ABSTRACT: Gender roles and perceptions of democratic values are common issues that provide insight into how the individual will live in the future. Therefore, it is important to determine the perspectives of teacher candidates about democratic values and gender roles. The general purpose of this study is to determine the relationships between preschool and classroom teacher candidates' perceptions of democratic value and their attitudes towards gender roles. In the research, correlational survey model, which is one of the general survey models, was used. The study group consisted of 349 teacher candidates. As a data collection tool, “The Democratic Values Scale of Teacher Candidates” which is developed by Selvi (2006) and “Teacher Candidates' Attitude Scale on Gender Roles” which is developed by Zeyneloğlu (2008) were used. Descriptive statistics such as arithmetic mean and standard deviation, t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis were used in the analysis of the data. According to the results of the research, it was observed that teacher candidates' perception of democratic value was high; and they had egalitarian attitudes towards gender roles. It was found that the pre-service teachers' perceptions of democratic value did not differ according to sex while their attitudes towards gender roles differed. It was determined that there was a moderate positive relationship between teacher candidates' perceptions of democratic value and their attitudes towards gender roles. Finally, in the study, it was concluded that teacher candidates' perceptions of democratic value predicted 36.6% of their attitudes towards gender roles along with gender.

Keywords: gender roles, democratic values, teacher candidates

DOI : 10.16986/HUJE.2020059308 [HTML]

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the current organizational type of Turkish universities using Competing Values Framework (CVF). This framework assesses the dominant organizational culture based on four culture types: Clan, adhocracy, market and hierarchy and identifies what needs to change in an organization’s culture. In the present study, semi-structured interviews were administered to 21 university academic staff members from four public universities. Interview questions were similar or the same with the ones in the instrument, OCAI developed based on the CVF. This method enabled us to gain a greater insight and created a new content dimension. The results show that the dominant organizational culture type is hierarchy followed by market culture. When the common aspects of hierarchy and market cultures are evaluated, it is concluded that the general cultural structure of state universities reflects the mechanical processes with a controlled structure rather than organic processes with an innovative environment.

Keywords: Organizational Culture, Competing Values Framework, Organizational Change, Turkish Universities, Academic Staff Members

DOI : 10.16986/HUJE.2021067517 [HTML]

In this study, we examined 6 Science Centers' (SC) social media efficiencies which established with the support of TUBITAK during the Covid-19 pandemic process. During the pandemic period, because the SCs were closed to visit, they became active on their social media accounts. Therefore, within the scope of the research, we have analyzed the posts made by the SCs through Facebook and Instagram and the interactions they have received as a result of these posts. We have given the BM1, BM2, BM3, BM4, BM5 and BM6 codes to the SCs that are the subject of the research, without considering any order. We used both qualitative and quantitative analysis methods in the research. Within the scope of qualitative analysis, we searched social media accounts via search engine Google and categorically analyzed all the posts of the SCs between January 1 - May 19, 2020. As of January 1, we accepted every 7-day period as a week and accordingly examined 20 weeks. This period includes 10 weeks before and after 10 March 2020, the date when the Covid-19 pandemic was first seen in Turkey. We categorized interactions as likes, comments and shares for Facebook and likes and comments for Instagram. As part of quantitative research, we used the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) developed to measure the effectiveness of similar units relatively. With this method, we analyzed the social media activities of SCs, which are accepted as an out-of-school learning environment, before and after Covid-19. We observed that efficiencies showed a significant change in relation to the pandemi according to the SC's sharing status.

Keywords: science center, Covid-19, out-of-school learning, social media, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)

DOI : 10.16986/HUJE.2020064805 [HTML]

This study investigated Turkish international graduate students’ motivational orientations to continue their education in relation to U.S. domestic graduate students and the role of motivational orientations in their decision to return to their home country. Data were collected via online surveys with graduate students in U.S. universities (n = 167). The Academic Motivation Scale (AMS, Vallerand at al., 1992) and Achievement Goal Questionnaire-Revised (AGQ- R, Elliot & Murayama, 2008), which are commonly used measures of motivation, were used in this study. In the analysis of the data, independent sample t-tests and one-way ANOVAs were performed. Findings revealed that Turkish graduate students less frequently experience intrinsic motivation and performance-approach motivation, and being undecided about returning to one’s home country is associated with increased levels of performance-avoidance motivation.

