Full Issue - AJESI (Anadolu Journal of Educational

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A
Volume 4, Issue 2, July 2014
International
JESI
ana dolu
journal
of
ed uca tional
sci ences
Editor: Esra CEYHAN
ISBN: 2146-4014
int e rnationa l
Anadolu Journal of Educational Sciences
Anadolu Journal of Educational Sciences International, July 2014, 4(2)
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AJESI, Editor in Chief
Eskişehir-Turkey
ISSN 2146-4014
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Anadolu University, Turkey
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Çiğdem Suzan Çardak, Anadolu University, Turkey
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Table of Contents
Prevalence of Counseling Needs in Late Adolescent College Students of
India
Suneetha Kandi
1
Input Processing of Turkish Learners of English from Beginner and Advanced
Level of Proficiency
Eda Duruk Fatma Hülya Özcan
23
The Relationship between Teacher’s Perceived Organizational Culture of
School and their Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction
Javad Armani Saribagloo Firouzeh Sepahrian Azar Hojjat Mahmoudi
41
Teacher Effectiveness in Relation to Type of Institution, Emotional Intelligence
and Teaching Experience
Amit Kauts Vijay Kumar Chechi
63
Culture Perception of Art and Design Students Come in Turkey through
International Erasmus Program
Suzan Duygu Erişti
82
Assessment of the Reliability and Validity of PLSI in a Turkish Higher
Education Institution
Çiğdem Suzan Çardak Meral Güven
108
The Relationship between WTC Level and LLS Use among Turkish EFL
Learners
Ali Merç
133
1
Prevalence of Counseling Needs in Late Adolescent College Students of India
Suneetha Kandi
Andhra University, India
[email protected]
Abstract
Prevalence of counseling needs of college students studying professional courses is
assessed. 1038 (579 females; 459 males) students of 13 professional colleges
(Engineering, Medicine & Pharmacy) in two districts of Andhra Pradesh, India
participated. Average age of the late adolescence sample is 18.24. Data is collected by
purposive random sampling using specially designed tool Student Counseling Needs
Questionnaire. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences -16.0.
Prevalence
rates
of
counseling
needs
on
five
dimensions:
academic,
personality/adjustment, social, family and clinical are identified. Analysis of results
indicated high prevalence rates in the academic dimension and low in the family
dimension. The top five needs are to enhance communication skills, memory
techniques, learning methods, attention/concentration, and work commitment.
Significant gender differences are found.
Keywords: Counseling needs, college students, professional courses, Student
Counseling Needs Questionnaire, late adolescents.
2
Introduction
Higher education system in India is the third largest in the world after China and United States in
terms of enrolment. Regarding the number of institutions, India is the largest higher education
system in the world with 33657 institutions out of which there are 634 universities and
33023colleges (University Grants Commission, 2012). Presently about 12.4 percent of students go
for higher education from the country (Gupta & Gupta, 2012). The institutional framework for
higher education in India consists of Universities established by an Act of Parliament (Central
Universities) or of a State Legislature (State Universities), Deemed Universities, Institutes of
National Importance (prestigious institutions), and Institutions established by State Legislative Act
and colleges affiliated with the University (both government-aided and unaided) (Kaul, 2006).
In India technical/professional education is treated as a separate sector. There are 65 centrally
funded institutions. Additionally, State Governments have also set up technical institutions. All
India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and equivalent sectoral regulators (like the
Medical
Council
of
India)
both
approve
and
regulate
technical
institutions
in
engineering/technology, pharmacy, architecture, hotel management & catering technology,
management studies, computer applications and applied arts & crafts. According to a report by
ICRIER, New Delhi (Kaul, 2006), India is home to the world’s largest pool of scientific and
knowledge workers and produces 400,000 engineers per year.
National bodies like the UGC, AICTE and others, made it mandatory for all higher educational
institutions to recruit a fulltime counseling psychologist due to the increasing number of students
enrolling themselves in higher education. But as of today only few institutions have a fulltime
counselor on the campus although the problems in the student population is on the rise. Studies
assessing counseling needs of adolescent college students revealed greater prevalence of problems
3
related to alcoholism, childhood sexual abuse, physical or emotional abuse, depression, anxiety,
panic attack, career uncertainty, academic procrastination, social anxiety, fear of failure and others
(e.g., Witchel, 1991; Gallagher, Galvin, & Kelleher, 1992; Bishop, Bauer, & Becker, 1998).
Several researchers in India focused on adolescent college students of varying professional courses
like medicine (Mayya & Roff, 2004; Rustagi, Taneja, Mishra & Ingle, 2011; Supe, 1998),
engineering, arts & science (Kumar & Panchanatham, 2010; Ramya & Parthasarathy, 2009) who
identified stress inducing problem areas and coping strategies. Verma, Sharma, & Larson (2002)
found that adolescents are spending one third of their waking time in school-related activities and
academic work led to negative subjective states.
Alcázar-Olán and Deffenbacher (2013) conducted a study on Mexican youth with high anger and
explored their counseling needs. The counseling needs of undergraduate nursing students of
Nigeria (Omigbodun, Onibokun, Yusuf, Odukogbe, & Omigbodun, 2004) showed that many of
them sought counseling in the areas of academics, finances, and relationships. Sodhi, Chhabra,
and Goel (2012) in their study on male adolescent sample of India found that academic problems
were related with depression, substance abuse and type of family environment. Muzammil,
Kishore & Semwal (2009) found overall prevalence of psychosocial problems among the
adolescents was 31.2% while Arun and Chavan (2009) reported prevalence rate of 45.8% with
psychological problems. Prevalence of depression among adolescents in pediatric care settings
in India is reported to be 11.2% (Nair, Paul, & Ramany, 2004). Other studies on wider age ranges
of adolescents indicated that depression in adolescents is on the rise due to academic pressures
(Taj, 1999; Verma et al., 2002). In 1990, the Indian suicide rate was 8.9 per 100000 per year
according to the National Crime Records Bureau 1992 Report. Several investigators who studied
suicide in different parts of India have reported suicide rates varying from 6.8 to 58.3/100,000
4
(Gururaj & Isaac, 2001; Nandi et al., 1979; National Crime Records Bureau, 1999; Ponnudurai,
1996; Trivedi, Srivastava, & Tandon, 2005; Vijaykumar & Rajkumar, 1999).
During college years many students are confronted with challenging academic, social and personal
needs. These needs may vary with changes in age, experience, socioeconomic status, gender, race
or ethnicity and social trends (Carney & Barak, 1976; Papalia, Olds, & Feldman, 1998). Therefore,
researchers urge for an accurate and regular assessment of college students’ needs (e.g., Gallagher,
et al., 1992; Sharma, Grover, & Chaturvedi, 2008). Although few studies, as discussed above, tried
to focus on the problems of Indian adolescents (Carson, Chowdhury, Perry, & Pati, 1999; Garg,
Narula, & Dhabarde, 2002; Aggarwal, Prabhu, Anand, & Kotwal, 2007) more direct research is
needed to investigate the current problems of the students for which they seek counseling.
India has the highest number of adolescent population. If the problems faced by the adolescents in
terms of the counseling needs are identified then attempts at helping them overcome these
problems can be initiated. It will lead to adopting prevention strategies for stress and suicides
(Vijaykumar, 2007) in this sensitive population. This study on prevalence of counseling needs of
college students encompassing several dimensions and covering various aspects of life, is an
attempt in this direction. Counseling needs are the needs/problems of the students for which they
want to seek counseling in order to help cope with those problems.
Methodology
This study aimed to explore the counseling needs of the students of professional colleges belonging
to Engineering, Medicine and Pharmacy streams and to identify the prevalence of counseling needs
in different areas/dimensions.The participants of the study are adolescents belonging to the
districts of Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram, two of the rapidly developing districts of Andhra
5
Pradesh, India. Students were randomly selected based on the selection criteria; a) 1st or 2nd year
professional college student, b) 17 to 19 years of age, and, c) willing to participate in the study.
Data was collected by using the Student Counseling Needs Questionnaire (Suneetha, 2011). The
Socio-economic data and recent educational performance in the Engineering Agricultural and
Medical Common Entrance Test (EMCET) has also been collected (these results will be presented
elsewhere). Kuppuswami’s Socio-Economic Status scale (Kuppuswamy, 1981) is widely used to
measure the socio-economic status and is suitable for student population. Kumar, Gupta, and
Kishore (2012) developed the revision of the scale according to the changed economic scenario.
The SES of a student is determined in terms of three variables viz., education, occupation and
income of parents. The Student Counseling Needs Questionnaire was developed by the investigator.
A survey of literature indicated that no valid tool for measuring the counseling needs of Indian
college students. Although there are few such questionnaires, for example, Survey of Student
Needs developed by Gallagher and Scheuring (1978) and UAE University Counseling Needs
Questionnaire by Smadi (1998), these are not applicable to the Indian college population.
The
reliability of the test is found to be 0.86. This tool measures counseling needs in five dimensions.
They are Academic, Personality/Adjustment, Social, Family and Clinical Needs. There are a total
of 52 items which are constructed on a 3-point scale: 1 – Not Needed; 2 – Somewhat Needed; 3
– Most Needed. The scores for ‘not needed’ is ‘0’; for ‘somewhat needed it is ‘1’ and for ‘most
needed’ it is ‘2’. So the total score ranged from 0 to 104.
After ascertaining that the students qualified for each criteria above, they were debriefed about
further details of the study. Those who volunteered to participate signed the Consent Form. Then
participants filled in the Questionnaires. Data was collected from a total of 13 professional
colleges using purposive random sampling. The total number of participants of this study are 1038
6
out of which the number of females is 579 and males is 459. The ages of the sample ranged from
17 to 19 years. The average age is 18.24.
Results
Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciencs. The analysis of the data
indicated several unmet needs of professional college students. The top five Unmet Needs are:
1. Enhance Communication Skills
2. Memory Improvement Techniques
3. Effective Learning Methods
4. Attention/Concentration Improvement
5. Increase Work Commitment
82.70% of the students indicated they have an unmet need in enhancing communication skills.Out
of which 37.60% the need for counseling is ‘most needed’ and for 45.10% it is ‘somewhat
needed’(See Table 1). The other four top needs listed above pertain to academic dimension with
prevalence rates of 78%, 75.9%, 75.2%, 71.1% respectively. 70.20% of the students indicated
they have problems making decisions and hence sought counseling.
Efficient study habits
(67.4%), understanding subject matter (65%), and improve note taking skills (64.3%) are again
academic related needs. 65.70% students had an unmet need to overcome shyness
(personality/adjustment dimension). Of these, for 26.30% counseling is ‘most needed’. Another
need in this dimension that had the next greater prevalence is to ‘increase self-confidence’. A
total of 64.10% indicated there is an unmet need. 60.80% of the students had an unmet need in
‘gaining meaning in life’.
7
Table 1
Prevalence of Unmet Counseling Needs in Different Dimensions
Counseling Need
% M N*
% S N**
% Total
ACADEMIC NEEDS
Memory Improvement Techniques
39.7
38.3
78
Effective Learning Methods
33.3
42.6
75.9
Attention/Concentration Improvement
38.9
36.3
75.2
Increase Work Commitment
26.1
45
71.1
Efficient Study Habits
26.3
41.1
67.4
Understanding Subject Matter
21.2
43.8
65
Improve Note Taking Skills
21.6
42.7
64.3
Increase Self-Motivation in studies
28.1
36
64.1
Develop Interest in Studies
28.8
33.7
62.5
Improve Writing Skills
22.9
38.9
61.8
Set relevant Goals
27.6
33.9
61.5
Frame proper Time table
26.5
34.8
61.3
Coping with Distractions while Studying
22.3
37.7
60
Managing Exam Stress
21.6
37.3
58.9
Coping with Work Pressure (Stress/tension)
20.3
32.7
53
Problems due to Medium of Instruction
11.7
26.4
38.1
PERSONALITY/ADJUSTMENT NEEDS
Improve Decision Making
30.7
39.5
70.2
Increase Self Confidence
32.3
31.8
64.1
8
Gain Meaning in Life
29.5
31.3
60.8
Overcome Fear of Failure
25.9
32.8
58.7
Increase Self Control/patience
24.2
30.4
54.6
Lethargy
19.7
34.6
54.3
Anger Management
23.9
29.4
53.3
Instil Self Discipline
17
34.3
51.3
Happiness – Mood Control
21
29
50
Enhance Communication Skills
37.6
45.1
82.7
Overcome Shyness
31.2
34.5
65.7
Assertiveness - Ability to say ‘No’;
20.3
39.8
60.1
Conflict Management
14.9
39.5
54.4
Overcome Infatuations
14.4
33.8
48.2
Coping with broken relationships
16.1
30.1
46.2
Facing Peer Pressure
10.7
35.2
45.9
12
33.8
45.8
Overcome loneliness
18.5
27.1
45.6
Respect – Self & Others
20.1
19.6
39.7
Financial Problems
11.8
27.9
39.7
Adjustment with other relatives
11.8
26.3
38.1
Homesickness
10.6
22.4
33
Adjustment with Parents
16.9
15.5
32.4
SOCIAL NEEDS
Compassion – Ability to think about others
FAMILY NEEDS
9
Adjustment with siblings
12.9
19.1
32
Family disputes
7.8
19.8
27.6
Lack of Family support
12.1
13
25.1
CLINICAL NEEDS
Uncontrollable disturbing thoughts
18.3
39.1
57.4
Coping with Depression
17.6
32.8
50.4
Sleepy
15.9
33.5
49.4
Tiredness/weakness
8.9
37.1
46
Health Problems
9.5
32
41.5
Changing Bad Habits
16.5
22.9
39.4
Phobias – Intense Fears
9.5
27.2
36.7
Sleeplessness
9.8
23.5
33.3
Nightmares
7.2
24.7
31.9
Suicidal attempt/ suicidal thoughts
4.3
13.3
17.6
Note. *Most Needed. ** Somewhat Needed
The Counseling needs of psychological relevance are listed here from the remaining given in the
Table 1. 58.90% are ‘facing exam stress’ since they opted for counseling to overcome it while
58.70% needed to ‘overcome fear of failure’ and 53% opted for assistance to ‘cope with work
pressure’. It is important to note that 57.40% needed to cope with ‘uncontrollable disturbing
thoughts’ and 50.40% have a need to ‘cope with depression’. Of these, 17.60% marked help is
‘most needed’ option and 32.80% ‘somewhat needed’ option. 46.20% have difficulties coping
with broken relationships and 45.60% are facing ‘loneliness’.
10
31.90% reported they need counseling in overcoming ‘nightmares’ and 36.70% to overcome
‘phobias’ of one sort or the other.
17.60% needed counseling to deal with ‘suicidal
attempts/suicidal thoughts’ out of which 4.30% opted for ‘most needed’ and 13.30% for ‘somewhat
needed’.39.70% of the students had financial problems and 41.50% had health problems of one
sort or the other. 33% had ‘sleeplessness’ and 39.40% needed counseling to overcome ‘bad habits’.
Comparatively fewer number had counseling needs in the family dimension with 32.40% having
problems about ‘adjustment with parents’ and 32.00% having problems about ‘adjustment with
siblings’.
Out of the five different dimensions of counseling needs viz., academic, personality/adjustment,
social, family and clinical, most of the students had needs in the Academic dimension (See Table
1) and fewer had counseling needs in Family dimension. More than 50% of the students said that
they have a need in all items of Academic dimension except for ‘problems due to medium of
instruction’ which is 38.1% (11.7% most needed; 26.4% somewhat needed). Among the 16 items
in the academic dimension 78% of the students had counseling need in ‘memory improvement
techniques’ and 75.9% in ‘effective learning methods’.
75.2% reported need help for
‘attention/concentration improvement’. Similarly 71.10% reported a need to ‘increase work
commitment’ and 64.10% to increase ‘self-motivation in studies’. Regarding the improvement of
other aspects of their academics, 67.40% had a counseling need to develop ‘efficient study habits’
while 65% to ‘understand subject matter’.
In the Personality/Adjustment dimension, it was found that the highest need is to ‘improve decision
making’ with 70.20% of the students opting for counseling. ‘Increase in self-confidence’ is listed
by 64.10%, need to ‘find meaning in life’ is by 60.80%, and ‘fear of failure’ is by 58.7%
respectively. 54.60% of the students had a need in the area of increasing ‘self-control/patience’
11
and 53.30% had problems with ‘anger management’. The percentage of the students with
counseling need on ‘lethargy’ is 54.3% and on that of necessity to ‘instill self-discipline’ is 51.30%.
50% of the students had a need on the ability to be happy and have mood control. Enhancing
‘communication skills’ is the top need in the dimension of Social needs. In fact, among all other
needs this is the most highly prevalent. The students not only had need for counseling in
overcoming ‘shyness’ (65.70%) but also in being ‘assertive’ (60.10%). 54.40% had a need to
develop ‘conflict management’ skills, while 48.20% had problems ‘overcoming infatuations’ and
46.20% in ‘coping with broken relationships’. An important outside influence in this age group is
peers and 45.90% indicated they had a need in ‘facing peer pressure’. A little less than the half
percentile that is, 45.60% seems to need counseling in order to ‘overcome loneliness’.
‘Financial problems’ have more prevalence than other needs in the dimension of Family needs
with 39.70%. Prevalence rate of33% is found for ‘homesickness’.
Compared with other
dimensions the needs in this have lesser prevalence. However, 25.10% indicated a need in the
area of ‘lack of family support’.In the Clinical needs dimension ‘uncontrollable disturbing
thoughts’ have the highest prevalence of 57.40% opting for counseling. 50.40% of the students
had a need in ‘coping with depression’ out of which for 17.60% denoted counseling is ‘most needed’
and 32.80% ‘somewhat needed’.Other psychopathological problems ‘phobias’, ‘nightmares’ and
‘suicidal attempt/ suicidal thoughts’ are with a prevalence rate of 36.70%, 31.90% and 17.60%
respectively.
Gender and Unmet Counseling Needs
The total number of females in this study are 579 and males are 459. Males are found to have
more unmet needs in ‘overcoming infatuations’, ‘financial problems’ and in ‘controlling disturbing
thoughts’ (See Table 2). Females have more unmet counseling needs compared with males in
12
‘facing exam stress’, ‘gaining self-confidence’, ‘find meaning in life’, ‘mood control’, and
‘improve decision making’. In the Academic and Clinical dimension the counseling needs of both
genders is more or less similar. In Personality/adjustment needs dimension females have
significantly more number of counseling needs than males. Males have significantly more number
of counseling needs than females in the dimensions of family needs and social needs (See Table
3).
Table 2
Mean Differences between Males and Females on each Counseling Need
Needs
Set relevant Goals
Gender Mean S.D.
Male
Female
Frame proper Time table
Male
Female
Effective Learning Methods
Male
Female
Memory Improvement Techniques
Male
Female
Attention/Concentration Improvement Male
Female
Improve Note Taking Skills
Male
Female
Efficient Study Habits
Male
Female
Increase Self-Motivation in studies
Male
Female
Develop Interest in Studies
Male
Female
Coping
with
Work
Pressure Male
(Stress/tension)
Female
Managing Exam Stress
Male
Female
Improve Writing Skills
Male
Female
Increase Work Commitment
Male
.82
.95
.84
.91
1.04
1.13
1.10
1.24
1.13
1.15
.87
.85
.90
.97
.92
.92
.92
.91
.68
.78
.71
.88
.90
.80
.98
.81
.79
.80
.79
.78
.72
.79
.73
.80
.77
.74
.74
.77
.75
.80
.79
.82
.80
.76
.78
.75
.76
.79
.74
.76
t
-2.559
-1.347
-1.817
-2.716
-.489
.472
-1.568
-.055
.218
-2.010
-3.741**
2.176
13
Female
while Male
Female
.96
.81
.83
.72
.77
.76
Problems due to Medium of Instruction Male
Female
Understanding Subject Matter
Male
Female
Overcome Fear of Failure
Male
Female
Increase Self Confidence
Male
Female
Anger Management
Male
Female
Instill Self Discipline
Male
Female
Increase Self Control/patience
Male
Female
Gain Meaning in Life
Male
Female
Happiness – Mood Control
Male
Female
Improve Decision Making
Male
Female
Lethargy
Male
Female
Enhance Communication Skills
Male
Female
Assertiveness - Ability to say ‘No’;
Male
Female
Compassion – Ability to think about Male
others
Female
Respect – Self & Others
Male
Female
Conflict Management
Male
Female
Overcome Shyness
Male
Female
Overcome loneliness
Male
Female
.56
.45
.86
.87
.78
.90
.87
1.04
.74
.80
.72
.65
.77
.80
.80
.98
.62
.79
.93
1.07
.77
.72
1.24
1.18
.80
.81
.63
.54
.65
.55
.67
.71
1.01
.94
.67
.62
.72
.66
.75
.72
.79
.80
.84
.80
.82
.79
.75
.73
.80
.81
.82
.81
.76
.80
.78
.77
.78
.74
.75
.68
.75
.74
.72
.66
.81
.79
.72
.70
.84
.77
.80
.75
Coping with
Studying
Distractions
.452
-.532
2.641
-.144
-2.541
-3.151**
-1.120
1.474
-.513
-3.490**
-3.450**
-2.980*
1.097
1.267
-.225
2.128
2.026
-1.031
1.509
.933
Overcome Infatuations
Facing Peer Pressure
Coping with broken relationships
Adjustment with Parents
Adjustment with siblings
Adjustment with other relatives
Homesickness
Family disputes
Lack of Family support
Financial Problems
Uncontrollable disturbing thoughts
Coping with Depression
Suicidal attempt/ suicidal thoughts
Phobias – Intense Fears
Health Problems
Changing Bad Habits
Sleeplessness
Tiredness/weakness
Sleepy
Nightmares
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
.73
.55
.58
.55
.64
.61
.52
.47
.47
.43
.51
.49
.42
.45
.36
.35
.40
.35
.65
.40
.87
.67
.64
.71
.25
.19
.47
.46
.50
.52
.56
.55
.44
.43
.54
.56
.72
.60
.40
.38
14
.75
.69
.68
.67
.76
.73
.76
.76
.70
.72
.69
.69
.68
.67
.60
.63
.71
.66
.75
.62
.76
.71
.76
.74
.55
.46
.67
.65
.65
.67
.78
.73
.69
.63
.66
.64
.76
.71
.63
.60
3.949**
.661
.839
1.127
1.035
.642
-.559
.259
1.223
5.720**
4.260**
-1.445
1.938
.332
-.434
.222
.252
-.559
2.637
.431
15
Note. * p<.05; **p<.01.
Table 3
Mean Differences between Male and Female Students in each Dimension
Gender
N
Mean
SD
t
Male
459
14.819
7.059
1.531
Female
579
15.494
7.057
Personality/Adjustment
Male
459
7.461
4.125
Needs
Female
579
8.020
4.219
Social Needs
Male
459
6.902
4.103
Female
579
6.340
4.145
Male
459
3.692
2.599
Female
579
3.131
2.713
Male
459
4.529
3.095
Female
579
4.401
3.099
Academic Needs
Family Needs
Clinical Needs
2.145*
2.177*
3.387**
0.661
Note. * p<.05; **p<.01.
Discussion
In this study academic related needs had more prevalence. Since there is no ‘taboo’ reporting on
academic problems probably there is higher prevalence in the academic related needs compared
with other dimensions. Garg, et al., (2002) found that adolescents are less likely to seek
professional help for their emotional problems, so they might have not opted counseling in other
need dimensions as readily as on academic needs. However the needs on other dimensions were
also found to be highly prevalent and the prevalence rate is in some cases higher than earlier
research and in few cases on par with earlier research. The differences might be caused by the
16
characteristics of the participants, because the sample assessed belonged to professional colleges
whose needs are different and specific from students of other non-professional colleges.
In this study it is found there are several counseling needs and the need to improve communication
skills topped them all. This is because in the present day context soft skills have gained momentum
and there is a lot of pressure on the professional college students to perform well in communication
skills. Though increasingly more professional colleges have introduced ‘soft skills’ training
programs, several of them are only theory oriented. This huge need indicates that more rigorous,
practical oriented training programs need to be introduced. One can deduce from these findings
that if the needs to ‘overcome shyness’ and ‘increase self-confidence’ are met then the need to
improve communications skills will also be addressed to a great extent. So the soft skills programs
should incorporate techniques to improve on these areas.
On the personality front many students have a need to improve decision making capacities,
overcome shyness and increase self-confidence.
These results once again remind us that an
adolescent is not a child and also not yet an adult; and so requires guidance from elders on many
matters since they are not able to take decisions on their own. A little over fifty percent of the
sample had a need in the area of increasing ‘self-control/patience’ and had problems with ‘anger
management’. Sonia, Jennifer, Maureen, Kevin and Marios (2007) in their study on college
students in Mumbai, found that anger management is one of the problems and that cognitions
defining resentful anger were positively associated with poor physical health, hostility, and stress.
50% of the students of the study had a need on the ability to be happy and have mood control.
In this study prevalence rates of several psychosocial variables are found to be higher than an
earlier study which reported 31.2% (Muzammil, et al., 2009). Arun et al., (2009) reported a
comparable prevalence rate of 45.8% with psychological problems. A study conducted in 2004
17
(Nair, et al., 2004) reported 11.2 per cent cases of prevalence of depression among adolescents in
pediatric care settings in India. Probably this explains the high prevalence rate of students who
seek counseling for depressive symptoms. Chandrashekharaand Reddy, (1998) estimated the
prevalence rate of 20.7%for all neurotic disorders. But the weighted prevalence rates for phobias
is only 4.2% in their study, unlike the present study which had high prevalence of 36.70% out of
which 9.50% said that counseling is ‘most needed’ to overcome them. Coming to one of the most
important areas, 17.60% needed counseling to deal with ‘suicidal attempts/suicidal thoughts’ out
of which 4.30% opted for ‘most needed’ and 13.30% for ‘somewhat needed’. This prevalence rate
is higher than the 6% in a study by Arun et al., (2009) who reported suicidal ideas. This high
prevalence rate is certainly because of a high need in coping with depression, overcoming
loneliness and failures in life. Once these areas are taken care of then the prevalence rate in suicidal
thoughts can go down. It is pointed out by other researchers that the suicide trend is increasing at
alarming pace.
Out of the five different dimensions of needs viz., academic, personality/adjustment, social, family
and clinical, most of the students had counseling needs in the Academic dimension and fewer had
counseling needs in Family dimension. More than half of the professional college students said
they need help to ‘understand subject matter’. This indicates that the students of the professional
colleges have difficulty in understanding the subject matter itself. This calls for immediate
attention suggesting the teaching methods per se are to be upgraded. In the family dimension, Arun
et al., (2009) reported that 24.4% students found relationship with parents stressful while 15.4%
found peer relationship stressful. The rates are little lower than the prevalence rates in this study
on late adolescents.
