High school language division students’ perceptions of English as a Lingua Franca

This study aims to discover the perceptions of high school language division students towards English as a lingua franca in a Turkish province. For this purpose, a descriptive survey method was chosen via using a questionnaire consisting of 13 questions. The responses were rated on a 4-point Likert scale. The data were gathered from 85 students of three high schools in the fall term of the 2018/19 school year. Being analysed descriptively, the data revealed that most students believed in the importance of teachers’ teaching standard English pronunciation to students and that language teachers should teach good grammar to their students. In spite of the students’ strong-willed attitude towards pronunciation, they reported that their teachers seemed to have a higher expectation of their performance in grammar. The results also showcased that language division students desired their teachers to attach much importance to both pronunciation and grammar. Furthermore, as far as gender is concerned, more females than males perceived that native English speaking teachers (NESTs) are more effective teachers for language students, suggesting that government hire NESTs to teach English in Turkey. In conclusion, the findings suggest that the students strongly cling to normative perceptions about English as if it was still the language spoken primarily by native English speakers

A Powerful Robust Cubic Hermite Collocation Method for the Numerical Calculations and Simulations of the Equal Width Wave Equation

In this article, non-linear Equal Width-Wave (EW) equation will be numerically solved . For this aim, the non-linear term in the equation is firstly linearized by Rubin-Graves type approach. After that, to reduce the equation into a solvable discretized linear algebraic equation system which is the essential part of this study, the Crank-Nicolson type approximation and cubic Hermite collocation method are respectively applied to obtain the integration in the temporal and spatial domain directions. To be able to illustrate the validity and accuracy of the proposed method, six test model problems that is single solitary wave, the interaction of two solitary waves, the interaction of three solitary waves, the Maxwellian initial condition, undular bore and finally soliton collision will be taken into consideration and solved. Since only the single solitary wave has an analytical solution among these solitary waves, the error norms Linf and L2 are computed and compared to a few of the previous works available in the literature. Furthermore, the widely used three invariants I1, I2 and I3 of the proposed problems during the simulations are computed and presented. Beside those, the relative changes in those invariants are presented. Also, a comparison of the error norms Linf and L2 and these invariants obviously shows that the proposed scheme produces better and compatible results than most of the previous works using the same parameters. Finally, von Neumann analysis has shown that the present scheme is unconditionally stable.Comment: 25 pages, 9 tables, 6 figure

Investigation of digital parenting self-efficacy of parents of gifted students

Covid-19 virüsünün yayılmaya başlamasıyla ve sosyal izolasyon kavramının hayatımıza girmesiyle beraber dijital ortam teknolojileri hem iş hem eğitim alanlarında aniden ve yoğun olarak kullanılmaya başlanmıştır. Okulların çok kısa sürede hiç zaman kaybetmeden uzaktan eğitime geçmesi bu dönemde gereklilik haline gelmiştir. Acil olarak alınması gerekli olan bu kararın sonucuna bağlı olarak ebeveynlere çocuklarının eğitim hayatı ile ilgili Covid-19 dönemi öncesine göre çok daha farklı ve çok daha büyük bir rol düşmüştür. Özel yetenekli öğrencilerin ebeveynlerin de ise bu durum daha güç olabilmektedir. Bu araştırmanın amacı özel yetenekli öğrencilerin ebeveynlerinin dijital ebeveynlik becerilerini incelemektedir. Araştırma Türkiye genelinde Bilim ve Sanat Merkezlerine (BİLSEM) giden öğrencilerin ebeveynleri üzerinde gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırmaya katılan bireylerin dijital ebeveynlik öz-yeterliklerini belirlemek amacıyla Yaman ve arkadaşları (2019) tarafından geliştirilen “Dijital Ebeveynlik Öz-yeterlikleri Ölçeği” kullanılmıştır. Bunun yanında katılımcıların demografik bilgilerinin belirlenmesi için araştırmacılar tarafından oluşturulan anket formu ile ebeveynlerin görüşlerinin alınması için yarı-yapılandırılmış görüş formu kullanılmıştır. Bulgular ebeveynlerin, dijital okuryazarlık ve dijital iletişim özyeterliklerinin düşük düzeyde, dijital güvenlik özyeterliklerinin ise yüksek düzeyde olduğunu göstermektedir. Araştırmadan elde edilen bulgular doğrultusunda ebeveynlerin dijital ebeveynlik becerilerini geliştirmeye yönelik çeşitli önerilerde bulunulmuştur.With the spread of the Covid-19 virus and the introduction of the concept of social isolation into our lives, digital media technologies have started to be used suddenly and intensively in both business and education areas. It has become a necessity in this period for schools to switch to distance education in a very short time without wasting any time. Depending on the result of this urgent decision, parents have a much different and much larger role in their children's education life than before the Covid-19 period. This situation may be more difficult for the parents of gifted students. The purpose of this research is to examine the digital parenting skills of parents of gifted students. The research was carried out on the parents of students who went to Science and Art Centers (BİLSEM) across Turkey. The “Digital Parenting Self-Efficacy Scale” developed by Yaman et al. (2019) was used to determine the digital parenting self-efficacy of the individuals participating in the research. In addition, a questionnaire form created by the researchers to determine the demographic information of the participants and a semi-structured opinion form to get the opinions of the parents were used. Findings show that parents have low levels of digital literacy and digital communication self-efficacy, and high levels of digital security self-efficacy. In line with the findings obtained from the research, various suggestions were made to improve the digital parenting skills of parents

