THE LEVEL OF UNDERSTANDING AND OPINIONS OF A GROUP OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ON MEVLANA

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The aim of the study is to determine to what extent college students know Mevlâna (Rumi) and Mevlevi Order. In addition, I also examined the relationship between students’ knowledge and understanding. The study consists of two parts: in the first part, a form has been prepared to measure the level of the study group’s knowledge of Mevlâna as a historical and biographical figure. The second part contains Likert type items to investigate students’ opinions about Mevlâna and Mevlevi Order. Students participating in this study are studying in Turkish Education, Turkish Literature, Classroom Teaching and Social Studies departments (n=497). Students were selected with an emphasis on the level of education and acculturation. The data were analyzed by focusing on gender, level of education and theme advantage variables. Students participating in this study did not have enough biographic knowledge on Mevlâna. The group that did not have the theme advantage represented a negative relationship between their knowledge on Mevlâna and level of education. On the other hand, the group that did not represent an in-depth knowledge on Mevlâna had more positive opinions on Mevlâna. There was no statistically significant difference between students’ opinions on Mevlâna and their gender. It is obvious that Mevlâna, a prominent figure in national and international level, is not known by college students. Thus, their positive views on Mevlâna cannot be linked to a well-rooted-conscious choice about his (teachings and) ideas.

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Mevlâna , level of understanding , university

Turkish Culture and Haci Bektash Veli Research Quarterly

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Turkish Culture and Haci Bektash Veli Research Quarterly