Investigating the Relationship Between Art Literacy Levels and Aesthetic Appreciation Levels of Fine Arts Pre-Service Teachers

This research, aiming to deal with the relationship between the aesthetic and art literacy, was conducted to determine the relationship between the aesthetic appreciation and art literacy of the pre-service teachers in the division of painting education by specifying their aesthetic appreciation and art literacy levels. The research was carried with the 63 (36 female, 27 male) students who were studying at the Art Division of the Faculty of Education in Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University in the 2018-2019 Educational year. This research was conducted to clarify the relationship between the aesthetic appreciation and art literacy of the pre-service teachers in the division of painting education by specifying their aesthetic appreciation and art literacy levels. As the data collection tool, the Aesthetic Appreciation Scale, which was developed by Sevim, Hisarcıklılar and Feyzioğlu (2012), and the Art Literacy Scale developed by Yüceokur (2014), were applied in the research. Considering the data of the study, it was found that the art literacy and aesthetic appreciation levels of the pre-service visual arts teachers were at a level that can be stated as good, and art literacy and aesthetic appreciation levels did not demonstrate difference according to gender. According to the result of the research, it was concluded that the art literacy levels increase gradually from 1st grade to 4th grade but this increase is not significant. Considering the results, no significant relationship between art literacy, aesthetic appreciation and overall weighted average scores was encountered. Although sufficient answers were reached related to the main idea and colour questions about the painting within the scope of the qualitative data of the research, there was not sufficient answer to form and design questions. It was observed that the students, who apparently had knowledge about the main ideas and colours of the paintings, did not have sufficient knowledge about form and design.