HADITH CRITIC AND TAYYIB OKIC

1902 yılında Bosna’da doğan Muhammed Tayyib Okiç, ilköğrenimini 1913, orta öğrenimini 1916 tarihinde tamamlamıştır. 1920 yılında Okruzna Medresesinden, 1925 yılında İslâm Hukuku ve İlahiyât mektebinden mezun olmuştur. Pek çok dil bilen Okiç, 1945 yılında Türkiye’ye iltica etmiştir. Çeşitli üniversitelerde ders vermiş, çok sayıda talebe yetiştirmiş, çeşitli eserler yazmış ve 1977 yılında vefat ederek Saraybosna’da defnedilmiştir. Kritik kelimesi, eleştirmek, tenkit etmek, kusurlu görmek ve benzeri anlamlar için kullanılmaktadır. Hadis ilminde, kritik kelimesinin karşılığı tenkittir. Tenkid kelimesi, herhangi bir şeyin iyisini kötüsünden ayırmak, ayıklamak için gözden geçirmek ve bir şeyin kusurunu tespit etmek için kullanılan bir isimdir. Hadis usulüne göre tenkid ise, herhangi bir hadisin sıhhat derecesini tespit etmek için senet ve metnini incelemeye tabi tutmaktır. Yani sahih hadisleri zayıf hadislerden ayırmak, ravilerin güvenilir veya güvenilmez oldukları kanaatine varmaktır. Bir hadisin senedi yoksa onun hadis olma ihtimalini araştırmaya gerek görülmemiştir. Bir hadisin senedi zayıf veya mevzu ise, o hadisin metni sahih olsa bile, sağlam olarak kabul edilmez. Bununla beraber sadece senedin sıhhatini ölçü alıp metni de buna dayanarak sahih kabul etmek doğru değildir. Çünkü senedin sahihliği, her zaman metnin sahihliğini gerektirmez. Hadis hem sened hem de metin açısından hadis kriterlerine uygunsa, o hadis sahih kabul edilir. Şayet hadisin metni hadis kriterlerine uygun değilse, o hadisin isnadı sahih olsa bile, zayıf kabul edilir ve delil olarak kullanılmaz. Okiç, hadis tenkidinin, hadis uydurma faaliyetlerine karşı gerekli bir tedbir olduğunu ileri sürerek, hadis kritiğinin gerekliliğini şöyle dile getirmiştir: “Hadislerin gerek itikadata gerekse muamelata taalluk etmelerinden dolayı bunların, yalnız sahihlerini seçebilmek maksadı ile ince tenkid usullerine başvurmak İslâmiyet’in genel menfaatleri hesabına son derece lüzumlu görülmüştür.” Ayrıca Okiç’e göre hadis kritiğinin başlangıcı, çok eskilere dayanmaktadır. Onun öne sürdüğüne göre, hadis tenkit disiplininin, şifahi dahi olsa sahabe döneminden başladığına dair pek çok bilgi vardır. Örneğin Hz. Ali hadis nakledenlerden, rivayetlerinde doğru söylediklerine dair yemin etmelerini istemiştir. Buna göre sahabiler, ilk hadis münekkitleri olarak kabul edilebilir.Tayyib Okiç born in 1902 in Bosnia, graduated his primary education in 1913 and his secondary education in 1916. He graduated from Okruzna Madrasa in 1920 and Islamic Law and Theology School in 1925. Okic, who speaks many languages, In 1945, he took refuge in Turkey. He lectured at various universities, trained many students, wrote various works and died in 1977 and was buried in Sarajevo. The word critical is used to see imperfect, criticize and so on. The word critical is mean criticize in the hadith science. The word criticism is a name used to distinguish the good from the bad, to review it for weeding, and to detect the flaw of something. The criticism according to the hadith method is to examine the ravi chain and text to determine the degree of accuracy of any hadith. In other words, to distinguish reliable hadiths from weak hadiths is to conclude that narratives are reliable or unreliable. If a hadith does not have a ravi chain, it is not necessary to investigate. If the ravi chain of a hadith is weak or relevant, even if the text of the hadith is reliable, it is not considered sound. However, it is not correct to take only the accuracy of the ravi chain and accept the text as reliable. Because the accuracy of the ravi chain does not always require the accuracy of the text. If the hadith meets the hadith criteria both in terms of ravi chain and text, that hadith is considered true. If the text of the hadith does not meet the criteria of the hadith, even if the hadiths actuality is authentic, it is considered weak and is not used as evidence. Okic argued that the criticism of hadith was a necessary precaution against the fabrication of hadiths and he said: “Because of the fact that the hadiths undertake both the rituals and transactions, it has been seen that it is extremely necessary to apply to the methods of fine criticism in order to select only the sahihs, in the account of the general interests of Islam.” Moreover, according to Okiç, the beginning of the hadith critique dates back to ancient times. According to him, there is a lot of information that the discipline of criticism of the hadith started even during the companions. For example, Holy Ali asked to them the hadiths to swear that they were telling the truth in their narrations. Accordingly, the Companions can be considered as the first hadith narratives

