesn t simply happen. TESL- EJ, 11(4), 1 7. Armstrong, K., & Retterer, O. (2008). Blogging as L2 writing: A case study. AACE Journal, 16(3), Arslan, R. Ş., & Şahin-Kızıl, A. (2010). How can the use of blog software facilitate the writing process of English language learners? Computer Assisted Language Learning, 23(3), Aydın, S. (2012). A review of research on Facebook as an educational environment. Educational Technology Research and Development, 60(6), Bakar, N. A., & Ismail, K. (2009). Using Blogs to Encourage ESL Students to write constructively in English. AJTLHE: ASEAN Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 1(1), Bloch, J. (2007). Abdullah s blogging: A generation 1.5 student enters the blogosphere. Language Learning & Technology, 11(2), Blood, R. (2000). Weblogs: A history and perspective. Rebecca's Pocket, 7(9). Retrieved on November 17, 2012 from Boas, I. V. (2011). Process writing and the Internet: Blogs and Ning networks in the classroom. English Teaching Forum, 49(2), Castañeda, D. A. (2011). The effects of instruction enhanced by video/photo blogs and wikis on learning the distinctions of the Spanish preterite and imperfect. Foreign Language Annals, 44(4), Chapman, C. (2008). Emerging communities at BBC Learning English. TESL-EJ, 11(4). Retrieved on November 17, 2012 from Chen, J. S. (2011). A Critical reflection on integrating informational technology into EFL curriculum: An EFL teacher's inquiry. US-China Education Review, 1(4),

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266 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE) Vol. 4(1), pp , 1 April, 2014 Available online at Perceived Social Support from Family, Participation in Recreational Sport Activities, Leisure Negotiation and Life Satisfaction in University Students Article history Received: Received in revised form: Accepted: Key words: blogs; recreation, life satisfaction, leisure, leisure constraints, leisure negotiation strategies, perceived social support, perceived family support Introduction Evren Tercan * Sport Management Department, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey The aim of this study was to analyse the perceived support from family, participation in recreational sport activities, leisure negotiation and life satisfaction in university students. Population of the study consisted of 3625 students from Akdeniz University who were attending elective physical education lectures. Sample of the study was 468 individuals with a mean age of 20.90±2.20. The questionnaire used for data collection consisted of demographic information, information about participation in recreational activities, Measures of Perceived Social Support From Family, Leisure Negotiation Strategies Scale and Satisfaction with Life Scale. In statistical analyses, Mann Whitney-U Test, Spearman Correlation Analysis and Logistic Regression were used. Positive significant correlations were obtained between perceived social support from family, skill acquisition strategies, physical fitness strategies, leisure negotiation strategies total scores and life satisfaction. Meanwhile perceived social support from family did not have any contribution to duration or frequency of participation in recreational sport activities. Recommendations of future research in social support and leisure topics will be a comparison according to gender and including the variables of social support from friends and society. The benefits of regular physical activity was mentioned in the literature (Oliveira et al., 2011) and these findings stimulated the efforts in promoting physical activity of different institutions (Brown et al., 2001; Okun et al, 2003). In order to provide the effectiveness of these health encouraging endeavors, factors providing the acquisition of regular physical activity should be understood clearly (Silva et al., 2013). In some situations, individuals are observed to be confronted with leisure constraints which prevent them from participating in these activities sufficiently, decreasing the participation frequency, reducing the desire to participate in activities and decreasing the satisfaction level derived from these activities (Jackson & Henderson, 1995). Leisure constraints were classified in three groups by Crawford and Godbey (1987) as structural, intrapersonal and interpersonal. Structural factors were defined by Mannell and Kleiber (1997) as tangible factors constituted by external conditions, intrapersonal factors were defined by Crawford et al. (1991) as psychological Correspondence: Evren TERCAN, [email protected], Sport Management Department, Akdeniz University, Antalya, TURKEY

