Turkish Public University Research Articles

EMI Dynamics: An Empirical Study on Students’ Perspectives at Tertiary Level in Türkiye

Abstract The unprecedented adoption of English-Medium Instruction (EMI) in higher education on a global scale has brought about challenges as well as opportunities for students, which necessitates a careful consideration of factors impacting their perceptions and experiences. Recognizing this critical need, our study attaches significant importance to delve into the attitudes of tertiary-level students towards EMI and aims to evaluate the attitudes and language-related challenges encountered by students in full EMI undergraduate programs. Data were collected from 278 undergraduate students in various full EMI programs at a Turkish public university. Utilizing the culturally and linguistically adapted form of Yeh’s (2014) EMI questionnaire, the study focused on students’ backgrounds, motivations, and attitudes towards EMI courses, challenges, learning strategies, and beliefs about EMI policies. The findings indicate generally positive attitudes towards EMI. Students perceive EMI as beneficial to their academic and professional development, viewing it as an opportunity to enhance their English proficiency. Nevertheless, challenges arise from coping with specialized terms, heavy learning load, and lecturers’ accents. These results offer valuable insights into the experiences of undergraduate students in full EMI programs at a state university, highlighting both the positive facets and challenges they encounter in settings where English is used as a vehicle for academic growth.

Algebraic knowledge for teaching test: An adaptation study

In this study, the Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching-Elementary Patterns Functions and Algebra-Content Knowledge (MKT-PFA) test, originally developed in English as part of the "Learning Mathematics for Teaching Project" at Michigan University, was adapted into Turkish. The test comprises two equivalent forms, A and B, each translated into Turkish and culturally adapted through consultations with two mathematics education academics and five secondary school math teachers pursuing doctoral studies. A total of 328 pre-service teachers at a Turkish public university's elementary school mathematics teaching department were administered form A (14 questions, 29 items) and form B (12 questions, 27 items) at a one-week interval. Psychometric analyses revealed high reliability (KR-20: A=0.712, B=0.735; Lord reliability: A=0.733, B=0.756), and strong correlations (rpbi) with the original English forms, indicating suitable adaptation. Item difficulties analyzed using a one-parameter Item Response Theory model showed a normal distribution, affirming the tests' validity for assessing pre-service teachers' algebra teaching knowledge in Türkiye.

Nurturing Soft Skills in Engineering Education with Interactive Activities

In today's job market, soft skills are increasingly crucial, surpassing technical knowledge. Traditional lectures fall short in teaching these skills, prompting universities to explore new methods of instruction. A Turkish public university introduced a curriculum with non-disciplinary courses called Personal Development Pathway (PDP) courses for its Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) department. These courses aim to enhance soft skills, motivate students, foster positive relationships, and improve employability. Employing Positive Education approach, the PDP courses include hands-on learning, one-on-one meetings, exercises, interactions with professionals, and self-reflection. This study evaluates four PDP courses that are offered for first-, second-, and third-year EEE students. It explores how these courses, designed similarly but offered in different semesters, enhanced EEE students' soft skills and their understanding of course concepts. A questionnaire was administered to sixty-one students after four semesters of teaching. Data triangulation utilized journals, interviews, and reflections. Data showed increased motivation, improved interpersonal skills, and enhanced confidence in self-expression among students. Despite the collaborative effort and time required from instructors, these courses seem to provide valuable opportunities for students to enhance their competence and success in future careers.

A Systematic Review and Bibliometric Analysis of the Turkish Doctoral Dissertations Completed in the Fields of Social Sciences and Humanities

Dissertations conducted in the fields of social sciences and humanities should provide researchers and decision makers with solutions to the problems in academia and contribute to enhancing society's social and economic welfare. The number of scientific publications extracted from dissertations and citations on them is one way to determine how much dissertations contribute to academia, society, and the quality of doctoral education. Systematic review and bibliometric analysis were implemented to understand the contributions of the dissertations to their fields. Through the systematic review, 142 dissertations, completed at 12 Turkish public universities between 2014 and 2017, in the National Thesis Center database of the Turkish Council of Higher Education were derived. The scientific publications extracted from these dissertations and citations to these publications were searched in the databases CoHE Academic, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, ScienceDirect, SCOPUS and Web of Science. Findings of bibliometric analysis indicate that 105 scientific publications were extracted from 142 dissertations, and their citation count was 241. However, these publications were predominantly published and cited in the national low impact factor indexed journals. To understand the reason for this situation, the methods of each dissertation concerning research design, data collection, and data analysis were examined thoroughly. The findings reveal that qualitative research design and secondary data, mostly used in these dissertations, might be the reasons for this issue. Some suggestions were made to reduce the problems identified concerning the quality of the main dissertation outputs.

