Analysis of the relationship between preschool teacher candidates and communication skills with media literacy

The aim of this study is to reveal the relationship between pre-school teacher candidates' media literacy and communication skills. The study also aimed to reveal the relationship between pre-school teacher candidates' media literacy and communication skills, and whether they differ significantly according to demographic. The study group of this research consists of 223 pre-school teacher candidates who study in the formal education program of Akdeniz University, Faculty of Education, Department of Primary Education, Preschool Education Department in the 2019-2020 academic year. The data in the study are loaded with "Media Literacy Skills Scale", "Communication Skills Inventory" and "Personal Information Form". A total of 223 pre-school teachers participated in the study. In this study, Kruskal-Wallis H test, Mann-Whitney U test, t-test, Spearman ρ sequence correlation coefficient and Pearson product moment correlation coefficient were used for analysis. As a result of the findings obtained from the analyzes, it was determined that the relationship between pre-school teacher candidates' media literacy and communication skills was significant and at a medium level. Considering the demographic characteristics, it was concluded that the total scores of media literacy and communication skills did not differ significantly according to the gender of the participants and their purpose of using the internet in 'Social Media' and 'Entertainment' according to the results of Mann Whitney U, Kruskal Wallis, Pearson Correlation Coefficient and ANOVA test. In the study, also, the classroom level variable of pre-school teacher candidates, their status of having a computer and their general grade point averages show positive and significant differences. The findings were discussed in the light of the literature, and suggestions were made for the limitations of the study and for future research.