267 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 traits interacting with leisure preferences and interpersonal factors were defined by Crawford et al. (1991) as the result of interpersonal relationships desired for leisure participation (as cited in Beggs et al., 2005, p.143). According to another definition structural factors included financial problems, insufficiency of resources, subjects related to education and service quality, interpersonal factors included finding friends and partners, intrapersonal factors included psychological condition and perceptions for instance skills in participating a certain activity, physical fitness level, special interest, self-esteem and self-confidence (Alexandris & Carroll, 1997). Crawford et al (1991) ordered leisure constraints hierarchically which were categorized by Crawford and Godbey (1987) in three and stated that during the decision making process of the individual, constraints are experienced in a hierarchical level. Intrapersonal constraints were defined as the closest and strongest constraints meanwhile structural constraints were defined as farthest and consequently the weakest (Alexandris & Carroll, 1997). After 1990s the concept of leisure constraints gained a different direction, it was discussed that the non-participation of individuals in leisure activities was not always related with the constraints and that participating individuals were having as many constraints as individuals who avoided participating (Lee & Scott, 2009). Jackson et al. (1993) stated that constraints were effective in not only giving the decision of participating or non-participating, but also determining various behavioural results. These results are involvement, gaining expertise in activity and deriving satisfaction from the activity. But these results depend on the individual s skills in negotiating with constraints and developing negotiation strategies. In the most general sense, negotiation strategies were classified as cognitive strategies (for instance changing the leisure intention) and behavioural strategies (for instance time management and skill development). The proposal of constraint negotiation opened a new horizon in researches and the limitations of the bivariate decision making models between constraints and behavioural results of participating were removed (Alexandris et al., 2011; Carroll & Alexandris, 1997). Leisure constraints negotiation strategies were examined by Jackson and Rucks (1995) in high school students. In this study, students used time management strategies, learned new skills to participate in leisure activities, diverted their intention of participation to more accessible activities or to the activities where they can find friends to participate, increased their physical fitness, worked in order to join costly activities and investigated various resources of income. Hubbard and Mannell (2001) utilized these negotiation strategies in a scale and applied to the staff of four companies giving recreation services. In this study they used a questionnaire consisting of constraints, negotiation resources and motivation and tested four models of motivation, constraints, participation and negotiation. Constraints affected participation negatively but had a positive influence on the utilization of negotiation resources and strategies. In this situation it was found out that the negative effects of constraints were reduced. In a doctoral thesis study, some items of physical fitness were added into this scale, than the scale was adapted to recreational campus sports and was applied to university students (Elkins, 2004). This scale was later applied to university students by Beggs et al. (2005) and it was found out that most students have constraints in participating recreational sports, but this situation did not prevent their participation. The authors stated that it was important to know how students negotiated these constraints. In another study it was concluded that when individuals have confidence in utilizing negotiation resources, motivation and negotiation efforts increase and participation level goes up (Loucks-Atkinson & Mannell, 2007). In another study conducted to university students by Elkins et al. (2007), the leisure negotiation scale used by Beggs et al. (2005) was applied for recreational sports and the relationship between leisure negotiation strategies and leisure satisfaction was analysed. According to the findings leisure satisfaction was mostly influenced by strategies that have a social component. In this study, practicing a skill and having a feeling of accomplishment during participation came to the fore