Religiosity and Deviance Among College Students in Türkiye: A Test of Ascetic Theory

ABSTRACT Although an inverse relationship between religion and deviance is empirically well-established in the western context, previous studies on Islam and deviance conducted in non-western countries are limited. To address this gap in deviance research, we hypothesized that individual religiosity would be inversely related to deviance with the inverse relationship being more likely for ascetic than anti-ascetic or secular deviance. To test this hypothesis, we applied ordinary least squares and logistic regression methods to analyze data collected from 2,005 survey participants of a Turkish public university student population. Regression results provided partial support for the hypothesis, as we found that religiosity was inversely related to both ascetic and secular deviance. The observed inverse relationship is noteworthy in that it was found in an institutionally secular, Muslim country. Implications of our findings are discussed.

Predicting mobility and research performance of the faculty members in the economics departments at Turkish public universities

Abstract Academic mobility is an important factor that shapes academic institutions. Research performance is correlated with many factors, including the past research performance and gender of the academic. Understanding the factors behind academic mobility and research performance may provide a guide for a better higher education policy. In this paper, we analyze the mobility, publication, and research grant performance of all faculty members who taught in economics departments at Turkish public universities in 2010. Women, older faculty, and those who work in more established universities or in three major cities are less likely to move. The faculty members who have better past research performance, and who hold foreign PhDs, publish more. However, contrary to most of the literature, we do not find any gender productivity differentials. Last, we find that past publication performance is positively correlated with the number of current research grants, although past research grant performance does not have a significant correlation with the number of current publications.

Students' E-Learning Satisfaction During the Pandemic: A Turkish Public University Example

Students' E-Learning Satisfaction During the Pandemic: A Turkish Public University Example

Use of Glosses for Reading with Computers by Turkish Pre-Service English Language Teachers

The purpose of the study is to investigate the dictionary and glossary use of pre-service English language teachers while reading on the computer. The participants of the study were 26 first- and second-year pre-service English language teachers at a large Turkish public university. In order to explore their clicking and gloss-use behavior while reading, a web page with a pop-up glossary window was designed, and a screen capture tool was used to record the participants' actions. The findings of the study suggested that pre-service teachers were usually careful about their selection when they were looking up a word with. However, the results showed a discrepancy between the words that were claimed to be known and the words that were actually checked when reading with glossed texts. The study also confirmed learners' tendency for more look-ups with pop-up glosses mentioned in the literature.

Direct Access to English-Medium Higher Education in Turkey: Variations in Entry Language Scores

The internalization of higher education has led to exponential growth in the number of English-medium (EMI) programs worldwide. The minimum level of English proficiency for prospective EMI students to manage the linguistics demands in these programs has recently been investigated. This study aims to explore the EMI higher education context in Turkey in terms of the language requirements for direct access to EMI undergraduate programs. In this study, 57 Turkish public universities offering EMI undergraduate programs were examined in terms of the language requirements, and the rationale behind setting those standards. The data were collected from the official policy documents and websites of the universities. The results indicated that required language scores are varied and the decisions of setting those scores are not empirically founded. This study implies the need for a common policy for language requirements based on the empirical studies and the international frameworks in Turkish higher education.

A Study on Metaphorical Expression: Examining the Situations that Make Senior Year Students Enrolled in Classroom Teaching Programs Anxious

The present phenomenological study aims to understand, through images and metaphors, how senior class teaching majors perceive their studies at the faculty of education. The study group was assembled via criterion sampling, a method of purposive sampling. The study group consists of 12 senior class teaching majors (10 females and 2 males) from the education faculty of a Turkish public university during the 2017–2018 academic year (10 females and 2 males). The data was gathered through focus group meetings and analyzed using content and descriptive analysis techniques. All prospective teachers are concerned about passing the KPSS recruitment exam, according to the study. They used metaphors such as "a dark figure in front of a blackboard, a dark figure pondering, a dark figure inside and out, a dark figure of a group of hopeless students, a figure with a split face, a figure with question marks in his mind, and a student figure with confusion." Half of the participants stated that recruitment tests should be made fairer, while nearly the same number stated that pedagogical training for teaching certification should be eliminated and the teaching profession should be valued. In addition to expressing concerns about social pressure and oppression, the participants requested that they be respected by society and not oppressed.

