The Effect of Various Local Dances on Prospective Physical Education Teachers’ Attitudes towards the Folk Dance Course

Abstract

In this study, the effect of various local dances on prospective physical education teachers' attitudes towards the folk dance course was examined. The research was conducted by using an experimental design with pre-test/post-test control group. A total of 46 female students, which includes an experimental group consisting of 23 students attended the folk dance class and a control group consisting of 23 students did not attend the folk dance class, who are studying at Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University, School of Physical Education and Sports in the Department of Teaching in the spring term of the 2017-2018 academic year and who are aged 20 years, voluntarily participated in the study. In this research, the Folk Dance Course Attitude Scale for Prospective Physical Education Teachers developed by Turan (2015) was used. In the experimental group, the folk dances training program, which continues for 14 weeks with the program of 2 days of a week for 2 hours at each day, was conducted. The data were analyzed by using SPSS 22 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) package program. In the analysis of data, dependent sampling t-test was used for examining the differences between experimental and control groups. As a result of the research, it was observed that there was a significant difference in favor of students who took the folk dance training. This result shows that various local dances are effective in developing a positive attitude towards this course.