INVESTIGATION OF THE SELF-LEADERSHIP LEVELS OF TURKISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate the self-leadership levels of Turkish language teachers. The population of interest includes 215 Turkish language teachers who work at schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education during 2015-2016 academic years. The research was based on the descriptive survey model. The adopted version of “Self-Leadership Questionnaire” was used to collect the descriptive data. The data is analyzed by way of mean and standard deviation values among descriptive statistics to determine the self-leadership levels of Turkish language teachers. Besides, Independent Samples t-test and one-way Anova test were implemented to evaluate the self-leadership levels of Turkish language teachers as per the variables of gender and depending on the location of service. It was observed that the selfleadership levels of Turkish language teachers ranked the highest average scores of self-leadership in evaluating beliefs and assumptions sub-scale (4.35) while they ranked the lowest average scores of selfleadership in self-reward sub-scale (3.23). The results of self-reward subscale depending on gender variables and of all sub-scales as per the average score showed statistical significance (p<.05). Female Turkish language teachers (3.54) scored higher than male Turkish language teachers (3.06) in self-reward sub-scale with regards to the levels of displaying self-leadership behaviors. In addition, the results revealed that female teachers have higher average scores (3.81) in all sub-scales when compared to self-leadership levels of male Turkish language teachers (3.67). The research finally presented that teachers who work in provinces possess higher levels of self-leadership that that of teachers who work in towns and countries in terms of location of service, which suggests a significant difference in between as well. The research results overall proved the self-leadership levels of Turkish language teachers to be (3.72) over 5The concepts of teacher and student are of high importance in education system. The professional skills as well as the leadership level teachers possess have a significant impact on the cultivation of the students. Herewith, teachers inspire their students as a role-model. A great teacher is influential on the future of the students. Teachers of all disciplines can be mentors for students; nonetheless Turkish Language teaching comes to the forefront among these disciplines since a Turkish Language teacher can promote effective use of mother tongue for students, which in the end emerges as the main building block for a successful education system. Teachers should possess not only the professional skills but also have an effective communication and leadership skills. Herewith, a teacher who developed self-leadership skills can encourage everyone around and has the ability to motivate himself as well. A self-motivating person can be identified as a teacher who has the characteristics of selfleadership skill. A Turkish Language teacher with self-leadership skills promotes enhanced self-awareness of students and contributes them for an intended use of mother tongue. A teacher with this skill can ensure achievement in many aspects, notably the communication. Turkish Language teacher recognizes the achievements of students and promote student motivation. In sum, a Turkish Language teacher with a high level of self-leadership encourages cultivation of creative individuals through this self-leadership skill and paves the way for a society where science and producing are respected for creative individuals with high levels of self-awareness. Purpose of the study The purpose of this study is to observe self-leadership levels of Turkish Language teachers. In this regard, this study aims to; 1- Determine self-leadership levels of Turkish Language teachers 2- Investigate whether the scores Turkish Language teachers gain on the self-leadership rating scale show a significant difference depending on the gender of teachers 3- Examine whether the scores Turkish Language teachers gain on the self-leadership rating scale show a significant difference depending on the location of service. Method This research involves the use of survey model. Survey models are based on the introduction of the existing situation as how they exist in an objective manner (Karasar, 2009). This research aims to determine the self-leadership levels of Turkish Language teachers who work in the schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education of Turkey, based on their own views and to describe how these levels differ depending on the variables of gender and level of education. The research consists of a random sample of 215 Turkish Language teachers who work for 2015- 2016 academic year in schools under Ministry of National Education. The data about the self-leadership levels of teachers are obtained through an adapted Turkish version of Self-Leadership Questionnaire (SLQ) by Tabak, Sığrı ve Türköz (2013), as developed by Anderson and Prussia (1997) and later confirmatory studies were performed by Houghton and Neck (2002). In line with the objective of the research, the mean and standard deviation values extracted from descriptive statistics have been examined to determine the self-leadership levels. Independent Samples t-test is conducted to explore whether the levels differ depending on the variables of gender and level of education of Turkish Language teachers. Results and Recommendations The results have revealed that self-leadership levels of Turkish Language teachers scored the highest (4.35) average level of selfleadership at the sub-scale of evaluating beliefs and assumptions while they scored the lowest (3.23) average level of self-leadership at the subscale of self-reward. The results of self-reward sub-scale depending on gender variables and of all sub-scales as per the average score showed statistical significance (p<.05). Accordingly, self-leadership behaviors of Tur

Özet

Bu araştırmanın amacı Türkçe öğretmenlerinin öz liderlik düzeylerinin incelenmesidir. Araştırmanın çalışma grubunu 2015-2016 eğitim-öğretim yılında Millî Eğitim Bakanlığına bağlı okullarda görev yapan 215 Türkçe öğretmeni oluşturmaktadır. Araştırma betimsel tarama modeline göre desenlenmiştir. Araştırmanın verileri "Öz Liderlik Ölçeği" aracılığıyla toplanmıştır. Verilerin analizinde; Türkçe öğretmenlerinin öz liderlik düzeylerini saptamak için betimsel istatistiklerden; ortalama ve standart sapma değerleri incelenmiştir. Türkçe öğretmenlerinin öz liderlik düzeylerinin cinsiyet ve görev yapılan yerleşim yeri değişkenlerine göre incelenmesi için ise bağımsız gruplar ttesti ve tek yönlü varyans analizi yapılmıştır. Türkçe öğretmenlerinin öz liderlik düzeyleri; düşünce ve fikirleri değerlendirme alt boyutunda (4.35) en yüksek öz liderlik ortalama puanına sahipken kendini ödüllendirme alt boyutunda (3.23) en düşük öz liderlik ortalama puanına sahip olduğu görülmektedir. Cinsiyet değişkenine göre ise kendini ödüllendirme alt boyutunda ve bütün alt boyutların ortalama puanına göre sonuçlar istatistiksel olarak anlamlı çıkmıştır (p<.05). Bu sonuca göre, Türkçe öğretmenlerinin öz liderlik davranışı sergileme düzeyleri kendini ödüllendirme boyutunda kadın öğretmenlerin ortalama puanı (3.54) erkek öğretmenlere göre (3.06) daha yüksektir. Tüm alt boyutlarda ortalama puana göre ise kadın (3.81) Türkçe öğretmenlerinin öz liderlik düzeylerinin erkeklere (3.67) göre daha yüksek olduğu saptanmıştır. Görev yapılan yerleşim yeri açısından, illerde görev yapan öğretmenlerin öz liderlik düzeylerinin ilçelerde ve köylerde görev yapan öğretmenlere oranla daha yüksek olduğu ve anlamlı bir farklılık oluşturduğu belirlenmiştir. Araştırma sonucunda Türkçe öğretmenlerinin öz liderlik düzeyleri 5 üzerinden (3.72) olarak bulunmuştur