The Relationship between Prospective Teachers' Media and Television Literacy and Their Critical Thinking Dispositions

Problem Statement: Teachers play a significant role in shaping students on media literacy and critical thinking. Hence, prospective teachers are required to gain knowledge about media literacy and critical thinking during pre-service training. Provided that prospective teachers who will shape the next generation possess such skills as accessing to knowledge, examining knowledge with a critical perspective and discerning what is good and what is bad, they will be able to guide students to acquire these skills. On this subject, the present study investigated a small number of studies that examine the relationship between media literacy and critical thinking. Purpose of the Study: The aim of the present study is to analyze the relationship between prospective teachers' media and television literacy levels and their critical thinking dispositions. Method: The research used relational screening models. The sample of the research consisted of 166 prospective teachers studying teacher training course at one of Turkey's state universities. The study's research analysis utilized descriptive statistics, MANOVA and Pearson product-moment correlation. Findings and Results: The current study found that critical thinking dispositions as well as their media and television literacy differ significantly depending on their gender and major. A medium level positive relationship was revealed between prospective teachers' general critical thinking disposition scores and the media and television literacy scale literacy sub-dimension, while there is a low level positive relationship exists between critical thinking and the addiction sub-dimension. Recommendations: Based on the study's findings, the following recommendations are provided: given prospective teachers' low critical thinking disposition scores, it is important that higher education curricula be designed for the development of critical thinking skills; moreover, various measures should be taken that aim to provide the appropriate equipment and psychological environment to develop these skills. The present study determined that there is a medium level positive relationship between prospective teachers' general critical thinking disposition scores and the media and television literacy scale literacy sub-dimension; this relationship between media literacy and critical thinking can be further investigated through different sample groups and different measurement tools.