The aim of this study was to examine the direct and indirect relationship between student school absenteeism, personal factors (academic self- perception, attitudes towards teacher and school, goal valuation and motivation/self-regulation), family factors (parents' educational level and income), and academic achievement in structural equation model. Four hundred and twenty three high school students participated in the study. The findings revealed that student absenteeism was negatively related to academic self-perception, attitudes towards teacher and school, goal valuation, motivation/ self-regulation, and academic performance. Results also revealed that student absenteeism differed in respect to parents' educational level and income. Results from SEM analyses noticed that personal and family factors significantly predict previous and current student absenteeism. SEM analyses also revealed that previous student absenteeism significantly predict previous academic achievement. Finally, SEM analyses noticed that previous student absenteeism and previous academic achievement can predict current student absenteeism. Contribution and implications of these findings were discussed in detail
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The competitive advantages of knowledge-producing institutions are their wise, creative, enthusiastic, and excited academicians and their competences. Currently, questions come to the fore as to which variables affect the research performance of university-employed academicians, and what role does research performance have in the relationship of these variables with career satisfaction. In answer to these questions, this study hypothesizes that career competences (capital) will positively affect academic productivity and career satisfaction, and that academic productivity will have a mediator effect on the relationship between career competencies and individual career satisfaction, using the groundwork of the competence-based career theory conceptualized as intelligent career by Arthur, Claman, and DeFillippi. With the aim of empirically testing these hypotheses, as well as hypotheses that establish the sub-dimensions of these research questions, two field studies (including one pre-study) have been carried out on academicians working for universities in Turkey. The results reveal that career capital has significant effects on the research productivity of academicians and that research productivity has a mediator effect on the relationship between career capital and career satisfaction.
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Abdülkadir CİVAN, Ali COŞKUN
Abdülkadir CİVAN, Ali COŞKUN
The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of instruction in students' non-native language on the academic success of university students. To analyze this effect, we utilized the data from a Turkish university with many departments that offer the same bachelor degree programs both in English and in Turkish. All other aspects of the programs were assumed to be identical and students had very similar academic and socioeconomic backgrounds in both degree programs. Our analysis indicated that instruction in the non-native language affects negatively the academic success (i.e., semester point average) of students. This negative influence was higher in the first year but still existed by the fourth year. However, we found the opposite effect for the students with merit-based scholarships, who are arguably brighter and self-motivated. We should note that we were not measuring the benefits of English-medium instruction. Thus our results do not automatically imply that Englishmedium instruction is harmful to the students.
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This study aims at developing an assessment scale for identifying preschool children's communication skills, at distinguishing children with communication deficiencies and at comparing the communication skills of children with normal development (ND) and those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Participants were 427 children of up to 6 years of age with ND (45% female, 55% male) and 76 children from ages 1-6 years with ASD (25% female, 75% male. Exploratory factor analysis and principal component analysis were applied to maintain construct validity. The total loads of factors were between 65.32% (0-1 module) and 75.75% (4-5 module). The Cronbach's alpha internal consistency coefficient value was high for all the modules (?min = .93; ?max = .97). The items in all the modules are highly correlated to the total score of the module (rmin = .35; rmax = .91; p < .001), and the high/low groups of the items included in all the modules are distinctive (tn = -9.95; tmax = -52.67; p < .001). Results of the independent samples t-test applied to compare children with ND and children with ASD revealed the difference in the means of all the modules is significant (tmin = 6.30; p < .001). In conclusion, all the modules in the parent form are sufficiently reliable and valid; thus, the form can be used to distinguish children with ND from those with ASD in terms of their communication skills.
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The purpose of this study is to calculate the effect size, by running a meta-analysis, of the experimental studies carried out in Turkey between 2004 and 2014 that investigate the effect of learning styles on academic achievement, attitude, retention, and to define whether the academic achievement shows a significant difference in terms of learning styles model, experimental design and course type. For this purpose, a metaanalytical review method was employed to combine the outcome of the independent experimental studies. The studies included in this review were collected from CoHE National Thesis Archive (2015), ULAKBIM (2015), Google Academic (2015), ERIC (2015) and EBSCO (2015) databases. As a result of the searching process, 402 studies were assessed according to the inclusion criteria and 30 experimental studies were included in this study. Cohen's d coefficient was calculated for the effect size in this study. Because there was a high amount of heterogeneity (Q > x2, p < .05) among the effect sizes of the studies, the common effect size was calculated according to the random effect model. As a result of meta-analysis, it was determined that the instructional designs based on the learning styles model had a large effect on the academic achievement (d = 1.029), attitude (d = 1.113) and retention (d = 1.290). Moreover, the academic achievement did not show any significant difference according to learning style model, course type and experimental design.
