An examination of the impact of various dictation-based activities on certain Turkish language skills of bilingual primary school students

This study aims to examine the effects of various dictation activities on the dictation, listening comprehension, and pronunciation skills of bilingual elementary school students. The research is significant in terms of revealing the effectiveness of different dictation activities in developing the intended Turkish language skills of bilingual students. The study employed a quasi-experimental design with experimental and control groups, which is one of the quantitative research methods. The study group consists of 71 students (experimental group = 35, control group = 36) attending 4th grade in two elementary schools in a central district of Şanlıurfa. The participants were selected using the criterion sampling method, which is one of the purposive sampling techniques. Data collection tools included an oral reading passage, a listening comprehension test, a dictation passage, and a rubric. During the 10-week implementation, the experimental group was exposed to various dictation activities such as hands-on activities, role-playing, songs, picture dictation, "who-is-with-who-where-doing-what," charades, and story stations, while the control group received traditional dictation instruction. Independent Samples T-Test and Dependent Samples T-Test were used in data analysis. The results of the study indicate that the application of different dictation activities was more effective than the traditional method in improving students' dictation, pronunciation, and listening comprehension skills. It was found that students in the experimental group showed significant improvement in all three skill areas, and there was a reduction in individual differences within the group, resulting in a more homogeneous performance. Based on these findings, it is recommended to use different dictation activities in teaching Turkish to bilingual students and to integrate these activities with other Turkish language skills.