18
Significant gender differences in the counseling needs of the professional college students are
found as in several other studies. Males have more needs in ‘overcoming infatuations’, ‘financial
problems’ and in ‘controlling disturbing thoughts’. Females have more counseling needs in ‘facing
exam stress’, ‘gaining self-confidence’, ‘find meaning in life’, ‘mood control’, and ‘improve
decision making’. Gender differences were reported by earlier researchers in the type of student
counseling needs (e.g., Bishop et al., 1998; Murphy & Archer, 1996), level of stress, suicidal
ideation and suicidal attempts (e.g., Sharma et al., 2008) and prevalence of emotional problems.
Conclusions
The professional college students of the study reported their problems/needs to a great extent. For
some, counseling is ‘somewhat needed’ on a particular item and for few others it is ‘most needed’.
This suggests that adolescent students not only have several needs in the dimensions of academic,
personality/adjustment, social, family and clinical; but also are actively seeking counseling to
overcome them. This study is limited to the counseling needs of professional college students
only. Future studies can be carried out to study the counseling needs of non-professional college
students to understand the needs of the students of all disciplines during the adolescent years.
Most of the colleges in the developing world, including professional colleges, do not have
counseling services in their educational institutions. So it is extremely important to provide
counseling and group education to respond to these needs. Lack of on campus counseling
psychologists who cater to the adolescent needs is a glaring void. The Government should set an
example in this regard by recruiting counseling psychologists in all the government institutions
and government aided institutions so that the private institutions will emulate, reaching out to the
50.40% of the students with a counseling need to cope with depression, 17.60% of students with
suicidal thoughts/attempts and even higher prevalence rates on several needs.
19
This study identified few specific needs of professional college students unlike other studies on
counseling needs. Two of the specific needs seem to be improving communication skills and
understanding subject matter. In this age of globalization and rapid increase in technologies, the
subject matter of professional courses is becoming vast as well as advanced. Sometimes the
subject matter which the faculty themselves have not studied during their student days, is being
introduced in the syllabi. Moreover, the old practice of conducting yearly final exams has been
changed to Semester system in all the professional colleges producing additional stress. Apart
from mastering the various professional courses, due to the demands of globalization every student
is expected to communicate fluently in English and be sociable. Special training and counseling
programs have to be planned for the students of professional colleges that aim to address these
needs. Counseling and prevention programs for professional college students should focus more
on academic issues apart from psychosocial and family issues and have to be tailored to meet the
different needs of female and male students.
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Input Processing of Turkish Learners of English from Beginner and Advanced Level of
Proficiency
Eda Duruk
Fatma Hülya Özcan
Pamukkale University, Turkey
[email protected]
[email protected]
Abstract
English L1 acquirers learning Romance Languages have been claimed to process the
first noun or pronoun of a sentence as the agent. However, because most of the evidence
is based on learners with English as an L1, it is not clearly known whether this is due to
a universal strategy or is a result of L1 transfer. According to one model of input
processing (VanPatten, 2007), L2 learners would initially assign agent position to the
first noun and object position to the second noun (First Noun Principle) or it might be
that the L1 parser is transferred into the L2 input processing procedures (L1 Transfer
Principle). The present study aims to address whether the L1 parsing procedures are
transferred or whether there is a universal First Noun Principle. L1 Turkish speakers
learning English as an L2 enrolled in beginning (n=48) and advanced (n=48) English
classes were asked to interpret English sentences which included contextual cues or
neutral contexts preceding the target clause. All participants completed two tasks: an
impromptu discussion and a data-elicitation task. In order to analyze the data, the
frequency of the items was calculated and chi-square test was applied for each
independent variable. The results indicated that learners from beginner proficiency level
interpreted subjects differently in different input conditions whereas the subject
identification was not different for learners from advanced level of proficiency.
Keywords: First noun principle, input processing, age, word order.
23
24
Introduction
Second language acquisition is an independent nonapplied discipline whose aim is to explain how
second languages are learned (Gass & Schachter, 1989). It has been claimed that the goal of second
language acquisition research is to understand how a linguistic system develops in a learner's head.
A researcher in second language acquisition identifies a phenomenon, examines the variables
involved, conducts research (or theorizes about the phenomenon), and eventually draws a
conclusion about the phenomenon. In this view, second language acquisition is divorced of
pedagogical interests. VanPatten noted that "pedagogy must reflect an understanding of (a) theory
of second language acquisition and pedagogical principles and practices should be firmly grounded
in theory and research" (1996, p.1). On the other hand, other researchers (i.e.; Lee, 2003) could
argue that second language acquisition research is as important as the pedagogical issues
motivating it. According to them, the matters that directly affect teachers and learners in
classrooms should be researched. Research and theorizing should be at the service of pedagogy
and not divorced from it.
Processing instruction, which links second language acquisition theory and research, is a type of
grammar instruction whose aim is to affect the ways in which learners attend to input data. It is
input-based and constant with both general second language acquisition theory and communicative
language teaching. It was first described in VanPatten (1984) and has since been described,
discussed and researched in a number of studies (Cadierno, 1992,1995; Cheng, 1995; Lee &
VanPatten, 1995; VanPatten, 1993; VanPatten & Cadierno, 1993; VanPatten & Oikkenon, 1996;
VanPatten & Sanz, 1995).
Bearing these issues in mind, native speakers of Turkish acquiring English as a foreign language
(EFL) rely on word order to assign the grammatical roles of subject and object to words in a
25
sentence like speakers of any language would do. One of the accounts for this tendency is the
psycholinguistic strategy which causes L2 learners to assign the roles of subject or agent to the
first noun encountered in a target sentence (Lee, 1987; LoCoco, 1987; VanPatten, 1984; VanPatten
and Houston, 1998). This process can yield non-nativelike interpretations and delay the acquisition
of object pronouns because of the variable word order characteristic of Turkish. For example, both
of the following Turkish sentences are grammatical, having the same meaning, "Ayşe bought her
the book":
(1) Ayşe
Ayşe-Subj
kitabı
aldı
ona
IO-book+ case marker DO-pronoun+case marker+female verb-past tense marker
(2) ona
kitabı
DO-pronoun+case marker+female IO-book+ case marker
Ayşe
Ayşe-Subj
aldı
verb-past tense marker
Any language learner whose native language is not Turkish can misinterpret (2) as ‘She bought
the book’ by assigning the grammatical role of subject to the direct object pronoun ona ‘her’
because of the psycholinguistic strategy discussed earlier. The present study aims to investigate
the Contextual Constraint Principle which predicts that learners can rely less on the First Noun
Principle if preceding context constrains the possible interpretation of a clause or sentence.
Input and Processing Instruction
There is a consensus among second language researchers that input is an essential component of
second language acquisition. Learners use input in order to construct a mental representation of
the grammar that they are acquiring. However, there is also consensus that not all of input is
attended to. Learners filter the input, processing it so that only a reduced subset of the input—
called intake—is made available for accommodation by the developing system (Krashen, 1985;
VanPatten, 1996). Although different researchers hold different perspectives on second language
26
acquisition, all confirm that meaningful input is essential to second language acquisition (Krashen,
1985; Larsen-Freeman & Long, 1991; VanPatten, 1996). According to them learners must be
exposed to samples of language that are used to communicate information.
That assumption led researchers to reanalyze traditional approaches to grammar instruction.
Therefore, some researchers (e.g., Long, 1983; VanPatten, 1996) questioned the meaning-bearing
input in output practice by depending on the fact that meaning-bearing input is one of the essential
building blocks of acquisition. They supported processing instruction, which is an input-based
approach to focus on form. In such activities, learners are pushed to attend to properties of the
language during which they hear or see language that expresses some meaning. These activities
contain purposefully manipulated sentences and discourse that carry meaning.
Input Processing
VanPatten (1996) states that, because instruction can make certain grammatical forms more salient
in the input, grammar instruction has a positive role in the acquisition process. His model includes
three stages; input and intake, intake and the developing system, and the developing system and
output.
VanPatten claims that during input processing, which covers the first stage- input and intake,
learners process input as they attempt to comprehend the message carried in it and use the input to
make form-meaning connections. During that process they filter the input, reducing it and having
a new entity called 'intake'. Next stage covers the way learners incorporate a grammatical form or
structure into the mental picture of the language they are creating. Moreover, it includes the way
in which the incorporation of a form or structure can cause a ripple effect and make other things
change without the learner knowing (VanPatten, 2003). The final stage is responsible for language
production.
27
This model includes principles interacting in complex ways in working memory (based on
VanPatten, 2007):
P1. The Primacy of Content Words Principle: Learners process content words in the input before
anything else.
a. The Lexical Preference Principle: Learners will process lexical items for meaning before
grammatical forms when both encode the same semantic information.
a. (Revised) Lexical Preference Principle: If grammatical forms express a meaning that can
also be encoded lexically (i.e., that grammatical marker is redundant), then learners will not
initially process those grammatical forms until they have lexical forms to which they can match
them.
b. The Preference for Nonredundancy Principle: Learners are more likely to process
nonredundant meaningful grammatical markers before they process redundant meaningful
markers.
c. The Meaning before Nonmeaning Principle: Learners are more likely to process
meaningful grammatical markers before nonmeaningful grammatical markers.
P2. The First Noun Principle: Learners tend to process the first noun or pronoun they encounter in
a sentence as the subject.
a. The Event Probability Principle: Learners may rely on event probabilities, where possible, instead of the First Noun Principle to interpret sentences.
b. The Lexical Semantics Principle: Learners may rely on lexical semantics, where
possible, instead of the First Noun Principle (or an Ll parsing procedure) to interpret sentences.
c. The Contextual Constraint Principle: Learners may rely less on the First Noun Principle (or Ll transfer) if preceding context constrains the possible interpretation of a clause or
sentence.
P3. The Sentence Location Principle: Learners tend to process items in sentence initial position
before those in final position and those in medial position.
28
The first principle is concerned with the processing of morphological form as well as functional
categories like articles. The third principle suggests that sentence initial and sentence final
positions are cognitively more salient than other constituents in a sentence.
The second principle, the third sub-principle of which is the concern of the present study, deals
with word order. Research on L2 input processing demonstrated that context may affect how
learners parse sentences. VanPatten (2007) gives the following two sentences as examples:
(4a)
John is in the hospital because Mary attacked him.
(4b) John told his friends that Mary attacked him.
In Spanish, the embedded clause can either be SOV (Maria lo ataco) or OVS (lo ataco Maria). If
the First Noun Principle was conducted, the OVS structure could be misinterpreted as "he attacked
Mary." However, if the preceding context is "John is in the hospital" a misinterpretation is less
likely because why would John be in the hospital if he attacked Mary? Therefore, one interprets
that he's in the hospital as the result of an injury, so Mary must have attacked him. If the preceding
context is a neutral as in "John told his friends" there is nothing to constrain interpretation of the
clause that follows it: John could equally tell his friends that he attacked Mary or that Mary
attacked him. Thus, the effects of context form 'The Contextual Constraint Principle'.
Empirical Studies and the Hypotheses tested
Different studies with different languages have been studied so far. VanPatten and Cadierno (1993)
tried to change the learner's dependence on the first-noun strategy when processing input
containing Spanish clitic object pronouns. Spanish, having flexible word order, allow different
structure possibilities such as SVO, SOV, OVS, and OV. The subject can precede or follow the
29
verb. By using the first-noun strategy, English speakers can conclude that the first noun or pronoun
is the subject of the sentence. This makes them misinterpret the direct object as the subject.
In another study, VanPatten and Sanz (1995) used an interpretation task, a sentence-level task, a
structured question-answer task, and a video narration task to compare an input processing group
with a control group. They found that the former group significantly improved on the interpretation
task, while the latter one didn't. The input processing group also improved their accuracy on the
written tasks and on the sentence completion test. However, on the oral video narration task, no
significant difference was found.
Lots of different studies have been conducted following these studies. Some aimed to replicate the
study of VanPatten and Cadierno (1993) and found two main problems about internal validity: 1.
different type and amount of explicit grammar instruction, and 2. difference in the type of practice
(DeKeyser & Sokalski, 1996).
Cantürk (2001) also administered interpretation and production tasks to the input processing group
and traditional instruction group. This study suggested that positive effects of processing
instruction are durable on both interpretation and production tasks. However, there was no
significant difference between the two instruction groups.
Finally, Lee (2003) conducted a research on the acquisition of Spanish object pronouns and
asserted that the default processing strategy based on word order is pervasive into intermediate
levels of learning and is detrimental to the acquisition of that feature of the language. His
suggestions implied that the processing of word order is closely related to certain proficiency level.
The present study differs from the previous ones in that it limits its scope to the Contextual
Constraint Principle discussed earlier. The principle predicts that if there are some preceding
30
contextual cues, misinterpretation is less likely. Thus, the hypotheses tested in the present study
are formulated as follows:
H1: Contextual cues preceding the target clause will help L2 learners interpret most of the
subjects in a set of sentences correctly.
H2: L2 learners will misinterpret most of the subjects in a set of sentences when the clause
preceding the target one is neutral in terms of its context.
Method
Participants
Depending on convenience sampling, learners from two different beginner (n=48) and advanced
(n=48) English classes participated in the current study as part of their regular class period. Their
ages range from 18 to 21. They were identified as beginner or advanced level learners of English
after the implementation of the placement exam. The exam tested all language skills and the
proficiency level of the learners was decided according to their scores. All participants (n=96) were
native speakers of Turkish. There were no heritage speakers of English who participated. All were
enrolled in an intensive English course at the university level intended for individuals who had
three years or more of high school English.
Table 1
The distribution of the participants in the study
Total Number: 96
Group A
Group B
Beginner Level
24
24
Advanced Level
24
24
Data Collection
Participation in the present study was voluntary. Each of the two different classes was further
divided into two main groups. The two groups will be referred to as Group A and Group B. Each
group consisted of an equal number of participants (N=24). Table 1 shows the groups.
31
All participants, regardless of which group they were in, received the same data-elicitation
procedures. The only difference between the two groups was that Group A received input
consisting of English sentences with contextual cues preceding the target clause, whereas Group
B received input consisting of English sentences containing neutral preceding context (the
difference in input between the two groups will be further explained below).
All participants completed the following two tasks: (1) an impromptu discussion, in English,
regarding the characters from the popular Turkish TV series, Yaprak Dökümü; and (2) a dataelicitation task.
Impromptu Discussion
The impromptu discussion regarding Yaprak Dökümü (a Turkish TV series) was intended to
activate the schemata, i.e. topic familiarity, of the participants regarding the different characters in
the story. Yaprak Dökümü was chosen because of its popularity and longevity within Turkish
culture, and assumed that everyone would be familiar with it. The discussion was conducted in
English in order to ensure its comprehensibility. During the discussion in each of the groups,
participants had to name as many characters as possible from the story, in addition to as many
adjectives as possible describing each character. The researcher wrote the names of the characters,
accompanied by their respective adjectives, on the board. When the discussion ended, the
researcher erased the information before going on to the following task. The ultimate objective of
the impromptu discussion was to ensure that target sentences in the data-elicitation task would be
reliable which were coded for + topic familiarity.
Data-elicitation task
Data elicitation began after all participants had completed the impromptu discussion. First, each
of the verbs to be used in the task was reflected to the learners by means of a projector, in order to
32
ensure there would be no unfamiliar vocabulary in the task. When learners, especially at the
beginner level, encountered unfamiliar vocabulary, visual materials helped the researcher to make
the learners be familiarized with the target vocabulary. Second, a projector was used to provide
each group with different sets of input sentences, one sentence at a time. Participants were
instructed to read the sentence and then respond to the corresponding prompt on the answer sheet.
Each sentence was projected on the overhead for six seconds (VanPatten, B. & Houston, T., 1998)
before moving on to the next sentence. The researcher kept time using a watch. The target
sentences for each group were as follows; the set of input for each group included ten sentences,
each of which consisted of scenarios regarding characters from Yaprak Dökümü. Group A received
the set of English sentences with contextual cues preceding the target clause, while Group B
received the same amount of input consisting of English sentences containing neutral preceding
context.
Utilizing the methods of VanPatten and Houston (1998), a fill-in-the-blank procedure (see
Appendix A for the target input sentences) was adapted. The aim of the task was to investigate
whether Turkish learners of English would process the first noun directly as the subject as proposed
by the First Noun Principle mentioned earlier. An example of a target input sentence is shown in
(1a), and the corresponding prompt on the participant’s answer sheet in (1b):
(1a) “Şevket doesn’t improve himself in his job, but Sedef does, and at times she criticizes
him.”
(1b) __________ criticizes __________.
Each of the input sentences in the present study consisted of transitive verbs, i.e. every verb
required a subject and an object. All participants received the same answer sheet. Thus, Group A
and Group B both completed the fill-in-the-blank task regarding the Turkish series, Yaprak
Dökümü. All participants were encouraged to use the proper names given in the task.
33
Data Analysis
If the learner interpreted the target subject accurately, (s)he got 1 point; if (s)he did not, no point
was given. Therefore, if a student fills in all 10 blanks correctly, s/he gets 10 points overall. When
each group is considered, the highest score for one item was 48 (48 participants × 1 point). Items
that were not responded to by the participant, or, that had ambiguous responses, were excluded
from data analysis. For the fill-in-the-blank task, if the learner responded with English pronouns,
such as She criticizes him, instead of full noun phrases, their response was not included in the
analysis, because other similar responses, such as He criticizes him, would yield an ambiguous
interpretation of the data. As mentioned earlier, participants were told to use the proper names
provided in the target sentences. In order to analyze the data, the frequency of the items was
calculated and chi-square test was applied for each independent variable. The dependent variable
of the study is the correct subject interpretation; whereas, the independent variables are the
proficiency level and the two different input conditions.
Results and Discussion
Table 2
Overall and group-specific frequency of correct subject interpretation
Groups
Group A
Group B
Percentage / Raw scores
Percentage / Raw scores
Beginner Level
83,3%
20
50%
12
Advanced Level
100%
24
100%
24
Total Raw Scores: 80 (out of 96)
91,6%
44
75%
36
Percentage: 83,3%
As can be seen in Table 2, the percentages of beginner level students within each group differ from
each other, group A and group B having 83, 3% and 50%, respectively. Thus, each group performed
34
differently under each input condition. Hence, for these students, contextual cues that preceded the
target clause yielded results that were different than the condition in which neutral contexts were
provided.
The fact that Group A (with contextual cues) performed differently when compared to Group B
(with neutral context) under each input condition indicated that the existence of a contextual cue
in a sentence has an effect on how the participants from lower proficiency level interpret the subject
while processing the target sentences. Thus, it can be concluded that the strong effects of the first
noun principle suggested by VanPatten (1998) can be overridden by the context. When the overall
percentage of beginner level students is taken into account, the results revealed that they identified
more than half of the subjects in the target clauses correctly (66, 6%). This high percentage was
obtained because contextual cues in Group A increased the percentage.
Table 3
Chi square tests for each independent variable across both groups of participants
*Beginner prof. level - Input condition
Advanced prof. level - Input condition
Sig.
df
.000
1
.411
1
* Achieved level of significance (p<.001)
The chi-square analysis, indicated in Table 3, revealed that, of the two different proficiency levels
and the two different input conditions, beginner proficiency level within the input conditions had
a significant main effect on the dependent variable (p<.001). The participants from beginner
proficiency level had higher percentage of correct subject interpretation when contextual cues
preceded the target clause. On the other hand, when neutral contexts were provided the percentage
of correct identification decreased.
35
With respect to the participants from advanced proficiency level, contextual cues that preceded the
target clause yielded results that were not significantly different than those of the neutral contexts.
Thus, those participants in Group A (with contextual cues) performed the same as the ones in
Group B (with neutral contexts) under each of the experimental conditions, indicating that the
presence or absence of contextual cues in the sentence had no effect on how the two groups
behaved under equal conditions.
Depending on the results of beginner level students, the first hypothesis- contextual cues preceding
the target clause will help L2 learners interpret most of the subject correctly, is confirmed (83, 3%).
Similarly, the second hypothesis- L2 learners will misinterpret most of the subject when the clause
preceding the target one is neutral in terms of its context, is partially verified because half of the
responses of Group B were not accurate (50%).
The significant difference between the two groups can be because of the fact that students from
lower proficiency level try to grasp every detail, in a much effortful way to understand a sentence.
Given that, if such students are provided with contextual cues, it is highly probable that they will
also pay attention to these cues in order to process the input they have received.
With respect to advanced level students, it can be seen in Table 2 that the frequencies of each group
are just the same. The percentage of both group A and group B was 100%. Thus, each group
performed in the same way under each input condition. Therefore, for these students, contextual
cues that preceded the target clause did not affect the results when compared to the condition in
which neutral contexts were provided.
The fact that Group A (with contextual cues) and Group B (with neutral context) performed in the
same way under each input condition indicated that the existence or absence of a contextual cue
in a sentence does not influence how the participants from advanced proficiency level interpret the
36
subject while processing the target sentences. As a result, it can be concluded that the effects of
the first noun principle suggested by VanPatten (2007) does not appeal to students from higher
proficiency level. When the overall frequency of advanced level students is taken into account, the
results revealed that they identified all of the subjects in the target clauses correctly (100%). As a
consequence, the first hypothesis- contextual cues preceding the target clause will help L2 learners
interpret most of the subject correctly, is confirmed for advanced level students. However, the
second hypothesis- L2 learners will misinterpret most of the subject when the clause preceding the
target one is neutral in terms of its context, is disconfirmed because all of the responses were
accurate.
The same responses of the two groups can be due to the fact that students from advanced
proficiency level do not depend on every detail, responding automatically by not giving much
effort to understand a sentence. Thus, they will probably not differentiate a sentence whether
containing a contextual cue or neutral context. Their higher proficiency level will also help them
process the input they have received accurately by not paying attention to the context.
Conclusion
VanPatten and Houston (1998) concluded that the presence of context makes a difference in the
interpretation of a sentence. On the other hand, they also noted that future research should
investigate if such an assertion holds for different languages. The present study confirms that
contextual cues preceding the target clause help L2 learners interpret the subject of a sentence
correctly. In addition, it reveals that when such cues do not exist, L2 learners from lower
proficiency level are under the influence of the First Noun Principle. Furthermore, the study
suggests that such factors are not necessarily competing with each other when students from higher
37
proficiency levels are concerned. This conforms to VanPatten’s (2007) assertion that the principles
and sub-principles of IP theory may work together, by either interacting or overriding each other.
Thus, the present study confirms findings from previous research factors affecting the
interpretation of the received input in target sentences among L2 learners. Also, the validity of the
psycholinguistic processing strategy discussed in the literature review is supported.
Limitation of the Study
As discussed earlier, in order to activate learners’ schemata and make them gain topic familiarity,
the researcher tried to conduct a discussion in English with beginner learners. However, because
of their limited language proficiency, the session was very limited when compared to the other
group from advanced proficiency level.
Suggestions for Further Studies
Further studies are needed to better understand the conditions supporting the Contextual Constraint
Principle; it may be that not merely preceding context overrides the First Noun Principle, but rather,
the mere presence of contextual cues overrides it.
References
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based instruction in second language acquisition. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Cadierno, T. (1995). Formal Instruction from a Processing Perspective: An Investigation into the
Spanish Past Tense, The Modern Language Journal, 79: 179-193.
Cantürk, B. (2001). Explicit Grammar Instruction: A Comparison of Comprehension-based and
Production-based Instruction for EFL Learners, T.C. Anadolu Üniversitesi Yayınları: No.
1276. Yabancı Diller Yüksekokulu Yayınları: No. 01: Eskişehir. 2001.
Cheng, A. (1995). Grammar instruction and input processing: The acquisition of Spanish ser and
estar. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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DeKeyser, R.M. & Sokalski. (1996). The Differential Role of Comprehension and Production
Practice, Language Learning, 46/4: 613-642.
Gass, S. M. & Schachter, J. (Eds.). (1989). Linguistic perspectives on second language acquisition.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Krashen, S. D. (1985). The input hypothesis. London: Longman.
Larsen-Freeman, D. & Long, M. H. (1991). An introduction to second language acquisition
research. London: Longman.
Lee, J. F. (1987). Morphological factors influencing pronominal reference assignment by learners
of Spanish, Studies in Spanish (221-232). Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
Lee, J. F. & VanPatten, B. (1995). Making Communicative Language Teaching Happen. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Lee, J. F. (2003). Cognitive and Linguistic Perspectives on the Acquisition of Object Pronouns in
Spanish as a Second Language. In Barbara Lafford and Rafael Salaberry (Eds.), The
Acquisition of Spanish: The State of the Science. Washington, DC: Georgetown University
Press.
LoCoco, V. (1987). Learner comprehension of oral and written sentences in German and Spanish:
The importance of word order. A research perspective (119-129). Cambridge, MA: Newbury
House.
Long, M. H. (1983). Native speaker/non-native speaker conversation and the negotiation of
comprehensible input. Applied Linguistics, 4, 126-141.
Paulston, C. B. (1972). Structural pattern drills. Teaching English as a second language. New
York: McGraw-Hill.
VanPatten, B. (1984). Learner comprehension of clitic object pronouns in Spanish. Hispanic
Linguistics, 1, 56-66.
VanPatten, B. (1996). Input Processing and Grammar Instruction in Second Language
Acqquisition. Norwood, N. J: Ablex.
VanPatten, B. (2003). From input to Output: A Teacher's Guide to Second Language Acquisition.
Boston: McGraw Hill.
VanPatten, B. (Eds.). (2007). Theories in second language acquisition, An introduction. Mahwah,
New Jersey.
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VanPatten, B. & Cadierno, T. (1993). Explicit Instruction and Input Processing, Studies in Second
Language Acquisition, 15: 225-259.
VanPatten, B. & Houston, T. (1998). Contextual effects in processing L2 input sentences. Spanish
Applied Linguistics, 1 (2), 53-70.
VanPatten, B. & Oikkenon, S. (1996). Explanation versus Structured Input in Processing
Instruction, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18: 225-243.
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tasks. Second Language Acquisition and Pedagogy. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Appendix A
Sentences with contextual cues for Group A:
1. Ferhunde feels like a victim when Şevket insults her.
2. Fikret was so happy because Tahsin bought her a present.
3. Şevket doesn’t improve himself in his job, but Sedef does, and at times she criticizes him.
4. Oğuz lost his job, so Leyla gave him some money.
5. Hayriye started to cry when Ali Rıza told her bad news.
6. Necla was ill, so Cem brought her to hospital.
7. Fikret became sad when Cevriye shouted at her.
8. Ayşe felt excited as Leyla brought a dog.
9. Ali Rıza was shocked when Ferhunde laughed at him.
10. Hayriye wanted to change her house, so Cem found a new house.
Sentences with neutral context for Group B:
1. Ferhunde noticed that Şevket was insulting her.
2. Fikret understood that Tahsin bought her a present.
3. Şevket knows that sometimes Sedef criticizes him.