Keywords: motivation, Turkish graduate students, U.S. domestic students, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, approach/avoidance motivation

DOI : 10.16986/HUJE.2020063850 [HTML]

Teaching Turkish as a foreign language (TFL) has recently gained popularity because of various reasons such as migration, education, etc. Studies investigating Turkish offer a different perspective to foreign language teaching. This study sets out to investigate code-switching functions of teacher talk in TFL classrooms and to compare in-class practices with teachers’ perceptions. Within the scope of the study, English as the code-switched language was investigated. Data were collected by using semi-structured observation, audio recording, transcription of recordings, and by interviewing four teachers. Findings of this study showed that introducing a lexical item was the most frequently used function, followed by confirming, answering a question, giving instructions. The findings indicated that teachers code-switched to English mostly for educational purposes, and partly for conversational purposes. Educational purposes were mostly observed at word level, whereas conversational code-switching was mainly exemplified at sentence level. Finally, the findings showed that classroom practices and teacher perceptions mostly aligned with one another. Teachers regarded English as an ally for TFL teaching at certain points on condition that it is kept at minimum level.

Keywords: Code-switching, Functions of Code-switching, Teacher Talk, Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language, Teacher Perceptions

DOI : 10.16986/HUJE.2020062999 [HTML]

School tracking has been a structural characteristic of education systems for many years. School tracking is generally implemented at the high school level, where students are divided into academic and vocational education groups. It is important to examine the effects of school tracking because the effect of tracking may vary between education types. The present study examines the effects of tracking on VET in Turkey over the past decade. For this purpose, the socioeconomic characteristics of all students tracked into VET high schools over the past ten years were compared with those placed in other types of high schools. This method aimed to determine the effects of tracking on the academic achievement of the VET students. Student population data at 12th grade between 2010 and 2019 is analyzed in study. The predictive power of secondary school achievement and socioeconomic status is examined with multiple regression analysis. The results indicated that VET high school students from all socioeconomic backgrounds have been in a disadvantaged position for the past decade. The research identified that the education level of fathers caused the greatest disadvantage for VET high school students, compared with their peers studying in other high schools. As the percentage of students placed in different schools increased by tracking, the prediction power of students’ early academic performance and socioeconomic levels on academic achievement also increased. Considering the socioeconomic disadvantage of VET students, this result indicates that when the level of tracking increases, inequality also increases. The results show that the disadvantage caused by tracking in VET has continued at a similar level over the last decade, and that this disadvantage has grown in the years when the scale of tracking increases.

Keywords: Vocational education and training, school tracking, socioeconomic characteristics, academic achievement, inequality

DOI : 10.16986/HUJE.2021068158 [HTML]

Although research studies have demonstrated that children with ASD display impairments in their motor imitation skills, understanding underlying factors that can influence the imitation problems of children is complicated. Neuropsychological model, one of the current theoretical models, proposes that the visual attention of children with ASD directed towards people’s motor actions may negatively affect these children’s imitation performance. This study has been carried out based on this hypothesis to evaluate the differences of visual attention patterns of children with ASD and typically developing (TD) children via the use of eye tracking technology. A total of 84 young children aged between 18-36 months participated in the study, in that, 40 of them in the ASD group, and 44 of them in the TD group. Results of the study showed that children with ASD displayed significant differences in their eye tracking patterns when compared to TD children. Fındings of the study indicated that the TD children were significantly looked more at the Face area and Movement area and there was no significant difference on the Movement area. Findings also suggested that TD children directed their visual attention first to Movement area, second to Face area and lastly to Outside area, whereas children with ASD directed their visual attention respectively to Outside area, Face area and the Movement area. Research findings were discussed, and suggestions for future research were provided.

Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorders, eye tracking, motor imitation, visual attention.