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Sündüs YERDELEN, Adam MCCAFFREY, Robert M KLASSEN
Sündüs YERDELEN, Adam MCCAFFREY, Robert M KLASSEN
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This study aims to explore the role of school-based practicum in promoting pre-service English language teachers' professional development through the use of a longitudinal design in combination with qualitative methods. To achieve this aim, pre-service teachers were asked to successively reflect on video-recordings of their micro-lessons in their university-based methodology courses directly after delivering the micro-lessons and retrospectively after their practicum experience. The participants of this study were 13 pre-service English language teachers studying at a foundation university in Istanbul, Turkey. The same data collection methodology was adapted before and after the practicum to gain a deeper understanding of the learning stemming from school-based practicum. The data for the study came from pre- and post-self-evaluation reports as well as pre- and post-focus-group interviews that had been collected based on the pre-service teachers' video-recorded microteaching simulations. The findings indicate that pre-service teachers commented on the same pedagogical, psychological, and physical factors they had noticed regarding their micro-lesson before and after the practicum. However, some qualitative changes were detected in their views over time as they had become more learner-oriented and had developed a more reflective view of teaching following the practicum. These findings have implications for the impact of practicum for future teacher education programs.
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Linear factor analysis models used to examine constructs underlying the responses are not very suitable for dichotomous or polytomous response formats. The associated problems cannot be eliminated by polychoric or tetrachoric correlations in place of the Pearson correlation. Therefore, we considered parameters obtained from the NOHARM and FACTOR programs (which use parametric methods) and from the DETECT and DIMTEST programs (which use nonparametric methods) for different sample sizes of a real large dataset (50, 80, 100, 160, 200, 300, 500, 1000, 3000, 5000). A parallel analysis (PA) based on the tetrachoric correlation with the FACTOR program produced inconsistent results among the sampling sizes. However, the analyses based on the Pearson correlation could not adequately determine the dimension numbers. Although DETECT and NOHARM determined the multidimensionality at acceptable level for the 50 sample size, they yielded the most consistent results at sample sizes of 1000 and above.
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The purpose of this study was to examine the distribution of topics featured in illustrated storybooks that address preschool children. The sample of the current study included a total of 1,050 illustrated storybooks published in Turkish between 1980 and 2013. Books for pre-school children that incorporated the components of setting, attempt, and consequence were selected using the convenience sampling technique. The trends observed in children's books were examined from an educational perspective. Preschool curriculum reforms in Turkey were utilized in interpreting the trends observed in children's books. The results demonstrated that there had been a general increase in all topics between 1980 and 2013. Over the years, topics targeted in children's books have shifted from general, individual, and social topics to special topics due to educational reforms. Particularly in recent years, societal trends and the concepts and values parents wish their children to learn have resulted in a demand for and an increase in the number of books that target difficult topics and that teach values, character education, social skills training, morals, and religious topics. The number of books treating religious topics, character education, and moral education are estimated to continue to increase
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Arzu M. NURDOĞAN
Arzu M. NURDOĞAN
During the period under investigation (1825-1862), Egypt was a dominion of the Ottoman Empire and attracted the attention and interest of all European states that had been displaying their military and commercial superiority for a long time. In the nineteenth century, Egypt was not only destitute of schools, but had also entered a rapid modernization process since the reign of Mehmet Ali Pasha. This had created an extremely favourable environment for missionary activities in Egypt from the beginning of the nineteenth century. From its findings, this research will attempt to put forth that the missionary schools opened by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in fact reflected the encouragement of Egyptian Rulers to persons who wished to introduce European institutions. In this respect, the activities of the Protestant societies were not only important for improving the political, economic and commercial interests of England in the region, but also for creating an awareness in Egypt that the most important issues for protecting national existence were raising the level of education and providing cultural development.
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