4. Oğuz told his friends that Leyla gave him some money.
5. Hayriye realized that Ali Rıza was going to tell her bad news.
6. Necla told her family that Cem brought her to hospital.
7. Fikret knew that Cevriye would shout at her.
8. Ayşe guessed that Leyla would bring a dog.
9. Ali Rıza thought that Ferhunde laughed at himself.
10. Hayriye heard that Cem found a new house.
40
41
The Relationship between Teacher’s Perceived Organizational Culture of School and their
Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction
Javad Armani Saribagloo
Firouzeh Sepahrian Azar
Hojjat Mahmoudi
University of Tebriz, Iran
Urmia University, Iran
Urmia University, Iran
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Abstract
This research aimed at studying the relationship between teachers' perceived
organizational culture of school and their basic psychological needs satisfaction
(relatedness, competence, and autonomy) in Urmia , Iran, based on Hofstede’s cultural
dimensions (masculinity/ femininity, individualism/ collectivism, uncertainty avoidance
and power distance). To this end, 187 high school teachers were randomly selected and
were asked to answer Hofstede cultural dimension and basic psychological needs scale.
The results of canonical correlation analysis revealed that there is a significantly
negative relationship between Hofstede cultural dimensions and the satisfaction of basic
psychological needs. In general, it can be concluded that if the organizational culture of
the school does not support teachers' autonomy, the sense of competence will be low
among these teachers.
Keywords: Basic psychological needs, Hofstede cultural dimensions, organizational
culture, self-determination.
42
Introduction
Since McGregor used Maslow’s hierarchical theory of needs for the first time in organizational
management and conduct, various studies have investigated the relationship between human needs
and occupational perceptions and motivations. One reason for the great use of this concept in such
studies was that the satisfaction of these needs led to positive work outcomes, and their
dissatisfaction led to negative outcomes. There are two approaches in defining the concept of needs.
The former approach considers needs as an individual’s desires, wishes, and conscious motives.
In this approach, needs are considered as adoptive individual differences which can be evaluated
and used to directly predict work outcomes such as job satisfaction, motivation, and absence in job
(Baard, Deci & Ryan, 2004). The latter considers needs as necessities (physically or
psychologically) which are necessary for living, growth and unity of the individual’sidentity (Ryan,
Sheldon, Kasser & Deci, 1996). According to this approach, needs exist in all individuals naturally
rather than adoptively. Self-determination theory (SDT) has adopted the second approach to human
needs.
Self- determination theory, as a macro level theory, consists of five mini theories and each mini
theory explains different aspects of motivation, behavior, well-being and psychological adjustment
of human beings. In general, SDT describes and explains the factors and processes that facilitate
or inhibit self actualization in mankind. The basic elements of self-determination theory consist of
different types of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and a set of basic psychological needs that
underlies motivation. One of these mini theories is basic psychological needs theory (Gunnell et
al, 2014). These three needs are innate in all human beings and include the need for relatedness,
competence, and autonomy (Evans et al, 2013). Need for relatedness refers to the individual's
tendency for the feeling of relation and connection with others; competence refers to the
43
individual's tendency for the feeling of effectiveness in reaching valuable and useful results, and
autonomy refers to the individual's tendency to begin and regulate his behaviors (Carreira, 2011).
According to self-determination theory, these three needs can be satisfied by individuals’
involvement in various types of behavior, which are different among individuals as well as cultures.
Regardless of the ways, the important point is that the satisfaction of these needs is essential for
the healthy growth and psychological well-being of all individuals in any culture (Sorebo, Halvari,
Gulli & Kristiansen, 2009). If basic psychological needs get satisfied, feelings of self-confidence
and self-value will be formed in individuals. However, in case of prevention and dissatisfaction of
these needs, the individual will have a frail, negative, strange, and critical understanding of himself.
These three psychological needs are closely relate to each other. Having friendly and supportive
relations makes individuals feel autonomous in choosing activities. The sense of autonomy
increases the sense of effectiveness and competence and this in turn leads to an increase in the
sense of connectivity to the group (Ghalavandi, Amani Sari Bagloo & Babai, 2012).
Researches done in the context of organizational behavior indicate that the satisfaction of these
needs has a positive relationship with work productivity. These studies show that the satisfaction
of basic psychological needs has relationship with personnel’s job involvement, satisfaction,
commitment, self-respect, adaptation, more performance and less job stress and attrition (Deci,
Ryan, Gagne, Leone, Usunov, & Kornazheva, 2001; Baard, Deci & Ryan, 2004; Greguras,
Diefendorff, 2009; Lam & Gurland, 2008). Considering the significance of psychological needs,
both theoretically and empirically, in prediction of work outcomes, they should be considered in
educational organizations like schools. Previous researches have considered only the personnel of
non-educational and trade organizations and there is a gap in the literature about the personnel of
educational organizations such as teachers. Considering teachers’ importance and their vital role
44
in facilitating students’ learning in these organizations, the need to conduct a research in this area
is felt necessary.
According to self-determination theory, communities and social contexts in which the individual
has freedom of action cause the satisfaction of basic psychological needs (Reeve, 2009) while
external control prevents it (Gagne, Ryan, Bargmann, 2003). Ghalavandi, Amani and Babai (2012)
and Sadeghi, Amani and Mahmudi (2013) have categorized autonomy supportive environments
into two dimensions; the first dimension provides those aspects of environment with which the
individual deals directly, such as the degree to which a manager supports his personnel in an
organization, and the second dimension is those aspects which indirectly affect individual’s
behavior. Organizational culture is one of the aspects of the environment which can invisibly affect
the satisfaction of these needs. This means when the culture of an organization supports personnel
autonomy, it facilitates the satisfaction of basic psychological needs while acting as a controller
prevents it. So far, studies regarding autonomy supportive environments have taken its direct
aspect into consideration and they have ignored indirect aspects such as organizational culture.
Organizational culture describes one part of the internal environment of the organization which is
in fact a combination of commitment, beliefs and mutual values among members of the
organization and is used to guide the personnel in fulfilling their tasks. In fact, organizational
culture is a potential system of social supervision, which opposes the official or formal supervision
system. Social supervision system is the same as informal system. It involves informal actions,
feelings, group norms and values approved by the people in the organization (Sadeghi et al, 2013).
The main and fundamental feature of organizational culture is its high stability; it is very resistant
against the effects of environments and seldom undergoes changes. This feature causes the culture
45
to have a strong, extensive and to some extent equal effect on different groups of students entering
a school (Hofstede, Hofstede & Minkov, 2010).
To understand the organizational culture, certain models, patterns, and frame works have been
presented by theorists. For instance, Schein (2010) believes that organizational culture is formed
of two layers, visible and invisible. The visible layer refers to clothing, behaviors, rules, stories,
legends, language and rituals, while the invisible one refers to members’ mutual values, norms,
beliefs and assumptions in an organization (Sadeghi et al, 2013). Likewise, Hofstede considers
culture with four dimensions of masculinity/ femininity, individualism/ collectivism, uncertainty
avoidance, and power distance (Hofstede et al. 2010). Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are one of
the most important patterns which have been taken into consideration by most researchers of
organizational culture (Srite, Thatcher, Galy, 2008; Amani, Lavasani, Ejei & Khezriazar, 2011).
Masculinity / femininity refers to the degree of distinction between sexes in the society or
organization. Individualism/ collectivism refers to the typical relationship between the individual
and groups in a certain society. Uncertainty avoidance refers to how individuals encounter
unknown aspects of the future and the degree to which members of a culture feel the danger caused
by vague and unknown situations. Power distance also refers to the degree to which less powerful
members of institutes and organizations (e.g. families) accept and expect the power to be shared
unevenly (Hofstede et al, 2010). According to Hofstede’s cultural dimension, the control rate of
an existing culture over personnel’s innovation and freedom of action in an organization can have
a negative effect on the satisfaction of basic psychological needs. The existence of many rules and
circulars in organizations with a high power distance and uncertainty avoidance limits individuals`
freedom (Srite, 2000). The emphasis on having harmony with the group and neglecting personal
ideas also limit individuals’ freedom in collective organizations (Akour, 2006). Likewise,
46
emphasizing on competence and improvements in masculine organizations leads to a feeling of
pressure and control in individuals and makes individuals find an external motivation and, as a
result, destroy the internal satisfaction of the activity (Deci & Ryan, 2000).
Based on what has been discussed earlier, the aim of this study is to investigate the relationship
between organizational culture of schools and the satisfaction of basic psychological needs based
on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (masculinity/ femininity, individualism/ collectivism,
uncertainty avoidance, and power distance). On the other hand, based on the differences between
cognitive structures of males and females (Brizendine, 2006) and also the method of socialization
in work environment and society (Chen, Fosh & Foster, 2008; Vira and Coka, 2010), males and
females seem to understand organizational culture and experience the satisfaction of their needs in
a different way. Therefore, in addition to the investigation of the relationship between
organizational culture and the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, this study also investigates
the differences between males and females regarding the satisfaction of needs and understanding
the schools of organizational culture. This study hopes to provide school principals with practical
suggestions in order to support teachers and their psychological needs.
Methodology
This study is descriptive in nature and has exploited the canonical correlation analysis. The
rationale behind using canonical correlation analysis is the fact that the aim of this study was to
discover the changes of criterion variables, which are basic psychological needs, based on
predictor variables of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Since the criterion variable consists of a set
of variables named psychological needs, it is not possible to use a multiple regression method. In
addition, the gap in the literature satisfies the author to use canonical correlation analysis to
47
possibly find interesting and complicated relationships between the variables of the study
(Tabachnik & Fidell, 2007).
Participants and Sampling
The initial sample of the present study consisted of all male and female high school teachers in
second district of Urmia, Iran. The total number was 335 (172 males, 163 females) and they were
teaching in 13 male and 9 female schools in academic year of 2011-2012. Based on Cochran’s
Formula, the sample size was equal to 179. Questionnaires were distributed among 200 teachers.
Since 13 teachers (9 males, 4 females) did not complete the questionnaire thoroughly, they were
considered as outliers in this study and were not considered in the analysis. Only the data from 187
teachers (101 males and 86 females) were used for final analysis. The mean of work experience
was 15 and the standard deviation was 6.87.
Based on Hofstede’s (1980) findings, the Iranian culture is determined by medium-plus power
distance, medium-plus uncertainty avoidance, medium collectivism, and femininity. Hedayati
(2006), of course, concluded in his study that the Iranian culture has experienced some changes.
In his study, the Iranian culture scored 64 for power distance, indicating vast power distance, 87
for uncertainty avoidance, suggesting high level of uncertainty avoidance, 82 for
collectivism/individualism, demonstrating massive collectivism, and 67 for masculinity/femininity,
reflecting tendency toward masculinity. Some researchers hold that this change was caused by the
difficult economic status following the 8-year-long war with Iraq (Hadizadeh Moghadam & Assar,
2008).
Instruments
Basic psychological needs scale: Basic psychological needs scale of Ilardi, Leone, Kasser, Ryan
(1993) was used in order to measure this variable. This scale comprised of 21 statements and it
48
evaluates three psychological needs of autonomy (seven questions), competence (six questions),
and relatedness (eight questions). Statements are in the form of a Likert scale ranging from 1 for
completely wrong to 5 for completely correct statements. The reliability coefficient of this scale
was reported 0.83 in a study by Deci and Ryan (2001) using Cronbach Alpha. In Iran, Ejei,
Khezriazar, Babai, and Amani Saribagloo (2009) reported the alpha of this scale as 0.66, 0.74, and
0.68 for autonomy, competence, and relatedness respectively. In the present study, the alpha is 0.70,
0.70, and 0.75 for autonomy, competence, and relatedness respectively. The validity of this
questionnaire has been checked by Ejei. Khezryazar, Babai and Amani (2009) using confirmatory
factor analysis. Fitting indices of AGFI=0.92, GFI=0.94, RMSEA=0.05, and CFI=0.92 confirm
that this questionnaire is fit to Iranian population.
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions: Akour’s questionnaire (2006) was used to measure the dimensions
of masculinity/femininity, individualism/collectivism, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance.
This questionnaire is based on Hofstede’soriginal questionnaire, which has been adapted to
measure the existing culture in educational organizations. This questionnaire has twenty statements
and is ordered in a Likert scale from one for strongly disagree to five for strongly agree and
measures four dimensions of organizational culture. High scores in this questionnaire indicate high
power distance, uncertainty avoidance, collectivism, and masculinity. This means that the lower
the scores of collectivism and masculinity, the more the culture of that organization is inclined
toward individualism and femininity (Akour, 2006). Since the aim of this study was to analyze the
relationship between these dimensions and psychological needs and there is no comparison, there
is no need to define a cut point for masculinity/femininity and individualism/collectivism. The
reliability of this questionnaire was reported by Akour (2006) in his study (α= 0.82, 0.74, 0.82, and
0.77) for power distance, uncertainty avoidance, collectivism, and masculinity accordingly. In the
49
present study the Cronbach Alpha calculated as 0.87, 0.82, 0.71, and 0.76 respectively which
indicates the appropriate reliability of this questionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis was used to
check the construct validity of the questionnaire. Considering the eigenvalue of one as the cut point,
four factors were extracted. This accounts to 54.32 percent of the changes in organizational culture.
Factor loadings, extracted variance and eigenvalues are reported in Table 1.
Table 1
The results of exploratory factor analysis of organizational culture scale
A
B
C
D
Item
Loading
Item
Loading
Item
Loading
Item
Loading
1
0.78
1
0.69
1
0.55
1
0.46
2
0.80
2
0.77
2
0.61
2
0.69
3
0.82
3
0.81
3
0.52
3
0.49
4
0.75
4
0.64
4
0.69
4
0.58
5
0.74
5
0.60
5
0.79
5
0.68
6
5.07
2.36
1.92
1.50
7
18.89
13.65
11.89
9.89
Note: variable names= A: Power distance, B: Masculinity/ femininity, C:
Uncertainty avoidance, D: Individualism/ collectivism, 6: Eigenvalue, 7: %
of variance
Results
Before analyzing the relationship between the variables of this study, descriptive statistics of
variables including mean, standard deviation, skewedness, and kurtosis have been reported to
check the assumption of normal distribution.
Table 2
Descriptive statistics of the variables
Variable
1
Mean
3.94
Standard deviation
0.62
Skewedness Kurtosis
-0.47
-0.53
50
2
3.85
0.67
-0.23
-0.48
3
3.42
0.67
-0.35
-0.15
4
2.60
0.87
0.09
-0.63
5
3.10
0.68
0.19
-0.28
6
3.41
0.79
-0.04
-0.34
7
3.49
0.95
-0.37
-0.57
Note: variable names= 1: Need for Relatedness, 2: Need for
Competence, 3: Need for Autonomy, 4: Masculinity/ Femininity,
5: Individualism/ collectivism, 6: Uncertainty avoidance, 7:
Power Distance
According to Table 2, skewedness and kurtosis indices indicate the normal distributions of the
variables. Multivariate normality was examined using Mardia's normalized multivariate kurtosis
coefficient. This coefficient for the data in this study is 3.62, indicating multivariate normality of
the data as the value is lower than the value of 63 computed based on the P(P+2) formula, where
P equals the number of observed variables in the study (Teo & Noyes, 2012). Correlation matrix
of variables is also reported in Table 3.
Table 3
Correlation matrix of the variables
variable
1
1
1
2
0.19**
1
3
0.17*
0.29**
1
4
0.20**
0.24**
0.46**
1
5
-0.29**
-0.14*
-0.04
-0.14*
1
6
-0.30**
-0.12
-0.10
-0.27**
0.57**
1
7
-0.35**
-0.15*
-0.26**
-0.40**
0.51**
0.58**
**p =0.01; *p=0.05
2
3
4
5
6
7
1
51
Note: variable names= 1: Masculinity/femininity, 2: Individualism/
collectivism, 3: Uncertainty avoidance, 4: Power distance, 5: Need for
Relatedness, 6: Need for competence, 7: Need for autonomy
As shown in Table 3, there is a significantly negative relationship between masculinity/femininity
and the need for relatedness, competence, and autonomy. There is also a negative significant
relationship between individualism/collectivism and the need for relatedness and autonomy. There
is a negative significant relationship between uncertainty avoidance and the need for autonomy.
Likewise, there is a negative significant relationship between power distance and all psychological
needs.
Canonical correlation analysis was used to analyze the relationship between the school culture and
basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) based on Hofstede’s cultural
dimensions (masculinity/femininity, individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and power
distance). Before reporting this analysis, in the figures 1 and 2 the results of linearity and
homoscedasticity have been reported.
1 and 2 the results of linearity and homoscedasticity have been reported.
Figure1. The result of linearity
Figure 2: the result of homoscedasticity
52
53
As shown in figure 1, there is a linear relationship between all variables; also the results of figure
2 indicate that the variances of independent variables (organization culture), are homogenous at
the levels of dependent variables (need for autonomy, competence and relatedness) because the
interpretation line is flat for all dependent variables. Also to test multicollinearity among
independent of variables, variance inflation factor (VIF) was used. Table 4 indicates this result.
According to this table, the variance inflation factor for all variables is lower than 10, so it may be
concluded that there isn't multicollinearity among independent variables.
Table 4
Test of multicollinearity among independent variables
Variable
variance inflation factor VIF
A
2.04
B
1.30
C
2.31
D
1.48
A:
Power
distance,
B:
Masculinity/
femininity, C: Uncertainty avoidance, D:
Individualism/ collectivism
The results of Canonical correlation analysis indicated that the correlation between canonical
variable of organizational culture and basic psychological needs is 0.50. Wilks lambda for this
relationship was 0.71 and Bartlet X2 was 61.82 and significant at 0.001 alpha. Therefore, these two
sets have a significant relationship with each other. It is worth mentioning that in canonical
correlation analysis each set is similar to latent variables in structural equation modeling. Results
of canonical correlation analysis have been reported in Table 5 for more careful analysis of the
relationship between these two sets.
54
Table 5
The results of Canonical correlation analysis of relationship between the school culture and basic
psychological needs
Variable
Canonical Coefficient
Structural Coefficient
Canonical communality
coefficient
A
1
0.04
-0.53
0.28
2
-0.25
-0.72
0.52
3
-0.86
-0.98
0.96
4
0.59
5
0.15
B
6
0.58
0.72
0.51
7
0.02
0.31
0.10
8
0.10
0.50
0.25
9
0.65
0.81
0.66
10
0.38
11
0.10
Note: Variables names= A: Basic psychological needs set, 1: Need for Relatedness, 2: Need for
Competence, 3: Need for Autonomy, 4: Percent of variance, 5: Redundancy, B: School Culture
set, 6: Masculinity/ Femininity, 7: Individualism/ collectivism, 8: Uncertainty avoidance, 9:
Power Distance, 10, Percent of variance, 11: Redundancy
In table 5, structural coefficients indicate that each variable is correlated with its canonical variable.
Structural coefficients are also like standardized regression coefficients in regression analysis. The
canonical communality coefficient shows each variable’s share in the prediction of its canonical
variable. For example, relatedness, competence and autonomy predict 28, 52 and 96 percent of
variance of canonical variable of basic psychological needs. In the canonical variable of
organizational
culture,
variables
of
masculinity/femininity,
individualism/collectivism,
uncertainty avoidance, and power distance explain 51, 10, 25 and 66 percent of variance of this
variable. In table 5, communality shows the variance which all variables predict their canonical
variable and it is also called extracted variance. Overlap indicates the variance, which the opposite
set, explains its opposite canonical variable (Tabachnick & Fidel, 2007). For example, the
extracted variance for the canonical variable of basic psychological needs is 59 percent.
55
Psychological needs predict 10 percent of the organizational culture variance. The extracted
variance for the canonical variable of organizational culture is 38 percent and this variable predicts
15 percent of the changes in basic psychological needs.
In order to identify significant variables in canonical sets, Tabachnick and Fidell (2007) propose
that structural coefficients of 0.30 or more in each variable indicate the significance of that variable
in its set. Therefore, masculinity/femininity (0.72), individualism/collectivism (0.31), uncertainty
avoidance (0.50), and power distance (0.81) are significant variables in organizational culture.
Significant variables in psychological needs include relatedness (-0.53), competence (-0.72), and
autonomy (-0.98). According to these findings, it can be concluded that as much as power distance
and uncertainty avoidance is high in a school and it has a masculine and collective culture; teachers
will have lower feelings of autonomy, competence and relatedness. On the contrary, as much as
power distance and uncertainty avoidance is low and the school has a feminine and individualistic
culture; they can experience the feeling that their basic psychological needs are being satisfied.
The MANOVA test is used to analyze the differences between males and females in the satisfaction
of basic psychological needs and their perception of school organizational culture. Results from
this test indicated that there was no difference between males and females in the satisfaction of
psychological needs (Wilks’ L=0.96, F=2.24, p<0.09). Likewise, there was no difference between
males and females in their perception of school organizational culture (Wilks’ L=0.98, F=1.04,
p<0.39).
Discussion
The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between school culture and the satisfaction
of teachers’ basic psychological needs. Results of canonical correlation analysis indicated that
there is a negative significant relationship between the set of organizational culture
56
(masculinity/femininity, individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and power distance)
and the set of basic psychological needs (relatedness, competence, and autonomy), and
organizational culture clarifies 15 percent of the changes in basic psychological needs. This
negative correlation indicates that as much as the organizational culture is inclined toward more
control, the rate of the satisfaction of teachers’ needs will be decreased.
Based on the results of the study, it can be said that a type of external motivation is created for
teachers in schools with more masculine organizational culture as a result of more emphasis on
development and competence. Deci and Ryan (2000) believe that as much as the extrinsic
motivation rate is high, the controller function of the environment will be increased and this has a
negative effect on the satisfaction of psychological needs. On the other hand, schools with feminine
culture provide more opportunities for the satisfaction of psychological needs since they
emphasize supporting each other and having friendly relationships. This is because supporting and
not controlling each other is one of the important features of autonomy supportive environments
(Reeve, 2009).
In schools with a collective culture, teachers are mostly influenced by other teachers’ ideas. They
have to work in groups, other teachers have influence on each individual’s life and career and the
responsibilities are mostly on the shoulders of the group so that the individuals and teachers
harmonize themselves with others (Akour, 2006). Such an environment limits individuals’ action
power and innovation greatly because in most cases the group decides instead of individuals. The
increase in the control by the environment can have a negative effect on the satisfaction of teachers’
psychological needs which is in line with self-determination theory.
The existence of rules, regulations and great number of circulars, lack of support for personnel’s
innovation, clear cut specification of responsibilities with no chance of making changes in them,
57
emphasizing traditional methods of doing things and lack of support for innovation and flexibility
in organization are features of organizations or schools with a high uncertainty avoidance (Akour,
2006; Srite 2000). These features increase the control rate of organizations and as much as the
environment is the controller, the satisfaction rate of psychological needs will be low. This is also
in line with self-determination theory (Reeve, 2009).
More specifically, as much as the school has more hierarchical structure and all educational
decisions are made by the school principal without consultation with teachers, and teachers do not
have the qualifications to give comments about school matters, they will have lower feelings of
autonomy, competence, and relatedness. This is because schools with high distance power do not
give opportunities to individuals to show their competence, innovation and freedom. On the other
hand, the hierarchical organizational structure and the authority of individuals with higher
positions in schools, such as the principal, lead to the formation of an unreliable atmosphere and
unreliability toward individuals (Srite, 2000). This is true because having relationships with others
causes the individuals’ authority to increase and consequently leads to the increase in control rate.
Therefore, this causes the decrease in relationship among members. The present result is in line
with self-determination theory that states that a controller environment has a negative effect on the
satisfaction of the employees’ psychological needs (Deci et al. 2001).
Results have shown that male and female teachers do not have any difference with each other in
the satisfaction of basic psychological needs and their perception of school organizational culture.
Self-determination theory states that psychological needs are embedded in all individuals and are
necessary for psychological health and harmony of all people in any society (Deci et al. 2001).
Therefore, the lack of significant difference between males and females can be justified according
to this theory. In addition, considering the concentration of educational system in our country, it
58
can be said that the organizational culture of all schools are largely similar and this makes no
difference in individuals’ perception of organizational culture.
Overall, findings of this study are in line with self-determination theory. By putting forward three
needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness, this theory states that the environment support
rate of autonomy has a positive effect on the satisfaction of these needs and that has a positive
effect on individuals’ psychological health in life and work environments (Deci et al. 2001).
Hofstede et al. (2010) believe that the existing cultural values in organization are one of the most
stable and resistant aspects of that organization. They claim that making direct changes in the
values of an organization is very difficult since they are not clear enough and guide the individual’s
thoughts and behavior like mental software. Schein (2010) also considers these values as
assumptions of cultural behavior which guide individuals’ behavior in the form of evident
principles. According to this, if organizational culture of a school has the controlling characteristics
and limit the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, it will face some problems in changing
these values and decreasing the controlling feature of the environment. Hofstede et al. (2010)
introduces the change in evident behaviors as the best way to change the values. These changes
can include changes in school rules and curriculars in order to decrease control and to give freedom
and innovation to teachers. strengthening teachers’ self-esteem and including them in decision
making about school activities, presenting logical reasons about the existence of rules and control
in organization, strengthening collaboration among teachers and deemphasizing on
competitiveness, improvement and finally strengthening teachers’ freedom and innovation in
schools.
The present study was the first attempt to analyze the relationship between school culture and the
satisfaction of teachers’ psychological needs. This research indicated that as much as the school
59
culture is the controller, the satisfaction rate of these needs will be decreased. According to the
results of this study, one might think of the question that how can the culture of an organization
oppose the individual’s innate needs while it provides the best tool for humans’ compatibility with
the environment (Schein, 2010). It seems that the answer of this question lies on the contradiction
between individual’s own cultural values and the organizational culture of his workplace which is
not clean- cut yet and it is suggested to conduct more research on the facilitating role of
individual’s cultural values in the relationship between organizational culture and the satisfaction
of psychological needs.
At the end, it should be mentioned that the sample of this study only included school teachers in
one city. Therefore, generalization of the findings to employees of other organizations faces some
limitations. Considering this limitation, more research is needed to be conducted in other
organizations to increase the generalizability of the results.
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Teacher Effectiveness in Relation to Type of Institution, Emotional Intelligence and
Teaching Experience
Amit Kauts
Vijay Kumar Chechi
MGN College of Education, India
Lovely Professional University, India
[email protected]
[email protected]
Abstract
Present study aims at studying the influence of the emotional intelligence, age and
qualification on the teacher effectiveness of the teachers. The study population included
secondary schools teachers working in Jalandhar and Ludhiana districts of Punjab, India.