DOI : 10.16986/HUJE.2020059525 [HTML]

This research aimed to examine the relationship between organizational power sources used by the school administrators and teachers’ work engagement. Having a relational survey model, the research was carried out with teachers working at public kindergarten, elementary, secondary and high schools located within the central districts of Kahramanmaraş province during the 2018-2019 academic year. The research sample held a total of 744 teachers who were selected by stratified sampling method. This research deployed two data collection tools: “Organizational Power Sources at Schools Scale” and “Work Engagement Scale”. Correlation analysis was employed in order to identify the relationship between organizational power sources and work engagement, and regression analysis to determine whether organizational power sources significantly predict work engagement. Research results revealed a positive and significant relationship between the legal power, reward power, expertise power and charisma power and teachers’ work engagement, but a negative and significant relationship with challenging power. Moreover, legal power, reward power, challenging power and charisma power were determined to be significant predictors of teachers' work engagement, and they explain approximately 14% of the total variance of the teachers’ work employment. Of all the organizational power sources, only legal power was determined to be the significant predictor of teachers’ work engagement.

Keywords: school administrator, organizational power sources, teachers, work engagement

DOI : 10.16986/HUJE.2020060127 [HTML]

The scope of this study is to improve the reading comprehension skills of a 3rd grade dyslexic student at elementary school and to determine if the improvement in reading and comprehension skills affect mathematical success. The study conducted through action research, one of the qualitative research designs, was carried out during the spring semester of the 2018-2019 academic year. The study was in progress for 12 weeks and fulfilled in approximately 90 course hours in 4 days a week. The texts used in the study were selected from Turkish textbooks of the Ministry of National Education. In order to improve the students reading and comprehension skills, Repetitive Reading, Eco Reading, Fernald Technique and Vocabulary Box strategies were utilized. The findings gathered before and after the application were analysed according to the Error Analysis Inventory and Reading Levels and Percentages tables. The results revealed that the students reading level in 1st and 2nd grades has increased from frustration level to instructional level. The comprehension level of the student has increased from frustration level to instructional level in the 1st grade texts; in the 2nd grade it has increased but still remained at frustration level.

Keywords: Dyslexia, reading comprehension, fluent reading techniques, mathematical success, action research

DOI : 10.16986/HUJE.2020060020 [HTML]

National and spiritual values are formed with the impact of change and continuity powers from past till today. Within this frame the purpose of research is to define the meanings attached to the concept of motherland with respect to change continuity. For this purpose first of all current approaches of students in relating to the concept of motherland has been revealed and then, in order to fulfill curriculum requirements, Root Turkish Inscriptions have been processed and student opinions have been obtained regarding how the concept of motherland could be at the period when the inscriptions were established. Research has been designed as per olgubilim that is based on qualitative paradigm. Study group was composed of 20 students attending 6th class of a rural junior school. Students have been selected with criterion case sampling. Data collection tools are open ended questionnaire form and unstructured discussion. Data have been analyzed as inductive and descriptive. While meanings attached to the concept of motherland by students with respect to today’s perspective were mainly Borders, internal security, and national integration, meanings they attached to the concept of motherland for the period when the inscriptions have been established were World and a geography with unspecified borders.

Keywords: Social Studies Teaching, Concept of Motherland, Meanings Attached by Students.

DOI : 10.16986/HUJE.2020064479 [HTML]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the comprehensibility of Turkish native speakers in spoken English. To this end, 16 preservice English teachers enrolled in the English Language Teaching programs of two state universities provided speech stimuli on three speaker tasks which were read aloud, picture description and responding to a real-life situation. The recordings collected were presented to 7 listeners with various first language backgrounds using a 9 point Likert type scale in order to find out about their perceived degree of ease or difficulty for each recording. Listeners were also requested to explain what made it easy or difficult to understand each speaker task. Findings of the study revealed that listeners with different first language backgrounds experienced considerable difficulty in understanding Turkish speakers of English. As for the factors that made it easier or harder for them to understand the speech samples, five main themes emerged which were understanding speech, speaking rate and fluency, foreign accent, bad or incorrect pronunciation and specific pronunciation errors. In addition to the main themes, three sub-themes were identified for pronunciation errors which were vowel and consonant errors, pause, intonation and stress errors, mispronounced words.

