The Relationship between Effective Communication Skills and Verbal Intelligence Levels of Faculty of Sport Sciences Students

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between effective communication skills and verbal intelligence levels of Faculty of Sports Sciences students according to variables such as gender, department, age, academic grade point average (GPA), and way of taking the Effective Communication Skills (ECS) course. The correlational survey model was used in the research. The subjects were 230 volunteer university students, chosen by simple random sampling method. The Multiple Intelligence Areas Inventory and The Effective Communication Skills Scale were used. The result showed that there was a significant difference in favor of female students in terms of effective listening by gender. A significant difference was found in favor of the Recreation Department in terms of self-recognition/self-disclosure, I-language, and verbal intelligence sub-dimensions. A significant difference was found in favor of 21-23 age in self-recognition/self-disclosure sub-dimension by age variable. According to academic GPA, a significant difference was found in the verbal intelligence sub-dimension in favor of those whose academic GPA was 3.15-3.57. In addition, according to way of taking the ECS course, a significant difference was found in favor of the compulsory course in the subdimensions of ego supportive language, self-recognition/self-disclosure, and I-language. Besides, it was determined that there is a positive and significant relationship between students' effective communication skills and verbal intelligence levels. As a result, it has been determined that, in terms of the development of communication skills, it is important that the ECS course is included in the curriculum as part of the compulsory course.


Introduction
In order for people to communicate with each other and to express their wishes, they must be in verbal or written communication. Contact, while it is provided by speaking and using language skills in normal individuals, it is done in different ways (sign language, etc.) in individuals with disabilities. However, regardless of the conditions, intelligence and communication are important elements for expressing positive or negative emotions, solving problems, ensuring environmental compatibility, and interpersonal agreement. When the education dimension is taken into consideration, it is expected that the verbal intelligence and effective communication skills of the university students will be developed so that they can develop in all aspects and shed light on the future.
While intelligence is defined as the capacity of living things to adapt to the environment (Piaget, 1952); it can also be defined as the ability to adapt to the environment in different situations, to think abstractly, and to solve problems (Patton et al., 1986). Multiple Intelligence Theory, which has recently increased in popularity with the fields of education and psychology and developed by Howard Gardner in 1983, is a theory that argues that there are different intelligence areas and these intelligence areas are innate (Gardner & Hatch, 1989). In Gardner's theory, he defines intelligence as the ability to solve problems (Gardner, 1993). In theory, there were eight different intelligence fields: verbal/ linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, naturalist, visual/ spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal (Gardner, 1997), but he added the existential intelligence in 2011. There are nine types of intelligence in total (Gardner, 2011). According to Gardner, one or more of these types of intelligence can be more effective in the individual (Gardner & Hatch, 1989).
1. Is there a difference between students' effective communication skills and verbal intelligence levels by gender? 2. Is there a difference between students' effective communication skills and verbal intelligence levels by department? 3. Is there a difference between students' effective communication skills and verbal intelligence levels by age? 4. Is there a difference between students' effective communication skills and verbal intelligence levels by academic GPA? 5. Is there a difference between students' effective communication skills and verbal intelligence levels by the way of taking the Effective Communication Skills course? 6. Is there a relationship between students' effective communication skills and verbal intelligence levels?

Methodology
In this section, the research model, participants, data collection procedure, data collection tools, and data analysis are included.

Research Model
In the research, the correlational survey method, one of the quantitative survey methods, was used. In the correlational survey method, it is aimed to determine the presence or degree of coexistence between two and more variables (Karasar, 2009).

Participants
The research group consisted of a total of 230 volunteer students, 111 (48.3%) female and 119 (51.7%) male, selected according to the simple random sampling method, studying at the Faculty of Sport Sciences (FSS) of the Afyon Kocatepe University during the fall semester of the 2019-2020 academic year. The demographic information of the students is shown in Table 1.

Data Collection Procedure
Scale use permissions were obtained from the authors prior to the study. Before collecting data, students were informed about the purpose of the research and data collection tools. It was reported to the students that the participation in the study was voluntary and that the results of this study would be used only for scientific purposes.

Data Collection Tools
In the research, "The Effective Communication Skills Scale" developed by Bulus et al. (2017) and "The Multiple Intelligence Areas Inventory" developed by Armstrong (1993) and adapted into the Turkish language by Saban (2002) were used.

