The Views of Pre-Service Turkish Language Teachers on their Careers and Career Plans

Abstract

Education is of great importance for all individuals in a society from the very beginning. Individuals have regarded education as the most important way to achieve their goals. In this context, university education, which prepares individuals to work life, has an important place in all societies. However, although individuals start university with great hopes, after a while, concerns and question marks about the future begin. At this point, activities that will contribute to the effective career planning of university students and guiding them on become important. The aim of the present study was to analyze the views of pre-service Turkish language teachers on their careers and career plans. Phenomenology, one of qualitative research methods, was adopted in the study. The study group included 64 pre-service teachers studying at Turkish Language Education department in a large-scale university in the east of Turkey. An interview form which included 4 open-ended questions and was developed by the researcher was used to collect data. The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis. The findings demonstrated that the majority of the participants did not have an effective career plan; they lacked knowledge on their respective fields of study, and their career plans generally focused on teaching and academic professions.