Keywords: Pronunciation, Comprehensibility, Intelligibility, Foreign Accent, Preservice English Teachers

DOI : 10.16986/HUJE.2020061180 [HTML]

This article presents results of the scientific research, aimed at in depth understanding of university faculty members’ experience of teaching and learning critical thinking (further - CT) in their study fields and professional life. Phenomenographic approach was employed. Seventeen faculty members, representing different universities, study programs, shared personal perception of the CT concept, ways of teaching it at university as well as learning how to teach it. This paper describes one part of the results, revealing faculty members’ perceptions of the CT concept. The data analysis revealed that CT is perceived in eight qualitatively different ways: as self-raising and self- improvement; as development of open relationship with environment; as decision making instrument; as learning to doubt and recheck knowledge; as learning to choose; as learning to raise questions and express thoughts; as a creative capacity; as attribute of civil, democratic society. Four types of interconnections among categories were detected: relational, result orientated, learning process directed and belonging to another phenomenon. Authentic testimonies invite for discussion what meaning CT has for individual, institution and society, how universities can contribute to nurturing CT. The conclusion is that university faculty members give different meaning to CT concept, but not different value. CT is equally valued as personal, interpersonal and social good.

Keywords: Phenomenography, university faculty members, critical thinking (CT), perception

DOI : 10.16986/HUJE.2020065347 [HTML]

In this mixed method research, the relationship between school principals' decision making styles and communication skills was examined. “Teacher Personal Information Form”, “Melbourne Decision Making Scale” “Communication Skills Scales of School Principals” were used. The quantitative study group consisted of 392 teachers working at pre-school, primary, secondary and high school levels and selected by “random sampling” method. In the qualitative dimension of the study, semi-structured interview form was used and 8 teachers were asked about decision making styles and communication skills of school principals and the data were analyzed with content and descriptive analysis methods. In the quantitative aspect, while the vigilance decision-making style of principals is highly perceived, the buck-passing, procrastination and hypervigilance decision-making styles are perceived at a very low level by teachers. The communication skills of principals are very high in general dimension, verbal communication, interaction, communication problems and body language sub dimensions. As a result of Correlation and Regression analyzes, there is a meaningful relationship between school principals' decision-making styles and communication skills and communication skills have impact on the decision-making styles at a high level. In the qualitative aspect, teachers who find the communication skills of school principals inadequate have also parallel views regarding the decision-making styles.

Keywords: Decision-making styles, Communication Skills, School principal

DOI : 10.16986/HUJE.2020058754 [HTML]

The aim of the current study was to investigate the mediating role of values between the relationship of mindfulness and psychological inflexibility. A total of 432 undergraduate students participated in the study. As data collection instruments, Acceptance and Action Questionnaire – II, Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, Valuing Questionnaire and demographic information form were used. The hypothesized model was tested by structural equation modeling. The results indicated that values played a mediator role in the relationship between mindfulness and psychological flexibility. The results were discussed in the light of the literature and further suggestions were provided.

Keywords: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Mindfulness, Psychological inflexibility, Values

DOI : 10.16986/HUJE.2020063171 [HTML]

The international system is going through a radical change process. While this process contributes to the welfare of humanity, it also brings its complex problems and uncertainties. The way to eliminate these problems and uncertainties is the ability to manage change for actors. In this context, countries have focused on solving their problems through soft power instead of hard power. Diplomatic activities have diversified in the fields of health, security, culture, tourism, sports, education and science. The aim of this study is to explain the concepts of education and science diplomacy and to examine the practices carried out by Turkey. In this context, it has been determined that the number of foreign representative offices, educational scholarships, exchange programs, cooperation projects, and the number of foreign students and lecturers have increased in Turkey. The studies prevail that Turkey’s multidimensional foreign policy approach also reflects in science and education field. Turkey has been conducting various tools in her science and education diplomacy that would increase Turkey’s soft power and diversify its position as an international actor in the international system.

Keywords: Diplomacy, education, science, Turkey, soft power

DOI : 10.16986/HUJE.2021072717 [HTML]