A study on reading habits of social studies and history teachers in Turkey

The development of reading habits in the society is influenced by both the family and school environment. Teachers are the most effective element within the school environment. Social studies teachers at the primary education level and history teachers at the secondary education level can be said to be branch teachers who should have an "advanced" reading habits both in terms of their fields and their missions. As a result, this study was carried out in order to determine their attitudes towards reading and their reading habits. This study was conducted with 110 participants from 4 provinces. 50 were social studies teachers while 60 were history teachers in Central Anatolia and Marmara regions in 2014 to 2015 school year. In the study, a mixed method was used involving both quantitative and qualitative dimensions. As a result of the research, it was determined that the teachers of social studies and history had a reading habit at an "intermediate" level. Based on findings; regarding the willingness to read books between social studies teachers and history teachers, a meaningful difference was found in favor of social studies teachers in the sub-dimensions of adopting the influence and benefit of reading the book; and a significant difference was found in favor of female teachers in the subscales of adopting the effect and benefit of reading the willing to read books between female teachers and male teachers. In addition, teachers expressed that they read in order to learn more because of factors such as timelessness, but that the environment does not encourage them. Activities suggested by the teachers to improve reading did not really contribute to improve reading habits. Key words: Social studies teachers, history teachers, reading habits, teacher qualities, reading activities.