The Metaphoric Perceptions of Pre-Service Teachers Towards “Smart Phone” or Was Davis Right From The Start?

The main purpose of this study is to determine the metaphoric perceptions of prospective teachers towards smart phones. 184 pre-service teachers (57 males; 127 females) were included in the study. In the study, phenomenological design was used. And data were analyzed by content analysis technique. Pre-service teachers were asked to complete the sentences such as “Smart phone is like…; Because…“. Findings are presented with tables and direct quotations. At the end of the research; while 81% of pre-service teachers have a positive attitude towards smartphones, 19% have a negative attitude. It was found that 48.3% of the pre-service teachers thought that the smartphone was addictive. Also 16% of the prospective teachers stated that the smartphone's perceived ease of use and 17% expressed the perceived usefulness of the smartphone. In addition, it was determined that only 10.8% of the pre-service teachers reported their opinions in the conscious use category. Finally, the metaphorical perceptions of prospective teachers towards the smartphone; intention (positive-negative attitude), perceived ease of use, perceived benefit, smartphone addiction and conscious use are collected in five different categories. Consequently, it can be stated that the findings obtained in this study largely support the subscales of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) developed by Davis et al. (1989). The results of the study were discussed within the framework of the literature and some suggestions were made