This qualitative research explored Syrian refugees’ self-determination and psychosocial adjustment in Turkey and teachers’ experience working with refugees. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews from 12 vocational and language teachers (Mage = 34.27, SDage = 4.94) who had an average of 9.58-year teaching experience and at least one year of teaching Syrian forcibly displaced people and refugees. The content analysis revealed three overarching themes: i) the needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness facilitate refugees’ adjustment in dealing with resettlement stressors; ii) trauma experience interferes with refugees’ adjustment; iii) working with refugees transforms teachers to become more tolerant, resilient, patriotic, sensitive to diversity, and grateful for their relationships. The findings may stimulate psychosocial interventions and policies that would mitigate contextual barriers as well as create an inclusive psychosocial environment. Refugees are likely to benefıt from a nurturing environment and teachers are likely to benefit from trainings focusing on trauma informed teaching skills.

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) introduces a new goal for language teaching, that of training social actors rather than mere communicators. Thus, social action as a new reference action corresponding to this new reference goal in English language teaching necessitates a departure from taking interaction or communication as the ultimate goal in an ELT curriculum. This paper argues that mini-projects, which are the best models of social action compatible with the constraints of school education, should be the basic units in an action-oriented curriculum. Syllabus in such an action-oriented curriculum functions primarily as linguistic resources needed by the students to be able to carry out the proposed mini-projects. Thus, the task of the syllabus designer is to select and grade the language content according to the mini-projects proposed in an action-oriented curriculum, even in a second phase, a posteriori control of this content and its progression must be carried out, which may lead, in a third phase, to modify the mini-projects or even their chronological order.

This study aims to examine the empathy skills of secondary school students in terms of some selected variables at the student and school levels. The study group of the research, which was structured as a correlational survey, consisted of 1010 eighth-grade students attending 29 schools selected by random sampling in the province of Uşak during the 2021-2022 school year. The HLM 8 student version was used in the analysis of the data collected via Google Form. 80% of the difference in empathy scores was found to stem from the student-related variables and 20% from the school-level variables. A positive and significant relationship between the number of books read and gender variable and empathy scores was also identified, and it was concluded that as the number of books read by students increased, their empathy scores increased as well, and the girls had higher empathy scores than the boys. In addition, a negative significant relationship was found between the duration of daily internet use and empathy scores. While no significant relationship between school type and empathy was identified, students at secondary schools located in city centers were observed to have higher empathy scores than those located in small towns.

Creativity is recognized as an integral skill of the 21st century. For this reason, it is important for educators to learn how to nurture their students’ creativity and find means of evoking it in the classroom. It is believed that creativity, a trademark of this age of innovation, can be developed with a suitable educational environment and can be taught when appropriate conditions are provided. The role and importance of universities, especially faculties of education, which elicit the development and application of new ideas, cannot be denied. This study aimed to help pre-service teachers define creativity and evaluate their undergraduate education processes in terms of gaining and using creativity-based skills. In accordance with the nature of the qualitative research, the study group of the research was selected using a random sampling strategy. The study group of the research consisted of 197 pre-service teachers being educated in the faculty of education of a state university in their final year. The data collected and entered into the online data collection form was acquired using content analysis.

The purpose of this study was to examine the Covid-19 fears and psychological well-being of students (n=123) at the Music Education Department of Bursa Uludağ University /Turkey in terms of some variables. Data were collected through a questionnaire that consists of the Student Demographic Information Form, the Fear of Covid-19 Scale and the Psychological Well-being Scale. Within the framework of the descriptive survey model, data were analyzed with the Mann Whitney U Test considering the students’ gender, the status of their own or a relative having had Covid-19, following the courses face-to-face or online, arrival at the department by public transport, taxi or private vehicle, and the income level change of the students or their families during the pandemic. As for the analysis of psychological well-being and Covid-19 fear regarding being with family, friends or being alone during the pandemic process and the frequency of coming to the department, Kruskal Wallis H was used. In the study, Covid-19 fears of music teacher candidates were found to be slightly below the middle and their psychological well-being mean scores were above the middle. Moreover, significant results in the psychological well-being of the music teacher candidates were obtained regarding accommodation (staying with family/ friends or alone) and arrival at the department (by public transportation, taxi or private vehicle). Results for other variables for which no significant results could be obtained were interpreted on the basis of their mean scores and suggestions were made in the light of the results