268 Perceived Social Support from Family, Participation E. Tercan Individuals who make efforts in developing leisure negotiation strategies may also need social support from their environment. The concept of social support was defined in the study of Sarason et al. (1986) with the statements of being important in the eyes of others, being concerned, loved, respected and valued, receiving assistance when needed (as cited in Eldeleklioğlu, 2006, p.730). Social support is a widespread concept which is accepted to influence well-being of children and families positively and consists of social relationships which add value to recipient by providing tangible and interpersonal resources like guidance, access to information and services, sharing tasks and responsibilities, acquisition of skills (Lopez & Cooper, 2011). Cohen and Wills (1985) classified social support as: 1)Support to provide respect for the individual from the others, 2)Informational support that means guidance for problem solving, 3)Interpersonal relations that means spending enjoyable time and sharing activities with others, 4)Tangible support which means solving the problem by financial, time, material assistance (as cited in Eldeleklioğlu, 2006, p.730). In another classification made by Barrera (1986) objective and subjective support was mentioned. The first one is based on the perceived level of tangible assistance obtained actually from the other (for instance work, money, decision-making), the second is based on the perceived level of assistance that family and friends provide in a time of crisis (as cited in Iso-Aloha & Park, 1996, p.170). There are studies where the relationship between leisure physical activities and social support was examined and concluded that individuals perceiving to receive social support were more active than the others (Bamana et al., 2008; Silva et al., 2013). Among the body of research related with leisure, there are many studies with findings stating that the satisfaction derived from participating in leisure activities had positive correlation with life satisfaction or significantly contributing to life satisfaction (Adams et al., 2011; Brown & Frankel, 1993; Chen, 2001; Hawkins et al., 2004; Poulsen et al., 2007; Subaşı & Hayran, 2005; Sener et al., 2007; Yerlisu Lapa, 2012a). Life satisfaction is a concept which reflects the general satisfaction that an individual obtains from his/her life and defined by Diener et al. (1985) as the positive evaluation of an individual s life according to the criteria that he/she sets. In literature, life satisfaction was related with a wide variety of variables like personality traits, cognitive variables (control, self-esteem, optimism) and socioenvironmental factors (Bramson et al., 2002). In a study by Headey et al. (1991), leisure was defined as a life domain besides marriage, work, life standard, friendship and health and this led to studies analysing the relationship between leisure participation and life satisfaction (Baack, 1985; Brown & Frankel, 1993; Huang & Carleton, 2003; Nimrod, 2007; Rodriguez et al., 2008). There are studies revealing that individuals neglect physical activity and keep away from healthy life style during the transition period to university and in the course of university education (Bray & Born, 2004; Gomez-Lopez et al., 2010; Han et al, 2008; Sinclair et al., 2005). Among the reasons there are not only external factors like lack of social support, lack of time, but also internal factors like not seeing the benefit, feeling laziness and indifference or not feeling oneself suitable for these activities (Gomez-Lopez et al., 2010). As gaining healthy life style habits in the university environment is important for future life, it becomes crucial to overcome the constraints. Hence, this study is conducted to examine the perceived social support from the family to participate in recreational sport activities and overcoming constraints and to present the relationship between perceived family support, leisure negotiation strategies and life satisfaction

269 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Method The research is a descriptive, cross-sectional study. The model of the study is scanning where the aim is to describe a situation that was available in the past or is still available as it is (Şahin, 2013). Population and Sample Population of the study consisted of 3625 university students taking elective physical education lectures in Akdeniz University during educational period. Sample size was calculated by the formula n= Nt 2 pq / d 2 (N-1) + t 2 pq (Sümbüloğlu & Sümbüloğlu, 1995) which is the sample size method when the number of the population is known. In the formula t value for =0,05 was taken as 1.96 from the t table. The values of p (probability of occurrence) and q (probability of non-occurrence) were taken as 0.5 in order to give the highest sample size. d, Accepted level of deviation was taken as By this formula sample size was calculated as n=347. Simple random sampling method was used in order to provide that every subject has an equal probability for entering the sample (Karasar, 2003). According to any missing cases, 500 individuals were selected for the sample, 468 students returned the questionnaires back (rate of return = %96.6). Instrumentation Data collection tool of this study was a questionnaire consisting of 5 parts. In the first part demographic data, in the second part information about the participation in recreational activities were presented. In the third part, Satisfaction with Life Scale developed by Diener et al. (1985) and adapted to Turkish by Köker (1991) was used. The scale consisted of 5 items scored from 1 (Not expressing me at all) to 7 (Totally expressing me). Köker (1991) obtained 0.85 as a test re-test reliability coefficient, meanwhile in this study Cronbach s alpha was The fourth part of the data collection tool consisted of Leisure Negotiation Strategies Scale which was first developed by Hubbard and Mannell (2001), modified to recreational sports by Elkins (2004) validated by Beggs et al. (2005) and adapted to Turkish by Yerlisu Lapa (2012b). The scale consisted of 31 items of 5-point Likert type. There are 6 subdimensions: Time management, skill acquisition, interpersonal relations, intrapersonal validation, physical fitness and financial management. In the reliability analysis conducted by Yerlisu Lapa (2012b), Cronbach s alpha was found to be changing between and the goodness of fit indexes of confirmatory factor analysis were found to be confirming the model (GFI=0.85, AGFI=0.82, NFI=0.87, TLI=0.90, CFI=0.91, RMSA=0.072, SRMR=0.074). In the explanatory factor analysis, 4 of the 31 items were excluded as they loaded on more than one factor. The remaining 27 questions were distributed to 6 factors with an explained variance of %53.86 (Yerlisu Lapa, 2012b). In this study the Cronbach s alpha was found to be In the fifth part of the data collection tool Measures of Perceived Social Support from Family was used. The scale was developed by Procidano and Heller (1983) and adapted to Turkish by Eskin (1993). The scale was measuring the perception level of the satisfaction of the needs of the individual by his/her family. There was 20 items forming only one factor. Sum of the scores changed from In this study the Cronbach s alpha was found to be

