Preschool children’s imaginary companions are a relatively unexplored phenomenon. This article provides information about a qualitative study investigating Turkish children’s statements about their imaginary companions. Forty-six children aged between 48–60 months were interviewed. A phenomenological pattern was used to explore themes in the research. As a result of the research, six themes and 24 categories were created. When the themes were reviewed, it was seen that the children’s imaginary companions were male in terms of gender, clothing, and accessories in terms of appearance characteristics, and happiness in terms of mood characteristics. In addition, considering the thinking status of their imaginary companions, it was determined that they concentrated in the category of entertainment/game, in the category of communication skills in terms of liked/admirable features, and finally in the category of negative behaviour as disliked/unadmirable features. Addressing imaginary companions in children’s lives in different dimensions can contribute to their development.

This research study aims at investigating at which level the variables of academic and recreational digital reading attitude, technology attitude, and possession of social media account and mobile devices predict the classification of students as those who perform more academic digital reading and who perform less academic digital reading. The participants of the research are 259 students (120 male, 139 female) within the age range of 13-15 who were attending the 8th-grade of 3 state secondary schools in the city center of Düzce. In accordance with the purpose, the Logistic Regression Analysis (LRA) was preferred. It was seen in the regression model that variables of academic digital reading attitude and technology tendency are significant predictive variables in estimating the academic digital reading group membership of the students of 13-15 age group. It was also found in the model that recreational digital reading attitude, negativity of technology, contribution and importance of technology, technology for all, possession of online mobile devices, possession of an active social media account and gender variables are not significant predictors of students performing less or more digital reading. It can be argued based on the research results that supporting the academic digital reading attitude and technology tendency together may provide more qualified attainments regarding the purpose of online reading for learning.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the causes, processes of writer’s block experienced by a group of classroom teacher candidates and its impact on them.Design/methodology/approach: The phenomenological design, which is a qualitative research design, was preferred in the research since it was aimed to investigate the causes, processes of writer’s block experienced by a group of classroom teacher candidates and its effects on the students.Findings: As a result of the data analysis, it is possible to suggest the limitations of subject and time, problems in the process of writing teaching since primary school, anxiety of being controlled and assessed by grades, fear of being criticized, negativity of classroom settings, lack of information about writing, not being able to read and shortcomings in the vocabulary as the causes of writer’s block.Research limitations/implications: The research has some limitations. First, the research is only in the phenomenology design. Quantitative research is needed to determine the more common effects of outcomes. The other one is a limitation on the participants. A group of adult teacher candidates constitute the participants of this research. Writer’s block of students at different age levels can be examined longitudinally. Nevertheless, the results of the research have the theoretical implications for teaching writing. It specifically guides to understand and eliminate negative affective factors related to writing.Practical implications: The results of this research have practical implications in terms of classroom practices. The results of the study show that there are practical implications for what should be considered in classroom writing teaching and to prevent the writer’s block.Originality/value: Writer’s block is an affective state and the examination of it is important in terms of writing instruction. Many students suffer from writer’s block. However, this subject is neglected by writing researchers and educators. The authors expect the results to guide teachers and writing education researchers. Because of these reasons, this study is important and gives good contribution to literature.

Reading is a skill that is necessary for acquiring certain types of knowledge (Ikhtiyorovna, 2023; Mahfouz & Mohamed, 2023; Yu et al., 2023). It is also necessary for functioning effectively in man...

Bu araştırmanın amacı öğrencilerin kâğıttan dijitale yazma tutumunu ölçmek için bir ölçme aracı geliştirmektir. Araştırmaya üst sosyoekonomik düzeydeki okullarda öğrenim gören 2534 gönüllü öğrenciyle (7-12. Sınıf) yürütülmüştür. Ölçeğin madde analizleri için %27 alt ve üst grup ortalamaların anlamlılığı test edilmiştir. Ölçeğin faktörlerini belirlemek için Açımlayıcı Faktör Analizi yapılmıştır. Buna göre 12 maddelik Dijital ortamlarda yazma tutumu ve 7 maddelik Kâğıt ortamında yazma tutumu faktörleri elde edilmiştir. Ölçeğin faktörleri arasında negatif yönlü anlamlı ilişki bulunmuştur. Ölçeğin güvenirlikleri Dijital ortamlarda yazma tutumu boyutu α= .89; Kâğıt ortamında yazma tutumu boyutu α= .75; ölçeğin tamamı ise α=.77’dir. Ayrıca ölçeğin tekrar test güvenirlik sonuçları Dijital ortamlarda yazma tutumu boyutu=.98; Kağıt ortamında yazma tutumu =.96; ölçeğin tamamı ise .97 bulunmuştur. Ölçeğin Doğrulayıcı Faktör Analizi sonuçları da iki faktörlü ölçeğin (χ²/df=3.16; RMSEA=.043; AGFI=.97; GFI=.97; CFI=.97; NFI=.95; IFI=.97;TLI=.97) doğrulandığını göstermektedir. Elde edilen bu sonuçlar ölçeğin güvenilir ve geçerliği olduğunu göstermektedir.

This study aims to determine how listening comprehension levels of students are affected by listening to prosodic and non-prosodic readings vocalized by a computer and human. Third-grade students of four different classes at a primary school were randomly selected in a city center in the Western Black Sea Region of Turkey to participate in the study (n=91). Four equivalent classes formed the listening groups of the research in listening comprehension. The groups were (1) the group listening to the model prosodic reading, (2) the group listening to the computer prosodic reading, (3) the group listening to the model non-prosodic reading, and (4) the group listening to the computer non-prosodic reading. Two stories were used in the measurement of listening comprehension, and comprehension skills were measured with open-ended questions. The data obtained were analyzed with the Kruskal Wallis and Conover–Iman tests. Logistic Regression Analysis (LRA) was performed to reinforce the results and increase distinctiveness. According to the results, inferential comprehension scores of the students who listened to the prosodically-vocalized texts differed from other groups significantly. Meanwhile, literal comprehension scores of all students in the listening groups did not differ. The LRA results indicated that the inferential comprehension scores were a significant predictor of the listening groups. Consequently, the relationship between prosody and inferential comprehension was found to be significant in this study. The results also showed that it is necessary to attach particular importance to prosody in listening activities and to use prosodic models suitable for students in reading activities in the early grades of the primary school.