An Analysis of the Professional Competencies of Turkish Language and Literature Teachers on the Basis of the Ability of Using and Managing Technology

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to reveal the importance of technology in education and to explore the professional competencies of Turkish language and literature teachers on the basis of usage and management of technology skills. In the quantitative dimension of this study, the significant difference between the opinions of Turkish language and literature teachers on the necessity of technology and their personal characteristics were examined. The qualitative dimension, on the other hand, investigated whether school managers emphasised technology usage and management skills in their expectations of Turkish language and literature teachers. The problem sentence of the study is therefore “what are the professional competencies of Turkish and literature teachers on the basis of usage and management of technology skills?” This study examines both teachers (n=99) and school managers (n=26) who worked at the secondary education level in Cyprus during the 2017-2018 academic year. A questionnaire was prepared by the researchers with the purpose of determining the technology usage status of teachers and the extent to which they believe that using technology is necessary. A semi-structured interview form was prepared in order to determine the expectations of school managers from Turkish language and literature teachers and their professional competencies. In order to be able to analyse quantitative data in the study, frequencies and percentages were used, which are descriptive statistics. Additionally, the chi-square test was applied in order to determine whether there were any differences in the answers given by teachers according to the independent variables. Content analysis was conducted in order to analyse the qualitative data. Based on the findings of the study, it can be said that teachers must accept the reality that even though they agree that technology is necessary, this opinion in fact has no value as technology is still not used. The expectations of school managers from language and literature teachers were evaluated and only a limited number of managers (only 1 student out of 26) emphasised that teachers should be competent in using technology.