Abstract:

This study has studied whether the relationship between the level of empathy and communication skills of the Turkish teacher candidates and whether they differ according to class and gender variables. In the research, the method of single and relative scanning of quantum research methods was used. The study group consists of 311 Turkish teachers candidates studying in 5 different state universities. The study used the "Empati Level Determination Scale" developed by Kaya and Çolakoğlu (2015) to determine the levels of empathy of Turkish teacher candidates as a data collection tool and the "Communication Skills Scale" developed by Tuncer (2008) to measure the communication skills of Turkish teacher candidates. The data obtained in the research were analyzed using a statistical program. Number, percentage, mean and standard deviation were used as descriptive statistical methods in the evaluation of the data. The t-test was used to compare quantitative continuous data between two independent groups, and the One-way Anova test was used to compare quantitative continuous data between more than two independent groups. Pearson correlation and regression analysis were applied between the continuous variables of the study. As a result of the research, it was determined that Turkish teacher candidates have high levels of empathy and communication skills. A positive correlation of r=0.425 (p=0.000<0.05) was found between the empathy levels of Turkish teacher candidates and their communication skills. The level of empathy increases the level of communication skills. In addition, the level of empathy and communication skills of the Turkish teacher candidates do not show significant differences according to the class variable they study, while the gender variable shows significant differences according to the class variable. The average communication score of girls was higher than the average communication score of boys.