Abstract:

This study aims to examine the communication skills of students who are studying in the physical education teaching department of the faculties of sports sciences and physical education and sports teacher candidates participating and pedagogical training certificate program, according to demographic variables. The sample of the study consisted of a total of 377 students, 145 women and 232 men, who continue their education in the physical education teaching, coaching education, and sports management departments of the faculties of sports sciences in the 2019-2020 academic year. Personal information form and the "Communication Skills Scale" that is developed by Korkut Owen and Bugay (2014) were used as data collection tools. Since the data did not show a normal distribution, non-parametric tests were analyzed and descriptive statistics were used. According to the findings obtained, it was observed that the communication skills of the students were high in the sub-dimensions of "communication principles basic skills", "self-expression", "active listening and non-verbal communication" and close to high in the "willingness to communicate" sub-dimensions. It was determined that the communication skills of the students differed according to their gender and grade levels, and did not differ according to their participation in the departments and pedagogical training certificate program. As a result, it can be stated that the communication skills of the students studying in the faculties of sports sciences and participating in the pedagogical training certificate program are generally high, and there is no difference between the students studying in the physical education department and the students participating in the pedagogical training certificate program.