DEVELOPING A READING ATTITUDE SCALE AIMED AT TEACHER CANDIDATES

Abstract

One of the skill fields in language teaching that is aimed to be improved, is reading. Reading skill is not only an intellectual identity that allows the individual to better understand and analyze the world, but also has a significant role in developing language skills. In the development of these skills, the positive attitude is one of the prerequisites. The skills and attitudes are evaluated with the use of scales. The aim of this study is the development of a valid and reliable reading attitudes scale that will identify the attitudes of younger people towards reading. In this scale, a specific focus is given to the sub dimension of "contribution to individual and social development". The study group of the proposed scale consists of undergraduate and graduate students of different departments at the Faculty of Education. The study has been conducted with 262 students. Prior to data collection a draft scale with 72 questionnaire items of a five level Likertscale was prepared and submitted to experts. Based on the collected expert opinions a scale consisting of 40 positive and 9 negative, in total 49 items, was obtained. The scale items after undergoing a factor analysis were grouped under three subgroups, and the scale was finalized with 38 items. The Cronbach's Alpha reliability scale was calculated as .94, thus showing that the proposed scale is a reliable one. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy has been calculated as .923 and the Bartlett Test value as .01. The developed scale is a one dimensional scale, with the capability of measuring the book reading attitudes of students One of the skill fields in language teaching that is aimed to be improved, is reading. Reading skill is not only an intellectual identity that allows the individual to better understand and analyze the world, but also has a significant role in developing language skills. In the development of these skills, the positive attitude is one of the prerequisites. The skills and attitudes are evaluated with the use of scales. The aim of this study is the development of a valid and reliable reading attitudes scale that will identify the attitudes of younger people towards reading. In this scale, a specific focus is given to the sub dimension of "contribution to individual and social development". Becoming a real literate person includes gaining the skills and knowledge to read and comment on every kind of text and making evaluations and examinations related with these texts. From this perspective being an active reader and writer enables furnishes the individual with skills that are needed to attend local/national and global cultural policies of economy. Language teaching courses aims the acquisition of the language skills besides developing thinking skills. Reading teaching that has a special place in language teaching. It makes the construction of Turkish lessons in a way that will make readers aware of the importance of reading and that will bring the reading skill and culture together to the learner obligatory. In order for the language courses to reach to the mentioned objectives firstly a positive attitude needs to be developed in students. It is accepted by many researchers and educators that individuals who develop a positive attitude towards reading from early ages, additionaly reinforce the framework of their future academic and intellectual lives, develop vocabulary and comprehension skills, use more sofisticated form of language, evaluate the books they read better, improve their sensing skills, hence generally their learning is eased. Educators also remark that, early introduction of kids to reading and literacy raises their confidence and self-respect. Attitude is the first obligation of doing a quality and functional reading. Besides appreciation of language and consciousness failure to develop positive attitute towards reading makes language teaching problematic. In the related literature, a considerable number of researches can be found about Reading Attitude Scale development, adapting the internationally developed scales into Turkish, and evaluating students’ reading attitudes. In order to carry out the necessary regulations in the educational context and to take necessary precautions to avoid negative attitudes towards reading, it is first of all essential to ascertain the current situation. To this end, it is of vital importance to determine students’ reading attitudes. Therefore, this scale has been developed where reading attitudes of undergraduate students are aimed to be measured in terms of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral characteristics. It is hoped that this scale will make significant contributions to the development of the literature related to evaluating students’ reading attitudes. The aim of this study is the development of a valid and reliable reading attitudes scale that will identify the attitudes of younger people towards reading. In this scale, a specific focus is given to the sub dimension of "contribution to individual and social development". The study group of the proposed scale consists of undergraduate and graduate students of different departments at the Başkent University Faculty of Education. The study has been conducted with 262 students. Within the scope of this research, first an item pool was created. For this reason, at the first phase, thirty students were asked to write a composition including their emotions, ideas, and behaviors towards reading. The statements which were thought to measure reading attitude were chosen from the compositions written by these students. At the second phase, the related literature was reviewed, and the available researches and scales were examined so that a 72-item instrument was constructed for piloting. Then, this instrument was examined by the researchers, and the number of the items was reduced to 64. In the next step, expert opinions were consulted. In the light of the expert opinions and suggested corrections

Özet

Dil öğretimi kapsamında geliştirilmesi amaçlanan beceri alanlarından birisi de okumadır. Okuma becerisi, dünyayı daha iyi anlayabilecek ve yorumlayabilecek bir entelektüel kimliğin yanı sıra dil becerilerini geliştirme konusunda da çok önemli bir işleve sahiptir. Becerilerin geliştirilmesindeki ön koşullardan birini olumlu tutum oluşturur. Beceri ve tutumlar, ölçekler aracılığıyla değerlendirilir. Bu çalışmada, gençlerin okumaya karşı tutumlarını belirlemeyi amaçlayan geçerlilik ve güvenirliği sağlanmış bir okuma tutum ölçeği geliştirilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Bu ölçekte, özellikle "kişisel ve toplumsal gelişime katkı" alt boyutuna ağırlık verilmiştir. Geliştirilen ölçeğin çalışma grubunu, Başkent Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesinin farklı bölümlerinde okumakta olan lisans ve yüksek lisans öğrencileri oluşturmaktadır. Çalışma 262 öğrenci ile yürütülmüştür. Veri toplama aşamasında önce 72 maddeden oluşan 5'li likert tipi ölçek taslağı hazırlanarak uzman görüşlerine değerlendirilen ölçekteki maddelerden 40 tanesi olumlu 9 tanesi olumsuz toplam 49 maddelik bir ölçek elde edilmiştir. Faktör analizine tabi tutulan ölçekteki maddeler üç alt boyutta toplanan 38 madde ile son şeklini almıştır. Ölçeğin Cronbach Alpha güvenirlik katsayısı .94 olarak bulunmuş; bu sonuca göre ölçeğin güvenilir bir ölçek olduğu belirlenmiştir. Ölçeğin KMO değeri .923, Bartlett testi ise .01 olarak bulunmuştur. Ölçek tek boyutlu bir ölçektir ve öğrencilerin kitap okuma tutumlarını ölçebilecek özelliktedir