The Effective Communication Skills Scale (ECS-S)
The scale consisting of a total of 34 questions and five sub-dimensions (Ego supportive language, active-participative listening, self-recognition/self-disclosure, empathy, and I-language) is a 5-point Likert type. Cronbach's Alpha values of the sub-dimensions of the scale were reported between .72 and .85, and the total was reported as .82.
In this current research, Cronbach's Alpha values for the sub-dimensions of the scale; it was found to be .65 for ego supportive language, .68 for active-participative listening, .61 for self-recognition/self-disclosure, .70 for empathy, and .65 for I-language. Cronbach's Alpha value of all sub-dimensions was calculated as .79.

The Multiple Intelligence Areas Inventory
It consists of eight sub-dimensions (verbal, logical/mathematical, visual/spatial, musical/rhythmic, bodily/kinesthetic, naturalist, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligence) and a total of 80 questions. Cronbach's Alpha value for all subdimensions of the scale was found as .83 by Saban (2002). In this current study, ten items were used related to verbal intelligence. The Cronbach's Alpha value of the verbal intelligence sub-dimension was calculated as .90.

Data Analysis
In the evaluation of the data obtained from the research, frequency and percentage analysis was used for the findings of the demographic characteristics of the students, and Variance analysis (One-Way ANOVA, independent t-test) was used to compare the mean scores in unrelated measurements. In addition, Tukey test was used to determine the significant difference, and Pearson Correlation Multiplication analysis was used to examine the relationship between the relationship effective communication skills and verbal intelligence.
In the study, there is a possibility of a common method variance (CMV) tendency because the variables are evaluated with the same scale, at the same time and by the same people. One of the most common methods of determining whether this trend is in question is Harman's single-factor test (Podsakoff et al., 2003). In this context, all items used to measure effective communication skills and verbal intelligence levels were subjected to non-rotation factor analysis. In this case, in order to speak of the common method hypothesis, (a) the first factor should explain a significant part of the variance alone or (b) a single factor should come out as a result of the analysis (Podsakoff et al., 2003).
In this context, a total of 44 statements related to two variables were subjected to non-rotation factor analysis. As a result of the analysis, a total of 10 sub-dimensions with eigenvalues higher than 1 were determined. The total variance explained by all sub-dimensions is 64.720%. The variance of the first sub-dimension is 23.832%, the variance of the second sub-dimension is 8.395%, the variance of the third sub-dimension is 7.372%, the variance of the fourth subdimension is 5.721%, the variance of the fifth sub-dimension is 4.444%, the variance of the sixth sub-dimension is 4.143%, the variance of the seventh sub-dimension is 3.109% the variance of the sub-dimension is 2.679%, the variance of the ninth sub-dimension is 2.651%, the variance of the tenth sub-dimension is 2.372%. The results obtained show that there is no CMV problem in the study.
Before using the parametric tests in the study, when histogram and distribution graphs were examined, it was seen that the curve showed a symmetric distribution, and the Skewness and Kurtosis values were between −1.5 and +1.5 (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2013). In addition, the homogeneity of the sample was examined by Levene test according to gender, department, age, academic GPA, and the way of taking the Effective Communication Skills course, and p value was higher than .05. As a result of the analysis, it was seen that the data showed normal distribution and the group variances were equal. According to the results, it was decided that the data set is suitable for parametric tests.

