This study explores the impact extended participation in literature circles had on the reading attitudes of university-age pre-service teachers following their involvement in literature circles for one academic year, as part of their training. The participants of the study consisted of 21 pre-service teachers with a low or moderate level of reading habits and reading attitudes. The research was conducted through a mixed methods approach. Although both quantitative and qualitative data were collected in the study, particular emphasis was given to the data collected from the qualitative part (quan+QUAL). In line with the quantitative data, it was concluded in the study that extended involvement in the literature circles had a positive effect on the reading attitudes of the pre-service teachers. The qualitative data, which was obtained through interviews, revealed four themes. The themes emerged as love and desire for reading, benefits of reading, importance of reading and reading habits as a result of the analysis. The results obtained from the research are important in terms of contributing to the improvement of pre-service teachers who will play important roles in Turkey’s becoming a literate society.

Progress monitoring of academic achievement is an essential element to prevent learning disorders. A prominent approach is curriculum-based measurement (CBM). Various studies have documented positive effects of CBM on students’ achievement. Nevertheless, the use of CBM is associated with additional work for teachers. The use of tablets may be of help here. Yet, although many advantages of computer- or tablet-based assessments are being discussed in the literature (e. g. innovative item formats, adaptive testing, automated scoring and feedback), there are still concerns regarding the comparability of different assessment modes (paper-pencil vs. tablet). In the study presented, we analyze the CBM data of 98 fourth graders. They processed the exact same computation items once with paper and pen and once in a tablet application. The analyses point to comparable results in the test modes, although some significant deviations can be found at item level. In addition, the children report perceived benefits when working with the tablet.

The aim of the present study is to examine the effect level of procrastination on academic achievement. To this end, a meta-analytic approach was applied and the studies published between January 2000 and May 2020 in Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) and Academic Search Ultimate databases were included in the study. The research was limited to articles examining the correlation between the variables and, accordingly, the correlation coefficient was specified as an index to identify the effect size. After reviewing 22 relevant studies with 8307 participants, the meta-analysis was conducted through Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA) software. The findings revealed that the variables were negatively correlated with each other and the overall effect size of procrastination on academic achievement was found -0.61, which can be interpreted as the medium effect size. The findings of the study endorse the main tenets of theoretical framework regarding the aforementioned link.

The aim of this study is to identify whether high school students encounter any difficulties in mathematics and reveal the reasons for such difficulties. The participants of the study, which was a descriptive case study based on qualitative understanding, were a total of 164 students, including 85 students from Anatolian High Schools and 79 students from Science High Schools. Approximately 11% of the participants said they had no difficulties in math, whereas 99% of the students from Anatolian High Schools and 78% of the students from Science High Schools said they had difficulties in mathematic. Their thoughts about the reasons for such difficulties were analyzed by content analysis method considering the type of high school they attended. The findings obtained revealed that the difficulties encountered by the participants in mathematics were teacher-, content- and student-based. Anatolian High School students stated that they intensely faced teacher-based difficulties, whereas Science High School students stated that they faced content-based difficulties. It's expected that the results of this study may contribute to studies to be conducted to increase student success in mathematics education and provide ideas for further studies.

Revision constitutes an important component of the writing process that integrates text interpretation, reflection, and production. Although previous studies have offered useful insights into the revision behaviour of L2 writers at different levels of proficiency using off-line measures, little is known about the online processes of revision. In this study, I used keystroke logging to investigate longitudinal changes in the revision processes of postgraduate and undergraduate students in the context of an intensive English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program. Twenty-five postgraduate and 14 undergraduate students participated in this study. The keystroke logging program Inputlog was used during two essay writing sessions at the beginning and at the end of the course to observe how the participants revise their essays and to get insights into their on-line writing processes. Keystroke logging data were coded in terms of the orientation and location of revisions. The results revealed that postgraduates produced more content-oriented revisions at the end of the programme than at the beginning. The opposite trend was observed for the undergraduates, who revised their essays significantly less frequently at the end than at the beginning of the EAP program and made more mechanical revisions than postgraduate writers. The findings highlight fundamental differences in the developmental trajectories of revision processes between postgraduate and undergraduate students. These differences caused by previous academic writing experience and language proficiency should be considered in developing materials for EAP programs. In the paper, I also discuss benefits of using keystroke logging to investigate L2 writers’ revision processes.

The purpose of this research is to test the theoretical model developed for the mediator role of perceived organizational support in the relationship between organizational identity and organizational stress. The research is conducted with 320 teachers who work in preschools, primary schools, elementary schools, and high schools. The data were collected using organizational stress scale, perceived organizational support scale, organizational identity scale, and personal information form. The direct and indirect relationships between perceived organizational support, organizational stress, and level of organizational identity were analysed using the Structural Equation Model. The proposed structural model was verified by the analyses. It is observed that the relationships between all variables in the research have significant values and their goodness of fit indices were within the acceptable level. The results of the analyses showed that, organizational identity significantly predicts organizational stress and perceived organizational support. It was also found that the impact of organizational identity on organizational stress was fully mediated by perceived organizational support. According to these results, organizational support plays a mediating role in the relationship between organizational identity and organizational stress.

