Talha Göktentürk

Educational films, beginning with Çalıkuşu in the 1960s, have increasingly expanded their presence in Turkish cinema. These films not only reflect societal perceptions of education but also provide a condensed overview of the history of Turkish education. Thus, education in Turkish cinema has emerged as a significant cultural phenomenon. This study examined the most critically acclaimed Turkish film with an educational theme from each decade since the 1960s, as determined by Internet Movie Database (IMDb) scores (Çalıkuşu, The Chaos Class, A Season in Hakkari, Bullshit, On the Way to School, and Brother’s Keeper). Phenomenology was used as the research design to examine how education is represented as a cultural and educational phenomenon in Turkish cinema. The data were analyzed using open coding within the thematic analysis method, using NVivo 8 software within the ecological framework. The findings revealed ecological patterns influencing the teacher-student relationship and identified the depiction of the "burnout school" in The Chaos Class. Qualitative models were developed for each film, and three key themes emerged: (1) The behaviorist approach is prominently reflected in the films, including those set in the 21st century; (2) Throughout cinematic history, characters such as teachers, students, school staff, and families are depicted as being influenced by complex ecological factors; and (3) In every decade, films provide rich insights into the ecological background of education, particularly in the areas of values education, teaching methods, classroom and school management, and measurement and evaluation. Thus, Turkish cinema not only serves as a mirror reflecting the trajectory of educational history but also holds the potential to shape society's perceptions of education.

Reading performance in the primary grades is shaped not only by students’ cognitive skills but also by the personal, school, and family conditions in which literacy develops. Understanding these multilayered influences is particularly important for Türkiye, where PIRLS 2021 offers a nationally representative opportunity to examine fourth-grade reading achievement after a two-decade interval in participation. Guided by Zumbo’s ecological framework, this study investigated the direct and interrelated effects of reading self-efficacy, students’ attitudes toward school, and parents’ attitudes toward their children’s school on reading performance. The sample comprised 6,032 fourth-grade students in Türkiye, together with corresponding parent and school administrator data from PIRLS 2021. Missing data were addressed through multiple imputation, and construct validity was examined through confirmatory factor analysis before estimating the final structural equation model. The model demonstrated good fit. Reading self-efficacy showed the strongest positive effect on reading performance, followed by students’ attitudes toward school and parental attitudes. Covariance estimates indicated a moderate association between reading self-efficacy and school attitudes, whereas parental attitudes were only weakly related to students’ self-perceptions. These findings suggest that the personal characteristics layer has greater explanatory power than the school and family layers, while still operating within a broader ecological structure. The results highlight the need to strengthen students’ reading self-beliefs, foster supportive school climates, and improve home–school partnerships. Future research may extend the model by incorporating additional ecological layers and testing longitudinal or multilevel pathways.

Ana dili olarak Türkçe öğretimine yönelik ders kitaplarında kelimelerin eş anlamlı öğretilmesi yaygın bir uygulama olarak Türkçenin eğitim-öğretim sürecinde kendine yer bulmaktadır. Bununla beraber sözlük bilimi alanında yapılan araştırmalar ve söz varlığı alanında kelime öğretimi uygulamalarından elde edilen sonuçlar birden fazla kelimenin aynı anlamda öğretilmesinin aktif söz varlığına negatif yönlü etki edebileceğine işaret etmektedir. Bu sebeple araştırmada Özgün Yayınevine ait 7. sınıf Türkçe dersi kitabından seçilen hayal etmek–düşlemek kelime çifti fenomenolojik desende incelenmiştir. Veriler dil bilimi kriterlerine uygun olarak art zamanlı ve eş zamanlı kullanımların derlenmesi için kriterli örnekleme ile seçilmiş sözlük kayıtları yoluyla derlenmiştir. Söz konusu veriler NVivo 8 nitel veri analizi programında tematik analiz yoluyla çözümlenmiştir. Bulgular iki kelimenin zihinde canlandırma ve tasarlama gibi bazı anlam alanlarında kesiştiğini; ancak tam bir anlam özdeşliği göstermediğini ortaya koymuştur. Art zamanlı kayıtlarda “hayal etmek”in görüntü, gölge, yansıma, tayf ve kuruntu gibi daha geniş bir anlam çevresine sahip olduğu; “düşlemek” kelimesinin ise rüya ve uyku çekirdeği etrafında biçimlenen daha dar bir alandan geldiği görülmüştür. Eş zamanlı kayıtlarda “düşlemek” kelimesinin tasarlama ve gerçekleşmesi istenen şeyi kurma bakımından “hayal etmek”e yaklaştığı, buna rağmen iki kelimenin bütünüyle birleşmediği anlaşılmıştır. Bununla birlikte sonuçlar yalnızca ilgili iki kelimeye ilişkin incelemelerle sınırlıdır. Gelecek araştırmalarda ilgili farkların ölçme ve değerlendirme yoluyla test edilmesi faydalıdır. Ayrıca eş anlamlı görülen farklı kelime gruplarının benzer metotlarla çalışılması da sözlük biliminden kelime öğretimine geniş bir alanda öğretmenler, araştırmacılar ve politika yapıcılar için yol gösterici sonuçlar sunabilir. Son olarak ilgili kelime grubunun eş anlamlı biçimde öğretilmesinin müfredat ekseninde yeniden değerlendirilmesi aktif söz varlığının geliştirilmesi için yararlı olabilir.

