Leadership capacity and organizational citizenship behavior in educational institutions

In this research, it is aimed to examine the leadership capacity and organizational citizenship levels belong to the teachers working in some schools and the relationship between them. Relational survey design was used in this research. In the 2019-2020 academic year, 4025 teachers working in some primary, secondary and high school levels in the central districts of Uşak province constitute the study group of this research. In this study, the study titled “The adaptation of the leadership capacity scale (Olkö) in schools into Turkish: a validity and reliability study”, which was adapted into Turkish, was used to determine the level of organizational citizenship. For analyzing of the data obtained from the participants, arithmetic mean percentage, frequency, standard deviation values ​​were calculated. In the study linear regression analysis and pearson correlation analysis were used. Considering the results of the analysis of this research; the average perception of teachers' leadership capacity behaviors is moderate. Again, according to the results of the research; perception of organizational citizenship behavior on average belonging to teachers is at a "high" level. According to teachers' perceptions, a low, but positive and significant relationship has been found between school leadership capacity and organizational citizenship behavior. Leadership capacity is a significant predictor of organizational citizenship behaviors

THE IMPACT OF TEACHING TOPICAL STRUCTURE ANALYSIS ON WRITING PERFORMANCE OF TURKISH EFL SPEAKERS

As coherence is abstract in nature and there are very few practical techniques to teach it, this is considered to be one of the main problems that EFL students and teachers encounter. Although there is considerable research analyzing problems and difficulties with coherence among EFL learners, few practical pedagogical strategies have been suggested that can be used by teachers and understood by learners. Topical Structure Analysis is one of such techniques suggested and could be taught to EFL learners in order to help them improve their writing skills. This experimental study sheds light on the effects of teaching Topical Structure Analysis to Turkish university students who learn English as a foreign language. Two groups with four participants in each were used for this research. While one group was subjected to Topical Structure Analysis treatment (experimental group) for six weeks, the other received no such training. At the end of such a training period, both groups were assigned writing tasks which were analyzed for coherence. The results obtained indicate that a considerably positive effect of teaching Topical Structure Analysis was observed on the writings of experimental group, while the participants of the control group remained relatively poor performers of coherence in their writings.&nbsp

Question Types in EFL Course Books

Reading is an interactive process between the text and the reader. This process makes reading ever so much enjoyable and an informative activity. Thus, texts designed targeting English language learners are expected to present questions that would go beyond a low-order level with an aim to trigger critical thinking in learners. Based on this premise, we conducted this piece of research in order to discover the types of questions related to EFL course books used in Middle and High School institutions in Turkey. As a result of our investigation, we found that a great majority of the posed questions did not go beyond a low-order level. Although this finding seems to have significant implications for the thinking process of learners of English specifically, the implications can also be of some significance for the general reader. Keywords: Types of questions, course books, reading skill, low-order questions, high-order question

English: Well beyond the inner circle dominance

What makes a language global goes far beyond its linguistic features. Although status of globalization may be largely determined by political tradition, economic strength, militaristic might and respect for human rights, one significant requirement does seem to escape fair assessment of a ‘globalized language’. Here is where English finds itself: the flow of an ever increasing number of lexical items to and from the language, and similarly, an ever expanding cultural heritage due to amalgamation with outer cultural and societal characteristics. In this study, we will look into to what extent cultural elements of the outer circle were carried over into the language by authors producing literary works in an inner-circle language environment. Plots, settings, and characters in these works were analysed and thematised to illustrate the striking phenomenon of how now English has ceased to be the so-called ‘property’ of the inner circle only. For this, textual analysis principles were utilized in this study

My culture is engraved on my tombstone

We, humans, mirror our cultural characteristics in death just as we do in life. This study focuses on the way the dead communicate with the living through their gravestones. For this, we surveyed, photographed and documented a plethora of gravestones affiliated to Shamanism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and conducted content analysis of thematized scripts on stones and objects left on graves for remembrance. Our findings suggest that each set of beliefs displays specific as well as common messages concerning the deceased and the society they belonged to. The study asserts that although we, ephemeral creatures, pass in our final hour, our gravestones keep transmitting our cultural identity from generation to generation with information regarding who and what we were

Cultural discourse embedded in truck scripts

The bond between a driver and his truck has been the subject of many famous films. If not actual adoration of the vehicle, it certainly is the destiny shared between a living human and a running machine, both heading for a common destination. Who and what else can replace this bond? Here, we see the truck bearing decorations, bumper sticks, script, and pictures of animate and inanimate objects all reflecting the taste and psyche of the driver. This study aims to introduce a thematic analysis into this picturesque look of over a thousand trucks with specific focus on scripts borne by trailers based on the assumption that content of scripts would be representing inner worlds of truck drivers. Photographed as well as internet-based data related to vehicles provided the source for this study. Scripts were thematised, and categorized observing nationality of origin of license plates. With its findings, the study yields valuable results regarding values and beliefs truck drivers of different nationalities hold to themselves. A variety of psychological profiles, harboring feelings such as sadness, joy, dejection, rejection, love, disappointments, anger, vengeance, etc., all expressed through scripts was also surfaced in this study