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of teaching with animation on chemistry achievement and learning persistence on pre-service science teachers studying in the undergraduate program of science teaching. The quasi-experimental model, one of the quantitative research approaches, was used in the study. The pretest-posttest was applied with the experimental control group. Eighty-two pre-service teachers, randomly selected with the appropriate sampling method, participated in the research. The "General Chemistry Achievement Test" developed by Sönmez (2017), which has validity and reliability in the literature, was used as a data collection tool. In addition, to determine the persistence of learning, chemistry achievement test post-test applications were applied again at six-week intervals. The data obtained from the findings was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques in the SPSS 23.0 package program. Because the collected data did not have a normal distribution, the research conducted using nonparametric test techniques (Mann Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis) revealed a significant positive difference in favor of the experimental group to which animation was applied. In addition, in terms of gender variables, it has been determined that women have a higher mean than men. In contrast, there was no significant difference in grade level between teacher candidates. Following a six-week persistence test, it was found that there was a significant and positive correlation, ensuring the learning's persistence.

Various language policies are implemented for foreign language teaching in educational institutions. One of these language policies is the monolingual approach called "English-only", which requires only the target language to be used in the classroom. This policy is largely implemented in private institutions in Turkey. Studies about teachers’ perspectives on the English-only policy are relatively less. Hence, this research aimed to explore what the perspectives of bilingual EFL teachers working in schools where the English only policy is implemented are and what the effects of such practices are on their teaching methods and professional identities. A case study research design under a qualitative approach was adopted to explore eight bilingual EFL teachers’ perspectives on language policies implemented in kindergarten and primary school of the private education institution where they worked. The results varied according to the professional background of the teachers and the department they worked. While language teachers who worked in kindergarten favoured the policy despite reacting negatively to the strict policies implemented by the school, primary school language teachers showed explicit resistance to the implementation of the English-only policy. Moreover, all the teachers expressed their uneasiness about being assigned fake English names and associated this with the impact of neoliberalism and other ideologies prevailing in the linguistic market on private institutions in Turkey.

The purpose of this research was to reveal how the performance evaluations of teachers in a private school were made and the results of those evaluations. The research was designed as a case study, which is one of the qualitative research methods. The research was carried out in the 2013-2014 academic year. The participants of this research were 15 teachers, 3 administrators, 6 students and 4 parents. The data were obtained through semi-structured interviews. Findings revealed that the performance evaluation of the teachers were based on the surveys from students, school administrators and parents, general observations made by school administrators, course inspections and follow-up with digital cameras.  In this context, teachers were awarded during the year and at the end of the year depending on their performance evaluation results. Participants also mentioned some positive and negative consequences of the performance evaluation in the school. The rewards given vary based on the performance of the teachers. The main rewards were as follows: salary increase, plaques and certificates with symbolic value, and contract renewal. On the other hand, teachers were punished due to their low performance. The consequences of the punishment were as follows: verbal or written warning penalties, low pay raise in salary, termination of some duties at the school and non-renewal of contract/dismissal.

Mobile learning, which is widely used in educational settings during the Covid-19 pandemic, will continue playing a critical role in learning environments in the future. Since the successful implementation of mobile learning in education is largely based on users’ acceptance of these technologies, it is essential to understand the factors affecting learners’ acceptance of mobile devices as learning tools. This study investigated Syrian adult refugees’ acceptance and use of mobile learning tools. The results revealed that Syrian adult refugees were positive about using mobile devices in learning Turkish as a second/foreign language, and there exists a concrete and significant correlation among all the constructs of the mobile learning tools acceptance like Perceived Ease of Use, Contribution to Foreign Language Learning, Negative Perceptions, and Voluntariness of Use. Factors affecting mobile learning acceptance was also investigated in the study, and the results indicated significant differences among the refugees regarding their characteristics such as age, gender, level of education. The results also revealed that while the refugees did better in the tests over time, mobile learning acceptance had no significant effect on foreign language achievement. Depending on these results, it can be suggested that mobile devices should be integrated into the education system as a component of the curriculum.