Using a multi-stage random sampling method, a sample volume of 739 teachers was
determined. Two main instruments were used to measure the study variables: a 80-item
questionnaire by C R Darolia on emotional intelligence (five scales: Self-awareness,
Motivating Oneself, Managing Emotions, Empathy and Handling Relations, and a 60item Teacher Effectiveness Scale by Kumar and Mutha, 1985. The frequency, mean and
standard deviation values were calculated and a 3 way ANOVA analysis was performed
to evaluate the statistical significance of the findings. The study results revealed that:
(a) Differences in teacher effectiveness of groups of teachers’ based on school type i.e.
government and private secondary schools, are not significant. (b) Teachers with low
emotional intelligence are less effective in teaching than teachers with high emotional
intelligence. c) More experienced teachers are found to be more effective than less
experienced teachers. Thus, it can be concluded that emotional intelligence and teaching
experience matters in making of a teacher to be effective.
Keywords: Emotional intelligence, teacher effectiveness, age, qualification and school
type.
63
64
Introduction
‘If we want to help people learn, we must expect to encounter emotion, and we must take it seriously.’
James Zull
The Indian Education Commission (1966) keeping this in consideration to enjoin education with
growth, in its report titled ‘Education and National Development’ gave importance to the education.
The report says, “In a world based on science and technology, it is education that determines the
level of prosperity, welfare and security of the people. On the quality and number of people passing
out of our schools and colleges will depend on our success in the great enterprise of national
reconstruction whose principle objective is to raise the standard of living of our people”.
The success of education system depends a lot on the teacher. Therefore, a growing number of
education reformers, policymakers, and researchers have argued that the importance of teachers’
role in the development of wholesome personality of the child at the elementary and secondary
level. These proponents pointed out measures to increase the teacher effectiveness through, for
example, good salary, say in the operation of schools, increase of opportunities to improve their
teaching skills, providing support or assistance, and proper rewards or recognition for their efforts.
The rationale underlying this view is that upgrading the teaching occupation will lead to
improvements in the motivation and commitment of teachers, which, in turn, will lead to
improvements in teachers’ performance, which will ultimately lead to improvements in student
learning (Carnegie Forum 1986; Darling-Hammond 1984; Rosenholtz 1989; Sergiovanni and
Moore 1989; Weis et al. 1989; Conley and Cooper 1991; Holmes Group 1986; Darling-Hammond
1995; Talbert and McLaughlin 1993). This interest in the professionalization of teaching has
gained recognition and impetus from a number of quarters.
65
Teacher effectiveness is determined by a number of factors like certification, students’ ratings,
experience, teacher preparation programs and degrees, teacher coursework and teacher’s own test
scores. Cross and Rigden (2002) describes actions necessary to improve teacher quality i.e. by
deepening teachers' content knowledge and strengthening candidates' experiences in schools,
hiring qualified teachers, and supporting teacher learning. Similarly, Analysing effectiveness of
teachers, Decker, et. al. (2004) using data from 17 schools indicated that, on average, students of
TFA teachers raised their mathematics test scores (on the Iowa Basic Skills test) 0.15 standard
deviation above students of comparison certified teachers.
Onderi and Croll (2009) conducted a study of the perceptions of teachers in secondary schools in
the Gucha district of Kenya of their own effectiveness, and reported that three dimensions of selfperceived effectiveness i.e. pedagogic process, personal and affective aspects of teaching and
effectiveness are instrumental in pupil performance. Teachers tended to rate themselves relatively
highly with regard to the first two, process-oriented, dimensions but less highly on the third,
outcome-oriented, dimension. Self-ratings for pupil outcomes correlated with pupil examination
performance at school level.
Similarly teachers’ effectiveness can be improved by keeping the size of the classroom small. In
smaller classes, there is more individualized teacher support for learning. Teachers from all grade
levels said that reduced class size increased student learning and enhanced their teaching
effectiveness, whereas large classes had the opposite effect (Blatchford, Moriarty, Edmonds and
Martin,2002; Reynolds, Reagin, and Reinshuttle, 2001).
In a school situation the teachers is expected to perform different roles. Some teachers perform
one or two roles, but most of them does most of the roles. For example a teacher in a school is
expected to perform following roles of information provider, facilitator, assessor, planner, resource
66
developer and the most important the role model. With such an expectation from a teacher, teaching
becomes a stressful profession. Research findings suggest that unrealistic expectations between
teacher training and reality of teaching, a lack of clear performance standards with constructive
feedback, increasing physical demands and added responsibilities, inadequate pay and resources,
and physically and psychologically dangerous work environments lead to teacher dissatisfaction
and attrition. While teachers cannot control these issues, but, they can learn and choose to develop
skilled behaviors to deal with stressors.
Understanding this along with the variety of roles to be played by the teacher in the school makes
to think the need to recognise emotional component of the teaching-learning exchange and to be
able to work with it. In other words, teachers need to use emotional intelligence in order to assist
others to learn. And this will in turn prove their teaching effectiveness.
Recent research in the area of emotional intelligence conclude that social and emotional skills are
associated with success in many areas of life, including effective teaching, student learning, quality
relationships, and academic performance (Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2004b; Sutton & Wheatley,
2003). Similarly, intrapersonal emotional intelligence and interpersonal emotional intelligence
were found to predict significantly active coping strategy, but teacher self-efficacy did not
contribute independently to the prediction of active coping (Chan, 2008). Emotional intelligence
was found to be helpful in reducing occupational stress of teachers and enhancing their
effectiveness in teaching (Kauts and Saroj, 2010).
Teacher’s effectiveness among primary school teachers of government & private schools; male &
female teachers is found to be equal. However, significant difference in the level of teacher
effectiveness of urban & rural primary school teacher (Singh, 2012). Similarly, in another study
on secondary school Male and Female teachers, Govt. and Private school Teachers’ were found
67
equally effective in teaching but urban teachers were found more effective than rural teachers
(Singh, 2012). Hoghlighting the importance of effective teachers, Kalita (2012) reported that
effective teachers create an effective climate in the classroom to provide security to children,
creating favourable situations for affective, cognitive and psychomotor development of pupils,
helping in fostering readiness for social interactions and perform other manifold activities; Female
teachers are more effective than male teachers in secondary schools; Graduate teachers are equally
effective as Post graduate teachers; and, Teaching experience / training has no significant impact
on teachers effectiveness. Manu and Yellappa (2013) showed that female and government
secondary school teachers have higher teaching effectiveness. Rural and more experience
secondary school teachers have higher teaching aptitude. Graduate and post graduate teachers are
equally effective teachers.
A number of National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER)
studies confirm findings from existing research that, on average, brand new teachers are less
effective than those with some experience under their belts (Clotfelter, Ladd, and Vigdor 2007a,
2007b; Harris and Sass 2007; Kane, Rockoff, and Staiger 2006; Ladd 2008).
In Ling’s study (as cited in Salamuddin, Harun, & Abdullah, 2011) on residential schools explored
teacher effectiveness in implementing extra-curricular activities found that experienced teachers
are far more effective in implementing extra-curricular activities than are teachers with less
teaching experience.
In Basiron’s study (as cited in Salamuddin, Harun, & Abdullah, 2011) on management of Extracurricular programs among secondary schools, it is concluded that more experienced teachers have
less problems in managing sports and games in secondary schools as compared to less experienced
teachers.
68
Statement of the Problem
The present study is entitled as Teacher Effectiveness in Relation to Emotional Intelligence, Type
of Institution and Teaching experience among Secondary School Teachers. It explored the
significant difference for teacher effectiveness among high and low emotionally intelligent
secondary school teachers with different teaching experience and working in the state of Punjab.
Significance of the Problem
Teachers are expected to fill many roles in their daily tasks. These roles may include assessor,
planner, curriculum developer, information provider, role model, facilitator, and resource
developer. As a result of balancing these many roles, teachers’ efficiency matters a lot. With so
much of things to handle in situation the teachers seem to have strong emotional intelligence. As
pointed that teaching job is preferred by persons with high emotional intelligence (Caruso, Mayer
and Salovey, 2002) and individuals with High EI can better perceive emotions, use them in thought,
understand their meanings, and manage emotions better than others. Solving emotional problems
likely requires less cognitive effort for this individual. The person also tends to be higher on verbal,
social and other intelligences (Mayer, Salovey and Caruso, 2004b). Thus, the present study intends
to find out the role of emotional intelligence, school type and teaching experience on the teacher
effectiveness of the teachers.
Delimitations of the Study
The study is delimited to the teachers working in secondary schools in Jalandhar and Ludhiana
districts of Punjab.
Objectives of the Study
The present study is designed to study teacher effectiveness in relation to Emotional Intelligence,
type of institution and teaching experience of teachers working in secondary schools.
69
Hypotheses
The following hypotheses have been framed keeping in view the above said objective:
1. There is no significant difference in the teacher effectiveness of secondary school teachers
in relation to their emotional intelligence.
in relation to their type of institution.
in relation to their teaching experience.
4. There is no interaction effect of school type and emotional intelligence, school type and
teaching experience, & emotional intelligence and teaching experience on the scores of
Teacher effectiveness of secondary school teachers.
5. There is no interaction effect of type of institution, teaching experience and emotional
intelligence on the scores of teacher effectiveness of teachers working in secondary schools.
Methodology
Sample
In the present study, 30 schools comparable in terms of infrastructure, faculty and student strength
each were selected randomly from two clusters i.e. Jalandhar and Ludhiana districts of Punjab.
Thus, 739 secondary school teachers were selected from two clusters i.e. Jalandhar and Ludhiana
districts of Punjab. Emotional intelligence questionnaire was administered to all these secondary
school teachers. The scores obtained through emotional intelligence questionnaire were arranged
in ascending order. On the scores of emotional intelligence 30% top and 30% bottom school
teachers were identified as teachers with low and high emotional intelligence. In the second phase,
70
the selected secondary school teachers were asked to fill Teacher effectiveness scale for further
investigation.
Prodecure
The investigator took 2 districts out of 17 disctricts of Punjab because of the time resources and
effort required. More or less the districts are representative of population of Punjab in other
districts as the recruitment policies, environment and working conditions and also the cultural
background are similar among the sample population. The sample is representative in nature of
universe population of teachers working in secondary schools of Punjab. In the present study, 30
schools (15 government and 15 private secondary schools) comparable in terms of infrastructure,
faculty and student strength each were selected randomly from two clusters i.e. Jalandhar and
Ludhiana districts of Punjab. 20 teachers from each school were selected randomly from the
available teachers. Thus, 600 secondary school teachers each were selected from two clusters i.e.
Jalandhar and Ludhiana districts of Punjab. Initially, 1200 secondary school teachers comprised
the sample of the study. Out of them, 739 (61.58 %) secondary school teachers agreed to be part
of the study and completed the exercise for final calculation of data from the two clusters i.e.
Jalandhar and Ludhiana districts of Punjab. Out of them, 342 are from government schools and
397 are from private schools respectively. Emotional intelligence questionnaire was administered
to all these secondary school teachers. The scores obtained through emotional intelligence
questionnaire were arranged in ascending order. On the scores of emotional intelligence 30% top
and 30% bottom school teachers are identified as teachers with low and high emotional intelligence
from government and private schools. In the second phase, the selected secondary school teachers
were asked to fill Teacher effectiveness scale for further investigation. The collected data was
tabulated and subjected to statistical analysis and interpretation as per the hypotheses.
71
Tools
The following tools were used for data collection:
1.
Multidimensional Measures of Emotional Intelligence (MMEI) by C. R Darolia, 2003.
2.
Teacher Effectiveness Scale (TES) by Kumar and Mutha, 1985.
Statistical Techniques
The following statistical techniques were employed to analyze the data:
1.
Means and standard deviations were employed to understand the nature of data on the
scores of teacher effectiveness.
2.
3 way ANOVA was employed to find significant difference between various sub groups of
high and low emotionally intelligent secondary school teachers working in government and
private schools with different teaching experience.
Research Design
2x2x2 factorial design was employed on the scores of teacher effectiveness wherein, type of
institution, teaching experience and emotional intelligence were studied as independent variables
and were used for the purpose of classification viz. high and low emotional intelligence, less
experienced and more experienced & government and private schools. Teacher Effectiveness was
studied as dependent variable.
Analysis and Interpretation
To study the teacher effectiveness of high and low emotionally intelligent secondary school
teachers working in government and private schools with more or less experienced years of
experience in Punjab, the data has been analysed using univariate analysis of variance. The mean
and standard deviation were calculated for teacher effectiveness score and are presented below in
table 1.
72
Table 1
Means of sub-groups of anova for 2×2×2 design with respect to teacher effectiveness in relation
to teaching experience, school type and emotional intelligence
ST
EI
Low
Govt.
High
TE
Teacher
Effectiveness
Less experienced
N= 34
M= 295.91
37.2
=
Total
Total
TE
Low
Teacher
Effectiveness
M=
=
301.27
36.2
More experienced M=
N= 31
=
313.77
24.9
Total
N= 92
M= 300.02
31.6
=
Total
N= 94
M=
=
305.39
33.3
Less experienced
N= 23
M= 318.43
35.9
=
Less experienced
N= 68
M=
=
324.72
19.9
More experienced M=
N= 30
=
330.93
15.8
Total
N= 98
M=
=
326.62
18.9
Less experienced
N= 131
M=
=
313.44
31.1
More experienced M=
N= 61
=
322.21
22.5
More experienced M= 328.92
N= 66
31.0
=
Less experienced
N= 57
Low
EI
Less experienced
N= 63
N= 58
27.8
=
Total
N= 89
Total
ST
High
M= 326.21
32.5
=
M= 305.00 Private Total
38.0
=
N= 124
32.3
=
Total
N= 181
M= 312.90
34.5
=
Total
N= 192
M=
=
316.23
28.9
Less experienced
N= 97
M= 299.39
36.5
=
Less experienced
N= 91
M=
=
323.13
24.8
More experienced M=
N= 96
=
329.55
27.1
M=
=
326.43
26.2
More experienced M=
N= 185
=
318.41
29.5
N= 89
27.3
=
Total
N= 186
M= 302.74
32.5
=
Less experienced
N= 188
M= 310.88
33.5
=
Total
N= 373
M= 314.61
31.7
=
Total
High
Total
N= 187
ST-School Type; EI-Emotional Intelligence; TE-Teaching Experience; Govt.-Government
73
In order to analyze the variance of teacher effectiveness of high and low emotionally intelligent
secondary school teachers working in government and private schools with more than/Less
experienced years of experience, the obtained scores were subjected to ANOVA and the results
have been presented in the table 2.
Table 2
Summary of anova for 2×2×2 design with respect to teacher effectiveness in relation to teaching
experience, school type and emotional intelligence
Source
df
Type III SS
MSS
F
School Type
1
3101.50
3101.50
3.60
EI
1
39874.47
39874.47
46.29
TE
1
6335.64
6335.64
7.36
ST × EI
1
350.78
350.78
0.41
ST × TE
1
14.49
14.49
0.02
EI × TE
1
26.75
26.75
0.03
ST × EI × TE
1
522.72
522.72
0.61
Error
365
314426.62
861.44
Total
373
37300000
Main Effects
School Type
It has been observed from table 2, that F-ratio for the differences in school type for teacher
effectiveness score is found to be 3.6. Thus, the value for difference between the means of Teacher
effectiveness score of secondary school teachers working in government and private schools
teachers is found to be insignificant at 0.05 level. This indicates that two groups of government
and private secondary school teachers do not differ significantly on their scores of Teacher
effectiveness. Thus, the results do support hypothesis (1), “There is no significant difference
between teacher effectiveness of teachers serving in government and private secondary schools”.
74
Meaning thereby, that the type of institution i.e. government and private do not influence or
contribute to the effectiveness of teachers. The results are in tune with the findings of Singh (2012);
Singh (2012).
Emotional Intelligence
It has been observed from table 2, that F-ratio for the differences in Teacher effectiveness score is
found to be 46.29. The critical value is found to be significant at 0.01 level. This indicates that two
groups of secondary school teachers with high and low emotional intelligence differ significantly
on their scores of Teacher effectiveness. Thus, the results reject the hypothesis (2), “There is no
significant difference between teacher effectiveness of secondary school teachers with high and
low emotional intelligence”. From reviewing the corresponding means in table 1, it is found that
teachers with low emotional intelligence (302.74) had scored less on Teacher effectiveness than
teachers with high emotional intelligence (326.43). Meaning thereby, teachers with high emotional
intelligence are more effective in their teaching than teachers with low emotional intelligence. The
results are in tune with the studies conducted by Cirarrochi, Chan and Caputi (2000); Sutton and
Whitely (2003) and Kauts and Saroj (2010).
Teaching Experience
It has been observed from table 2, that F-ratio for the differences in teaching experience for Teacher
effectiveness score is found to be 7.36. Thus, the value for difference between the means of Teacher
effectiveness score of secondary school teachers with teaching experience less than and More
experienced years of experience is found to be significant at 0.01 level. This indicates that two
groups of secondary school teachers with more or less 10 years of teaching experience differ
significantly on their scores of Teacher effectiveness. Thus, the results reject the hypothesis (3),
“There is no significant difference between teacher effectiveness of secondary school teachers with
75
more/Less experienced years of teaching experience”. From reviewing the corresponding means
in table 1, it is found that teachers with more experienced years of teaching experience (318.41)
had scored more on Teacher effectiveness than teachers with Less experienced years of teaching
experience (310.88). From this, it can be interpreted that experience is a factor contributing to
teaching effectiveness. More experienced teachers in general will be more effective than teachers
with less experience of teaching. The results are in tune with the findings of Kane et al (2006);
Rivkin et al. (2005); Decker, et al (2004), which states that with experience teachers become more
effective. Ling (2008) and Basiron (1999) also reported that experienced teachers are comfortable
in handling extra-curricular activities and sports activities.
Two Order Interaction
It has been observed from table 2, that F-ratio for the interaction between school type and
emotional intelligence, school type and teaching experience, and emotional intelligence and
teaching experience for Teacher effectiveness is found to be 0.41. Thus, the value for the
interaction between school type and emotional intelligence, school type and teaching experience,
and emotional intelligence and teaching experience of Teacher effectiveness of secondary school
teachers is found to be insignificant at 0.05 level. This indicates that perception of secondary
school teachers on the scores of Teacher effectiveness as a result of interaction of school type and
emotional intelligence, school type and teaching experience, and emotional intelligence and
teaching experience for different sub groups do not differ significantly. Thus, the results do support
hypothesis (4), “There is no interaction effect of school type and emotional intelligence, school
type and teaching experience, and emotional intelligence and teaching experience on the scores of
Teacher effectiveness of secondary school teachers”. This interpret to that together the variable of
76
emotional intelligence and school type, school type and teaching experience, and emotional
intelligence and teaching experience are not able to influence teaching effectiveness of teachers.
Three Order Interaction
It has been observed from table 2, that F-ratio for the interaction between school type, emotional
intelligence and teaching experience for Teacher effectiveness is found to be 0.61. Thus, the value
for the interaction between school type, emotional intelligence and teaching experience of Teacher
effectiveness of secondary school teachers is found to be insignificant at 0.05 level. This indicates
that perception of secondary school teachers on the scores of Teacher effectiveness as a result of
interaction of school type, emotional intelligence and teaching experience for different sub groups
do not differ significantly. Thus, the results do support hypothesis (5), “There is no interaction
effect of school type, emotional intelligence and teaching experience on the scores of Teacher
effectiveness of secondary school teachers”. This interprets to that together the variable of
emotional intelligence, school type, and teaching experience is not able to influence teaching
effectiveness of teachers.
Discussion on Findings
The purpose of the present study is to find the differences existing between teacher effectiveness
of groups based on emotional intelligence, school type and teaching experience and their
interaction effects. However, the differences in teacher effectiveness of groups of teachers’ based
on school type i.e. government and private secondary schools, are not significant. This finding is
in tune with the findings of Singh (2012) and Singh (2012) who reported that teachers working in
government and private schools are equally effective in teaching. Second, important finding
evolved through the study is that the secondary school teachers with high and low emotional
intelligence differ significantly on their teaching effectiveness. And, teachers with low emotional
77
intelligence are less effective in teaching than teachers with high emotional intelligence. Similar
to the finding, different studies conducted by Cirarrochi, Chan and Caputi (2000); Sutton and
Whitely (2003) and Kauts and Saroj (2010) concluded that emotional intelligence is a key factor
in the success in teaching and to become more effective, one needs to be more emotionally
intelligent. Also, teacher effectiveness of less and more experienced secondary school teachers is
found significant. More experienced teachers are found to be more effective than less experienced
teachers. Similar results were reported by Kane et al (2006); Rivkin et al. (2005); Decker, et al.
(2004); Ling (2008) and Basiron (1999) which states that with experience teachers become more
effective in dealing with different types of teacher responsibilities.
Thus, it can be concluded that emotional intelligence and teaching experience matters in making
of a teacher to be effective. Thus the emotional intelligence training which does not have any place
in the training of pre service and in service trainings shall be made the part of orientation and
refresher courses. The researches have proved that emotional intelligence can be developed. For
the fresh recruitments the testing of emotional intelligence can be included alongwith the
certification. Similarly, the teaching experience makes a point for the administrators that more
challenging and difficult tasks & responsibilities shall be given to more experienced teachers. Both
the findings are very important for policy makers and administrators at the grassroot level of school
functioning and upright at the recruitment policy by planners.
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Uluslararası Erasmus Programı Çerçevesinde Türkiye’ye Gelen Sanat ve Tasarım
Öğrencilerinin Türk Kültürü Algıları
Culture Perception of Art and Design Students Come in Turkey through International
Erasmus Program
Suzan Duygu Erişti
[email protected]
Özet
Günümüzde çok kültürlü etkileşimler, kültürel farkındalığa dayalı kültürlerarası iletişim
ve bağlantıları içermektedir. Bireylerin çok kültürlü bir yaklaşım içerisinde farklı
kültürler içerisinde etkin olmak adına kültürel iletişim becerilerine sahip olmaları ise bir
gereklilik halini almış ve eğitim-öğretim ortamlarında uluslararası işbirlikleri,
etkileşimler, uygulamalar ve projeler önem kazanmıştır. Bu bağlamda bu araştırmanın
temel amacı, Erasmus değişim programı aracılığıyla Anadolu Üniversitesi’ne gelen
sanat ve tasarım öğrencilerinin yeni karşılaştıkları kültüre ait farkındalıklarını, günlük
yaşam deneyimleri doğrultusunda ve karşılaştıkları yeni kültüre ilişkin gözlemlerine
dayalı olarak belirlemek ve karşılaştıkları yeni kültürün etkilerini sanatsal olarak ne
şekilde ifade ettiklerini görüşlerine dayalı olarak ortaya koymaktır. Bu temel amaca
dayalı olarak araştırmanın örneklemini 2010-2011 öğretim yılı bahar döneminde
Anadolu Üniversitesi’ne gelen Erasmus öğrencileri oluşturmuştur. Araştırma amacı
çerçevesinde öğrencilerin yeni karşılaştıkları kültüre ilişkin kültürel farkındalıklarını ve
edinimlerini, düşünceleri ve tasarım projeleri çerçevesinde ortaya koymaları istenmiştir.
Araştırma verileri nitel araştırma yöntemine dayalı yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmeler,
tasarım projeleri ve tasarım projelerine dayalı yazılı görüşleri (doküman) çerçevesinde
82
toplanmıştır. Elde edilen bulgular tematik analiz çerçevesinde çözümlenmiştir.
Araştırma sonunda öğrencilerin kültürel farkındalıklarını Türk kültürü, Türk kültürüne
dayalı kültürel ve geleneksel değerlere ilişkin derin bir anlamlandırma çerçevesinde
açıkladıkları söylenebilir.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Erasmus öğrencileri, kültür, kültürel farkındalık.
Abstract
Today’s multicultural interaction includes connection between cultures and behaviors
through cultural awareness. Individuals’ increasing interest in other cultures and
communication skills to be able to constructively communicate with people from
different cultures, while bracing themselves for the real challenges of today’s
multicultural world. Thus, international collaboration, interactions, applications and
projects gain importance in the educational environment. The main purpose of this
research is to reveal International Erasmus art and design students’ cultural awareness,
through their daily life experiences and observations through new culture they come in
and determine the effect of new culture on their artistic representations. The data of the
study were gathered from 4 Erasmus students from Anadolu University in Eskisehir,
Turkey. For the main purpose of the research it was asked students on cultural
understanding and awareness in the culture they come in based on their thoughts and
design projects. The data of the research, which was projected based on the qualitative
research method, were collected in the form of semi structured interviews, design
projects and written thoughts on the elements depicted in design projects, and the
findings obtained were analyzed and interpreted based on the thematic analyses method.
As a result of the research, it was found that the students explained their cultural
awareness through deep understanding of Turkish culture, cultural and traditional values
in Turkish culture.
Keywords: Erasmus students, culture, cultural awareness.
83
84
Giriş
Günümüzde küreselleşme ile birlikte birçok alanda uluslararası işbirlikleri, etkileşimler ve
uygulamalar oldukça önem ve hız kazanmıştır. Bu süreç beraberinde teknoloji olanaklarının da işe
koşulması ile birçok alandaki uluslararası işbirliklerinin olumlu anlamda ivme kazanmasını
sağlamıştır. Uluslararası işbirliğine dayalı uygulama alanlarından biri de eğitim-öğretim
etkinlikleri ve uygulamalardır. Uluslararası ortaklıklara dayalı öğretim etkinlikleri, öğrencilere
günümüz dünyasında daha birikimli bireyler olma olanağı sunmaktadır. Lisans ve lisansüstü
düzeyde, belli dönemleri kapsayacak şekilde öğrenci değişimi içeren uygulamalar da bu olanaklar
arasında yer almaktadır. Günümüzde lisans ve lisansüstü düzeyde öğrenim gören öğrencilerin
öğrenimlerinin
belli
bir
bölümünü
farklı
ülkelerde
yer
alan
üniversitelerde
gerçekleştirebilmelerine dayalı olan ve Avrupa ülkeleri üniversitelerarası öğrenci değişimini içeren
Erasmus programı, hem uluslararası işbirliklerinin işe koşulmasına olanak vermekte hem de
kültürlerarası etkileşimin sağlanabildiği bir program olarak dikkati çekmektedir. Erasmus
programı çerçevesinde her öğrenci öğrenim için gittiği yeni bir ortamda farklı bir kültür içerisinde
yaşamaya başlamakta, kendi kültürü ile yeni karşılaştığı kültür arasında bağlantılar kurmakta,
farklı bakış açılarına sahip olmakta ve kültürel bir farkındalık oluşturmaktadır (Brown, 2009).