Introduction: Digital gaming is a prevalent activity among youth, yet its impact on academic outcomes, particularly reading achievement, remains unclear. This study explores how digital gaming behaviors influence reading achievement, focusing on the mediating role of student-perceived instructional practices. Specifically, it examines the contributions of teacher feedback , teacher stimulation for reading engagement , and teacher support as distinct forms of instructional practice, with teacher stimulation conceptualized as an autonomy-supportive instructional practice based on self-determination theory. Methods: Using data from 606,627 15-year-old students across 79 countries in PISA 2018, a multilevel structural equation model was employed, incorporating student-level ( playing digital games ) and school-level ( teacher feedback , teacher stimulation , and teacher support ) variables. Measurement invariance was evaluated across country, world cultural region, and teacher training standards classifications to examine the cross-group comparability of the instructional-practice measures. Results: Results indicate that digital gaming is negatively associated with reading achievement. However, teacher stimulation for reading engagement shows a positive mediating effect, suggesting that autonomy-supportive instructional practices may mitigate the negative association between digital gaming and reading performance. In contrast, teacher feedback and teacher support exhibit weak or negative mediation effects, suggesting that more traditional instructional practices may be associated with less favorable indirect pathways in relation to digital gaming and reading achievement. Discussion: Overall, the findings demonstrate that instructional practices differ in their motivational significance and highlight the role of autonomy-supportive stimulation in shaping reading outcomes in contexts where digital gaming is a common out-of-school activity.

This study used hierarchical linear modeling to examine the extent to which student-level enjoyment of reading and reading self-efficacy, together with country-level aggregates of student-reported instructional experiences, accounted for variation in reading literacy scores among high-achieving readers in PISA 2018. The analytic sample consisted of 19,932 students from 79 country groups who were consistently located in the highest 10% of the country-specific reading distribution across all ten reading plausible values. Student-level reading motivational resources were operationalized through enjoyment of reading and reading self-efficacy, whereas extrinsic motivational background was operationalized through country-level aggregates of student-reported instructional climate variables. These country-level indicators included adaptive instruction, teacher support, teacher enthusiasm, teacher feedback, stimulation of reading engagement, and teacher-directed instruction. The results showed that enjoyment of reading and reading self-efficacy were positively associated with reading literacy scores, although the magnitudes of these associations were modest. At the country level, adaptive instruction was positively associated with reading literacy scores, whereas teacher support and teacher-directed instruction showed negative conditional associations. Teacher enthusiasm, teacher feedback, and stimulation of reading engagement were not statistically reliable predictors in the full model. The findings indicate that adaptive instructional conditions may be especially important for explaining variation in advanced reading performance among high-achieving readers.

