The effect of children literacy texts on improving of listening as a basic language skill

This study aimed at revealing the effects of the texts assumed to be appropriate as well as of the texts assumed not to be appropriate for children literacy on listening skills. To this end, first of all, the texts which are appropriate for children literacy and the texts which are included in Turkish course-books were defined. Then, these texts were used for listening practices made within the scope of Turkish course given to the 6th grades students attending the primary schools included in study sample.Study was conducted on 408 students attending 6th grade of 11 primary schools in Ankara Province. These students were divided into an experimental group of 207 students and a control group of 201 students.While the students in the experimental group were given a listening education via the texts meeting the criteria of children literacy, the students in the control group practiced with the texts presented in current course-books. After two-week education, listening comprehension questions -prepared to determine the differences in the listening skills of students- were applied to the students both in experimental and control group as a post-test.Excel 2007 and SPSS 15.00 programs were used to analyze study data. Statistical techniques of percentage, frequency, arithmetic mean, t-test, Chi-square test and one way variance analysis (ANOVA) were used in the analysis of the study data.The results of the analysis indicated that appropriate literal texts improve listening skills of students more when compared to inappropriate literal texts. One of the important results produced by the study is that location of the school is an important variable for the improvement of students? listening skills. Study has also shown that according to the student perception ?learning by listening? is best way of learning. The most important listening problems students encounter are distraction and teachers who speak too fast and monotonously.Key Words: Children literacy, listening, listening education, types of listening, secondary school, listening activities.