The aim of this study is developing a valid and reliable curriculum efficacy perception scale for teachers working with gifted students. Viewing the difference between variables of teachers’gender, field of study, age, seniority in the profession and seniority of working with gifted. The research was carried out with 350 teachers for Exploratory Factor Analysis, 382 for Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and 283 teachers for the analysis of the scale according to variables. As a result of the exploratory factor analysis conducted in the study, it was concluded that 35 items in the scale were gathered under three factors. As a result of the exploratory factor analysis, three factors explained 66.70% of the total variance for the whole scale. The value of the Cronbach Alpha (α) for the whole scale was highly reliable with .972. The findings of  the research show that the scale of “Curriculum Efficacy Perception of Teachers Working with Gifted” is valid and reliable. The scale was applied to 283 teachers and viewed in accordance with the variables. It has been revealed that the scale dimensions of the teachers do not differ according to gender, field of study, age, seniority in the profession. However it differs for the subdimensions of seniority of working with gifted.

The relationship between the digital literacy levels of Social Studies teacher candidates and their attitudes towards distance education was investigated in this study. In addition, attitudes of teacher candidates towards distance education and their digital literacy levels were compared in terms of gender, year of education and income variables. The sample of this study, in which the general screening model was used, consisted of 260 social studies teacher candidates studying at state universities in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey in the 2020-2021 academic year. “Digital Literacy Scale” developed by Bayrakçı (2020) and “Distance Education Attitude Scale” developed by Ağır (2007) were used in the data collection process. Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test was run for data normality and after data normality was provided, regression and Pearson correlation analyzes, independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA test and Post Hoc analysis were performed. The findings of the current study showed that the digital literacy levels of teacher candidates did not differ significantly depending on gender and grade levels, but the digital literacy levels of male teacher candidates were higher. It was observed that the attitudes of teacher candidates towards distance education significantly differed based on gender and year of education. It was determined that teacher candidates with high-income had a more positive attitude towards distance education and had higher levels of digital literacy compared to teacher candidates with low- and middle-income levels. The findings of the present study also showed that there was a positive and moderately significant relationship between digital literacy levels of teacher candidates and their attitudes towards distance education, and it was concluded that digital literacy levels of teacher candidates significantly predicted their attitude scores toward distance education.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the attitudes of teachers who are authorized as principals about the concept of “principal authorized teacher.” The snowball sampling method was used to enroll 40 principal authorized teachers for the study. They were requested to create metaphors for the concept of “principal authorized teacher” in the provided form to determine their mental thoughts and demographic data. Due to missing information and illegible writing in the gathered data, only 32 participants’ data were examined. The analysis revealed that the metaphors indicated by the principal authorized teachers were classified as overworked, competent, self-sacrificing, working beyond their job duties, and other conceptual categories, respectively. When the suggestions are examined, it is necessary to reduce the workload of the principal authorized teachers. Thus, the principal can do the work of authorized teachers more effectively.

The principal objective of this study was to profile qualitative research in social sciences through a comprehensive examination of 10,637 documents. An analysis on how scholars from central/peripheral countries included in the qualitative research citations/publications is presented. Central/peripheral distinction is used to determine the trends in the globalization of qualitative research. With the comprehensive examination,  this paper will shed light on the discussion of the patterns of globalization in qualitative research. Science mapping technique among bibliometric methods was employed. This paper is based on studies that published in journals that use the English word/term  "qualitative" in their titles. The data for this study encompassed 10,637 documents published between 1995 and 2019 by 16,884 authors. Our findings reveal that qualitative research continue to be mostly North America- and Europe-centered initiatives. A similar situation is also observed for the most cited publications and the affiliated institutes of their authors. The studies focus primarily on the individuals' self and social experiences, social psychology, and their knowledge, attitude, and behaviors in education. The most cited publications and the institutions with the highest number of publications are all North America- and Europe-centered. Another finding is that six of every 10 qualitative research are about medical sciences.