Kültürlerarası farkındalık diğer kültürlerden insanlarla etkileşim ve iletişim ile artmaktadır (Erişti,
2009). Kültürlerarası farkındalık oluşturma olanağı sunan Erasmus programı, teknolojik
gelişmelerin de etkisiyle kültürlerarası etkileşimi de etkilemiş; farklı kültürdeki insanları bir araya
getirmiştir. Kültürlerarası etkileşim, farklı kültürlere ait bireyler arası iletişim olarak ifade
edilmektedir (Neuliep & Ryan, 1998). Kültürlerarası etkileşim bireylerin kendi kültürel kimlikleri
dışında etkileşimde oldukları ve tanımadıkları diğer kültürlere yönelik ilgilerini oluşturmayı
amaçlamaktadır ve bu bağlamda kültürel duyarlılığı, bireylerin kendi kültürü ve diğer
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kültürlerarasındaki farklılıklar ve benzerliklere yönelik olumlu tavır geliştirmesini ve evrensel
değerlere yönelik katılımcı tavır sergilemesini sağlamaktadır (Hammer ve diğ., 2003). Günümüzde
bir başka kültürde etkili olabilmek için farklı kültürlerle etkileşimde bulunmak, kültürel
farklılıkları algılamak ve değer vermek, kültürlerarası ilişkiler kurmak ve sürdürmek, kültürel
farkındalık oluşturmak ve korumak gerekmektedir (Brown, 2009).
Bireylerin kültürel altyapıları çerçevesinde farklı kültürler ile etkileşime girmesi yoluyla edindiği
zenginliği ifade yolunda birçok farklı disiplin işe koşulmaktadır. Bu disiplinlerden biri ve en
etkililerinden biri de sanat alanıdır. Çünkü sanat alanı kimliklerin yapılandırılmasında ve farklı
kültürlerin ilişkilendirilmesinde etkili bir ortam olarak kullanılmaktadır (McFee, 1991). Eisner
(1972) sanat ve sanatsal tasarım süreçlerinin, kültürel değerlerin ve kültüre ait karakteristik
özelliklerin belirgin bir biçimde gözlemlenebileceği bir alan olduğunu vurgulamaktadır. Sanat
alanı bireyin gözlemlerini, imgelerini, duygularını, düşüncelerini nesnel gerçekler halinde
aktarımını içeren bir süreçtir. Sanatsal anlatımlar sanatçıların içinde bulundukları ortamdan, yaşam
tarzından, kültürel farklılıklardan, sosyal iletişim ve etkileşimlerden etkilenmektedir. Bir başka
deyişle sanatsal etkinlikler; duygu ve düşüncelerin, gözlemlerin, içinde bulunulan kültürel
çevrenin özelliklerinin ve bu çevrede oluşturulan anlamların yansıtıldığı ürünleri içermektedir
(Hague, 2001). Sanatçı sanatsal etkinliklerde sürekli olarak içinde bulunduğu kültür içerisinde
kendisini ve çevresini anlamlandırmakta ve bu bağlamda aslında kültürü sanatsal yaratma süreci
ile ilişkilendirebilmektedir (Aland, 2005). Bu bağlamda sanat alanı, sanatçılar için kendi
kültürlerini ve etkileşimde oldukları farklı kültürleri keşfedebilecekleri, yorumlayabilecekleri ve
tanımlayabilecekleri bir süreç olarak da nitelendirilebilir (Clarke, 1996). Sanatsal değerleri
paylaşmak yoluyla kültürel farkındalık oluşturmak, sanatsal paylaşım ve etkileşim bağlamında çok
kültürlü bir bakış açısı geliştirmek günümüz sanat eğitimi programlarının en önemli amaçları
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arasında yer almaktadır (Bamford 2006; Taggart et al. 2004; Sharp and Le Métais 2000; Robinson
1999).
Erasmus öğrenci değişim programı gibi farklı kültürel kimliklerin bir araya gelmesini sağlayan bir
program çerçevesinde sanat ve tasarım öğrencilerinin bir araya gelmesi, öğrencilerin sanatsal
üretim ve bakış açılarına farklı zenginlikler katabilir. Bu nedenle Erasmus öğrenci değişim
programı özellikle sanat temelli öğretim süreçlerinde kültürlerarası etkileşim bağlamında etkili bir
biçimde işe koşulabilir.
Araştırmanın Amacı
Bu araştırmanın temel amacı, Erasmus değişim programı aracılığıyla Anadolu Üniversitesi’ne
gelen sanat ve tasarım öğrencilerinin yeni karşılaştıkları kültüre ait farkındalıklarını, günlük yaşam
deneyimleri doğrultusunda ve karşılaştıkları yeni kültüre ilişkin gözlemlerine dayalı olarak
belirlemek ve karşılaştıkları yeni kültürün etkilerini sanatsal olarak ne şekilde ifade ettiklerini
ortaya koymaktır. Bu temel amaca dayalı olarak araştırmada şu sorulara yanıt aranmıştır:
1. Sanat ve tasarım eğitimi alan Erasmus öğrencilerinin yeni karşılaştıkları kültür olan Türk
kültürüne ilişkin algıları çerçevesindeki görüşleri nedir?
2. Sanat ve tasarım eğitimi alan Erasmus öğrencileri yeni karşılaştıkları kültür olan Türk
kültürüne ilişkin algılarını sanatsal çalışmalarında ne şekilde yorumlamaktadırlar?
Yöntem
Sanat ve tasarım eğitimi alan Erasmus öğrencilerinin girdikleri farklı kültüre ait algılarını ve
kültürel algılarını sanatsal olarak ne şekilde ifade ettiklerine ilişkin görüşlerini ortaya koymayı
amaçlayan bu araştırmada temel yorumlamacı nitel araştırma deseni işe koşulmuştur. Temel
yorumlamacı nitel araştırma deseninde katılımcıların araştırma ile ilintili deneyimlerini nasıl
yorumladıkları, ne şekilde yapılandırdıkları ve ne tür anlamlar çıkardıkları incelenir (Merriam,
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1998). Temel yorumlamacı nitel araştırma sürecinde görüşme, gözlem ya da doküman incelemesi
gibi birçok veri toplama yöntemi ile veri elde edilmektedir. Elde edilen veriler katılımcıların
deneyimlerini, araştırma ile ilintili sürece ilişkin algılarını, yaşadıkları deneyime ilişkin
oluşturdukları bireysel anlamları açıklamaya çalışmaktadır (Altheide & Johnson, 2011). Araştırma
katılımcılarının araştırma sürecinde yaşadıkları deneyime yönelik oluşturdukları anlam ve
yansımalar tümevarımcı bir yaklaşım çerçevesinde kavram, hipotez ve teorileri oluşturmak için
işe koşulur.
Bu araştırmada öğrencilerin yeni karşılaştıkları kültürü tasarım sürecine yansımalarının
derinlemesine
incelenmesi,
somut
göstergelerle
betimlenebilmesi,
katılımcıların
yeni
karşılaştıkları kültüre ilişkin görüşlerinin daha ayrıntılı incelenebilmesi, kendi oluşturdukları
anlam ve bağlamların ayrıntılı bir biçimde açıklanabilmesi için temel yorumlamacı nitel araştırma
deseni tercih edilmiştir.
Temel yorumlamacı nitel araştırmaya dayalı olarak yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme ve öğrencilerin
gerçekleştirdikleri tasarım ürünlerine dayalı yazılı görüşleri (dokümanlar) yoluyla toplanan
görüşler tematik analiz çerçevesinde yorumlanmış ve irdelenmiştir.
Katılımcılar
Araştırmanın örneklem belirleme sürecinde amaçlı örnekleme yöntemlerinden ölçüt örnekleme
kullanılmıştır. Amaçlı örnekleme, araştırma sürecindeki belirlenen durumların derinlemesine
çalışılmasına olanak vermektedir. (Patton, 1997). Ölçüt örnekleme yöntemi ise araştırma amacını
somut göstergelerle net bir biçimde irdeleme olanağı veren ve önceden belirlenmiş bir dizi ölçütler
ile katılımcıları belirlemeye ilişkin bir yaklaşımı karşılayan bütün durumların çalışılmasıdır.
Araştırma sürecindeki katılımcılara ilişkin ölçütler araştırmacılar tarafından belirlenebilir ya da
alan yazına dayalı olarak var olan bir takım ölçütler kullanılabilir (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2006). Bu
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araştırmada katılımcıların belirlenmesinde kullanılan ölçüt, araştırmaya katılan öğrencilerin
Erasmus öğrencileri olması ve araştırmacı tarafından yürütülen ‘Digital Technology and Cultural
Integration’ dersini almasıdır. Öğrencilerin aldıkları dersin içeriğinde teknoloji ve kültürün
entegrasyonuna yönelik uygulamalı çalışmalar gerçekleştirilmesi de araştırma amacı ile ilintili
başka bir ölçüt olarak belirlenmiştir. Belirlenen ölçütler bağlamında çalışmanın örneklemini,
Anadolu Üniversitesi’ne Erasmus Öğrenci Değişim Programı aracılığıyla 2010-2011 öğretim yılı
bahar döneminde gelen ve ‘Digital Technology and Cultural Integration’ seçmeli dersini alan
toplam 4 grafik tasarım öğrencisi oluşturmaktadır. Araştırma kapsamındaki öğrencilerin 2’si
Polonya, 1’i Polonya-Amerika kökenli, 1’i ise Macaristan kökenlidir.
Verilerin Toplanması
Araştırma verileri yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme ve öğrencilerin gerçekleştirdikleri tasarım
ürünlerine dayalı yazılı görüşleri (dokümanlar) yoluyla toplanmıştır. Doküman incelemesi,
araştırma amacı çerçevesindeki olgulara ilişkin yazılı görüş ya da materyallerin analizini içeren
bir veri toplama yaklaşımıdır. Doküman incelemesi, araştırma problemine yanıt aramak amacı ile
belirli bir süreçte ortaya konulan dokümanların analizini içermektedir (Yıldırım ve Şimşek, 2006).
Doküman incelemesi önceden var olanlar yanında süreç içerisinde oluşan materyallerin araştırma
sürecine yönelik veri elde edilmesi amacıyla işe koşulmasını içeren bir yaklaşımdır (Scott, &
Morrison, 2005).
Araştırmanın uygulama sürecinde araştırmaya katılan öğrencilerden ‘Digital Technology and
Cultural Integration’ dersi kapsamında dönem sonu bitirme çalışması olarak yeni karşılaştıkları
kültür olan Türk kültürüne ilişin algıları çerçevesinde serbest tekniğe dayalı bir tasarım
oluşturmaları istenmiştir. Tasarım süreci sonrasında iki açık uçlu sorudan oluşan bir görüşme
formu ile öğrencilerin yeni karşılaştıkları kültüre ait algıları ve bu bağlamda sanatsal tasarımlarına
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ilişkin yorumları belirlenmeye çalışılmıştır. Uygulama sonucunda yazılı görüşlerinden ve yazılı
görüşlerine dayalı tasarımlarından elde edilen veriler doküman incelemesi yoluyla incelenmiştir.
Verilerin Çözümlenmesi ve Yorumlanması
Araştırmada elde edilen verilerin çözümlenmesinde nitel araştırma yöntemine dayalı tematik
analizden yararlanılmış ve veriler araştırmanın kuramsal çerçevesine dayalı olarak belirlenen
temalar çerçevesinde derinlemesine incelenmiştir. Tematik analiz, analiz için tematik bir çerçeve
oluşturma, tematik çerçeveye göre verilerin analiz edilmesi ve elde edilen bulguların
yorumlanması aşamalarından oluşmaktadır. Tematik analiz çerçevesinde, elde edilen veriler
öncelikli olarak betimlenir, betimlenen veriler yorumlanır ve elde edilen bulgular arasındaki neden
sonuç ilişkisi incelenerek araştırmacı tarafından yorumlanır (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2006). Bu
bağlamda, araştırma soruları ve araştırmanın kavramsal çerçevesi doğrultusunda araştırma
verilerinin çözümlenmesi üç aşamada gerçekleştirilmiştir. Birinci aşamada öğrencilerle
gerçekleştirilmiş yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmelerin, öğrencilerin görüşlerini ifade ettikleri yazılı
görüşme formu ve gözlem verilerinin dökümü yapılmış ve çözümlenmiştir. İkinci aşamada
araştırmanın kuramsal çerçevesi bağlamında belirlenen temalar temel alınarak öğrencilerin
görüşleri analiz edilmiştir. Üçüncü aşamada ise elde edilen bulgular analiz edildikten sonra
yorumlanmıştır.
Verilerin çözümlenmesi aşamasında, öğrencilerle yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmelere ve yazılı
görüşme formuna dayalı görüşlerini, gözlem verilerini incelemek üzere iki ayrı form oluşturulmuş
ve formlara betimsel indeks, araştırmacı yorumu bölümleri açılarak bu bölümler araştırmacılar
tarafından doldurulmuştur. Araştırmanın güvenirliğini gerçekleştirmek için araştırmacılar ve alan
uzmanları formları incelemesi sonucunda görüş birliği ve görüş ayrılığı olan maddeler
belirlenmiştir. Araştırmanın güvenilirlik hesaplaması için Miles ve Huberman’ın (1994) önerdiği
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güvenirlik formülü kullanılmıştır. Hesaplamalar sonucunda araştırmanın güvenirliği %90
çıkmıştır.
Bulgular ve Yorumları
Araştırma sonucunda öğrenci görüşlerine dayalı olarak elde edilen bulgular ‘Erasmus
öğrencilerinin Türk kültürüne ilişkin görüşleri’ ana teması altında; öğrencilerin sanatsal
çalışmalarına dayalı görüşleri ise ‘Erasmus öğrencilerinin Türk kültürüne ilişkin algılarını
sanatsal çalışmalarında yansıtma biçimleri’ ana teması altında toplanmıştır. Bulgular
tablolaştırılmış ve araştırmaya katılanların görüşlerinden doğrudan alıntılar yapılarak
özetlenmiştir.
Erasmus Öğrencilerinin Türk Kültürüne ilişkin Görüşleri
Öğrencilerin yeni karşılaştıkları kültür olan Türk kültürünü algılama biçimlerini ortaya koymak
amacıyla yeni karşılaştıkları kültürün onlar için ne ifade ettiğine ilişkin görüşlerini belirtmeleri
istenmiştir. Öğrencilerin yeni karşılaştıkları kültür olan Türk kültürüne ilişkin görüşleri Tablo 1’de
gösterilmiştir.
Tablo 1
Erasmus öğrencilerinin Türk kültürüne ilişkin görüşleri
Temalar
Sözsüz iletişim (Türk insanına özgü mimikler, jestler, yüz ve vücut hareketleri)
İnsanlar arası ilişkiler (arkadaşlık ilişkileri, kadın erkek ilişkileri)
Aile bağları
Yemekler ve yeme alışkanlıkları
Köy yaşantısı ve yöresel kıyafetler
Tarihi ve turistik yerler ve özellikleri
Türk bayrağı, ay ve yıldızın sembolik özelliği
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Geleneksel Türk sanatı ve sembolik özellikleri
Türk müziği
Çay ve kahve kültürü
Kültürel çeşitlilik (Farklı kültürlerin bir arada yaşaması)
Tablo 1’de görüldüğü gibi araştırmaya katılan öğrenciler için yeni karşılaştıkları kültür olan Türk
kültüründe öne çıkan alt temalar çeşitlilik göstermektedir. ‘Sözsüz iletişim’ alt temasına dayalı
olarak görüşlerini ifade eden E1 ‘Türkiye’de insanların kullandıkları yüz mimikleri ve vücut
hareketleri benim çok ilgimi çekti, örneğin evet derken başı yukarıdan aşağı sallamak ya da hayır
derken yukarıya doğru kaş kaldırmak gibi. Bu farklı alışkanlıklar benim hiç de alışık olmadığım
ve ilgimi çeken davranışlardı’ demektedir. E1 ‘İnsanlar arası ilişkiler’ alt temasına ilişkin
izlenimlerine dayalı görüşlerini ifade ederken hemcinsler ve kadın erkek arası ilişkilerde kendisine
ilginç ve kendi kültüründen farklı gelen noktaları şu şekilde ifade etmektedir:
‘İnsanlar arası ilişkilerde ilgimi çeken ve bana çok farklı gelen başka şeyler de
vardı; mesela iki Türk erkeği kol kola girip dolaşabilir, bu da bana çok ilginç
gelmişti, bunu Polonya’da göremezsiniz. Kadın erkek arası arkadaşlık ilişkileri
ise bazı şehirlerde çok sınırlı, eğer siz kız arkadaşınızın elini tutar ya da
öperseniz bu çok tuhaf karşılanabilir. Bu her yerde böyle değil, küçük şehirlerde
daha çok görebiliyorsunuz bu durumu…’
Aynı temaya ilişkin görüş ifade eden öğrencilerden E4 ‘Türk insanları çok hassas ve romantik,
insanlar arası ilişkilerde duygular çok önemli. İnsanlar pozitif anlamda birbirlerine çok yakınlar
ve bir arada olmak ve birlikte zaman geçirmek için çok sık bir araya geliyorlar…’ demektedir.
‘Aile bağları’ alt temasına dayalı olarak görüşlerini ifade eden E2 ‘Aileler arası ilişkiler çok güçlü,
aile bireyleri birbirine çok bağlı ve bir arada olmaya çok önem veriyorlar. Biz ayrıca buralara ilk
geldiğimizde Türk ailelerin yanında kaldık ve birer Türk aileye sahip olduk. Onlar bize her zaman
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sizler bizim kızımızsınız dediler ve çok yakın davrandılar. Bu yakınlık da unutamayacağımız ve
etkilendiğimiz bir durum’ aile arası ilişkileri kendi yaşadığı deneyimler çerçevesinde
açıklamaktadır. E3 ise aynı alt temaya ilişkin görüşlerini ‘Bence aileler arasındaki bu yakınlıktan
biz de etkilendik ve değiştik. Erasmus programı bizi değiştirdi, ben bundan sonraki yaşantımda
burada gördüğüm yakın ilişkilerin yaşamımı ve çevremdekileri etkileyeceğini düşünüyorum’ kendi
yaşamına ve hayatına bakış açısına yansıması çerçevesinde açıklamaktadır. Erasmus öğrenci
değişim programı çerçevesinde öğrencilerin yaşadıkları kültürel çeşitliliğe ilişkin deneyim, hayata
bakış açılarını ve yaşantılarını şekillendirmekte bir bağlamda kültürleri birbirlerine
yakınlaştırmaktadır.
‘Yemekler ve yeme alışkanlıkları’ ise öğrencilerin yoğun bir biçimde görüşlerini ifade ettikleri bir
diğer alt tema olarak dikkati çekmektedir. Öğrencilerden E1 belirtilen temaya ilişkin görüşlerini
şu şekilde ifade etmektedir:
‘Türk yemekleri benim çok ilgimi çekti. Mesela ‘çiğköfte’, ben Polonya’ya
dönerken insanların benden istediği yiyeceklerden biri ya da götürmek istediğim
yiyeceklerin başında gelebilir. Antep’te denediğim kokoreci de çok sevdim.
Birçok insan hatta Türk insanları dahi bu yiyeceğin sağlıklı olup olmadığını
tartışıyor ama ben çok sevdim. Elbette baklava, Türk tatlısı olarak en sevdiğim
tatlı… Dolma, her iki türünü de çok sevdim (zeytinyağlı, etli), mantı çok güzel,
bir de Polonya’da yoğurdu çok seviyordum ve az bulunan pahalı bir yiyecekti,
burada yöresel ve doğal yoğurt bulma olanağına sahiptim ve çok güzel tadı vardı.
Bir kabın içine konulup toprağın altına konularak yapılan bir peynir çeşidi vardı,
‘İzmir tulumu’. Bu da çok ilgimi çeken ve sevdiğim bir türdü’.
Aynı tema altında görüşlerini ifade eden E2 ‘Burada büyük kahvaltı ve birlikte olmak çok önemli.
Ben Türkiye’ye geldiğimde çok kalabalık bir şekilde sofraya oturuyorduk bu benim çok ilgimi
çekmişti ve kahvaltıda çok fazla çeşit vardı. Bir de akşam yemeklerinin çok geç saatte olması
dikkatimi çekti. Biz Polonya’da akşam 6’da akşam yemeğini yeriz. Burada ise 8’de akşam yemeği
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yeniliyor, bizim için çok geç. Ayrıca yiyecekler çok lezzetli burada…’ şeklindeki görüşleriyle
yeme alışkanlıklarına daha çok vurgu yapmaktadır.
‘Köy yaşantısı ve yöresel kıyafetler’ alt temasına dayalı olarak görüşlerini ifade eden E4 ‘Benim
ilgimi çeken şeylerden biri de köylerde yaşayan insanların yöresel kıyafetleriydi. Şanlıurfa da
yöresel kıyafetleri içinde birçok kadın gördüm. Bu benim için biraz farklıydı çünkü bu tür yöresel
kıyafetleri ilk kez gördüm. Bu nedenle çok fotoğraflarını çektim. Bunlar beni çok etkiledi’ kültürel
farklılıklar çerçevesinde edindiği izlenimleri yöresel kıyafetlere dayalı olarak açıklamaktadır.
‘Tarihi ve turistik yerler ve özellikleri’ alt teması ile öğrencilerin yoğun bir biçimde görüşlerini
ifade ettikleri bir diğer temadır. Öğrencilerden E1 belirtilen temaya ilişkin görüşlerini gittiği
yerlerde kendisini etkileyen imajlar, insan ilişkileri, yeni deneyimler ve izlenimler çerçevesinde
açıklamaktadır:
‘Türkiye’de beni etkileyen en önemli şey ziyaret ettiğim yerlerdi. Örneğin
Denizli’de Pamukkale; Ankara’da yüksek gökdelenler; Bursa’da Uludağ,
Çanakkale’de anıt; İznik/Kütahya’da özel seramik tasarımlar; Antep’te çingene
kız mozaiği; Urfa’da balıklı göl; Bartın’da büyük meydan; İzmir’de saat kulesi…
Bunlar benim ziyaret ettiğim yerlerden zihnimde kalan imajlar. Benim için
seyahat etmek yeni bir kültürle ve yeni kültürdeki insanlar ile ilgili bir şeyler
öğrenmenin en etkili yolu. Her şehrin farklı bir özelliği, her şehirdeki insanların
farklı yaşam tarzları bu ziyaretler ile öğrendiklerimdi… Ben ziyaretlerim
sırasında sadece yeni yerler görmedim ayrıca çok farklı insanlarla tanıştım ve
yeni deneyimlere sahip oldum’.
Aynı tema altında görüş ifade eden E3 ‘Türkiye’de benim ilgimi çeken ve aklımda kalan yerler
Kütahya ve İstanbul. Kütahya’da çiniler çok ilgimi çekti; İstanbul’da ise çok kalabalık caddeler.
İstanbul’a ilk gittiğimde caddelerin insanlardan oluşan bir ırmak gibi olduğunu düşünmüştüm. Bu
türde bir insan kalabalığına ilişkin bu görüntüyü her yerde görmek olanaklı değil, düşünsenize aynı
zamanda aynı yerde bir çok insanı....’. ‘Türk bayrağı, ay ve yıldızın sembolik özelliği’ alt temasına
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dayalı görüşlerini ifade eden E4 ‘Türkiye denilince aklıma gelen kırmızı renk, ay ve yıldız. Çünkü
Türk bayrağı kırmızı ve bayrakta ay ve yıldız var. Türkiye’de birçok yerde bu bayrağı görmek
mümkün çünkü ben insanların Türk olmaktan dolayı gurur duyduklarını ve bu nedenle birçok
yerde Türk bayraklarını gördüğümüzü düşünüyorum’ şeklindeki görüşleri ile Türk bayrağının
sembolik özelliğini ve Türk insanının Türk bayrağı ile ilişkisini kendi izlenimleri doğrultusunda
açıklamaktadır. Öğrencilerden E2 ise ‘Türkiye ile ilgili ilk aklıma gelen semboller ay ve yıldız.
Eskişehir’de birçok yerde Türk bayraklarını görebilirsiniz çünkü Türk insanı ülkeleri ile çok gurur
duyuyor ve Türkiye'yi çok iyi tanıtmak konusunda çok istekliler’ demektedir. Öğrencilerden E1
yine aynı temaya ilişkin görüşlerini ‘Kırmızı renk, ay ve yıldız sembolleri Türkiye’yi bana
hatırlatıyor’ demektedir. Erasmus öğrencilerinin ortaya koydukları bu görüşler, Türk insanının
Türk bayrağına ilişkin sembolik bağını ve verdiği önemi somut bir biçimde özetlemektedir.
Sanat ve tasarım öğrencisi olan Erasmus öğrencilerinin Türk sanatı ile ilişkili görüşleri, günümüz
Türk sanatından çok geleneksel Türk sanatı üzerine odaklanmaktadır. Bu nedenle Türk sanatını
kapsayan alt tema ‘Geleneksel Türk sanatı ve sembolik özellikleri’ tanımlaması çerçevesinde
oluşturulmuştur. Öğrencilerden E3 geleneksel Türk sanatı içerisinde dikkatini çeken imajları,
gezdiği yerlerdeki izlenimlerine dayalı olarak şu şekilde ifade etmektedir: ‘Türk sanatı içerisinde
beni en çok etkileyen çini sanatıydı. Ben çini uygulamalarını Bursa, Kütahya ve İznik’te gördüm.
Çini sanatında kullanılan sembolik dili ve bu sanatı çok sevdim. Tabaklarda ve süslemelerde
kullanılan dekorasyon amaçlı çiniler çok ilgimi çekti. Çinileri camilerin içindeki duvarlarda
dekorasyon olarak da görebilirsiniz’. Öğrencilerden E2 ise yine çinilerin çok ilgisini çektiğini
vurgulayan görüşlerini belirtirken bir yandan da çini sanatının sembolik özelliğini Avrupa
sanatının figüratif özelliği ile karşılaştırmaktadır:
‘Türk sanatında benim en çok ilgimi çiniler çekti. Çinileri gördüğünüzde
bunların Türkiye’ye özgü özel bir sanat olduğunu anlarsınız. Çiniler Türkiye’yi
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hatırlatır. Çünkü motifler ve kullanılan semboller çini sanatına ait çok özel bir
görselliğe sahip. Bir de Avrupa’da mesela kiliselerde ya da özel yerlerde
duvarlarda daha çok figüratif çalışmalar görebilirsiniz ancak Türkiye de daha
çok dekoratif tarzda çalışmalar yapıldığını, çok sık semboller ve motifler
kullanıldığını görürsünüz ancak insan ya da hayvan figürleri göremezsiniz. Bu
da benim çok ilgimi çekmişti. İnsan ya da hayvan figürlerine dayalı figüratif
değil de sembolik olarak görsel anlatımları tercih etmek sanırım Müslüman bir
ülkenin karakteristik özelliği, bu farklılığı ise ben çok sevdim’
‘Türk müziği’ alt temasına dayalı görüşlerini ifade eden E3 ‘Türk müziği çok güzel ve hoşumuza
gitti. Mesela Barış Manço, Duman, Tarkan ve Sezen aksu çok sevdiğimiz ve aklımda kalan
müzisyenler... .’ demektedir. Aynı tema altında görüş belirten E2 ‘Türkiye'de Türk dili ve müziği
ile çok ilgilendim. Türkiye’ye ilk geldiğimde bu yeni dil ve müzik beni çok etkiledi’ demektedir.
