Primary school teachers' evaluations on literary work and song used in social studies lesson

Literary works and songs are among the materials used in the teaching of the social studies lesson. This study aims to describe primary school teachers' evaluations on the use of literary work and song in social studies lesson. For this purpose, the first two stages of the data-collected four stages of the study describe to which extent primary school teachers use literary works at the 4th grade at primary school and teachers' opinions about using literary works in social studies lesson. The second and third stages of the study intend to reveal the opinions of those primary school teachers who use and don't use songs from literary works in social studies lessons. This study that collected data with both qualitative and quantitative techniques is carried out by merging the parallel (concurrent) design and sequential descriptive design. In the first stage where quantitative data were collected, descriptive survey method was used. The data related to the literary works that 4th grade primary school teachers, selected with criterion sampling method, use in social studies lessons and preferred the most were collected, analyzed and interpreted. The data were analyzed with frequency, multiple response frequency analysis and Mann Whitney U test. In the second stage, phenomenological design was used in the same study group to investigate the primary school teachers' opinions regarding the use of literary works in social studies lesson and how they describe it. For this purpose, primary school teachers' opinions regarding the use of literary works were collected in the written form, and interpreted with content analysis. In order to describe the opinions and usage situations of primary school teachers about the use of songs in the social studies lesson, the phenomenology design was used in the third stage, which was carried out with the teachers who preferred the use of songs, and the case study was used in the fourth stage, which was conducted with the teachers who did not prefer the use of songs. The data at these stages were collected through semi-structured interviews with the teachers who "prefer to use songs" and "don't prefer to use songs" that were selected with extreme case sampling technique, and interpreted with content analysis. The findings of the study suggest that primary school teachers use literary works in social studies lesson. It is found that especially proverbs, stories/tales, songs/folk songs and documentaries are the most used literary works. It is also found that out of 120 primary school teachers, 97 prefer to use songs in social studies lesson whereas 27 do not prefer to do so. Those teachers who use songs in social studies lessons were found to take advantage of songs mostly in the engagement phase of the lesson to support social studies subjects. Primary school teachers stated that they are mindful of selecting songs suitable for the social structure, learning outcomes and the subject, and that from the point of students songs support permanent learning while facilitating the teaching process for teachers. However, it is found that they hardly find songs suitable for the subjects in the social studies lesson. Primary school teachers recommended that there should be repertories/guides of songs that can be used both in social studies lesson and other lessons. Interviews conducted with primary school teachers who do not prefer to use songs revealed that the reasons why teachers do not use songs can be categorized into two groups as general reasons and teachers' qualifications. Among the external reasons are primary school teachers teach with a teacher-centered technique and exam-based approach while among the internal reasons are being unable to associate the songs with the subjects in social studies lesson and lacking in terms of music repertory. Analysis of primary school teachers' statements about the reasons why do not prefer to use songs show that they lacked learning and teaching process management and planning skills which in this sense indicate teachers lack professional skills.