Developing story writing skills through visually supported activities

In this study, it was aimed to examine the effect of visually supported activities on the story writing skill of secondary school seventh grade students. The research was structured as an action research. In the literature review and teacher interviews conducted by the researcher, it was understood that the story-writing skills of secondary school students were weak, and what could be done to improve this situation was investigated. As a result, the opinion that visuals can be used to improve story writing skills has emerged. In this direction, first of all, a literature review was made about what the type of story is and which basic qualities a story should have. After the qualifications were determined, the achievements related to the story writing skill in the 2013 British Mother Tongue Curriculum and the 2005, 2015, 2019 Turkish Curriculum were listed. After these studies, a candidate achievement list for secondary school students was created. The achievement list was analyzed with the Lawshe Technique in line with expert opinions, and after necessary corrections were made, it was sized with the Maxqda program. Then, in line with these achievements, studies to prepare activities were started. The activities were prepared in line with the achievements listed, all of them were supported by visuals, and a detailed instruction was prepared for each activity. After the activities were prepared, they were presented to an expert group consisting of Turkish language teachers, visual arts specialist and school psychological counselor, and the activities were finalized in line with the expert opinions. Thus, ten activities to be implemented in ten weeks were produced. In the pilot application conducted in a different school, it was seen that the activity was understandable and applicable, and the implementation of the activities was started after the necessary permissions were obtained in this direction. Before the activities were implemented, a story writing application was made and student interview forms were applied with the writing attitude scale. After the activity process was over, the story writing exercise and the writing attitude scale, student and parent interview forms were applied again. Permanence application was made four weeks after the last application. Statistical methods were used in the collection and evaluation of quantitative data and the SPSS 22.0 program was used. The scores of the students in the study group in the pre-application, post-application and permanence application were examined by three field experts with the scale developed by the researcher. The score to be statistically processed was obtained by calculating the average of the scores given by these three field experts. The data obtained from the writing attitude scale were evaluated and interpreted with the SPSS 22.0 program. Content analysis method was used for qualitative data. The texts produced by the students in the weekly activities were also analyzed by the same expert group through meetings held over Zoom. Parent and student interview forms and teacher and student diaries were also analyzed by content analysis method. By synthesizing and interpreting the findings obtained from all sources, a broad perspective on the process was tried to be obtained. A detailed description of the school and classroom environment was made with the researcher's diary, so that transferability and reliability were tried to be ensured. Different interpretations of the evaluators, conflicting data, and inconsistent parent and student statements are also included in the findings section. As a result, it was seen that the visually supported activities significantly improved the event story writing skill and writing attitudes of the students in the study group.