E4 ise ‘Türk halk müziği ve saz ilgimi çekti, çünkü saz ilginç bir enstrüman…’ demektedir.
‘Çay ve kahve kültürü’ alt teması da öğrencilerin görüşlerini ifade ettikleri ve kendilerini etkileyen
bir başka alt temadır. Öğrencilerden E4 ‘Türkiye’de farklı alışkanlıklar edindim. Çok yakın
arkadaşlarımdan biri sayesinde küçük ve ortası ince çay bardaklarını kullanmaya alıştım.
Türkiye’de birçok yerde, restoranlarda, kafelerde insanların bu özel bardaklarla çay içtiğini çok
sık görürsünüz. Bu bardakları başka bir ülkede göremezsiniz. Çay içme alışkanlığı Türkler için bir
gelenek gibi, çay içmek için insanların bir araya gelmesi ise hoş bir sebep ve sembol’ şeklindeki
görüşleri ile çay kültürünün Türk kültürü içerisindeki yerini ifade etmektedir. Öğrencilerden E2
ise ‘Türkiye’de insanlar çay ya da Türk kahvesi içmek için birbirlerini eve davet ediyorlar. Çay
içmek ve tavla gibi geleneksel oyunlar oynamak için bir araya gelmek çok önemli Türk insanı
için…’ demektedir.
‘Kültürel çeşitlilik’ alt temasına dayalı görüşlerini ifade eden E2 ‘Türk kültüründen çok
etkilendim, kültür çok büyük, farklı kültürleri içinde barındıran kültürel zenginlik ve çeşitliliklerle
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dolu. Bu nedenle benim Türk kültürü çerçevesinde yaşadığım deneyimler, aynı zamanda kültürel
çeşitliliği de içermekte…’ demektedir.
Erasmus öğrencilerinin yeni karşılaştıkları kültür olan Türk kültürüne ilişkin izlenimleri temelde
Türk insanının ve kültürünün karakteristik özelliklerini tanımlar niteliktedir. Bu durum Erasmus
öğrenci değişim programının farklı kültürlerin birbirlerini tanıması ve etkileşimde bulunması
bağlamındaki başarısının somut göstergesi olarak nitelendirilebilir.
Erasmus Öğrencilerinin Türk Kültürüne ilişkin Algılarını Sanatsal Çalışmalarında Yansıtma
Biçimleri
Erasmus öğrencilerinin yeni karşılaştıkları kültür olan Türk kültürüne ilişkin algılarını Sanatsal
çalışmalarına yansıtma biçimlerini belirlemeye yönelik olarak yeni karşılaştıkları kültürün onlar
için ne ifade ettiğine ilişkin imajları görselleştirmeleri ve bu bağlamda serbest teknik ve konulu
tasarımlar oluşturmaları istenmiştir. Öğrencilerin yeni karşılaştıkları kültür olan Türk kültürüne
ilişkin algılarını sanatsal çalışmalarında yansıtma biçimleri Tablo 2’de gösterilmiştir.
Öğrencilerden üçü sanatsal tasarımlarını bilgisayar destekli bir ortamda; biri ise el çizimine ve
renklendirmesine dayalı olarak gerçekleştirmiştir.
Tablo 2
Erasmus öğrencilerinin Türk kültürüne ilişkin algılarını sanatsal çalışmalarında yansıtma
biçimleri
Temalar
Tarihi turistik yerlere ilişkin imajlar
İnsanlar arası ilişkilere ilişkin imajlar
Türk kültürünün simgesel yansımasına ve Türk bayrağına ilişkin imajlar
Çay ve kahve kültürüne ilişkin imajlar
Şehir kültürüne ilişkin imajlar
Geleneksel Türk sanatına ilişkin imajlar
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Resim 1. E1-‘Türkiye İzlenimleri’
Öğrencilerden E1 ‘Türkiye İzlenimleri’ isimli tasarımına (Resim 1) ilişkin görüşlerini şu şekilde
ifade etmektedir:
‘Sanat projemi gerçekleştirirken ziyaret ettiğim ve etkilendiğim imajları
yansıtmaya çalıştım. Sanat projemde kırmızı rengi, Türkiye haritasını, ay ve
yıldız sembollerini kullandım. Çünkü bana göre Türkiye denilince aklıma Türk
bayrağının kırmızı rengi ve ay yıldız sembolleri geliyor. Çalışmamda turkuaz
rengi de kullandım. Çünkü turkuaz, Türkiye’ye ait bir renk. Bir başka renk olan
pembe ise benim rengim. Ben sanat projem kapsamındaki bu haritaya bakarken
sadece ziyaret ettiğim yerleri görmüyorum zihnimde yaşadığım deneyimler,
tanıştığım insanlar, insanlar arası ilişkiler ve etkilendiğim anılar canlanıyor’
E1 sanatsal çalışmasını açıklarken ziyaret ettiği tarihi ve turistik yerlerin ve bu yerlerdeki
deneyimlerinin yansımalarına ait imajlar kullandığından bahsetmekte, ayrıca ay ve yıldız
sembolünün ve bayrak rengi olan kırmızının da Türk kültürü ile ilişkisine değinmektedir. Ayrıca
tasarımında kullandığı renklerden biri olan turkuazı neden kullandığını yine Türk kültürü ile
ilişkilendirerek açıklamaktadır.
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Resim 2. E2-‘Türk Motifleri’
Öğrencilerden E2, ‘Türk Motifleri’ isimli tasarımını (Resim 2) gerçekleştirirken kendisini
etkileyen noktaları şu şekilde ifade etmektedir:
‘Benim proje çalışmamın konusunu Türk motifleri ve seramiklerde kullanılan
İznik çinisi oluşturdu. Çini sanatı ve motiflerinden İznik ve Kütahya’ya olan
ziyaretlerim sırasında çok etkilendim. Çini sanatının motifleri, renkleri ve
oryantal tarzı bir yabancı olarak beni çok etkiledi. Sanat çalışmamda Türklerin
ulusal sembolü olan ay ve yıldız da kullandım. Çünkü bu semboller ve Türk
bayrağı Türk insanı için çok önemli. Sanat çalışmamda Türkiye’nin adını Türkçe
olarak yazdım. Final çalışmamı bilgisayarlı ortam yerine elimle yapmayı tercih
ettim. Çünkü bu yolla zor olan çini sanatına ilişkin deneyim kazanmak istedim.
Bu nedenle Türkiye’de ayrıca çini sanatına ilişkin bir ders seçtim ve bu sanatın
ayrıntılarını öğrenmeye çalıştım. Çini sanatındaki sembolik anlatımlar, dekoratif
anlatımlar ve renklendirmeler çok önemli. Benim Türk kültürü Türk kültürü
çerçevesinde yaşadığım deneyimler, sanat çalışmalarımı etkilemeye devam
edecek’.
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E2 ilgisini çeken çini sanatına ilişkin deneyim kazanma amaçlı olarak el çizimini ve
renklendirmesini bilgisayarlı ortama tercih ettiğini ve bu bağlamda çini sanatı ile ilişkili bir ders
aldığını da vurgulamaktadır. Ayrıca tasarımda ülke adını Türkçe dili ile yazması da dile ilişkin
kazanımları çerçevesinde vurgulanabilir.
Resim 3. E3-‘Türkiye’de beni ne etkiledi’
Öğrencilerden E3 ‘Türkiye’de beni ne etkiledi’ isimli tasarımına (Resim 3) ilişkin görüşlerini
‘Tasarımımda beni Türkiye’de gördüğüm ve denediğim birçok şey etkiledi. Türkiye benim
ülkemden çok farklı. Türkiye’de karşılaştığım insanlar ve kültürel alışkanlıklar beni çok etkiledi.
Benim tasarımıma yansıyan görsel imajlar ise çay içme geleneği, İstanbul’a yaptığım geziler, Türk
bayrağının kırmızı rengi ve ay yıldız sembolü; çünkü birçok yerde Türk bayraklarını görebilmek
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mümkün, çini sanatı ve çini sanatına ait sembolik dil çerçevesinde şekillendi’ olarak ifade
etmektedir. Öğrencilerden E3 gerçekleştirdiği bir diğer tasarım çalışmasında ise Eskişehir’e ait
şehir kültürünü bir takım semboller (Heykeller, jet uçağı,, doktorlar caddesi, Porsuk çayı vb.)
çerçevesinde anlatmıştır (Resim 4).
Resim 4. E3-‘Eskişehir’
Öğrencilerden E4 ise çektiği fotoğraflar ile Türk kültürüne ilişkin izlenimlerini ortaya koymaktadır
(Resim 5, Resim 6). E4’ün çektiği fotoğraflarda öne çıkan görseller ise tarihi ve turistik yerlere
ilişkin imajlar, geleneksel Türk sanatına ilişkin imajlar, günlük yaşama ilişkin imajlar olarak
şekillenmektedir.
Resim 5. E4-‘Geleneksel İmajlar’
Resim 6. E4- ‘Sokaktan Görüntüler’
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Sonuç ve Öneriler
Günümüzde insanların düşüncelerine, bakış açılarına, davranışlarına ve birbirleri ile
etkileşimlerine toplumların tarihi, kültürel ve sanatsal anlamdaki paylaşımları yön vermektedir. Bu
nedenle uluslararası düzeydeki etkileşimler ve öğrenci değişimini içeren programlar bu amacı
gerçekleştirmek bağlamında önemli bir role sahiptir (Carlson, Burn, Useem, & Yachimowicz,
1990). Öğrenci değişimini içeren uluslararası programlar, öğrencilerin dünyaya bakış açısını
değiştirmekte, farklı kültürel değerlere ilişkin öğrencilerin ilgisini uyandırmakta, öğrencilerin
kültürlerarası etkileşim ve iletişim becerisini geliştirmekte ve öğrencilerin kültürel farklılıklara ve
ayrımlara yönelik olarak açık fikirli ve anlayışlı olmasına olanak tanımaktadır (Kitsantas, 2004;
Wortman, 2003; Carlson & Widaman, 1988).
Erasmus öğrenci değişim programı çerçevesinde öğrencilerin kültürel farklılıklara ilişkin
geliştirdikleri farkındalık çok kültürlü bir bakış açısı bağlamında etkili bir kültürlerarası iletişim
ve etkileşimi de beraberinde getirmekte; bu durum ise farklı kültürleri birbirlerine daha çok
yaklaştırmakta, ön yargıları ortadan kaldırmaktadır. Araştırmada öğrencilerin Erasmus öğrenci
değişim programı çerçevesinde farklı bir kültür olan Türk kültürünü derinlemesine tanıma olanağı
buldukları görüşlerine dayalı olarak söylenebilir. Hem Türkiye’ye gelen hem de Avrupa’ya giden
Erasmus öğrencilerinin kültürel farkındalık geliştirme sürecine katkısı birtakım araştırmalarca da
ortaya konulmakta ve bu bağlamda araştırma bulgularını desteklemektedir (Ersoy & Günel, 2011;
Demir & Demir, 2009; Yağcı ve diğ., 2007). Ersoy ve Günel (2011) tarafından farklı Avrupa
ülkelerinden gelen Erasmus öğrencileriyle gerçekleştirilen araştırmada öğrenciler programın
kendilerine çok kültürlü bir bakış açısı kazandırdığını, farklı kültürleri tanıma olanağı sunduğunu
ve bu bağlamda dünyaya bakış açılarının değiştiğini ve kültürel farklılıklara yönelik olarak daha
açık fikirli olduklarını vurgulamışlardır. Demir ve Demir (2009) tarafından Türkiye’den Avrupa
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ülkelerine giden Erasmus öğrencileri arasında gerçekleştirilen çalışma öğrencilerin kültürlerarası
etkileşim ve farklı kültürleri tanıma eğilimi gösterdiklerini ortaya koymaktadırlar. Yağcı ve
arkadaşları (2007) tarafından başka ülkeler giden Erasmus öğrencileri ile gerçekleştirilen
araştırmada Erasmus programı çerçevesinde öğrencilerin değerlerinin ve davranışlarının da
yeniden şekillendirmekte olduğu ve öğrencilerin program çerçevesinde yeni kültürlere ve
kültürlerarası farklılıklara ön yargısız bir biçimde açık ve olumlu bir tutum sergileme eğilimi
gösterdikleri vurgulanmaktadır.
Erasmus öğrenci değişim programı çerçevesinde Türkiye’ye gelen öğrenciler, Türk kültürüne
ilişkin derinlemesine bir farkındalık geliştirmekle birlikte sanatsal karakteristiğe ilişkin de kendi
algıları çerçevesinde bir farkındalık geliştirmişlerdir. Bu bulgu daha önce uluslararası öğrenci
değişim programı çerçevesinde lisans düzeyindeki öğrencilerle geldikleri yeni kültüre ilişkin
algıları çerçevesinde bir araştırma gerçekleştiren Goldstein ve Kim’in (2006) katılımcıların
geldikleri yeni kültürün sosyal, kültürel ve sanatsal niteliklerine ilişkin farkındalık geliştirdiklerini
ortaya koyan araştırma bulguları ile benzerlik göstermektedir. Uluslararası öğrenciler aslında yeni
bir kültür ile karşı karşıya bulunduklarında hem gözlemci hem de kültürün bir parçası olarak
katılımcı rolündedirler. Bu durum ise uluslararası öğrencilerin yeni karşılaştıkları kültüre ilişkin
çok yönlü ve seçici bir algı ile bakış açısı geliştirmelerine olanak tanımaktadır (Spradley, 1980).
Ayrıca araştırma bulgularına dayalı olarak öğrencilerin geleneksel Türk sanatına, tarihi yerler ve
imajlara ve geleneksel alışkanlıklara odaklandıkları söylenebilir. Bu durum ise tamamen kendi
bağımsız bakış açıları çerçevesinde şekillenmektedir. Öğrenciler, uluslararası değişim programları
çerçevesinde hem kendiliğinden oluşan hem de yapılandırılmamış etkinlikler çerçevesinde yeni
kültürü tanımakta ve tamamen kişisel bir bakış açısı geliştirmektedirler (Swinger, 1985). Bu durum
aynı zamanda önyargılardan uzak ve bireysel deneyimlere dayalı bir kültürel farkındalık
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oluşmasına doğrudan katkı sağlamaktadır. Çünkü bireylerin kültürlerarası iletişim becerilerinin
oluşmasını ve gelişmesini sağlamanın en etkili yolu onların çok kültürlü bir ortamda deneyim
yaşamalarına olanak tanımaktır (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005). Günümüz çok kültürlü dünyasında
farklı kültürlerden insanların birbirleri ile etkileşimleri ve bireylerin çok kültürlü iletişim
becerilerinin önemi düşünüldüğünde kültürel farkındalığın ön yargısız bir biçimde oluşmasına
olanak tanıyan Erasmus öğrenci değişim programı gibi programların önemi de açık bir biçimde
ortaya çıkmaktadır.
Kaynakça
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12 Şubat 2012, Erişim Yeri: http://www.qsa.qld.edu.au/yrs1to10/kla/arts/research.html
Altheide, D. L., & Johnson, J. M. (2011). Reflections on interpretive adequacy in qualitative
research. N. K. Denzin, & Y. S. Lincoln içinde (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative
research (ss. 581-594). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Bamford, A., 2006. The Wow factor: Global research compendium on the impact of the arts in
education. Berlin: Waxmann Verlag.
Brown, L. (2009). A failure of communication on cross-cultural campus. Journal of Studies in
International Education, 13(4), 439-454.
Carlson, J. S., Burn, B., Useem, J., & Yachimowicz, D. (1990). Study abroad: The experience of
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Assessment of the Reliability and Validity of PLSI in a Turkish Higher Education Institution
Çiğdem Suzan Çardak
Meral Güven
[email protected]
[email protected]
Abstract
Learning style is a significant concept particularly in higher education since it both helps
learners plan their learning processes appropriately and guides instructors to design their
instructional practices accordingly. Paragon Learning Style Inventory (PLSI) was
developed through resorting to Jung’s Theory of Psychological Types to assess learning
style characteristics, and has been used in higher education successfully. The current
study aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the 52-item adult version of the
inventory in a Turkish higher education institution. Followed by step to assess linguistic
equivalence, confirmatory factor analysis with 855 participants to validate the factor
structure and reliability studies were conducted. Findings revealed that the fourdimensional inventory did not fit to the data collected in Turkey. Even though the
linguistic equivalence and test-retest reliability were retained, the internal consistency
of the inventory was relatively low. Thus, an alternative three-dimensional and 25-item
model was proposed, which revealed acceptable or ideal fit indices. Therefore, it was
concluded that there is a need for further studies to enhance the inventory and adapt it
to the Turkish culture.
Keywords: Learning style, Paragon Learning Style Inventory, confirmatory factor
analysis, scale adaptation.
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Introduction
Since the very beginning of 20th century, scientists have been making intense efforts to make sense
of how people learn and as a result many learning concepts have been coined and investigated.
Among these concepts, the concept of learning styles has gained prominence in recent years as it
is directly related to learning at school and life-long learning. As a result, great amount of research
has focused on its meaning and effects on learning process.
As is the case for all the concepts related to learning, it is not possible to explain the concept of
learning style through a simple definition. Kolb (1984) having important works on the matter
defines learning style as ways preferred by an individual during the process of receiving and
processing information. In a similar manner, Mariani (1996) defines learner’s approach to learning
as a permanent way followed by an individual while carrying out perception and responding
activities for learning purposes. Woolfolk (1998) on the other hand defines it as individual
approach to learning and studying. Without doubt, there are many more definitions in the literature.
One of the basic concepts related to learning, learning style can be defined briefly as the learningoriented characteristics of an individual (Güven, 2004). In addition to this, learning styles vary
from one individual to another, they allow gaining insights into the personality of a person, they
are inherent characteristics, they may vary depending on age, gender and culture and they have
cognitive, affective and environmental dimensions (Kolb, 1984; Dunn and Dunn, 1986; Keefe,
1990; Güven, 2004).
It is of great importance for an individual to acquire continuously increasing and changing
information without resorting to help of any other people. Hence, an individual knowledgeable
about learning styles can make effective use of them and as a result can be successful (Biggs, 2001).
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Moreover, being aware of one’s own learning style may help him/her to solve the problems
encountered and accordingly to improve self-respect.
It can be argued that on the basis of many learning style models and assessment tools lays Jung’s
Theory of Psychological Types. Saban (2002) states that Jung’s theory provides a conceptual
framework to understand learning styles of students. Within this theory, there are primarily two
types emphasized being extrovert and introvert (Jung, 1971). While introvert people derive their
energy from their inner world rather than external world, extraverts derive their energy mostly
from the outside world (Feist, 1990).
Though Jung (1971) defined extraversion and introversion as two basic attitudes, he also stated
that people are not only individuated depending on these two attitudes but also their psychological
functions as thinking, feeling, sensation and intuition. These functions account for how they collect
information and make decisions related to this information (Silver and Hanson, 1996). In other
words, the functions accounting for the differences among people are based on two basic cognitive
activities being perception and judgment; while perception is realized through sensation and
intuition, judgment is realized through thinking and feeling (Silver et al., 2000). In short,
Psychological Type Theory is argued to be describing the ways preferred by the individual during
adjustment process to a situation encountered to perceive and judge the information exposed to
(Bargar and Hoover, 1984).
Based on Jung’s theory, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is used to determine personality
types. It is argued that MBTI has made a great contribution to the understanding of Jung’s Theory
of Psychological Types and to its use in practice (Ekici, 2003; Silver et al. 2000). In addition to
this, it is pointed out that there is no evidence showing that MBTI determines or assesses learning
styles in the literature (Markham, 2004). However, it is possible to claim that many researchers
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have been affected by Jung’s Psychological Types as well as MBTI in developing learning style
models and assessment tools. McCarthy, Butler, Gregorc, Silver and Hanson, Mamchur, Keirsley
and Bates, Kolb, Felder and Silverman, Shindler are believed to be among the authors affected by
Jung’s theory and MBTI (Keirsey and Bates, 1984; Felder and Silverman, 1988; Cranton and
Knoop, 1995; Silver and Hanson, 1996; Silver et al. 2000; Güven, 2004; Markham, 2004; Shindler
and Yang, 2004a). One of the learning style assessment tools developed based on Jung’s theory
and MBTI, Paragon Learning Style Inventory, has been widely used throughout the world; yet, it
has not been adapted to Turkish; hence, the present study aims to deal with this issue.
Paragon Learning Style Inventory
Paragon Learning Style Inventory (PLSI) based on Jung’s theory and MBTI was developed by Dr.
Shindler in 1992 to assess learning styles. PLSI is a 52-item assessment tool providing reliable
assessments in relation to Jungian psychological types and making individual scoring possible.
This learning style inventory has student and adult versions. PLSI used by schools, organizations
and individuals all over the world, was last updated in 2003 and this last version includes 52 items
(Shindler and Yang, 2004a).
48-item student version of PLSI is freely available in electronic environment. 52-item adult and
student versions can be obtained at request. Both 48-item and 52-item inventories assess Jungian
psychological types as four dimensions. These are; extrovert/introvert, sensate/intuitive,
feeler/thinker and judger/perceiver and learning characteristics in each dimension represent two
extremes. Shindler and Yang (2004b) state that though an individual may possess both of the
characteristics in each dimension, she/he has a greater tendency towards one of them. When the
tendencies for each dimension are considered together, there are 16 combinations emerging and
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accordingly 16 different learning styles. For instance, extravert-intuitive-thinker-perceiver
learning style explains the learning characteristics of an individual having all these tendencies.
In PLSI, there are 13 items for each of the four sub-dimensions. There are two options for each
item as ‘a’ and ‘b’ and the respondent should choose one of these options. After the completion of
the test, the respondent can calculate his/her score by using ‘PLSI Score Sheet’ (Shindler and Yang,
2004c). To do so, the numbers of the selected ‘a’ and ‘b’ options should be calculated separately
for each dimension. The option with higher number indicates that the person displays the
personality characteristic shown in the form for the related dimension. In this way, one preference
is determined for each dimension and when the resulting four dimensions are bought together, the
learning style of the person is found. Through PLSI, the learning style of a person can easily be
determined without needing the help of an expert, which is an important advantage of PLSI.
Varughese and Fehring (2009) stated that to assess their students learning styles they preferred this
instrument as it is easy to understand and enables scoring individually.
PLSI viewed as a reliable and valid instrument in determining learners’ learning styles and
cognitive preferences (Overbaugh and Lin, 2006; Shabani, 2012) is particularly applied to
conspicuously students of higher education (e.g. Tasker et al. 2003; Yeung et al. 2005; Overbaugh
and Lin, 2006; Varughese and Fehring, 2009; Sutherland and Ekker, 2011; Shabani, 2012). In this
respect, adaptation of 52-item adult-oriented PLSI, which could be used at higher education level,
into Turkish was seen as an important need. Based on this necessity, the present study aims to carry
out works required to adapt PLSI into Turkish and to investigate the reliability and validity of the
adapted version. It is hoped that the results obtained through this study will help researchers
working on learning styles and inventories.
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Method
Participants of the Study
The participants of the study are 1013 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th-year students from the faculties of
education, pharmacy, science, engineering-architecture, fine arts, literature, communications
sciences, law, economics and administrative sciences of Anadolu University in 2008-2009
academic year. Purposive sampling type (Balcı, 2001) was conducted to decide on the sample and
students of each previously indicated departments of the university were represented in the sample.
Procedure
The procedure given below was followed for the adaptation study:
1. The researchers individually translated the inventory into Turkish. Then, two researchers
came together and agreed on a common translation.
2. The Turkish draft of the inventory was submitted to three foreign language experts together
with the original English version and their opinions were sought. The three experts
presented their opinions in the written format to the researchers. Moreover, face-to-face
interviews were conducted with two of the experts and discussions were carried out on how
to adapt the items in the inventory into Turkish culture.
3. The Turkish draft developed based on the opinions of foreign language experts was
presented to an expert on Turkish language.
4. Based on the feedbacks of the Turkish language expert, it was revised and then it was
presented to another expert for reverse translation. The items of reverse translation and
those of the original inventory were put into semantic comparison.
5. Following the reverse translation work, Turkish draft of PLSI was submitted to the scrutiny
of 30 academicians aged 25-40. The academicians were asked to respond the inventory
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items and put ticks next to the items not clearly understood and write their suggestions, if
there are any. The inventories responded by 20 academicians were analysed and the items
were revised considering the original inventory.
6. For piloting, the Turkish version of PLSI was administered to 167 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th-year
students from different departments of the Faculty of Education of Anadolu University.
The piloting was conducted to see whether there were any problems that may emerge
during the application process and the internal consistency value was enough to administer
the inventory to the large sample. The piloting was conducted by the researchers and they
observed the participants throughout the piloting. The reliability of the inventory in terms
of internal consistency was found to be at an acceptable level (KR-20=.67) and no further
correction was made on the draft inventory before its administration to the large sample.
7. Following the piloting, linguistic equivalence work was performed. The linguistic
equivalence work was participated by 35 third-year students from the department of ELT
of the Faculty of Education at Anadolu University. First, the students were administered
the original inventory and three weeks later, the same students were administered the
Turkish version of the inventory developed within the present study.
8. The Turkish version of PLSI was administered to randomly-selected undergraduate
students of Anadolu University and after the elimination of those leaving five or more items
not-responded or those marking both of the options for an item, there were 1013 inventories
left for the analysis.
9. In order to determine the construct validity of Turkish PLSI, confirmatory factor analysis
was conducted with 855 fully completed inventories.
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10. In order to establish the reliability of Turkish PLSI, internal consistency and reliability in
means of stability were investigated. KR-20 value was calculated and in terms of stability,
test-retest method was used. In this regard, the Turkish inventory was administered to 58
third-year students of social studies from the Department of Primary Education at Anadolu
University twice at a four week-interval.
Data Analysis
The analysis concerning the linguistic equivalence was carried out through ‘Wilcoxon Signed
Rank Test for Paired Samples’ in SPSS 15.0 program package to determine the linguistic
equivalence for the four sub-dimensions of PLSI.
Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed through Lisrel 8.7 program package; hence,
as the data type is categorical, correlation and asymptotic covariance matrices were formed and
they were used together with ‘Weighted Least Squares’ method as proposed by Şimşek (2007, p.
201).
