Prospective Social Studies Teachers’ Evaluations of Their Own Oral History Experiences Related to Turkey’s Recent History

Abstract

This study examined how prospective social studies teachers evaluate their experiences conducting oral histories regarding Turkey’s recent history. The research was completed in a course called History of the Republic of Turkey in the Faculty of Education at Sakarya University. Thirty-four social studies teacher candidates participated in the study. Based on a phenomenological research design (a qualitative research method), the data were obtained via semi-structured interviews consisting of 5 questions developed for this study. Content analysis was used to analyze the data. The prospective social studies teachers reported that their experiences completing oral histories related to recent Turkish history positively affected their views of the study of history and that their oral history experiences exposed them to diverse perspectives. The primary difficulties they encountered conducting their oral histories concerned the source persons they did oral histories. They also reported that they would like to practice oral history in their future social studies classes.