Perceptions of Turkish University Students about the role of Teacher as a Mediator and Mediated Learning Experience

Year 2017, Volume: 3 Issue: 2, 130 - 150, 10.12.2017

Abdullah Ertit

Abstract

This study
explores the perceptions of university students about Feuerstein’s mediated
learning experience (MLE) and the role of teacher as a mediator. In this
qualitative study, students from 4 departments at an education faculty in a
state university in Turkey were grouped as experimental and control group and
received intervention in English course based on mediated learning experience
and social constructivist theory. At the end of the intervention, a total of 20
students from two different departments in the experimental group were
interviewed face-to-face and the data were analyzed through content analysis.
Based on the findings of the study, students reported that the role of teacher
as a mediator facilitated their learning process in a positive way by
increasing their motivation, self-confidence, autonomy and willingness to communicate
by enabling them to have a better interaction among group and class members as
their friends. Findings also imply the fact that although the education system
in Turkey is designed upon the principles of constructivist approach since the
introduction of the 2006 curriculum reform, students had not been exposed to
constructivism based classroom practices prior to the intervention applied for
this study.

Keywords

Mediation, Mediated Learning Experience, teacher as a mediator

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