PRE-SERVICE TURKISH TEACHERS’ VIEWS ON WORKS OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE: FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEW
TÜRKÇE ÖĞRETMEN ADAYLARININ ÇOCUK EDEBİYATI ESERLERİNE YÖNELİK GÖRÜŞLERİ: ODAK GRUP GÖRÜŞMESİ

Author : Nazmi ARSLAN -& Elif KURT
Number of pages : 348-357

Abstract

Works written for children help them to complete their cognitive, social and language development. There are a number of factors that should be taken into account when bringing these works, which have significant effects on child development, to children. Teachers have central roles in this regard. Teachers should be a guide with respect to the form and content of works and their contribution to students. It is of utmost importance that pre-service teachers are competent in this sense when they graduate. The purpose of this study is to determine and evaluate pre-service Turkish teachers’ views on works of children's literature. This research based on qualitative method is a case study. Research data was collected through focus group interviews. The research sample is composed of eight fourth-grade pre-service teachers studying at the Department of Teacher Training in Turkish, Fatih Faculty of Education, Karadeniz Technical University, during the fall semester of 2016 - 2017 academic year. A semi-structured interview form developed by researchers was used as data collection tool in the study. Two focus group interviews were conducted with four students for each interview. Data obtained through these focus group interviews was analyzed by content analysis. As a result, pre-service teachers participating in of the research suggested 22 books of children's literature to middle school students. According to pre-service teachers, the most prominent point in the content features of books that middle school students should read is their appropriateness to students’ level. With respect to the format features of books, pre-service teachers mostly think that books should be colored and pictured. The most prominent opinion of pre-service teachers on the benefits of children's literary works is that books should give positive value judgment to students. All pre-service teachers who participated in the research reported negative opinions about the quality of children's literary works in Turkey.

Keywords

Children's literature, pre-service teachers, focus group interview, middle school students.

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