AESTHETICS IN HADITH CULTURE

Tüm insanların barış, huzur, saadet ve mutluluğunu hedefleyen İslâm dininin iki temel kaynağı vardır. Bunlar, Allah'ın kelamı olan Kur'ân ve Hz. Muhammed'in sünnetidir. Hz. Muhammed'in söz, fiil ve takrirlerinden oluşan sünnet, Kur'ân'ın tefsir ve açıklaması durumundadır. Kur'ân ve sünnet, insanların hayatlarının her alanına hitap etmektedir. Sanat ve estetiğin de İslâm kültüründe önemli bir yeri vardır. Çeşitli sözlük ve ansiklopedilerde sanat ve estetik hakkında değişik tanımlar yapılmıştır. İslâm dininin ana kaynağı olan Kur'ân'da estetiği çağrıştıran pek çok kavramlardan bahsedilmektedir. Özellikle Hz. Muhammed'in (s.a.v.) söz, fiil ve takrirlerinde de estetiği dile getiren güzellik türü ifadelerin yer aldığını okumaktayız. Hz Muhammed (s.a.v.) hayatının her aşamasında estetik, zarafet, düzen, tertip ve disipline önem ver vermiş ve Müslümanların dikkatlerini bu noktalara çekerek bu çerçevede hayatlarını tanzim etmelerini istemiştir. Bu çalışmamızda, bu konuları, bilhassa estetik kavramı çerçevesi dâhilinde kabul edilecek ifadelerin hadis kültüründeki yeri üzerinde duracağız. Çünkü güzelliği, zarafeti ve ahengi ifade eden çeşitli şeyler, insan hayatında yer almaktadır. Bu gibi şeyler, insanın ruh ve zihin dünyasını beslemektedir. Bu nedenle estetik kavramı dâhilinde kabul edilen her türlü güzelliğin, fert ve toplum hayatında önemli bir yeri vardırThere are two main sources of Islamic religion. These are the principles that aim at peace, happiness, tranquility and happiness of all people. These are the Qur'an and the Sunnah of Hz. Muhammad. The circumcision of Hz.Muhammad's words, deeds and punishments is the interpretation and explanation of the Qur'an. Quran and Sunnah, would impact every area of people's live. Art and aesthetics also has an important place in Islamic culture. Different dictionaries and encyclopedias have made different definitions about art and aesthetics. The Qur'an, the main source of Islamic religion, speaks of many concepts that remind aesthetics. Especially we have also read that in Hz. Muhammad's words, deeds and remarks, there are also expressions of beauty that express aesthetic. In this work, we will emphasize the place of the expressions which will be accepted within the frame of the aesthetic concept, especially in the hadith culture. Because beauty, elegance and harmony, is involved in human life. This things feed the world of the soul and the mind. For this reason, every kind of beauty accepted within the concept of aesthetics has an important place in the life of individual and societ

