The relationship between critical thinking dispositions of prospective English language teachers and their levels of new media literacy

Abstract

The teaching profession, by its very nature, requires teachers to develop themselves continuously, to keep up with the innovations emerging over time, to acquire the competencies they require, and hence keep themselves updated. In our time, in which the developments have gained an enormous pace, particularly in technology, this requirement has become vital for teachers whose contributions to shape societies are immense. With the recent advances in technology, it has become of great importance for teachers to learn the emerging new media culture and use them effectively in their lessons. On the other hand, as a result of these rapid developments, the acquisition of critical thinking, which dates back to ancient times as a concept, by teachers as a skill has become more important than ever before. At this point, there are evaluations made regarding the importance of these two skills primarily in teacher training programs. In line with these evaluations, this study examined the relationship between the critical thinking dispositions (CTD) and their new media literacy levels (NML) of pre-service English teachers studying at the education faculties of two foundation universities. Results showed that the candidates participating in the research have high level critical thinking and new media literacy skills, and there is a moderate positive relationship between these two skills.