Utilization of active and passive constructions in English academic writing

By its nature, AW represents adversity compared to other types of writing. It owns the characteristics of more notable patterns and language usage compared to other writing styles such as literary works, news, etc. Without discriminating the language used, this kind of writing generally bears similarities across languages due to the description and representation of scientific concepts. Therefore, there stands a must that objectivity is observed in AW as much as possible.  In terms of language usage, diverse structures may be seen to be used in varied frequencies. Within this study, articles written in English and published in scientific journals covered by high ranking field indices such as Social Sciences Citation Index, Science Citation Index/Health Sciences Library, and American-Eurasian Network for Scientific Information were perused depending on their related fields classified as the Social Sciences, Natural and Applied Sciences, and Health Sciences, and then active/passive dispersion of these articles was identified through descriptive content analysis. The results suggest that active structure usage (61%) in overall analysis outnumbered that of passive (39%); the decline in its utilization depending on fields is rather significant, in that while the gap between active (74%) and passive (26%) usage in Social Sciences is rather wide in favor of active construction, we can observe a significant narrowing of the divide in Natural and Applied Sciences (60% active, 40% passive), and Health Sciences (51% active, 49% passive). The findings of this descriptive study may contribute to prospective research carried out in the specified fields in AW

THE ANALYSIS OF RELATION BETWEEN DIFFERENT VARIABLES AND UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ MOTIVES FOR PARTICIPATION IN SPORTS

The object of this study is to determine the motives of university students who participate in physical activities during college education and examine whether the data differ according to educational background, sex and family support. A total of 100 students from the department of physical education and sports teaching participated in the study. As a data collection tool in the work, "Participation in Sport Motivation Scale", Gill et al. (1983), translated into Turkish by Çelebi (1991) and published by Oyar et al. (2001) have been used for validity and reliability between the studies in the age of 11-17 (6,13). In the study, reliability was checked again for this group and reliability coefficient was 0.86 in Cronbach Alpha internal consistency test. The most important motive for participation in sports for university students in the study has been found to be "skill development" and "movement/activity". In the consequences related with the motives of individuals for participation in sports, because the average for each sub-dimension is high, differences within these averages can be a determining factor in the preparation of the activities, plans and programs to be carried out and more and willing participation of the individuals in their physical activity.  Article visualizations

ANALYSIS OF SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATERS COURAGE LEVELS FROM DIFFERENT VARIABLES

The object of this work is to analyze the courage levels of short track speed skaters from different variables. The study has been carried out on a total of 20 individuals, including 6 women and 14 men, who performed as short track speed skaters in Erzurum province of Turkey in 2017. DBA courage scale developed by (Imamoğlu, 1998) has been applied to skaters in the study9. SPSS 21 package program has been used for the analysis of the data. In the analysis of the data, frequency distribution for the demographic characteristics, T test to examine the relationship between two independent variables and courage level and ANOVA Variance analysis tests have been used to examine the relationship between more than two variables and courage level. The difference between the variables has been interpreted based on p 0.05 relevance level. According to the findings, it is determined that there is a significant difference between the level of courage of the athletes and being a national athlete. It is also determined that there is no significant difference between gender, education level, age, type of school they attended, educational background of mother and father and mother and father’s occupations. It is observed that, courage levels of national athletes are higher than that of non-national athletes. It is proposed that, it is important to determine the variables that will positively influence the level of courage for the athletes to be successful in sports and daily life.  Article visualizations

Research for University Students’ Levels of Dealing with Stress from Different Types of Variables

This research aims to investigate university students’ levels of dealing with stress, from different types of variables. The study was carried out on a total of 500 individuals, including 346 female and 154 male students studying at Atatürk University Kazim Karabekir Faculty of Education in 2016/2017 academic year. In this work, Oral, Çok ve Kutlu (2005) "The Level of dealing with Stress in Educational System" scale was for the students. SPSS 21 package program was used in the analysis of the data. For the analysis of the data, and in determining the demographics, the frequency distribution was used. T test was applied to examine the relationship between two independent variables and stress coping sub-dimensions and Anova Warians analysis tests were used to examine the relationship between two and over variables and stress subscale sub-dimensions. The difference between the variables has been interpreted on the basis of p0.05 significance level. According to the findings, it was found that, there is a significant difference between individuals' stress coping sub-dimensions and gender, book reading habits and spare time activity. There was no significant difference between age, family structure and monthly income variables.It was found out that the scores of female students were higher than the average scores of male students with regard to studying from students' gender and stress coping levels subscales, preparing for an exam and affective, behavioral sub-dimensions. The students who stated that they had the habit of reading books, were found to have high scores in studying, preparing for an exam and the affective behavioral sub-dimensions. It was deduced that the students who spent their leisure time with their family got higher scores from students who spent their spare times with their friends or alone, with regard to studying, preparing for an exam and the affective behavioral sub-dimensions.In order to make students, more effective and successful in educational system, the factors that affect the stress levels should be determined and similar studies are necessary in order to have positive effects for students, which, constitutes the part of the proposal of our study. Keywords: University student, Stress, Dealing with stres