Browsing by Author "Unlutabak, Burcu"

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Citation Count: 0
Children's questions and teachers' responses about COVID-19 in Türkiye and the US
(Public Library Science, 2024) Unlutabak, Burcu; Trujillo Hernandez, Graciela; Velioglu, Ilayda; Menendez, David; Rosengren, Karl S.
Question-asking is a crucial tool for acquiring information about unseen entities, such as viruses; thus, examining children's questions within the context of COVID-19 is particularly important for understanding children's learning about the coronavirus. The study examined 3-12-year-old children's questions and teachers' responses about the COVID-19 pandemic in T & uuml;rkiye, a non-Western developing context, and the United States, a Western cultural context. A total of 119 teachers from T & uuml;rkiye and 95 teachers from the US participated in the study. Teachers completed an online survey consisting of a demographic form and a questionnaire asking them to report three questions about COVID-19 asked by children in their classrooms and their responses to these questions. We analyzed children's questions and teachers' responses for their type and content and examined demographic factors associated with children's questions and teachers' responses. Consistent with the literature, children from T & uuml;rkiye asked fewer explanation-seeking (i.e., why/how) questions than children from the United States. Children asked questions about viruses and precautions. Teachers responded to children's questions realistically in both countries. The findings have important implications for how children gain knowledge from teachers when discussing health, disease, and virus topics in two countries.
Citation Count: 0
Effects of second-language acquisition on character introductions in 5-and 7-year-old bilingual and monolingual children's Frog story narratives
(SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD, 2021) Aktan-Erciyes, Aslı; Unlutabak, Burcu; Zengin, Betül Firdevs
This study investigates the effects of early second-language (L2) acquisition on introduction of characters in narrative discourse by comparing 5- and 7-year-old monolingual (first-language [L1] = Turkish) and bilingual (L1 = Turkish, L2 = English) children. Turkish does not have a grammaticalized article system like English which enables to investigate specific influences. The findings revealed that monolingual and bilingual children used similar forms while introducing characters; however, for the Frog character, bilingual children used more appropriate referencing compared to monolinguals. These findings were discussed within the effects of L2 on L1 in terms of introducing characters as well as the amount of exposure to L2.
Citation Count: 5
Examining children's questions and parents' responses about COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey
(Springer, 2022) Unlutabak, Burcu; Velioglu, Ilayda
COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on both adults' and children's everyday lives. Conversations about biological processes such as viruses, illness, and health have started to occur more frequently in daily interactions. Although there are many guidelines for parents about how to talk to their children about the coronavirus, only a few studies have examined what children are curious about the coronavirus and how they make sense of the changes in their everyday lives. This study addresses this need by examining children's questions and parents' responses about the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Turkish sociocultural context. Using an online survey, we asked 184 parents of 3- to 12-year-olds to report their children's questions about coronavirus and their answers to these questions. We analyzed children's questions and parents' responses using qualitative and quantitative analyses (Menendez et al., 2021). Children's questions were mainly about the nature of the virus (34%), followed by lifestyle changes (20%). Older children were more likely to ask about school/work and less likely to ask about lifestyle changes than younger children. Parents responded to children's questions by providing realistic explanations (48%) and reassurance (20%). Only 18% of children's questions were explanation-seeking why and how questions. Parents were more likely to provide explanations if children's questions were explanation-seeking. Family activities such as playing games and cooking were the most common coping strategies reported by parents (69.2%). The findings have important implications for children's learning about the coronavirus and how adults can support children's learning and help them develop coping strategies in different sociocultural contexts.
Citation Count: 1
Parental input during book reading and toddlers' elicited and spontaneous communicative interactions
(Elsevier Science Inc, 2022) Unlutabak, Burcu; Aktan-Erciyes, Asli; Yilmaz, Duygu; Kandemir, Songuel; Goksun, Tilbe
This study examined the relation between characteristics of parental input, particularly focusing on questions and pointing gestures directed to toddlers during book reading, and toddlers' elicited and spontaneous communicative interactions. A total of 30 Turkish speaking parents and their toddlers (18 girls, Mage = 18.79 SDage = 1.55) were observed during shared book reading. The communicative interactions were coded for parents' questions and pointing, and toddlers' elicited and spontaneous speech and pointing. The results showed that parents' label questions with pointing were positively associated with toddlers' elicited speech. Similarly, parents' label questions without pointing, and parents' description questions with pointing were positively associated with toddlers' elicited pointing. These findings highlight the importance of parental questions accompanied by pointing when eliciting toddler communicative interactions both in the form of speech and pointing, and provides insight for how to best communicate with toddlers during such interactions.