Prospective Turkish Teachers' Opinions on Distance and Face-to-Face Education

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced many uncertainties into major aspects of global and national society, including education. Therefore, in a bid to support the continuation of education, Turkey, like many other countries in the world, has made it mandatory to shift to distance education in all school levels. But this mode of teaching, i.e. distance education, has also brought many new challenges, especially for students. Pandemic hit the students hardest. Thus, it would be necessary to know what challenges the students face during distance education. To that end, the current study aims to explore the opinions of university students on distance education. The study participants consisted of 94 undergraduate students, prospective Turkish teachers, studying Turkish in Mus Alparslan University in Turkey. The participants were asked to answer some questions. The questions were about the future of distance education, pros and cons of both education systems, and the most effective system for Turkish teaching. The questions were delivered via Google Forms. The data of this qualitative study was collected using a written opinion form developed by the researchers. In the analysis of research data, the descriptive data analysis technique was used. At the end of the study, the following conclusions were reached: distance education will replace face-to-face education; two education systems are not free from flaws; and Turkish classes should not be delivered through distance education.