The Contributions of Postmodern Narratives to Master’s Degree Students’ Higher-Order Thinking Skills

Abstract

Literature is a branch of fine arts performed with language, in its most general definition; it reveals people and their surrounding realities (listening, feeling, thinking, memorizing, believing, missing, worrying, rejoicing, hoping, etc.) through different aspects within aesthetic structures that start with history, culture and art.The written culture and art produced by humans since first ages of history teach individuals to understand level of civilization to which they belong and to live and interpret life they live carefully, as well as creating an environment of being open to universal culture and understandings by protecting their national values and making comparisons with them.In this context, literature education aims to train individuals who can express themselves to be able to use Turkish correctly, effectively, and beautifully; to enjoy reading and its culture; to have wide emotional, thoughtful, and imaginative worlds; to develop aesthetic tastes; to have refined tastes; to be virtuous; and to have a stable personality with humanistic and moral behaviors.The literature lesson, which has multiple functions and a rich content due to its nature, opens to students a way to use cognitive processes (higher-order skills) such as problem-solving, discovering, critical and creative thinking, questioning, discussing, synthesizing and evaluating. Post-modern narratives, which give opportunity to restructure a literary text by giving meaning from different dimensions, provide students countless treasures in this sense when compared to traditional narratives. This study will mention contributions of these narratives to literature education.As a 20th century work of art, postmodern compositions are products of a completely different world in terms of content, form, technical style, language, and pronunciation. Taking command of era, postmodernism has made in-depth changes in several scientific fields, most important being positive sciences. It has reflected onto art and literature education, as well.German physicist Max Planck's presentation of the quantum of action (Planck, 1996), Einstein's theory of relativity (Einstein, 2001), Heisenberg's uncertainty principle (Heisenberg, 1987, pp. 19-24), and Stephen Hawking's argument for absolute time that was examined on twin brothers (Hawking, 2013, p. 54) call into question Newtonian physics and are all signs of consequential new developments. These developments in natural sciences have changed perception of chronological time and have brought understanding to relativity and uncertainty of time.Recent Approaches and Theories in Field of PsychologyFreud's subconscious dimension of psychology, Jung's collective unconscious, Adler's individual psychology, and Bergson's attitudes toward intuition are based on observing human's spiritual nature from different points of view. In this regard, a variety of perspectives have been created to reveal its hidden aspects.The rapidly evolving and growing scientific discoveries of modern times have been reflected in technology. The technological revolution surrounds individuals' subjective and social lives and has created different values and perceptions. Advances in transportation, information, and communication technologies have entered into system of life. They have increased consumption and made people nervous, alone, and isolated in a world surrounded by objects.New media is a sector that has been created by these socio-economic conditions. The truth is that in relationship between man and society, media has grown prodigiously, and its power leads contact between a person and public. Hence, income that results has caused a struggle between media bosses. Jean Baudrillard calls this hyper reality (Doltac, 2003, p. 25; Lucy, 2003, p. 70).While Nietzsche was trying to question established judgments that were wellknown, Derrida, Foucault, Lacan, Levi-Strauss, and Baudrillard approached sciences from a postmodern aspect removed from any kind of dogma or ideology. …