An investigation into Turkish teacher candidates' views on academic writing skills

This research was conducted to examine the opinions and experiences of prospective Turkish teachers regarding their academic writing skills. Academic writing is considered one of the fundamental skills that support the professional, personal, and academic development of teacher candidates; however, competencies in this field vary depending on several factors. Within the scope of the study, multidimensional themes such as candidates' perceptions of academic writing, the difficulties they encounter during the process, the methods and strategies they employ, and their levels of ethical awareness were discussed. The study was conducted in line with the case study design, one of the qualitative research designs. The data were collected based on an opinion form designed to determine views regarding academic writing. This form was expanded with additional questions in line with the purpose of the research and finalized after receiving feedback from five field experts. The study group of the research was enrolled in the Turkish teaching undergraduate program of five different universities in the 2023-2024 academic year and participated in the research voluntarily 4. the class consists of a total of 230 prospective teachers. The data obtained were analyzed using content analysis. The findings revealed that teacher candidates' perceptions of academic writing were largely dominated by a superficial approach, and their awareness of following scientific publications and using academic sources was limited. Furthermore, most candidates tended to evaluate the academic writing process mainly in terms of formal rules, while their knowledge of structural elements and ethical principles remained insufficient. Although the use of digital resources was widespread, the study indicated that competencies related to digital literacy and artificial intelligence applications require further development. In light of these findings, it was concluded that teacher candidates need practical activities to enhance their academic writing skills, as well as training programs that will strengthen their structural, ethical, and digital research literacy competencies.