Examining the Relationship between Social Intelligence Levels and Communication Skills of Prospective Social Studies Teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between social intelligence levels and communication skills of preservice social studies teachers. In the content of the study, the relational screening model, which is one of the descriptive survey models, has been used. The sample of the survey consist of the third and fourth year students who study Social studies Teaching at Faculties of Education at Muğla, Uşak, Afyon and Aksaray University in the academic year of 2017-2018. The sample of the survey has been determined by means of convenience sampling. In this study, the unpaired t-test, the one-way analysis variance (ANOVA), the Scheffe and Games-Howell test have been used. In order to reveal the relationship between social intelligence levels and communication skills of preservice social studies teachers, the Pearson product-moment correlation analysis has been used. As a result of the study, it has been found out that preservice social studies teachers demonstrate “high” communication skills, but “moderate” social intelligence. It has also been determined that there is a moderate, linear, positive and meaningful correlation between the communication skills and social intelligence levels of preservice social studies teachers. In addition to these, it has been observed that communication skills and social intelligence levels of preservice teachers differ to a meaningful extent according to factors such as gender, universities they attend and the number of books they read per month. On the other hand their age and grade caused any meaningful difference in the communication skills and social intelligence levels of preservice teachers.