Investigation of reading habits of faculty of education students

The aim of this study is to examine the reading habits of the students studying at Gaziantep University in terms of various variables. Descriptive sequential design, one of the mixed method designs, was used in the study. The quantitative data of the study were obtained from 'Attitude Scale for Reading Habits' and the responses to the personal information form formed by the researcher. Qualitative data were obtained through semi-structured interview form. While the quantitative data were analyzed with SPSS program, content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. In the study; from parametric tests, unrelated sample t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used. As a result of the research; it was found that attitudes towards reading habits differ significantly in favor of women only in the habit sub-dimension in terms of gender variable. It was determined that the attitudes towards reading habits differed in all sub-dimensions according to the department. According to the level of class, it was determined that only love and effect sub-dimensions differ. According to the perceived socio-economic level, the attitudes towards reading habits of the students did not differ and it was determined that there was only a difference in habit dimension according to the frequency of reading of the families of the students. It was found that the attitudes and sub-dimensions of reading habits differed according to the number of books the students read during the year. The interviewed students indicated that "believed that reading is useful", "reading gave different perspectives", "increased the knowledge", "enhanced the ability to empathize", "enhanced the imagination '', "allowed you to spend a pleasant time", "enriched vocabulary knowledge", and "made it easier to cope with problems". They stated that teachers, friends, families and social media were effective in acquiring the habit of reading books. The findings of the research were discussed together with the related research results in the literature and suggestions were made in the direction of the results obtained.