Investigation of Teacher Candidates' Tendencies towards Digital Speech

This study aims to examine Turkish language and literature and Turkish teacher candidates' tendencies towards digital speech. In this context, participants' digital speech tendencies were analyzed in terms of various variables. These variables include gender, the department they study at the university, whether they have previously participated in an online meeting or program as a speaker, social media use, whether they have taken a course on "communication, effective communication, human relations and communication, oral expression, speech training", and digital speech skills. Variables include having prior knowledge, preferring face-to-face communication, preferring speaking, and preferring online/distance communication. The research was conducted on a total of 296 teacher candidates (231 female, 65 males) studying at a university in eastern Turkey. The study was conducted in the survey model. According to the results of the research, teacher candidates' digital speech tendencies were determined in terms of variables such as department, having previously participated in an online meeting as a speaker, using social media applications, having taken undergraduate-level communication, effective communication, human relations and communication, oral expression, speaking training" courses. However, significant differences were found in terms of some variables such as gender, level of knowledge about digital speech, preference for face-to-face communication and speaking, and preference for online and distance communication. In addition, it was determined that 80% of the teacher candidates had a medium level of digital speech tendencies. These results provide an important perspective for better understanding and developing the digital speech tendencies of teacher candidates.