In the evaluation of the models tested during the process of CFA, t-values related to observed
variables and variance (error) that could not be explained in the observed variables and goodnessof-fit indices were examined respectively. In this respect, firstly, the variables having a t value
lower than 1.96 at the significance level of .05 were determined and discarded from the model
(Çokluk et al. 2010). Then, the error variances related to the observed variables were examined.
Starting from the highest error value, the observed variables having high error values were
discarded from the model one by one. Finally, fit indices for the model where all the t-values are
significant and the error variances related to the observed variables were found to be lower than .94
were interpreted.
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It is reported that Lisrel 8 output file presents all the fit indices discussed in the literature (Jöreskog
and Sörbom, 1996). However, it can be told that reporting of all the indices is not suitable in
practice. In the present study, fit indices which can be regarded as frequently used fit indices as
Goodness-of-fit Index (GFI), Adjusted Goodness-of-fit Index (AGFI), Comparative Fit Index
(CFI)), Root Mean Square Residual (RMR), Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA)
were reported. In addition to these, the ratio of Chi-square value to degree of freedom was also
taken into consideration.
In order to determine the internal consistency of PLSI, for each sub-dimension and for the whole
inventory, KR-20 value was calculated and interpreted because of the dichotomous response
structure of the PLSI. In the determination of the test-retest stability of the four sub-dimensions of
the inventory, the non-parametric ‘Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test for Paired Samples’ was conducted
instead of ‘Paired-Samples T-Test’ because the latter requires normal distribution (Büyüköztürk,
2011).
Findings
Findings for Linguistic Equivalence
The results of the ‘Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test for Paired Samples’ conducted to determine the
linguistic equivalence of PLSI are presented in Table 1.
Table 1
The results of ‘Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test for Paired Samples’
Original-Turkish PLSI
Z
Asymp. Sig.
(2-tailed)
Introvert Sensate
Extrovert Intuitive
-,513
-1,069
,608
,285
Thinker
Feeler
-1,395
,163
Judger
Perceiver
-,388
,698
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As can be seen on Table 1, there is no significant difference between the scores taken from original
English inventory and Turkish inventory for each of the four sub-dimensions (for
introvert/extrovert sub-dimension z=-,513, p>.05; for sensate/intuitive sub-dimension z=-1,069,
p>.05; for thinker/feeler sub-dimension z=-1,395, p>.05; and judger/perceiver sub-dimension z=0,388, p>.05). In addition to rigorous translation efforts, this finding can be considered as
important evidence showing that Turkish PLSI has a linguistic equivalence.
Findings of Confirmatory Factor Analysis
To test whether the well-defined four dimensional and 52-item model of PLSI was confirmed by
the data obtained through the current study or not, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted
(Şimşek, 2007). The widely used original structure of the PLSI was presented in Table 2.
Table 2
The Structure of the 52-item PLSI
Sub-Dimensions
Introvert-Extrovert (I-E)
Sensate – Intuitive (S-I)
Thinker- Feeler (T-F)
Judger – Perceiver (J-P)
Item Numbers
1-5-9-13-17-21-25-29-33-37-4145-49
2-6-10-14-18-22-26-30-34-3842-46-50
3-7-11-15-19-23-27-31-35-39-4347-51
4-8-12-16-20-24-28-32-36-4044-48-52
Total
Total Item
13
13
13
13
52
For the operations performed during the process of confirmatory factor analysis conducted to test
the conformity of the showed model of PLSI on Table 2 to Turkish Culture, criteria explained in
the data analysis section were taken into consideration. Moreover, the observed variables in the
model will be referred as ‘Item’ thereafter in the present study.
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The first operation
The original 4-factor 52-item Model-1
(52 Items)
was tested through ‘Weighted Least Squares’
method and goodness-of-fit indices and path diagram were obtained. However, when the output
file was analyzed in detail, ‘not positive definite’ warning was seen. Moreover, it was observed
that with regards to the correlation matrix of latent variables, the state in Table 3 holds true.
Table 3
Correlation matrix of latent variables
I-E
S-I
T-F
J-P
I-E
1.00
-0.19
0.85
-0.22
S-I
T-F
J-P
1.00
-0.07
0.99
1.00
-0.03
1.00
As can be seen in Table 3, a correlation with the value of .85 was found between the introvertextrovert (I-E) latent variable and thinker-feeler (T-F) variable and a correlation value of .99 was
found between sensate-intuitive (S-I) latent variable and judger-perceiver (J-P) variable. In this
regard, especially the value of correlation between sensate-intuitive (S-I) and judger-perceiver (JP) latent variables was very high and these two dimensions were not independent from each other.
It was assumed that this might have led to warning ‘not positive definite’ seen in the output file.
The second operation
The S-I and J-P latent variables exhibiting a correlation value of .99 were combined and defined
as a single latent variable (S-I/J-P). This new 3- dimensional 52-item Model-2(52 Items) was tested
through again ‘Weighted Least Squares’ method. When the output file was analyzed, it was seen
that there is no ‘not positive definite’ warning in the second operation. As a result of this,
confirmatory factor analysis works were carried on Model-2 with 3 latent variables. In this process,
firstly t-values were examined. If any relations defined in the model were found to be not
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statistically meaningful as a result of the analysis, excluding these relations with no regard to fit
indices is recommended (Şimşek, 2007). Thus, the relations related to Item 8, Item 11, Item 22,
Item 38 and Item 50 were discarded from the model because of having insignificant t-values.
The third operation
During the third operation for CFA with the remaining 47 items, Model-2(47 Item) was tested. In this
model, as all the t-values related to the items were found to be significant, error variances of the
items were analyzed. Through the analysis conducted in relation to error variances, the items
having the highest error values were determined and starting from the item with the highest error
variance, the items were excluded from the model one by one and in each resulting state, the model
was retested. In each test, warnings in the output file, t-values and error variances were respectively
analyzed. As the items were discarded from the model one by one depending on error variance, 22
further operations were realized after the third operation.
The twenty fifth operation
As a final operation, three-factor Model-2(25 Item) was tested with the remaining 25 items. Because
there was no warning message in the output file of the 25-item model and all the t-values were
significant, the error variances of the items were analyzed; and two items with the highest error
variance of .93 were found and though error variance value of .93 was considered to be high, these
two items were kept within the model, as all the t-values in the model were significant and content
validity was taken into consideration. In Table 4, some goodness-of-fit indices obtained during the
first, second, third and twenty fifth operations are presented.
Table 4
Goodness-of-fit indices regarding the model of PLSI
Operations
Operation-1:
Model-1
(52 Item)
x2
df
2793.67 1268
p
.0000
x2/df
2,2032
GFI
.94
AGFI
.94
CFI
.54
RMR
.061
RMSEA
.038
Operation-2:
Model-2
120
2797.28 1271
.0000
2,2008
.94
.94
.54
.061
.037
2220.82 1031
.0000
2,1540
.95
.94
.59
.057
.037
620.49
.0000
2,2812
.97
.97
.80
.052
.039
(52 Item)
Operation-3:
Model-2
(47 Item)
Operation-25:
272
Model-2
(25 Item)
Though Chi-square values are expected to be insignificant in confirmatory factor analysis, they
are usually found to be high in applications and it is quite normal particularly in case of large
samples (Şimşek, 2007; Çokluk et al, 2010). In all of the four operations shown in Table 4, Chisquare values were found to be significant; hence, the ratio of Chi-square value to the degree of
freedom was taken into consideration. It is reported that the ratio of Chi-square to degree of
freedom lower than five indicates an acceptable model and a ratio lower than two indicates a good
model (Şimşek, 2007). However, it is stated that in larger samples, Chi-square value is also higher
and in this respect, the ratio of Chi-square value to degree of freedom is expected to be bigger
(Mueller, 1996). According to Kline (2005), the ratio lower than three in larger samples indicates
a perfect fit (Cited in Çokluk et al., 2010). Given that the sample used in the present study is a
large sample, it can be argued that the ratio of Chi-square value to degree of freedom (2.28 for
Model-2(25 Item)) represents a perfect fit.
In the literature it is reported that the GFI, AGFI and CFI goodness-of-fit indices higher than .90
indicate acceptable fit value and values bigger than .95 are indication of a good fit value (Şimşek,
2007; Yılmaz and Çelik, 2009). As can be seen in Table 4, with the further operations, the GFI,
AGFI and CFI values increased in the present study and for Model-2 ((25 Item) representing the 25th
operation, these values were as follows: GFI=.97, AGFI=.97, CFI=.80. While GFI and AGFI
values were higher than .95, CFI value remained under .90 though it continuously increased. Yet,
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West, Finc and Curan (1995), stated that when there is a normal distribution, CFI value is used to
make quite reliable predictions (Cited in Şimşek, 2007). In this respect, according to GFI and AGFI
values, it can be argued that Model-2(25 Item) tested in the 25th operation exhibits a good fit.
Other goodness-of-fit indices, RMR and RMSEA, are reported to show a good fit if they are lower
than .05 (Şimşek, 2007; Yılmaz and Çelik, 2009). As presented in Table 4, RMR value decreased
after the first operation, in Model-2(25 Item), RMR gained the value of .052. RMSEA, on the other
hand, retained the value of .039 in general. RMR value around .05 and RMSEA value lower
than .05 indicate a good fit especially for Model-2(25 Item).
According to the goodness-of-fit indices presented in Table 4, Model-2(25 Item) tested in the 25th
operation was observed to exhibit the best fit to the data at hand. In this respect, it can be argued
that three-factor 25-item model of PLSI shows best fit to the data obtained in this study. ‘Path
Diagram’ related to Model-2 (25 Item) is presented in Figure 1.
In Fig.1, the correlation among the sub-dimensions of 25-item PLSI is also shown. The correlation
between introvert-extrovert (I-E) and thinker-feeler (T-F) dimensions reached .90 in the 25th
operation. As it is seen on Figure 1, the T-F dimension of the model was represented by only two
items. Thus the content validity of the T-F dimension had become weaken seriously.
Figure 1. Path diagram of 25-item PLSI with three sub-dimensions
122
123
Reliability Works
Internal Consistency
KR-20 value of PLSI was found to be .62. The reliability values of the sub-dimensions ranged
from .43 to .67 (.67 for extravert/introvert sub-dimension, .43 for sensate/intuitive subdimension, .44 for thinker-feeler sub-dimension, and .48 for judger-perceiver). When the sensateintuitive and judger-perceiver sub-dimensions showing a high correlation were combined, internal
consistency value increased to .62. For the final model of PLSI which was obtained through the
CFA study, reliability values were calculated again: Internal consistency value of the PLSI
increased to .70 while the reliability values of the sub-dimensions of extravert/introvert, sensateintuitive/judger-perceiver and thinker-feeler were calculated as .70, .69 and .43 respectively.
Test-retest stability
Test-retest test technique was followed to determine the reliability of Turkish Paragon Learning
Style Inventory in terms of stability. ‘Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test for Paired Samples’ was
conducted for test-retest test reliability and the results for each sub-dimension are given in Table
5.
Table 5
The results of ‘Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test for Paired Samples’
Test-Retest
Z
Asymp. Sig.
(2-tailed)
Extrovert
Introvert
-,133
,894
Sensate
Intuitive
-,910
,363
Thinker
Feeler
-1,324
,186
Judger
Perceiver
-1,286
,198
As can be seen in Table 5, no significant difference was found between the four sub-dimensions
of the two scale values (for extravert/introvert sub-dimension z=-,133, p>.05; for sensate/intuitive
sub-dimension z=-,910, p>.05;
for thinker/feeler sub-dimension
z=-1,324, p>.05; for
124
judger/perceiver sub-dimension z=-1,286, p>.05). This finding is regarded as an evidence for the
reliability of Turkish PLSI in terms of stability.
Discussion and Conclusion
Confirmatory factor analysis is defined as an analysis process where a structure whose borders are
described is viewed as a model and in which whether this model has been confirmed or not is
investigated (Çokluk et al., 2010). Evaluation of the general fit of the model at hand can be defined
as the determination of the extent to which the model complies with the experimental data at hand
(Diamantopoulos and Siguaw, 2000). In the present study, the fit of the structural model of PLSI
whose structure has been determined in advance to the data collected within the framework of the
present study in Turkey was evaluated through confirmatory factor analysis. Therefore, directly
confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to determine the construct validity in this adaptation
work of PLSI into Turkish. Çokluk et al. (2010) state that it is possible to directly conduct
confirmatory factor analysis without first conducting explanatory factor analysis in inter-cultural
adaptation studies.
Throughout the process of confirmatory factor analysis carried out for the construct validity of
PLSI, it was observed that sensate-intuitive and judger-perceiver sub-dimensions of the inventory
exhibited a high level of correlation. Shindler and Yang (2004a) stated that the PLSI consists of
four dimensions and these dimensions are nearly independent of each other and there is a slight
correlation only between sensate-intuitive sub-dimension and judger-perceiver sub-dimension.
However, the slight correlation pointed out between sensate-intuitive and judger-perceiver subdimensions by Shindler and Yang was found to be quite high in this present study (.99). In this
respect, it can be argued that the learning styles of the students participating in this study could not
be discriminated according to these two sub-dimensions. In a similar manner, during the first
125
operation, a correlation value of .85 was found between extravert-introvert sub-dimension and
thinker-feeler sub-dimension. During the process of confirmatory factor analysis, only the two subdimensions exhibiting a correlation at the level of .99 were combined and the study went on with
three-dimensional model. However, in the light of the findings of the current study, in the further
studies, extravert-introvert and thinker-feeler sub-dimensions of the model require critical review
because of the considerable correlation between them and the weak content validity of the thinkerfeeler sub-dimension.
As a result of the confirmatory factor analysis performed through 25-item model with three subdimensions was obtained and the goodness-of-fit values of this model exhibited data-model fit.
Mueller (1996) reported that the data-model fit found in an application indicate that there is not
enough evidence to refute the model. Thus according to the results of the CFA, it is not possible to
state that the 25-item model with three sub-dimensions does not fit the observed data of the study.
For further research it could be suggested that 25-item PLSI with three sub-dimension should be
administered to a new sample in Turkey and the data to be collected can be exposed to explanatory
factor analysis to see whether the three-dimensional structure re-emerge again. Yet, while
conducting the explanatory factor analysis, the type of the data should be considered. Moreover,
giving a new name to the combined two sub-dimensions (sensate-intuitive and judger-perceiver)
and discussing the meaningfulness and the function of the new combined dimension among the
others regarding the learning styles could be suitable. While deciding this new name, four learning
style preference of two sub-dimensions should be considered by the researchers from the fields of
education psychology and learning styles so that an appropriate name could be found.
In addition to validity works of PLSI, reliability of the inventory should be taken into consideration.
As a result of the test-retest performed in the present study, it can be argued that PLSI has stability.
126
However, it was observed that there are some problems in the sub-dimensions in terms of internal
consistency. Except for extravert-introvert sub-dimension, the internal consistency values for the
other three sub-dimensions are lower than .50 and this indicates that there is a need to be cautious
about the results obtained from these three sub-dimensions. Yet, throughout the confirmatory
factor analysis study, it was observed that there is a need to combine sensate-intuitive and judgerperceiver sub-dimensions. Hence, when PLSI was considered to be three-dimensional, the
reliability of extravert-introvert sub-dimension was found to be .67, the reliability of the combined
sensate-intuitive and judger-feeler sub-dimension was found to be .62. The reliability of the third
sub-dimension, thinker-feeler, on the other hand was found to be .44. The last one is a quite low
value. In addition, the three-dimensional 25-item PLSI which was obtained through the CFA study
gave much more good results in means of reliability. However, the reliability values of the final
model of the inventory might be investigated in further studies with new empirical data.
Some other similar studies conducted in Turkey have also revealed similar low reliability values.
For instance, Arslan (2003) used four-dimensional Felder-Solomon Index of Learning Styles
having a structure similar to that of PLSI in her study and reported the following reliability values
for the sub-dimensions; .49, .55, .53 and .29. The same index was adapted again to Turkish by
Samancı and Keskin (2007) and they found these reliability values for the sub-dimensions of the
index; .43, .54, .59 and .32. Index of Learning Styles offers only ‘a’ and ‘b’ options like PLSI. In
this respect, obligation of selecting one of the two options imposed by PLSI items may indicate a
difficulty experienced by respondents to select items adequately representing their learning
characteristics. In this regard, for further research, it can be suggested to rearrange and turn PLSI
items into Likert-type items.
127
In another study, Yılmaz-Tuzun and Topcu (2008) reported that the reliability values of the factors
of epistemology scale adapted to Turkish range from .20 to .60. The reason for these low values
was claimed to stem from translation problems and the same reason may hold true for the present
study. Though rather than verbatim translation, semantic translation was tried to be achieved in the
present study, it can be argued that the participants of the present study may not have found the
inventory items developed for people from a different culture suitable for themselves. The items
of the sub-dimensions found to have a reliability value lower than .50 in the present study can be
recommended to be revised and new items suitable for Turkish culture should replace them.
The findings of the present study cannot be generalized to all the undergraduate students of Turkish
Higher Education System. The findings are limited to the undergraduate students from Anadolu
University; hence, the study can be repeated by administering PLSI to other universities.
As a conclusion, the present study conducted to adapt PLSI into Turkish and determine whether
its structure is suitable for Turkish culture revealed that three-dimensional 25-item model instead
of four-dimensional 52-item model exhibits a better fit to the data of the present study. Moreover,
as the reliability value of the thinker-feeler sub-dimension is lower than .50 and the reliability
values of extravert-introvert sub-dimension and other combined dimensions are lower than .70,
the scores regarding the learning styles of the individuals retrieved from the Turkish PLSI are open
to questioning. Shindler and Yang (2004a) argue that all the inventories aiming to elicit information
related to behaviors or characteristics and based on self-reporting never provide perfect
information and though PLSI is good at determining the correct type in relation to learning styles,
it is not perfect. In the present study, PLSI did not provide good results in Turkish culture, and
there is a need for further research to reliably and validly evaluate learning styles by using PLSI.
128
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank to Prof.Dr. John Schindler for his kindly permission for Turkish
adaptation study of PLSI and Assist.Prof.Dr. Rıdvan Tunçel for his great effort during the
translation process of PLSI into Turkish.
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The Relationship between WTC Level and LLS Use among Turkish EFL Learners
Ali Merç
[email protected]
Abstract
Recent investigations in the field of applied linguistics have tended to transfer
psychological concepts into second language acquisition. Willingness to communicate,
as a psychological concept, has been taken as a research topic in the field. On the other
hand, language learning strategy use has been accepted as a notion affecting the success
in second/foreign language learning. In this respect, this study investigates the
relationship between the levels of Willingness to Communicate inside the Classroom
(WTC) and Language Learning Strategy (LLS) use among Turkish university students.
80 first-year university students responded to two questionnaires: WTC questionnaire
developed by McIntyre et al (2001) and the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning
(SILL), version 5.1 by Oxford (1990). The results of the quantitative analyses, first,
revealed that Turkish EFL learners were willing to communicate in the classroom in a
range from half of the time to usually willing in both overall mean score and in separate
components such as speaking, reading, writing, and comprehension. Second, the
participants were found to be medium strategy users. Finally, correlation analyses
showed that there was a significant positive correlation between these two concepts. In
specific, certain aspects of the levels of WTC inside classroom matched with certain
sub-components of the SILL. After the study, a number of recommendations for
language learning and teaching as well as some implications for further research are
provided.
Keywords: Willingness to Communicate, Language Learning Strategies, Language
Learning, Language Teaching
133
134
Introduction
Within language learning research area, certain factors were identified that affect the language
learning process and especially, the learner. Ellis (1994) states that external factors such as social
factors, input, and interaction; and internal factors such as language transfer, cognitive accounts,
and language universals may be the factors having impacts on language learning. However,
although these factors are necessary, they would not be sufficient to explain the language learning
differences stemming from the learners’ own personality and characters, namely affective factors
(Hashimoto, 2002). Moreover, according to MacIntyre, Baker, Clement and Donovan (2002), the
modern language teaching gives great emphasis on communication which is strongly correlated
with individual learner differences in language learning. In the same respect, the goal of language
learning is seen as promoting communication and understanding between the individual learners
from different language and cultural backgrounds (Yashima, Zenuk-Nishide & Shimizu, 2004).
The above considerations are related to a new concept that Strong (2001) identifies as the new
effect of motivation on language learning: willingness to communicate (WTC). In order to
comprehend what WTC means better, McCroskey and Richmond (1990a) will be essential to
quote:
Although talk probably is a vital component in interpersonal communication and the
development of interpersonal relationships in all cultures, people differ dramatically
from one another in the degree to which they actually do talk. Some people talk very
little, they tend to speak only when spoken to-and sometimes not even then. Others
tend to verbalize almost constantly. Many people talk more in some contexts than in
others, and most people talk more to some receivers than they do to others. This
variability in talking behavior among people is alleged to be rooted in a personality
variable, which we call "Willingness to Communicate"(p. 72).
135
This quotation gives us a broad understanding of what WTC means as both a personality concern
and as one of the individual differences among language learners. Although WTC is a
communication research issue in which certain studies were conducted to clarify the differences
among certain individuals and people of different cultures (Zakahi & McCroskey, 1989;
McCroskey & Richmond, 1990b; Salinen-Kuparinen & McCroskey, 1991), it has also been the
research interest of second/foreign language learning scholars. Studies on this issue have focused
on the influence of attitudes and affect on WTC and second language communication (Yashima,
Zenuk-Nishide & Shimizu 2004), correlations among WTC, communication apprehension,
perceived competence, and integrative motivation (MacIntyre, Baker, Clément & Donovan, 2003),
the effects of sex and age on WTC (MacIntyre, Baker, Clément & Donovan, 2002), the effects of
motivation and WTC on reported L2 use (Hashimoto, 2002), the relationship between WTC inside
and outside the classroom and language learning orientations (Zarrianabadi & Abdi, 2011) the
correlations among WTC inside and outside the classroom, social support, and language learning
orientations (McIntyre, Baker, Clément & Conrod, 2001; Merç, 2008), the correlations among
WTC, language proficiency, and anxiety (Alemi, Daftarifard & Pashmforoosh, 2011), and the
relationship between WTC and action control (MacIntyre & Doucette, 2010).
Another concept in second language learning, as one of the individual differences, is the use of
language learning strategies (LLSs). LLSs can be defined as the specific steps that are taken by
individual language learners to foster their own language learning (Yamamori, Isoda, Hiromori &
Oxford, 2003). According to Oxford (1990), language learners hold the notion of LLSs in order to
find their ways for better and faster language learning.
In the recent literature on second language acquisition, there is little evidence on the relationship
between the use of language learning strategies and affective factors influencing second language
136
acquisition. However, knowledge of the relationship of LLS use and affective variables in language
learning might provide language teachers with the idea about their students’ specific actions in
their processes of language learning and their satisfaction with their language classes (Yang, 1999).
Therefore, this study aims to report a research that investigates the relationship between WTC
inside the classroom and the use of LLSs.
Review of Literature
Willingness to Communicate (WTC)
“WTC is to a major degree situationally dependent. Nevertheless, individuals exhibit regular WTC
tendencies across situations” (McCroskey & Richmond, 1990b). Namely, where individuals are
willing to communicate is difficult to determine. The communication research on WTC has been
the work of over half century, and one very popular measurement has been the research material
of the studies. The 20-item probability-estimate scale requests participants to express the
percentage of probability for them to start the conversation in certain situations. This scale has
quite a high content and predictive validity as well as reliability as McCroskey (1992) found out.
Moreover, certain studies on WTC (Zakahi & McCroskey, 1989; McCroskey & Richmond, 1990a;
McCroskey & Richmond, 1990b; Sallinen-Kuparinen & McCroskey, 1991) used this scale as the
research tool.
Zakahi and McCroskey (1989) investigated whether high WTC individuals were more likely to
participate in an ‘out-of-class’ communication study or not with 381 students in an introductory
communication class. The results showed that high WTC students were more likely to participate
in out-of-class communication study, were more likely to be scheduled before the study, and were
more likely to participate after persistent efforts of the researcher than the low WTC subjects. The
researchers suggest that most students are hesitant to take part in communication studies, that’s
137
why even high WTC students participated within the persistent efforts of the researcher. Moreover,
Zakahi and McCroskey conclude that communication studies bear in mind the WTC level of the
students for their studies.
Likewise, a study for the relationship between WTC and other individual differences comes from
McCroskey and Richmond (1990a). In their descriptive study, McCroskey and Richmond claim
that WTC and extroversion are strongly correlated. They also indicate, considering the research
results, that the ones with high self-esteem might be more willing to communicate. However, they
conclude that those correlations would be related to differences between individuals who
participated in the studies and further studies are needed.
A similar study was conducted by Sallinen-Kuparinen et al (1991) to investigate the cross-cultural
differences between Finnish and other populations in terms of communication orientations such as
WTC, communication apprehension, introversion, and self-reported communication competence
with 249 college students. The results put forward that Finnish students were less willing to
communicate than the students from other countries. Also, differences between Finnish and other
cultures appear in introversion. While they were found to be more introverted ones, the other
variables including communication apprehension and self-reported communication competence
did not show significant differences among cultures. Researchers conclude that differences and
similarities are associated with cultural differences between Finnish and other populations.
In response to the connection between WTC as a popular communication research area and second
language acquisition research, McIntyre et al (1998) suggested a pyramid called “Heuristic Model
of Variables Influencing WTC”. At the top of the pyramid, the L2 communication takes place just
after completing the step of WTC stage, in other words, L2 learners start from the bottom of the
pyramid, and are able to reach L2 communication at the top layer. By following the steps below, a
138
language learner is supposed to achieve the level of communicative L2 use. The pyramid consists
of six layers with situations in different contexts (p. 371):
Figure 1. Heuristic Model of Variables Influencing WTC
Under the light of the pyramid above which integrate communication behavior and L2 learning,
MacIntyre et al (2001) conducted a study to examine the correlations among WTC inside and
outside the classroom, social support, and language learning orientations of immersion students in
Quebec, Canada. Their study with 79 English-speaking students who have been learning French
as a second language used a four-part questionnaire. The results showed that there were significant
correlations between WTC inside and outside the classroom. Also, the researchers found that
stronger orientations for language learning tended to be more highly related to WTC outside the
classroom. Moreover, considering the role of social support in WTC, they found that immersion
students had higher WTC inside than outside the classroom, but social support, especially from
their peers, played a great role for WTC outside the classroom. Likewise, the social support of the
139
friends was found to be highly related to traveling and making friendships with Francophones in
terms of investigating the effect of social support on language orientations.
The role of WTC in second language acquisition and its relationship with variables influencing
second language acquisition have been the research interests of certain scholars in the last few
years. A handful of researchers investigated WTC as a variable in second language learning in
different contexts such as the influence of attitudes and affect on WTC and second language
communication (Yashima et al, 2004), correlations among WTC, communication apprehension,
perceived competence, and integrative motivation (MacIntyre et al, 2003), the effects of sex and
age on WTC (MacIntyre et al, 2002), the effects of motivation and WTC on reported L2 use
(Hashimoto, 2002).