Effects of Information Provided to University Students Through an Educational Brochure on Health Beliefs and Testicular Self-Examination.

This study aimed to examine the effect of an educational brochure about testicular cancer and its early diagnosis on the health beliefs and self-examination of participants. The pretests/posttests were conducted in a quasi-experimental design with non-randomized groups and a control group of university students. The study recruited students enrolled in the psychological counseling and guidance department of a Turkish public university. The research sample comprised 92 students, 48 in the experimental and 44 in the control group. An educational brochure about testicular cancer and self-examination was provided to the experimental group. The data includes a personal information form, testicular cancer and health beliefs scale about testicular self-examination, and the form for self-examination. Mann Whitney U, Wilcoxon, and chi-square analyses were performed for data analysis. A significant difference was found between the scores of the experimental and control groups regarding seriousness/caring, benefit and health motivation, obstacles, and self-efficacy (p < 0.05). Moreover, the testicular self-examination ratio was determined as 83.3% in the experimental group and 4.5% in the control group. It can be asserted that the training brochure is effective in promoting the self-examination of testicles. It may be recommended to conduct experimental studies with larger study groups to increase testicular self-examination.

Türkiye’deki Psikolojik Danışman Eğitiminde Kritik Akreditasyon Konuları ile İlgili Öğretim Elemanları Görüşlerinin İncelemesi

The lack of counselor education standards set by professional organizations increases the necessity for accreditation studies. Therefore, this descriptive study aimed to investigate the opinions of counselor educators working in Turkish public and private universities’ counselor education programs on critical standards/criteria of the accreditation process. A total of 201 counselor educators aged between 24 to 88 years participated in the study. Data were collected through a demographic form as well as a survey that was developed by the researchers. Data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The results of the study showed that the majority of the participants supported the idea of establishing an independent counseling-specific accreditation organization that accredits counseling programs in Turkey. Implications of the findings, as well as limitations and recommendations, are shared for future research in the study.

Development and Evaluation of a Turkish Language Version of the Relational Health Indices

Counseling scholars have increasingly utilized the relational-cultural theory (RCT) to promote growth fostering connections as a healthy way of managing various life problems. The Relational Health Indices (RHI) was developed to understand relational interactions among women. In an attempt to broaden the utility of the RHI, the purpose of this study was to develop and validate a Turkish language version of the RHI for research and clinical use. In translating the RHI from English to Turkish, we followed a seven-step process. Data were collected from 213 Turkish-speaking college students enrolled in two Turkish public universities with the mean age of 22.29 (SD= 3.41). The findings revealed that the RHI-T proved to be a two-factor structure (the Peer and Mentor subscales) among Turkish students and that the Community subscale was not an acceptable fit even after removing several items. Potential explanations, implications, and recommendations for clinical use and future research are provided.

Examination of Nursing Students’ Medical Error Attitudes within Three Different Educational Models

Objective: A cross-sectional comparative study was exposed within three Turkish public universities. This study aims to examine nursing students attitudes towards medical errors who are trained within three different education models and to determine factors that affect these attitudes. &#x0D; Methods: A personal and educational conditions questionnaire and the Medical Error Attitude Scale were used. All students (n=1242) who agreed to participate in the research from the second, third and fourth year nursing students of three universities were included to sample.&#x0D; Results: It was found that nursing students trained with the integrated education model and problem-based learning model had higher scores on the Medical Error Attitude Scale than nursing students trained with classical education model. In the subscales of the Medical Error Attitude Scale, students trained in the integrated education model had a higher average score in “perception” and “causes” subscales. A statistically significant difference was found in attitudes at different levels of training. Additionally, it was found that the mean scores of the second year nursing students were higher in the medical error perception subscale.&#x0D; Conclusions: The findings of research emphasized that there is difference between medical error attitudes of nursing students who are educated by different education models. It can be suggested that in all models nursing education models, medical errors and patient safety trainings should be given effective and practical level. In this way, results may help to integrate to clinical practice.