Findings / Results
The students' t-test results regarding effective communication skills and verbal intelligence levels according to gender are given in Table 2. When Table 2 is examined, there was a significant difference between the effective communication skills and verbal intelligence levels of the students in the "active-participative listening" sub-dimension according to gender variable. There was no significant difference in other sub-dimensions (p <.05). It is seen that the significant difference in the active-participative listening (t = 3.061; p <.05) sub-dimension is in favor of female students.
The effect size value of the active-participative listening sub-dimension was calculated as .039. A significant difference was found in the medium effect value between the groups (n 2 = .039) (Cohen, 1988). The students' One-Way ANOVA results regarding effective communication skills and verbal intelligence levels according to department are given in Table 3. There was no significant difference in ego supportive language, active-participative listening, and empathy subdimensions (p>.05). According to the results of multiple comparison test (Tukey), a significant difference was determined in favor of Recreation ( in self-recognition/ self-disclosure sub-dimension, in favor of Recreation ( in I-language sub-dimension and, in favor of Recreation ( in verbal intelligence sub-dimension.
It was calculated a significant difference in very large value in self-recognition/ self-disclosure (Eta 2 = .368) and verbal intelligence (Eta 2 = .210) sub-dimensions, and in large value in I-language (Eta 2 = .094) sub-dimension between groups (Cohen, 1988). The students' One-Way ANOVA results regarding effective communication skills and verbal intelligence levels according to age are given in Table 4. When Table 4 is examined, according to age variable of the students' effective communication skills and verbal intelligence levels, there was a significant difference in the sub-dimension of the "self-recognition/ self-disclosure" [F (2,221) = 11.530, p <.05]. There was no significant difference in ego supportive language, active-participative listening, empathy, I-language, and verbal intelligence sub-dimensions (p> .05). According to the multiple comparison test (Tukey) results, a significant difference in favor of 21-23 age ( was determined in the self-recognition/ selfdisclosure sub-dimension.
It was calculated a significant difference in medium effect value in self-recognition/ self-disclosure (Eta 2 = .051) subdimension between groups (Cohen, 1988). The students' One-Way ANOVA results regarding effective communication skills and verbal intelligence levels according to academic GPA are given in Table 5.  Table 5 is analyzed, a significant difference was found in the sub-dimensions of the "verbal intelligence" [F (4,219) = 2,665, p <.05] according to academic GPA of the students' effective communication skills and verbal intelligence levels. There was no significant difference in ego supportive language, active-participative listening, selfrecognition/ self-disclosure, empathy, and I-language sub-dimensions (p>.05). According to the multiple comparison test results (Tukey), a significant difference was found in the verbal intelligence sub-dimension in favor of 3.15-3.57 academic GPA ( .
It was calculated a significant difference in medium effect value in verbal intelligence (Eta 2 = .030) sub-dimension between groups (Cohen, 1988). The students' One-Way ANOVA results regarding effective communication skills and verbal intelligence levels according to way of taking the Effective Communication Skills course are given in Table 6. When Table 6 is examined, a significant difference was found in the sub-dimensions of the "ego supportive language" [F (2,221) = 3.961, p <.05], "self-recognition/ self-disclosure" [F (2,221) = 3.722, p < .05] and, "I-language" [F (2,221) = 6.470, p <.05] according to way of taking the Effective Communication Skills course of the students' effective communication skills and verbal intelligence levels. There was no significant difference in active-participative listening, empathy, and verbal intelligence sub-dimensions (p>.05). According to multiple comparison test results (Tukey), a significant difference was determined in favor of compulsory ( in ego supportive language sub-dimension, in favor of compulsory ( in self-recognition/ self-disclosure sub-dimension, and in favor of compulsory ( in I-language sub-dimension. It was calculated a significant difference in medium effect value in ego supportive language (Eta 2 = .064) and selfrecognition/ self-disclosure (Eta 2 = .057) sub-dimensions, and in large value in I-language (Eta 2 = .118) sub-dimension between groups (Cohen, 1988). The relationship between students' effective communication skills and verbal intelligence levels is given in Table 7. According to Table 7, looking at the relationship between students' effective communication skills and verbal intelligence levels, it has been noted that there is a positive relationship between verbal intelligence sub-dimension and ego supportive language (r = .29**), active-participative listening (r = .19**), self-recognition/ self-disclosure (r = .31**), empathy (r = .33 **), I-language ( r = .33**) sub-dimensions. In general, it seems that there is a low relationship between communication skills and verbal intelligence sub-dimensions (Buyukozturk, 2019).

Discussion
In this current study, the relationship between effective communication skills and verbal intelligence levels of FSS students participating in the study according to the variables of "gender, age, department, academic GPA, way of taking the Effective Communication Skills course" was investigated. The most striking result of this study is that the students who take the Effective Communication Skills course within the scope of the compulsory course are more open to development and have awareness about themselves than the students who take the elective course. Therefore, considering how important it is to communicate effectively and correctly in vocational education and work environment; it is envisaged that the Effective Communication Skills course will be more effective and beneficial to take place in the curriculum as a compulsory course.
As a result of the findings obtained from the research, it has been determined that female students are more careful and motivated when listening to an individual they communicate with than male students, they care more about the individuals they communicate with and provide confidence in communication. This situation can be explained by the fact that women care about the details and they are more curious about their issues in life. While there are studies supporting the research findings in the literature, there is a significant difference in the level of communication skills in favor of female students in terms of gender variable (Amiri et al., 2013;Aydin et al., 2017;Lumma-Sellenthin, 2012;Pelit & Karacor, 2015, Shankar et al., 2013; in the study of Cavusoglu and Gunay (2014), there was no significant difference between men and women students.