270 Perceived Social Support from Family, Participation E. Tercan Statistical Analysis As statistical analysis, frequency distributions, descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U test, Spearmen s rho correlation and logistic regression analyses were conducted. The normality of the data was tested by Kolmogorov-Smirnov test with Lilliefors Significance Correction (Genceli, 2007) and it was found out that variables perceived social support from the family, leisure negotiation strategies and life satisfaction values were significant (p<0,05). Findings Demographic information of the sample was examined and according to the findings the participants had mean age 20.90±2.20, consisted of mostly men (58.5%), individuals who were born mostly in cities (84.4%) and perceiving their socio-economical level as good (44.9%) (Table1). Table 1: Demographic Data of Participants Frequency Percentage Gender Men Women Total Place of Birth City Town Village Total Perceived Socio-economical Level Very good Good Medium Poor Very poor Total Income Level 1000 TL and lower TL-2000 TL TL-3000 TL TL-4000 TL TL-5000 TL TL ve üzeri Missing 1.2 Total Participants were asked with whom they preferred to participate in recreational sport activities and they were let to mark more than one choice. Participating with friends was marked with highest frequency. Among 468 students that constituted the sample 91.0% marked this choice. Students were asked why they were participating in recreational sport activities and they were let to mark more than one choice. Among 468 students 75.4% marked It is enjoyable and 68.8% marked The desire to be together with friends (Table 2)

271 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Table 2: People That Participants Prefer to Participate in Recreational Sport Activities and Their Reasons to Participate I Participate Activities With Frequency of ticks % N I participate alone Friends Family Other I Participate Because It is enjoyable I want to be with friends I want to relax I want to get rid of stress I want to enter a new environment People around me motivate me I want to get rid of loneliness I want to be happy I want to learn new skills Participation levels of students in recreational sport activities were examined and it was found out that they mostly participated during 6-10 hours (%38.9); and 3-4 times (%40.2) a week. Participants preferred active participation in sport activities (%62.8) (Table 3). Table 3: Weekly Duration and Frequency of Recreational Sport Participation in University Students Frequency Percentage Weekly Duration of Participation 1-5 hours hours hours hours and over Total ,0 Weekly Frequency of Participation 1-2 times times times times and over Total Type of Participation Actively Passively Total In Table 4, mean scores that participants receive from the scales used in the study were demonstrated. From Satisfaction with Life Scale which was a 7-point Likert scale participants received 4.23±1.37, a score over the average. When leisure negotiation strategies scale was considered the highest mean was achieved from skill acquisition with 3.69±0.76 and physical fitness with 3.62±0.85. Perceived social support from the family scores had a mean of 11.93±

272 Perceived Social Support from Family, Participation E. Tercan Table 4: Mean Scores of Perceived Social Support From the Family, Leisure Negotiation Strategies and Life Satisfaction Perceived Social Support From Family Mean Standard Deviation Leisure Negotiation Strategies Time Management Skill Acquisition Interpersonal Relations Intrapersonal Validation Physical Fitness Financial Management General Total Satisfaction with Life When the correlation of perceived social support from family with leisure negotiation strategies and life satisfaction was considered, it was found out that the highest correlation of perceived social support form family was with skill acquisition subscale (r=0.203, p<0.001) which is followed by leisure negotiation strategies total scores (r=0.121, p<0.01). There was also a positive relationship between perceived social support and life satisfaction (r=0.261, p<0.001). Most of the leisure negotiation strategies scores had positive correlation with life satisfaction meanwhile the highest correlation was with physical fitness strategy (r=0.219, p<0.001) and leisure negotiation strategies total scores (r=0.202, p<0.001) (Table 5). Table 5: Correlation Coefficients between Perceived Social Support from Family, Life Satisfaction and Leisure Negotiation Strategies Perceived Social Support from Family Life Satisfaction Perceived Social Support from Family *** Leisure Negotiation Strategies Time Management Skill Acquisition 0.203*** 0.174** Interpersonal Relations Intrapersonal Validation ** Physical Fitness 0.175** 0.219*** Financial Management * Leisure Negotiation Strategies Total 0.121** 0.202** Life Satisfaction 0.261*** 1 *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001 In order to examine the influence of perceived social support from family on duration of recreational sport participation, students were divided into two groups as students participating 1-5 hours weekly and students participating over 5 hours weekly. Logistic regression analysis was applied and when the change in -2LL value was taken into consideration the predictor variable perceived social support was found to be not effective in model goodness of fit. Also according to Wald statistics the effect of predictor variable was found out to be insignificant (Table 6)

