Lisansüstü Eğitim Enstitüsü

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Browsing Lisansüstü Eğitim Enstitüsü by Department "Enstitüler, Lisansüstü Eğitim Enstitüsü, Beşeri ve Sosyal Bilimler Ana Bilim Dalı"

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    Master Thesis
    The effects of second language proficiency and language distance on young adults' executive functioning performance
    (Kadir Has Üniversitesi, 2022) Betül Firdevs, Zengin; AKTAN-ERCIYES, ASLI
    The bilingual advantage hypothesis suggests that knowing and controlling more than one language enhances cognitive capacities. While there are studies that have shown a positive relationship between bilingualism and various cognitive factors there is also a growing literature finding no difference between monolinguals and bilinguals. Finding pure monolinguals has become almost impossible, especially in the young adult population. Hence, this study aims to investigate two bilingual groups that have different genetic language distances between their first language (L1) and second language (L2) (i.e., L1-Turkish-L2-English and L1-Turkish-L2-Arabic) and examine whether language proficiency plays a role in task performances of executive functioning (henceforth EF). The sample of the study consisted of 108 participants with Turkish as their first language, 55 of which had English as their second language (Female = 40, Male = 15, Mage = 22.96) and 53 with Arabic as their L2 (Female = 40, Male = 13, Mage = 22.05). We collected data in two sessions; the first session included computerized versions of the Stroop task as a measure of inhibition, Wisconsin Card Sorting Task for cognitive flexibility and 2-Back for verbal working memory and both the forward and backward Corsi Block tests for spatial working memory. The second session included the second language proficiency task PPVT-IV, Penn Matrix Analysis Test (PMAT24) as a measure of non-verbal reasoning, and the letter verbal fluency task to control for L1 fluency. The findings suggest that L2 proficiency was not a significant predictor of EF task performance in our sample. Additionally, the genetic language distance score in our study was based on how distant the languages originated from one another. However different aspects of language distance such as orthography and word borrowing can play a role in how language distance effects EF performance therefore, they can be considered for future studies.
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    Doctoral Thesis
    Turkish Navy's Move 'Towards Blue Waters': Its Origins, development and implementation
    (Kadir Has Üniversitesi, 2021) Özel, Mesut; Çelikpala, Prof. Dr. Mitat; Kahyaoğlu, Prof. Dr. Nurhan; Güvenç, Serhat
    After the Cold War, Turkish Navy faced a significant stimulus for change because of major alterations in strategic calculus, military planning, and waging war. To cope with pressing security challenges, Navy charted itself a new course, Towards Blue Waters in the 1990s. Navy's growth and activism, and its role in the progress of defense industries attracted both commendation and criticism. Differences of opinion on the Navy's posture compel a thorough review of the main drivers of change. Focusing on the last three decades, this dissertation endeavors to uncover the geopolitical, strategic, historical, cultural, institutional, political, and economic factors behind this move. Taking this as an idiographic case, the toolbox of the sociological institutionalist model is utilized in explaining Navy's new strategy. Therefore, the process-tracing method is employed by interviewing naval elites/experts and value analysis of leaders' remarks to empirically verify the theoretical explanation. After discussing the historical, cultural, and geopolitical determinants, the case is studied theoretically. Then, the performance of transformation is compared against its promised goals. This research concludes that the institutionalist model provides solid explanations for Navy's adoption of a worldwide norm: projecting security and force. By internalizing the notion of unimpaired access to the world as its organizational essence, the Navy's leaders, who are subscribed to the goal of Turkey's quest to become a sovereign, credible and legitimate member of the international community, figure as the engines for this transformation. In the process, the Navy relied on its skilled and educated manpower as the prime enabler.