An Investigation of Prospective Teachers' Use of the Turkish Language in Social Media

Purpose: Not only in daily conversations, official correspondence, and educational settings but also on social media platforms, the correct usage of language by prospective teachers has become a necessity of the age. Twitter, which is used by many people to express their feelings, opinions, etc., is used actively by prospective teachers as well. The present study aimed to investigate the grammatical errors in prospective classroom teachers' tweets. Method: The study employed the case study method, one of the qualitative research methods. The data were analyzed through the document analysis method. A total of three hundred tweets posted by 30 prospective teachers were analyzed. Descriptive analysis was used to analyze the data. The grammatical errors to look for in the tweets were determined based on the learning outcomes related to grammar rules specified in the Turkish Language Curriculum designed for primary schools (2019). Findings: Considering the overall results, the vast majority of tweets contained grammatical errors. It was also determined that the grammatical errors were similar in terms of their types. Punctuation errors, inverted sentences, spelling errors, and capitalization errors were some common grammatical errors. On the other hand, misspelled numbers, incorrect abbreviations, and the use of 'reinforced words' (words with a prefix to add emphasis) were rare grammatical errors. When the results were analyzed according to genders, it was found that males' tweets contained more grammatical errors than those of females. In both genders, punctuation errors, inverted sentences, misspellings, and incorrect capitalization were common grammatical errors. On the other hand, misspelled numbers, incorrect abbreviations, and the use of 'reinforced words' (words with a prefix to add emphasis) were rare grammatical errors. In conclusion, it can be said that a majority of tweets posted by prospective teachers contained grammatical errors and these grammatical errors were similar in terms of their types. Implications for Research and Practice: Also, similar studies can be carried out on the use of written language on other social media platforms such as YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook, which also have millions of users.