The Effect of Information Literacy on Teachers’ Critical Thinking Disposition

Aycan Cicek Saglam,Muhammet Cetin,Hakan Ucer,Ibrahim Cankaya

doi:10.5539/jel.v6n3p31

Abstract

The concepts of information literacy and critical thinking are two important concepts of today’s information and technology age closely related to each other and sometimes used interchangeably. The purpose of the current study is to explore the relationship between the secondary school teachers’ critical thinking disposition and information literacy. The study was conducted in line with relational survey model. The study group of the research is comprised of 626 secondary school teachers working in 22 secondary schools located in the Şehzadeler province of the city of Manisa in Turkey. The scales were administered to all the teachers in the study group. However, the total number of teachers sampled resulted in 473 (75.56%) usable survey protocols. In the collection of the research data, Turkish adaptation of California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI-T) and Information Literacy Scale were used. The findings of the study revealed that the teachers’ critical thinking disposition and their information literacy levels are “low”. Besides, it was found that there is a significant, positive and bilateral relationship between the teachers’ critical thinking disposition and information literacy. Moreover, the regression analysis results indicate that the dimensions of information literacy level explain 15% of critical thinking.

Highlights

Critical thinking and information literacy are two interrelated concepts
Critical thinking disposition can be explained depending on 15% information literacy adequacy
When the teachers’ opinions about their information literacy levels were evaluated, it was found that their information literacy levels are low both at the sub-dimensions of “defining information needs”, “access to information”, “use of information”, “ethical and legal settings in use of information” and in the general total

Summary

Introduction

Critical thinking and information literacy are two interrelated concepts. For the future of a society, it is of great importance for individuals to have information literacy and critical thinking skills; all societies invest efforts to impart these skills to their citizens through education. With increasing level of information literacy of teachers, their critical thinking levels are believed to be increasing; this is considered as important for future generations to be trained properly. In this regard, the main purpose of the current study is to determine the effect of the secondary school teachers’ literacy levels on their critical thinking. On the basis of the given definitions, Alkın-Şahin, Tunca and Ulubey (2014) proposed a comprehensive definition of critical jel.ccsenet.org

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