A Case Study on Evaluating Regional Development-Oriented Universities’ Contribution to Society Activities in Turkey

This study aims to evaluate the efficiency and performance of contribution to society activities of Turkish public universities titled as regional development-oriented universities in the content of Mission Differentiation and Specialization on the Basis of Regional Development Project. Data Envelopment Analysis was applied to assess the relative contribution to society efficiency of these universities for 2018 and 2019. The results indicate that relatively efficient universities were only three and two out of fifteen universities according to their use of human and financial inputs in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Also, the overall mean score of universities is less than 0.5; hence, in total, universities were inefficient regarding their contribution to society activities in both years. Besides, the number of universities that had a 100% or higher fulfillment rate of the objectives pertaining the social contribution activities in the university’s strategic plan varied between four and seven. Although the main aim of regional development-oriented universities is to contribute to their regions’ socio-economic development, the findings show that selected universities have a poor performance in contributing to society activities, in other words, partly in third mission activities.

Scientific impact of the Turkish educational dissertations

This study investigates the impact of the Turkish educational dissertations through the scientific impact criterion dealing with the scientific publications extracted from the dissertations in peer-reviewed indexed journals and their citation counts. 124 dissertations completed in 12 Turkish public universities between 2014 and 2017 were selected through criterion sampling. Authors’ websites, ERIC, Google Scholar, Researchgate, ScienceDirect and Web of Science databases were scanned to identify the scientific publications extracted from the dissertations, whereas Google Scholar, Researchgate and Web of Science databases were searched to determine their citation counts. 64 scientific publications were extracted from 124 dissertations, no information was found for 60 dissertations. Furthermore, only 34 of 64 scientific publications were cited and the total number of citations was 115. Since most of these publications and their citation counts were seen in the low impact factor indexed journals, it can be concluded that the scientific impact of these dissertations is low. Due to the core contributions of the field of education to the other fields, some suggestions were made to increase the scientific impact of the Turkish dissertations in line with the concrete findings of this study.

Identifying Type of Organizational Culture in Turkish Public Universities: Academic Staff Members Perceptions

Identifying Type of Organizational Culture in Turkish Public Universities: Academic Staff Members Perceptions

Predictors of attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help among Turkish college students

Abstract The aim of this study was to examine correlates of attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help among Turkish college students. A convenience sample of 1066 students from a large Turkish public university completed the measures of the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale-Short Form, Self-Stigma of Seeking Help Scale, Disclosure Expectations Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Single Item Self-Rated Health Scale, and Sociodemographic Information Form. Data were analyzed using Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. The results of this study suggested that being female, being older, having previous help-seeking experience, as well as lower levels of anticipated risks, self-stigma, self-esteem, and self-rated health and higher levels of anticipated benefits were associated with positive help-seeking attitudes among Turkish college students. The results of the present study may contribute to determining cross-cultural correlates of help-seeking attitudes among college students.

Exploring the Lived Social and Academic Experiences of Foreign-born Students

The purpose of this study is to provide a better understanding of the experiences of FBSs studying at a Turkish public university. The study attempted to provide useful findings for student services, faculties, policy makers, and other stakeholders to effectively address the needs, interests, and aspirations of FBSs, thereby helping them better adapt to school and community life in Turkey. The researcher collected the data in the winter of 2019 by utilizing an open-ended interview protocol with a snowball sampling of seven FBSs. Three themes emerged from the students’ spoken words: first days’ experience, balancing period through social experiences, and the lived academic experiences. Findings from this study suggest that FBSs have lived many positive and negative social and academic experiences. For most, negative experiences were transformed into positive ones with various facilitators that brought FBSs personal growth and better adaptation.

Looking Inside the Strategic Plans: Strengths and Weaknesses of Turkish Higher Education Institutions

As strengths and weaknesses are regarded as internal features of an organization, the present study focused on strengths and weaknesses of Turkish public universities by analyzing the SWOTs (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) of twenty higher education institutions. By applying qualitative content analytical tools, we tried to make some comparisons, twenty universities, ten ranked at the top and ten at the bottom of the URAP list, were chosen to analyze the strengths and weaknesses. Findings show that all universities top or bottom ones have internal strengths and weaknesses on their own. The strengths of universities differ according to their size, field of service, structure, history and geographical locations. Top universities which are in big size, have a deeply rooted history and situated in a better geographical location can enjoy the strengths as qualified faculty members, organizational culture, internationalization process, infrastructure and good alumni relations. On the other hand, bottom universities which have not got those advantages deal with other strengths such as young faculty members, organizational support and internal communication. As for the weaknesses, top universities need more budget and acceptable rate of faculty member and student. Bottom ones need more qualified faculty members, students and staff. As they are located in disadvantageous regions, they are in need of some promotions to attract faculties, staff, national and international students. In addition, they also should be aware of the contributions of good alumni relations.