MOTIVATIONAL ATTITUDES OF ELT STUDENTS TOWARDS USING COMPUTERS FOR WRITING AND COMMUNICATION

This article will provide an overview of whether students have positive motivational attitudes towards the use of computers for writing and communication. Firstly, it summarizes the basic theories of motivation and then explains the relationship between language and motivation, and the use of computers and motivation. Then, it aims to explore the aspects of computer use that students find motivating and investigates the differences among these aspects for students having different backgrounds in terms of computer skills. 45 first grade ELT students of Mehmet Akif Ersoy University participated in the study. The data was collected through a questionnaire adapted from Warschauer (1996). The obtained data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-tests, Manova and Anova on SPSS. The findings indicated that participants mainly made use of computers for communication, learning, achievement and empowerment. Plus, their personal aspects, except for computer knowledge, related to computers, did not significantly affect the participants’ motivational attitudes towards the use of computers. There were not even significant differences between male and female participants in terms of being motivated to use computers and computer facilities for communication and writing. Finally, having or not having a computer at home was not a decisive factor influencing motivational attitudes of participants

English As A Langua Franca: Practices Of Academics in A Turkish Universit

This study aims to identify the problems/difficulties that academics in a Turkish university encounter while using English as a lingua franca. The data were garnered through survey questionnaires filled out by 27 academics based in a Turkish university in the southwest of Turkey. The findings demonstrated that academics dramatically needed and used English in non-native contexts and mainly with non-native speakers of English for various reasons and purposes. Moreover, it was found that participants experienced a large number of misunderstandings and difficulties in the use of English for work-related purposes, and they resented the fact that they had to take English proficiency exams for academic promotion. The results are discussed in relation to those of previous studies of similar scope. The study concludes with suggestions posed for the improvement of academics’ verbal and academic writing skills and the issue of language proficiency examination policies

English voices in ‘Text-to-speech tools’: representation of English users and their varieties from a World Englishes perspective

English has experienced grave transformations recently in terms of socio-demographic and geographical characteristics. While such transformations have resulted in diverse types of English uses and various English users, the existing ELT materials still fail to represent the global varieties and dynamic uses and users of English. Moving from a World Englishes perspective, this paper investigates a corpus of online Text-to-Speech tools and software to discuss their suitability for teaching English according to the plurithic view of English, which throws focus on various users and uses of English. Analysed via quantitative content analysis, the data showed that TTS tools promoted the Inner circle (native-English) varieties over the Outer and External circle (non-native) varieties and non-native accents. In addition, the absolute absence of users from the Expanding circle was observed as no speakers from this circle was available in the tools analysed. The findings suggest that a satisfactory World Englishes perspective has not yet been taken into consideration in the present Text-to-Speech tools. There is, thus, a crucial need for a shift in the design of such tools to get them adjusted to represent different types of English users and uses