Hashimoto (2002) conducted a study to find out the effect of the two affective variables
(motivation and WTC) on reported L2 use with 56 Japanese university students attending graduate
and undergraduate courses in the University of Hawaii at Honolulu. The study used the WTC
questionnaire to determine the WTC level of the students. The results of the study suggested that
both motivation and the level of WTC affected the reported L2 communication frequency in the
classrooms as the study hypothesized. Also, higher motivation was found to be positively
correlated with higher perceived competence. The researcher discusses that L2 anxiety was the
cause of low WTC, and perceived competence led to more L2 use in the classrooms. However,
there was no significant correlation between WTC level and motivation as the indicators of high
or low L2 use in the classrooms.
In a similar study, MacIntyre et al (2002) examined the effect of sex and age on WTC, anxiety,
perceived competence, and L2 motivation among Junior High School French immersion students
in the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades. 284 students (96 males and 188 females with a median age of 13
140
years) participated in the study by answering the 20-item WTC questionnaire to identify the WTC
levels. The results of the study indicated that the correlates of L2 WTC can change as the students
gain experience with the L2. For example, the researchers claimed that inexperienced language
learners might be using their L1 self-confidence to support their WTC in the L2. The study also
revealed results on gender differences in WTC levels. Girls in grade 9 had significantly higher
level of WTC than boys in grade 9; grade 8 and grade 7 girls did not differ significantly from grade
8 and grade 7 boys. Furthermore, while boys did not differ in WTC level over three grades, grade
9 girls are higher in WTC than grade 7 girls.
In another study, MacIntyre et al (2003) investigated the differences between immersion and nonimmersion students in terms of WTC, communication apprehension, perceived competence, and
frequency of communicating. 59 volunteer students (44 females, 15 males, mean age = 20,5 years)
participated in the study by responding to the 20 item WTC questionnaire. The results of the study
indicated a clear difference between immersion and non-immersion students in terms of WTC level.
The full immersion led to a higher WTC level in the L2, and the findings suggested that L2
communication apprehension and L2 perceived competence were the two influences on WTC in
the L2.
Furthermore, in a recent article, Yashima et al (2004) examined the influence of attitudes and affect
on WTC and second language communication in two investigations. For the first investigation,
154 students (141 female and 13 male) were used. The participants answered a questionnaire
designed by the researchers that includes attitudinal/motivational measures and the 20-item WTC
questionnaire. The results of the study showed that WTC was highly correlated with
communication anxiety and perceived communication competence, and frequency of
communication. In the second investigation, 60 Japanese high school students (17 boys and 43
141
girls with 16,1 mean age) who participated in a year-long study program in the United States
participated in the study. The participants responded to two questionnaires: one before departure,
and one during the visit to the US. The findings of the second investigation confirmed the results
of the first investigation, which suggests WTC was highly correlated with communication anxiety
and perceived communication competence, and frequency of communication. Also, the study
found that frequency of communication correlated with satisfaction in interpersonal relationships
during the visit to the US.
In addition to these correlation studies, Cao (2011) and Peng (2012) analyzed WTC from an
ecological perspective, whose work resulted in the proposed idea that students’ behavior is
influenced by the classroom context, and more noticeably, that “L2 WTC in the innermost systemthe classroom- seemed to be nurtured by, and thus fluctuate because of the interaction between the
factors internal and external to individual learners, and inside and beyond the classroom walls” (p.
211).
Language Learning Strategies (LLS)
Language learning strategies have been studied widely in the last two decades in an attempt to
identify the “specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable,
more self-directed, more effective, and more transferable to new situations” (Oxford, 1990: 8).
Early considerations about language learning strategies were basically on the specific actions that
‘good’ language learners take in the process of language learning (Stern, 1983). This consideration
took second language acquisition researchers to a point where language learning strategies were
defined and described systematically. First, Chamot (1987) examined the LLSs in three main
branches: cognitive, metacognitive, and socio-affective strategies. Following this categorization,
Oxford (1990) developed a detailed list of LLSs in her taxonomy (Table 1) which consists of two
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broad categories: direct strategies and indirect strategies. There are three main types of direct
LLSs: memory, cognitive, and compensation strategies. Memory strategies, such as grouping or
using imagery have a highly specific function: helping students store and retrieve new information.
Cognitive strategies, such as summarizing or reasoning deductively enable learners to understand
and produce new language by many different means. Compensation strategies, like guessing or
using synonyms allow learners to use the language despite their often large gaps in knowledge.
Oxford also describes three types of indirect LLSs: metacognitive, affective, and social strategies.
Metacognitive strategies allow learners to control their own cognition that is to coordinate the
learning process by using functions such as centering, arranging, planning, and evaluating.
Affective strategies help to regulate emotions, motivations, and attitudes. Social strategies help
students learn through interaction with others.
Table 1.
Language Learning Strategies (Oxford, 1990)
Direct Strategies
I. Memory Strategies
A. Creating mental images
B. Applying images and sounds
C. Reviewing well
II. Cognitive Strategies
A. Practicing
B. Receiving and sending messages
C. Analyzing and reasoning
D. Creating structure for input and output
III. Compensation Strategies
A. Guessing intelligently
B. Overcoming limitations in speaking and writing
Indirect Strategies
I. Metacognitive Strategies
A. Centering your learning
B. Arranging and planning your learning
C. Evaluating your learning
II. Affective Strategies
A. Lowering your anxiety
B. Encouraging yourself
C. Taking your emotional temperature
III. Social Strategies
A. Asking questions
B. Cooperating with others
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C. Empathizing with others
Most of the empirical studies on LLSs have focused on the frequency of use of LLSs by language
learners and its relationship with different variables affecting second language acquisition. For
example, gender has been a variable for a handful of researchers to explain LLS use in recent
years (Ehrman & Oxford, 1988; Green & Oxford, 1995; Yılmaz, 1996; Sheorey, 1999; Wharton,
2000). Also, the effect of proficiency level on LLS use was examined in certain studies (Oxford
& Nykos, 1989; Green & Oxford, 1995; Yılmaz, 1996; Bremner, 1999; Sheorey, 1999; Wharton,
2000). Moreover, the effect of cultural and educational background of language learners (Purdie
& Oliver, 1998; Sheorey, 1999) and large class size (LoCastro, 1994) on LLS use were examined
in different educational contexts.
In addition to the studies reflecting the LLS use of language learners and its relationship between
certain variables, the relationship between affective variables in language learning and LLS use
has also been among the research interests (Yang 1999; Wakamoto, 2000; Wharton, 2000).
In a recent study, Yang (1999) investigated the correlation between second language learners’
beliefs about language learning and their LLS use. 505 students (194 males and 311 females)
responded to two questionnaires: one for determining LLS use, and one for determining the beliefs
about language learning. Factor analysis identified four factors that constitute subjects’ beliefs
about language learning: a) self-efficacy and expectation about language learning, b) perceived
value and nature of learning spoken English, c) beliefs about foreign language aptitude, and d)
beliefs about formal structure studies. Factor analysis for the LLS questionnaire identified six
strategies: a) functional practice strategies, b) cognitive-memory strategies, c) metacognitive
strategies, d) formal oral-practice strategies, e) social strategies, and f) compensation strategies.
The correlation analyses of the study suggested that language learners’ self-efficacy beliefs about
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language learning were strongly related to their use of all types of LLSs. Also, learners’ beliefs
about the value and nature of learning spoken English were interrelated with their use of formal
oral-practice strategies.
In another study, Wakamoto (2000) investigated the relationship between LLS use and
extroversion/introversion as two personality factors. 222 Japanese junior college students
majoring in English responded to two research tools: the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) to
identify learners in terms of extroversion/introversion and the SILL (Strategy Inventory for
Language Learning). The results of the study showed that extroversion was significantly
correlated with the use of functional practice strategies and social-affective strategies. Also, some
specific strategies used by participants were closely linked to extroversion such as asking for
clarification or verification, reading for pleasure in English, and practicing English with other
students.
In an earlier study, Oxford and Nykos (1989) investigated the relationship between degree of
motivation and the use of LLSs with more than 1200 students. The participants were delivered
the early version of Strategy Inventory for Language Learning and a background questionnaire to
learn about self-perceptions of motivation. The findings of the study revealed that there was a
strong relationship between motivation and use of LLSs. Researchers discussed that the more
motivated students reported using learning strategies of all kinds more frequently than the less
motivated students.
Following the Oxford and Nykos study in 1989, Wharton (2000) studied the relationship between
overall LLS use and some background variables including motivation, self-rated proficiency, and
language studied with 678 undergraduate students studying Japanese or French in Singapore.
Participants were given an 80-item LLS questionnaire to identify their LLS use together with a
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background questionnaire to learn about their age, gender, mother tongue, major field of study,
degree of motivation, languages regularly spoken, and proficiency self-ratings. The results
indicated that degree of motivation had the most significant main effect on the use of LLSs.
Researcher speculates that the more motivated the language learners are –no matter how proficient
they are, the more LLSs they tend to use in the process of language learning.
Statement of the Research Questions
Within the past two decades in language learning research, there have been several attempts to
describe WTC in L2 classrooms and the use of LLSs as variables in language learning. However,
the relationship between the level of WTC inside the classroom and LLS use has not been defined
yet. Therefore, this study aims to answer the following research questions considering the
previous research on WTC level inside the classroom and LLS use of second language learners:
1. What is the level of WTC inside the classroom of Turkish EFL students in four language
skills?
2. What is the frequency of LLS use among Turkish EFL students?
3. Is there a correlation between the level of WTC inside the classroom and LLS use?
Methodology
Participants
The participants in this study are 80 first-year university students (19 male and 61 female) from
Anadolu University, Faculty of Education, English Language Department (AUELT). The ages of
the participants range from 18 to 22. The participants are all from Turkey, and they are all
monolingual speakers of Turkish. The participants have been studying English for a number of
years and they entered their department (AUELT) by answering questions on English as a Foreign
Language. They were also given a proficiency test before they started their education; the ones
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who passed the exam were allowed to study in their department, and the ones who were not
successful studied in prep class for a year. Therefore, the participants are both experienced
language learners and have a high level of proficiency in EFL.
In their first year in ELT department, the students study four language skills (writing, reading,
speaking, and listening) and grammar together with courses related to teaching (i.e. Introduction
to Teaching Profession) and linguistics (i.e. Language Awareness). In these courses, the students
are given explicit training neither on language learning strategy use nor on willingness to
communicate inside the classroom. They are provided with certain strategies in their coursebooks
such as reading strategies in reading coursebooks, and they are provided with the chance to
participate in the classroom activities willingly by communicative activities (i.e. communicative
grammar activities, tasks in speaking classes).
Instruments
In order to find out the level of WTC inside the classroom, this study aims to use a questionnaire
developed by MacIntyre et al (2001), which consists of four sections. The questionnaire, originally,
has the following four subsections:
a. Willingness to Communicate Inside the Classroom: There are 27 items that address
students to measure their willingness to engage in classroom tasks and activities. The items
include statements from four major L2 skill areas to identify the productive and receptive
skill engagement. Students are asked to indicate their willingness to communicate on a
scale from 1 to 5 (1=almost never willing, 2=sometimes willing, 3=willing half of the time,
4=usually willing, 5=almost always willing) in each situation.
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b. Willingness to Communicate Outside the Classroom: there are 27 items that address
students to measure their willingness to communicate outside the classroom. Students are
asked to describe their willingness as mentioned in the previous subsection.
c. Orientations for Language Learning: Students are asked to indicate which particular
reasons for learning a foreign language apply them on a scale from 1 to 6 (1=strongly
agree, 2=moderately agree, 3=mildly agree, 4=mildly disagree, 5=moderately disagree,
6=strongly disagree). There are five determined orientations each with four items
including “friendship, travel, knowledge, job-related, and school achievement”.
d. Social Support: Students are asked to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to six questions about who
offered support for their learning a foreign language: mother, father, teacher, favorite
sibling, best friend, and other friends.
Since this questionnaire had been designed for French immersion students in Canada and presented
in English that is the native language of the participants, it was used in this study with certain
modifications. First, the second (Willingness to Communicate Outside the Classroom), the third
(Orientations for Language Learning), and the fourth (Social Support) subsections of the
questionnaire was omitted since these subsections are not related to the aim of this study. Second,
the remaining subsection of the questionnaire was translated into Turkish conducting the “backtranslation” method. For this reason, two bilingual professors from Anadolu University English
Language Teaching Department were used. Third, the expression “French” was translated as
“English” since this study uses English as the participants’ L2.
This questionnaire, in its new version, asks for individuals’ level of WTC inside the classroom in
four skills; therefore, communication is not seen as oral communication only. What it means here
is the two-sided oral and written communication types: reading and writing, and speaking and
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comprehension. Moreover, the ‘comprehension’ part in the questionnaire does not only measure
willingness to listen and understand as a part of oral communication. Rather, it is also related with
the comprehension of written stimuli as well as spoken. For example, in one of the items, it has a
statement like “Fill out an application form”. So ‘comprehension’ covers all kinds of
comprehension, both oral and written.
In order to find out the LLS use of the participants, the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning
(SILL), version 5.1 (Oxford, 1990) was used. The inventory is in the form of a Likert-scale
questionnaire with 80 items. In this inventory, the respondents are supposed to respond to the
statements on a scale ranging from 1 to 5 (1= never or almost never true for me, 2= usually not
true of me, 3= somewhat true of me, 4= usually true of me, 5= always or almost always true for
me).
The SILL has six components (from A to F) each of which is an indicator of Oxford’s (1990)
classification of LLSs. Part A consists of statements about memory strategies such as grouping,
using keywords, and using physical response or sensation. In Part B, there are statements related
to cognitive strategies such as repeating, translating, and taking notes. Part C includes statements
about compensation strategies like using linguistic clues, using mime or gesture, and coining words.
Part D consists of statements about metacognitive strategies such as paying attention, organizing,
and self-monitoring. In Part E, there are statements related to affective strategies like using laughter,
taking risks widely, and using a checklist. Finally, Part F has statements about social strategies
such as asking for correction, cooperating with others, and developing cultural understanding.
The SILL has been the research instrument of several studies (LoCastro, 1994; Yılmaz, 1996; Yang,
1999; Wakamoto, 2000; Wharton, 2000; Bull & Ma, 2001) concerning the LLS use of language
learners since it has quite a high reliability level (between .93 and .98, respectively) (Green &
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Oxford, 1995: 264). Also, Yılmaz (1996) translated the SILL into Turkish for his study with
Turkish EFL students. This study used the translated version of the SILL in order to have the ease
of administration and to achieve the maximum accuracy in results as Yılmaz (1996) suggested.
Data Collection Procedure
The modified version of the WTC questionnaire and the SILL were administered to the participants
who were volunteers to take part in the study. They completed the two tests in their regular class
hours under the supervision of their teacher. The tests required approximately 30 minutes per
participant to complete. The students were also told not to write their names in order to make sure
that the results would not be used to evaluate their performance, or as the part of the assessment
of the courses they are taking.
Data Analysis Procedure
To answer the first research question “What is the level of WTC inside the classroom of Turkish
EFL students”, the frequencies of statements for the four language skills (writing, reading,
speaking, and comprehension) were calculated and the mean scores were obtained to identify the
level (high, average, and low) of WTC inside the classroom.
For the second research question “What is the frequency of LLS use among Turkish EFL students”,
the frequencies of each strategy for the six components of the SILL were calculated and the mean
scores were obtained per participant. Therefore, the strategy use of each individual participant was
found with the sub-categories in the SILL.
To answer the third research question “Is there a correlation between the level of WTC inside the
classroom and LLS use”, the Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated.
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Results and Discussion
The following section, first, presents the results of descriptive statistics on the level of WTC inside
the classroom and frequencies of LLS use both for overall calculations and for each of the
components in the scales in response to the first and second research questions which were “What
is the level of WTC inside the classroom of Turkish EFL students in four language skills?” and
“What is the frequency of LLS use among Turkish EFL students?” Second, the correlation
coefficients are presented for the relationship between level of WTC inside the classroom and LLS
use as an answer to the third research question, “Is there a correlation between the level of WTC
inside the classroom and LLS use?”
Level of Willingness to Communicate Inside the Classroom
The first research question in this study was: “What is the level of WTC inside the classroom of
Turkish EFL students in four language skills?” To answer this question, the 27 item likert-scale
questionnaire with four sub-sections was administered to the participants. Table 2 presents the
results of the descriptive analysis of the scale which includes the mean scores for each component
from highest to lowest mean scores. The analysis of the WTC inside the classroom scale showed
that the overall mean for WTC was 3.35 (3= Willing half of the time, 4= Usually willing). So, the
participants were found to be somewhere between half willing to usually willing as the scale
represents. The mean scores for the four components were also calculated separately to find out
the level of WTC inside the classroom. The analysis revealed that willingness to read in class (not
out loud) was the highest among four components (3.60). Comprehension in class was the second
component that participants reported to be willing to communicate (3.50). Speaking in class as
another component had the third place in terms of willingness (3.39) and the lowest mean among
the components of the WTC scale was for willingness to write in class in English (3.06).
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Table 2.
Mean Scores for WTC Inside the Classroom
Components
N
Mean
Reading
80 3,6044
Comprehension 80 3,5075
Speaking
80 3,3870
Writing
80 3,0604
Overall
80 3,3545
1= Almost never willing
2= Sometimes willing
3= Willing half of the time
4= Usually willing
5= Almost always willing
As it is seen in Table 2, Turkish EFL learners are willing to communicate in the classroom in a
range from half of the time to usually willing in both overall mean score and in separate
components. In other words, they are neither unwilling nor high willing to communicate inside the
classroom in terms of both overall willingness and willingness in four language skills. One
noticeable finding on the level of WTC inside the classroom, the students are more willing for the
two receptive language skills -reading and comprehension- and quite less willing for the productive
skills –speaking and writing.
It can be predicted from the findings on WTC inside the classroom scale that communicating in
L2 does not simply mean to take actions. When communication is taken as a two-sided activity in
which there exist a sender and a recipient of a message, Turkish EFL learners can be thought as
taking place on the recipient side of communication. Similarly, the results of the WTC scale can
be explained by the assumption that WTC is quite closely related to the type of situation in which
one may communicate (MacIntyre et al, 1998). As MacIntyre et al. (2001) suggests, learners can
be observed in different situations more than simply asking them to answer already created
situations in questionnaires in order to see their WTC levels.
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Another interpretation can be made about the participants’ answers to WTC scale in terms of
receptive and productive type of skills is that the students cannot find enough opportunities to
produce language in the language classroom. Since they are more familiar with comprehension
type of activities, they might be more willing to communicate in reading and comprehension skills.
In contrast, they might be less experienced in the production of language in writing and speaking
tasks together with the lack of opportunities to practice outside the classroom in a foreign language
context, therefore, they may be less willing to initiate communication in speaking and writing
skills.
Language Learning Strategy Use
The second research question in this study asked: “What is the frequency of LLS use among
Turkish EFL students?” To answer this question, the 80 item likert-scale LLS inventory with six
sub-sections was administered to the participants. Table 3 presents the results of the descriptive
analysis of the inventory from highest to lowest mean scores for the components of the scale.
Table 3.
Mean Scores for LLS Use
Components
N
Mean
Overall
80
3,2874
Direct
80
3,3313
Indirect
80
3,3211
Compensation
80
3,6385
Metacognitive
80
3,4183
Social
80
3,3631
Cognitive
80
3,2665
Affective
80
3,1821
Memory
80
3,0889
1= Never or almost never true of me
2= Generally not true of me
3= Somewhat true of me
4= Generally true of me
5= Always or almost always true of me
The analysis indicated that the overall mean for the LLS use was 3,29 (3= somewhat true of me,
4= generally true of me). When the results are considered in terms of the direct vs. indirect
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strategies division, the mean scores for direct and indirect strategies were quite close to each other
(3,33 for the direct and 3,32 for the indirect strategies, very close to the overall mean). Therefore,
it might be better to present the results according to the mean scores for the six components of the
inventory. When the analysis is considered for the six sub-sections of the inventory, compensation
strategies were found to be the most frequently stated LLS type (3.64). Metacognitive strategies
and social strategies are the second and third frequent strategies reported to be used (3,42 and 3,36
respectively). Among the six strategy types, cognitive strategies were ranked with a mean score of
3,27; and the affective strategies with 3,18. The least frequently used strategies were in the part of
memory strategies (3,09) among the six strategy types.
According to the results of the present study, Turkish learners of English are medium strategy users
as Oxford (1990) suggests that averages between 2.5 to 3.4 refer to medium strategy use. In this
respect, the findings on the use of LLSs seem completely consistent with Yılmaz’s (1996) study
with Turkish EFL learners. First, all learners in both studies are medium strategy users in both
overall use and in two main parts: direct and indirect strategy use. Second, compensation strategies
are the most frequently reported strategy type by the learners followed by the metacognitive
strategies. Social and cognitive strategies are the two types that follow the two most frequent
strategy types. Again, in consistency with Yılmaz (1996), affective and memory strategies are the
two least frequently stated strategy types.
As the experienced language learners, the participants in this study can be counted as the ones who
use LLSs less frequently than expected. According to Green and Oxford (1995), foreign language
learners have a limited exposure to second language, which may cause them to use fewer LLSs in
the environments where they are supposed to employ a number of strategies. Furthermore, Oxford
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(1990) is in favor of training L2 learners on the use of LLSs, and lack of strategy training can be a
reason for learners to employ a limited range of LLSs in the process of learning a foreign language.
The Relationship between Willingness to Communicate Inside the Classroom and Language
Learning Strategy Use
The third research question of the present study was: “Is there a correlation between the level of
WTC inside the classroom and LLS use?” In order to answer this question, the Pearson correlations
were run between the mean scores for WTC scale and LLS inventory. The analysis offered a
positive relationship between these two variables (α= 0.01, r= .639). Further analysis included the
investigation of the correlation among the components of the WTC inside the classroom scale and
the parts of the LLS inventory. The results provided some insights into the relationship among
those components with four types of relationship (see Table 4).
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Table 4.
WTC-Speaking
Overall Strategy
Use
Social Strategies
Affective
Strategies
Metacognitive
Strategies
Compensation
Strategies
Cognitive
Strategies
Memory Strategies
WTC- Overall
WTCComprehension
WTC-Writing
WTC-Reading
WTC-Speaking
Correlations among the components of WTC and LLS scales
1
WTC-Reading
.546** 1
WTC-Writing
.612** .680** 1
WTC-Comprehension
.668** .699** .733** 1
WTC- Overall
.838** .815** .888** .875** 1
Memory Strategies
.425** .366** .417** .486** .496** 1
Cognitive Strategies
.464** .422** .402** .559** .518** .528** 1
Compensation
Strategies
Metacognitive
Strategies
Affective Strategies
.449** .471** .423** .477** .505** .265*
Social Strategies
.578** .503** .476** .579** .598** .523** .659** .518** .691** .598** 1
Overall Strategy Use
.584** .511** .497** .657** .639** .746** .881** .592** .883** .737** .821** 1
.477** 1
.556** .473** .450** .611** .598** .549** .786** .598** 1
.480** .419** .465** .451** .518** .624** .572** .408** .627** 1
* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level
According to the correlation analyses, all components of both scales were significantly correlated
with each other. In addition to the general link between the two variables, the relationship between
willingness to read inside the classroom and the use of affective strategies can also be explained
within the consideration that WTC has a trait like characteristic (MacIntyre et al., 1998). Also,
according to MacIntyre et al (2001), learners are more willing to communicate in situations where
they find themselves more confident. WTC in reading situations has the highest willingness level,
so it is apparent that learners are employing affective strategies in correlation with willingness to
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read in their process of language learning. Furthrmore, the significant relationship between
willingness to write inside the classroom and the use of compensation strategies can be explained
within the understanding that students who were tending to use compensation strategies are found
to be more willing to write inside the classroom. According to Oxford (1990), compensation
strategies permit learners to produce written expression in the second/foreign language without
complete knowledge. Therefore, some strategies (e.g. coining words, using a circumlocution or
synonym, or selecting the topic) might help learners to write better in the L2 as well as making
them more willing to take part in writing tasks in language classrooms. The link between
willingness to comprehend and the use of memory strategies also lead to some interpretations.
What the correlation suggests is students who use memory strategies are more willing for
comprehension in classroom activities inside the classroom. As Oxford (1990) states, memory
strategies help learners to store the information in the memory and retrieve it when they need to
use, and enable them to enlarge their knowledge base. For example, semantic mapping, as a
memory strategy, is valuable for improving comprehension of new expressions in L2 (Oxford,
1990).
In sum, although there have not been any studies directly examining the relationship between WTC
inside the classroom and LLS use, the findings of the present work might provide some insights to
the language learning research field. Especially the findings that correlate with Oxford’s (1990)
explanations of language learning strategies in relation with four language skills are worth
discussing.
Conclusion
This study aimed to investigate the level of the willingness to communicate inside the classroom
and language learning strategy use as well as the relationship between these two variables. The
157
findings of the study provided both a better understanding of the WTC levels and LLS use of
Turkish EFL students as well as the connections between WTC inside the classroom and LLS use.
It found that WTC inside the classroom was correlated with LLS use. Considering the results of
the study, second/foreign language instruction should attend to learners’ strategy use, and it might
expand the instruction for training learners on language learning strategies. This strategy training,
also, should consider the level of learners’ willingness to communicate inside the classroom. The
more willing the learners are, the more strategies they will be using in their process of language
learning in more appropriate ways with the self-confidence gained. For example, the reading tasks
in language classrooms can be chosen from the ones that learners will be more willing to participate,
which will lead students both to use a variety of strategies and to become better readers. By
encouraging learners’ willingness to communicate inside the classroom, teachers may enhance
effective use of language learning strategies. Therefore, they will be able to contribute to learners’
continuing motivation to learn second/foreign language.
Considering the assumption that success in learning an L2 might depend on the appropriate and
frequent use of language learning strategies and a higher willingness to initiate L2 communication,
the relationship between these two concepts should be examined by language learning/teaching
researchers. Furthermore, the link between LLS use and other psychological factors such as
motivation, attitude, etc. must be examined. The possible findings might shed light on the
explanation of the various factors affecting second/foreign language learning.
This study has also some implications for further research in the field of second language learning.
Since this study addresses only a small number of participants, the study can be replicated with
larger groups in different settings. Whether the relationship is different with learners from different
age group, whether it shows any gender differences, or whether type of instruction causes any
158
distinctions can be examined. Furthermore, this study was a preliminary attempt to explain the
relationship between LLS use and WTC. Some other studies can be conducted to examine the
relationship of LLS use and WTC with other social, affective, and cognitive factors affecting
successful L2 learning.
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