This study examined the associations between student-perceived teacher-related classroom ecology variables and reading achievement among 15-year-old students in Türkiye using PISA 2018 data. Grounded in a school ecology perspective, it focused on six student-perceived variables: adaptive instruction, teacher-directed instruction, teacher feedback, teacher support, teacher enthusiasm, and teacher stimulation of reading engagement. The analytic sample included 6,890 students nested within schools. Missing responses to teacher-related questionnaire items were handled through multiple imputation, and reading achievement was modeled using all ten plausible values. Two-level random-intercept hierarchical linear models were estimated with students at Level 1 and schools at Level 2. Adaptive instruction, teacher support, and teacher stimulation of reading engagement were positively associated with reading achievement. In contrast, teacher-directed instruction and teacher feedback were negatively associated with reading achievement, whereas teacher enthusiasm was not statistically significant. By linking PISA 2018 reading achievement data with student-perceived teacher-related classroom ecology variables, this study contributes to understanding how perceived instructional environments are associated with reading performance in Türkiye. The findings suggest that teacher-related classroom ecology is not uniformly associated with reading performance; rather, different teaching dimensions relate to reading achievement in distinct ways.

Assessing teacher candidates’ self-efficacy in using reading strategies is essential for understanding their academic development. This study developed and validated the Teacher Candidates’ Self-Efficacy Scale for Informational Reading Strategies (TCSES-IRS) using a mixed-methods sequential exploratory design. Initial qualitative data from interviews with 33 candidates and a literature review guided item generation. Lawshe’s method confirmed content validity. The scale was administered to 1176 teacher candidates. Exploratory (n = 496) and confirmatory factor analyses (n = 388) supported a five-factor structure—cognitive, note-taking, exploration and preparation, physical and process-based, and reflective and analytical strategies—explaining 63.71% of total variance, with acceptable fit indices (χ²/df = 2.64, CFI = 0.912, TLI = 0.900, RMSEA = 0.069). Internal consistency was high (α = 0.899 total; subscales α = 0.708–0.906). An additional sample of 294 participants was used for nomological network validation. Convergent validity was demonstrated by significant item-total correlations and strong factor loadings. Discriminant validity was evidenced by moderate inter-factor correlations. Criterion-related validity was confirmed via significant group differences and meaningful correlations with an external self-efficacy measure. The TCSES-IRS emerges as a psychometrically sound tool for assessing informational reading self-efficacy, supporting research and practice in educational psychology.

With increasing immigration, teaching Turkish as a second language has become a national educational priority in Türkiye. The rise in international students—particularly through programs such as Türkiye Scholarships—has intensified the need to understand the ecological factors shaping their learning. This study investigates the ecological background influencing Turkish language acquisition among students in public and private schools and Turkish teaching centers. Using Zumbo’s ecological framework and a phenomenological design, it examines variables affecting the four core language skills—listening, reading, speaking, and writing—across layers from individual traits to broader national contexts. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with participants at four educational levels: primary, middle, and high school students, and adults. Thematic analysis showed that motivation, classroom strategies, teacher support, family engagement, and digital tool use interact across ecological layers to shape language learning. The findings underscore the distinct needs of each age group and the importance of pedagogical sensitivity. The study affirms the value of ecological perspectives in Turkish language education and offers practical recommendations for educators, policymakers, and researchers.

Writing is an important part of creative thinking as it is the reflection of a person’s thoughts and reasoning. The aim with this study was to create a comprehensive and effective educational model that combines the teaching and practice of writing as a process and creative writing in a collaborative environment in the education of prospective language teachers. The study was designed with the convergent mixed method design. Quantitative data were obtained from the scoring of the first and final texts that the students were asked to write as part of the action plan implemented to improve the students’ writing skills. Qualitative data consisted of the opinions of the participating students and the observations of the teachers who implemented the model. Through the aggregated analyses of these 2 types of data, the effect of the 4 + 1 planned writing and evaluation model (PWEM) on developing students’ writing skills was determined. The results indicate that the model was useful, functional and improved the participating prospective language teachers’ creative and process writing skills. The model enabled inexperienced writers to acquire metacognitive strategies, self-regulation, and self-efficacy that they would need in the writing process. This was supported by the opinions of the participating students and the observations of the teachers who implemented the model. The model may be used with any student population to help them to become self-sufficient in writing.