This study was conducted to investigate prospective teachers' spiritual well-beings and life satisfactions in terms of specified variables. 298 students from various departments of universities participated in the study. The Spiritual Well-Being Scale developed by Paloutzian and Ellison, and adapted to Turkish by Eksi and Kardas, the Life Satisfaction Scale developed by Diener et al. and translated and adapted to Turkish by Koker and a Personal Information Form prepared by the researcher were used in the study. This study was a descriptive study based on survey model. The study data were subjected to normality tests and analyzed accordingly. Mann Whitney U Test, Kruskal-Wallis H Test and Spearman Rho correlation coefficient were used to analyze the data. Results of the study, indicated that spiritual well-being levels of prospective teachers significantly varied by gender, year of study, field of study and educational status of father. Life satisfaction levels of prospective teachers significantly varied by field of study. Furthermore, there was a moderate positive correlation between total score for spiritual well-being and life satisfaction.

This study investigated the link between future L2 selves and Willingness to Communicate (WTC) in the classroom in the UK university context. We applied a mixed methods approach to collect data from 121 Chinese overseas students where a questionnaire was used before semi-structured interviews were conducted with six participants. Two key quantitative findings were: 1) There is a strong positive correlation between ideal L2 self and classroom WTC; 2) A student’s major moderates the relationship between the ought-to L2 self and classroom WTC. Students from non-English-related majors had a greater influence of ought-to L2 self on their WTC in the classroom, while ought-to L2 self does not seem to affect the WTC of English-related majors in the classroom. Follow-up interviews triangulated the quantitative findings with further illustrations in terms of the role of future L2 selves in stimulating WTC in the classroom and the potential differences between students with different academic backgrounds.

Astronomy concept is regarded as one difficult topic in both teachers’ and students’ perspective even though it strongly appeals to the human mind. This concept requires imagination and the ability to use various skills and knowledge, for example, actual motion, relative position, and coordination of views from several points on the Earth to generate an explanation.  As mentioned in the literature, the teacher plays a vital role in the teaching and learning process. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate 45 in-service science teachers’ understanding of astronomy concepts in a professional development program and to diagnose the misconceptions regarding astronomy concepts. A two-tier test, open-ended questions, and a semi-structured interview were used to gather information on the understanding and misconceptions, particularly on celestial motion concepts. The data were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The results pointed out that after the four-day professional development program, in-service science teachers gained significantly higher two-tier test scores. The highest progression was in the topic of the Sun’s apparent motion. However, most in-service science teachers still held some misconceptions relating to the concept of the seasons. The obstacles in teaching astronomy were also discussed. The study’s findings lead to the improvement of the professional development program for in-service science teachers required to teach astronomy concepts nationwide.

This research aims at revealing the effects of Second Life (SL) application used in virtual environment in art and design education of creativity. This research is a qualitative study conducted evaluating the results of a group of 16 students studying art and design at universities, for a period of 12 weeks. For SL, a 3D, online, multi-user virtual environment was chosen as the study area.  The process of the research was evaluated by the researcher with a Structured Observation Form (SOF). Student designs were evaluated by four graduated artists/educators and researchers with a Rubric. The study group discovered SL during the application process. They made numerous trials, took risks and tried different solutions in SL. The design process that started with an avatar creation continued with 3D design, adding texture, colour, and script to objects and creating a notecard. According to the researcher’s feedback based on SOF, the group is considered “Good” in the design process. According to the Rubric for creativity, applied by the experts is evaluated as “Accomplished.” As for the rubric applied by the researcher, the group is evaluated “Good.” Based on these results, it can be considered that the inclusion of SL in the art and design education curriculum will contribute to 21st century skills and develop imagination and creativity of students.

Motivation for school is an important concept which influences students’ academic, social and cultural development. Leadership behaviours to be displayed by school principals can be thought to affect the network of social relations in school and to support the climate of trust in school for students to develop positive attitudes towards the school. In this context, this paper aims to analyse the correlations between school principals’ social justice leadership behaviours, students’ trust in school principals and motivation for school. The study group was composed of 762 secondary school students from Altindag district of Ankara. The data were collected with social justice leadership scale, trust in the school principal scale and motivation for the school scale. The data were put to descriptive analysis, correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. The findings demonstrated that students had moderate level of perceptions of school principals’ social justice leadership behaviours and trust in school principals and high level of motivation for school. Besides, significant correlations were also found between the variables. Additionally, it was found that social justice leadership predicted significantly trust in school principals and motivation for school. The findings showed that the social justice leadership behaviors of the school principal play a key role on students’ motivation and their trust in the principals.