A Multivariate Analysis of Pre-Service Teachers' Critical Internet Literacy

Abstract

This study aims to reveal the critical Internet literacy levels of preservice teachers in terms of multiple variables, by employing the correlational survey design. The sample of the study is formed by 216 preservice teachers of Turkish language studying at a state university located in western Turkey. The Critical Internet Literacy Scale developed by Dal and Aktay (2015) was used as the data collection tool. The data obtained in the study were subjected to explanatory factor analysis, descriptive statistical analysis, t-test, ANOVA, and correlation analysis. It was found that the teacher candidates pay attention to online content reliability and websites’ being supported by proven data. The reliability of the online content emerges as the most important issue for preservice teachers. Their critical Internet literacy correlates with the location they spend their lives, their maternal educational background and maternal professional status, grade point averages, year of study, and the number of books they have read. The interest shown by Turkish people in anonymous information seems to apply for the Internet as well. Although the form of literacy has changed within the last 25 years since we began reading online, the answers that we can give to the questions of “why” and “how” we read seem to have remained the same, at least within the context of the current study.