273 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 Table 6: The Effect of Perceived Social Support from Family on Duration of Recreational Sport Participation Variables in the Model B SE Wald df Sig Exp(B) Perceived Social Support De Constant (Model -2LL= , χ 2 =1.253, p=0.263) In order to examine the influence of perceived social support from family on frequency of recreational sport participation, students were divided into two groups as students participating 1-4 times weekly and students participating 5 times and over weekly. Logistic regression analysis was applied and when the change in -2LL value was taken into consideration the predictor variable perceived social support was found to be not effective in model goodness of fit. Also according to Wald statistics the effect of predictor variable was found out to be insignificant (Table 7). Table 7: The Effect of Perceived Social Support from Family on Frequency of Recreational Sport Participation Variables in the Model B SE Wald df Sig Exp(B) Perceived Social Support De Constant (Model -2LL= , χ 2 =1.077, p=0.299) Results and Discussion The aim of this study was to analyse the perceived support from family, participation in recreational sport activities, leisure negotiation and life satisfaction in university students. According to findings, students preferred to participate in recreational sport activities during 6-10 hours weekly (%38.9) and 3-4 times a week (%40.2). Participants also stated that they prefer active participation in recreational sport activities (%62.8). Participants received a mean of 4.23±1.37 from life satisfaction scale which is a seven-point Likert scale. This yields a life satisfaction over average. Among leisure negotiation strategies scores, the highest mean was obtained from skill acquisition strategy (3.69±0.76) which was followed by physical fitness strategy (3.62±0.85). In a study conducted to high school students, cognitive strategies (straining oneself, neglecting parents) and behavioural strategies (using time more efficient, taking courses) were mostly preferred strategies to overcome leisure constraints (Jackson & Rucks, 1995) and some of the strategies show similarities with skill acquisition strategy this present study. Samdahl and Jekubovich (1997) examined leisure negotiation in adults and found out that the strategies of sparing time for oneself, arrange the time according to others, sharing leisure time with others were preferred. Bu in this present study these strategies were preferred less than the other strategies. In a study conducted to park visitors financial management was found out to be the most used strategy (Stanis et al., 2009). In another study mentioning visitors making physical activities in parks, financial management was again the most used strategy meanwhile skill acquisition was the least preferred strategy (Stanis et al., 2010). In South Africa, high school students were examined and in overcoming inner constraints, modification of some features of activity according to one s interest or developing skills were not mentioned very often by students (Palen et al., 2010) and the results of these last mentioned studies are not showing any parallelism with this -267-

274 Perceived Social Support from Family, Participation E. Tercan current study. University students were examined according to leisure negotiation strategies used for campus recreational sport activities and time management strategy was the most important strategy for students and besides time management, students also had higher scores in skill acquisition strategy (Beggs et al., 2005). This finding is consistent with the findings in our study and shows that students can be willing to learn about the activities that they want to take place in. In another study dealing with campus recreational sport activities, university students were found out to be paying attention to interpersonal relations, physical fitness and skill acquisition strategy, respectively. It was also presented that the most important predictors of leisure satisfaction were negotiation strategies having a social component and providing a feeling of accomplishment during participation (Elkins et al., 2007). The findings about skill acquisition strategy in this present study and in the literature can be remarkable because the importance of motivation of learning and feeling of accomplishment in leisure satisfaction was also mentioned before by Pelletier et al. (1995). For Elkins et al. (2007), the strategies related with physical fitness can also have a connection with the feeling of accomplishment in physical activity so it may not be totally irrelevant with skill acquisition strategy. Mean score of perceived social support from family was obtained as 11.93± 4.57 in this present study. This mean may be considered as rather low because the same scale was applied to university students and a mean of 17.24±2.52 was obtained in a study in Turkey (Eldeleklioğlu, 2006). Perceived social support from family was found out to be having a positive and significant correlation with life satisfaction (r=0.261, p<0.001). In studies of social support, university students were not asked directly about their life satisfaction, but there are studies inquiring connections with related concepts like subjective well-being and autonomy support from others was found out to be effecting the satisfaction of psychological needs and the satisfaction of psychological needs influenced subjective well-being positively (Cihangir Çankaya, 2009). In another study, life satisfaction was added as a sub-scale in subjective well-being and the relationship with families had positive contribution to subjective well-being in university students (Cenkseven & Akbaş, 2007). In high school students perceived social support from family was found out to be contributing positively to life satisfaction (Edwards & Lopez, 2006). In a study conducted to employees, the emotional dimension of social support provided by the family had strong relationship with life satisfaction (Adams et al., 1996). Athletes in university teams stated that their families supplied them with emotional, informational, tangible support and esteem support which were expressed as beneficial by athletes (Thomson, 2010). In order to understand the relationship between perceived support from the family and leisure negotiation strategies, skill acquisition subscale was found out to have the highest score with perceived family support (r=0.203, p<0.001) which is followed by leisure negotiation strategies total scores (r=0.121, p<0.01). This result may show that getting a tangible and intangible support from the family can support the process of skill acquisition for university students. Among leisure negotiation strategies, physical fitness subscale had the highest correlation with life satisfaction (r=0.219, p<0.001) which was followed by leisure negotiation strategies total scores (r=0.202, p<0.001). This may suggest that the improvement in the physical fitness level of students changes positively the way they look at their lives as a whole. Another issue examined in this study was the contribution of perceived family support of students to the duration and frequency of their recreational sport participation. According to the results, no significant contribution of perceived family support in participation duration and frequency was detected. Meanwhile in literature conclusions were obtained in the opposite direction. In a study applied to girls in puberty, when it is analysed independently -268-