This research was conducted as a case study, which is one of the qualitative research methods, to determine how prospective Turkish teachers explain the concepts in their minds about writing skills. The study group consists of 60 3rd-grade prospective teachers studying at the Department of Turkish Language Education of Hatay Mustafa Kemal University in the 2018-2019 academic year. Research data were collected through a word association test. In order to reach the concepts that best describe the writing skill, first of all, ten concepts were determined by the researcher within the scope of the relevant course. Then, the test prepared with these concepts was presented to the expert opinion, and the word association test was designed with the remaining six concepts (writing, text, text types, narrative text, informative text, and argumentative text). In the data analysis, the answers of the prospective teachers to the word test were examined in detail and independently with an expert to ensure reliability. Frequency distribution was created with the frequency of repetition of the concepts related to key concepts. According to the frequency of the concepts, the breakpoint technique (Bahar, Johnstone & Sutcliffe, 1999) was used. In this study, breakpoint points between 20 concepts and above, 15-19 concepts, 10-14 concepts, and 5-9 concepts were applied. Concept networks were created separately according to the pre-test and post-test. According to the data obtained, the concept in the pre-test (f =1.636) increased to (f=1.732) in the last test. While the least increase was observed in the “writing” key concept (f=299-302), the highest increase was found in the “text” concept (f=263-292). The number of sentences containing academic information about key concepts increased from pre-test to post-test (f=116; f=179). The number of sentences without academic information (f=189-f=115) decreased. Moreover, the decrease in sentences containing misconceptions (f=29- f=13) supports this situation. When the sentences were examined in terms of including scientific information, it was found that academic expressions were used more accurately, and misconceptions were reduced.

This study was conducted to identify mathematical errors and mistakes made by preservice elementary mathematics teachers in the calculus course. To that end, the document analysis method of qualitative research models was used in the research. The sample of the research included a total of 75 preservice teachers who were attending the Department of Elementary Mathematics Education in the Faculty of Education at a public university and taking the calculus I course during the fall term of 2016-2017 academic year. Accordingly, written documents including the participant preservice teachers’ papers of interim exams, practice exams, and general exams constituted the data source. The exam papers were scanned with a scanner and transformed into the electronic environment. A content analysis was performed with the data by using MAXQDA 12 qualitative data analysis program, and “data coding” of data analysis techniques was utilized. It was concluded that the preservice teachers made procedural and conceptual errors and mistakes, mathematical errors and mistakes such as recalling generalizations incompletely or incorrectly. Some recommendations were made in light of these results.

Linguistics studies have always influenced the field of foreign language teaching. In the 20th century, structuralism prevailed in linguistics. While language is a communication tool, language is also a structure that is formed and developed within the framework of its system. A great deal of important research has been done on these ideas. In addition, new methods and approaches inspired by the same ideas have emerged in foreign language teaching, influenced by linguistics and sub-fields of linguistics. However, the anthropological perspective observed in all fields of science in the last years of the 20th century paved the way for important studies focusing on the cultural studies approach. An applied scientific field of study inspired by the cultural studies approach is cultural linguistics. Country linguistics, a sub-field of cultural linguistics, is an applied field that researches the methods used in teaching a language as a foreign language. In this context, country linguistics has been studied based on the language worldview. Afterwards, the definition of national folklore elements in teaching Turkish as a foreign language was examined within the studies carried out in Western Europe. As a result, teaching Turkish as a foreign language is also accepted as cultural diplomacy. In order to reach a unique approach in this field, the basic principles of the action-oriented approach to national folklore elements were discussed.