Effectiveness of a peer coaching technique on developing Turkish and English writing skills

In this thesis, titled "Effectiveness of a Peer Coaching Technique on Developing Turkish and English Writing Skills", it was aimed to evaluate whether writing activities based on peer coaching technique, which is based on Social Constructivism, contribute to the Turkish and English writing skills of Turkish students who learn English as a foreign language. Another aim of this research is to find out whether the peer coaching technique contributes to students' critical thinking skills and attitudes towards writing. To find out whether peer coaching technique creates a difference in students' mother tongue, target language, critical thinking skills and writing attitudes in terms of their gender is one of the sub-objectives of this thesis. In the thesis, the study group consisted of one hundred students studying in the tenth grade of a state high school in Çankaya, Ankara. In the research, a mixed design was used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data in a sequential manner. In order to obtain quantitative data, pre-test and post-test control experimental group experimental method was used. Control and experimental groups were formed according to the semester English grades of the study group. The control and experimental group students completed the writing activities in their mother tongue and target language based on the image given to them in the pre-test and post-test. After the pre-test, ten hours of peer coaching technique training, in Turkish and English, were given to the experimental groups consecutively by the researcher, and after the training, the experimental group completed the writing activities using the peer coaching technique for ten weeks. The control group, on the other hand, continued writing activities in the curriculum in Turkish and English lessons and the researcher gave feedback to the control group's Turkish and English writing activities for ten weeks. Turkish and English texts written by the students of the control and experimental groups in the pre-test and posttest were scored by three evaluators who are experts in their fields, and a statistical analysis of the difference between two groups was made based on the average of the scores. Critical thinking skills and writing attitude questionnaires were applied to the control and experimental groups before the pre-test and after the post-test, and the difference was statistically revealed. In addition, the effect of peer coaching technique on students' mother tongue, target language, critical thinking skills and writing attitudes in terms of gender was examined. In order to reach qualitative data, the texts written by the experimental group students in the pre-test and post-test were observed with content analysis method by the researcher. In addition, at the end of the practice, interviews were conducted with the volunteer experimental group students with face-to-face structured questions by the researcher and the findings obtained from the interviews were evaluated by the researcher. According to the quantitative and qualitative findings obtained from the study, it was seen that the peer coaching technique had a positive effect on the mother tongue and target language of high school students who learned English as a foreign language. In addition, it has been found out that the peer coaching technique has a positive contribution to students' critical thinking skills and writing attitude. In addition, it was perceived that the positive effect of the peer coaching technique on female students' mother tongue, target language, critical thinking skills and writing attitudes was higher than male students.