275 Mevlana International Journal of Education (MIJE), 4(1); , 1April, 2014 from perceived behavioural control and self- efficacy, it was found out that perceived family support prevented the reduction of physical activity levels (Dowda et al., 2007). In another study conducted to university students, the lack of social support from family and friends was perceived as a constraint for participating in physical activity (Gomez-Lopez et al., 2010). Although lack of social support from the families was ranking after physical effort, spending time, exercise environment for students, it still constituted a constraint against physical activity (Lovell et al., 2010). The time spent for physical activity and social support received from family, friends and society had strong relationship and social support was found to be important especially in maintaining the level of physical activity (Oliveira et al., 2011). For adults also, social support from family and friends were very important so women and men receiving social support were three times active as the others (Silva et al., 2013). In a study of women with children the perceived social support from family, friends and partners increased physical activity participation and weekly duration of participation differed according to socio-economic status (Brown et al., 2001). The utilized leisure negotiation strategies were defined as obtaining a new point of view for leisure participation rights, getting social support and fighting against strict working structures by women employees (Dixon, 2009). In an adult study, individuals were divided into clusters of stress, anxiety and depression risk taking into consideration of social support and coping. According to the results, the group having lower level of physical activity was at the same time the group living more stress and reaching social support the least (Wijndaele et al., 2007). As a result the findings in this study revealed that leisure negotiation strategies and life satisfaction of university students had a positive correlation. The adaptation of leisure negotiation strategies scale to Turkish culture was quite recent so the utilization of this scale will provide the literature with new results and comparisons. In the context of this study differences between genders were not inquired. But in literature when gender studies in topics of leisure constraints and leisure negotiation are examined, results concerning Turkish women and cross-cultural comparisons are expected to be contributory. This study could be applied to other samples like disabled individuals or elderly people. It is also suggested that besides perceived social support from family, support from friends and society could be inquired and related with leisure issues. The finding of positive correlation between perceived family support and life satisfaction is consistent with the literature meanwhile the non-significant results concerning family support and leisure participation are not consistent with the literature. A portion of this finding might be resulting from the fact that some students have university education in different cities than where their parents live and act independently. Although in this study the contribution of social support to participation in leisure activities was questioned, another important research area will be the contribution of leisure activities in getting social support and the benefits that individuals can derive from this social support. Identifying these facts may be an important step in developing future recommendations. References Adams, K. B., Leibbrandt, S., & Moon, H. (2011). A critical review of the literature on social and leisure activity and wellbeing in later life. Ageing and Society, 31 (4), doi: /s x Adams, G.A., King, L.A. & King, D.W. (1996). Relationships of job and family involvement, family social support and work-family conflict with job and life satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81 (4), Alexandris, K., Kouthouris, C., Funk, D. & Chatzigianni, E.(2008). Examining the relationships between leisure constraints, involvement and attitudinal loyalty among -269-

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