The effect of the cartoons on reading comprehension and developing writitng skills in Turkish teaching of 7th students in elementary education

This study is based on the revision of Turkish learning program in the elementary education in 2005, and considering the program?s basic constructivist approach principle it has been focused on the visual reading, visual thinking and the use of cartoon. In addition, the use of the cartoons to develop the desired behavior in the areas of primary education in Turkish teaching skills has been compared with traditional teaching methods and the results were evaluated.In order to indicate the benefits of the use of cartoons in Turkish teaching, various cartoons for different language skills related to "Nature and the Universe", which is a theme in the 7th grade of the Turkish program, have been compiled from various sources and used in the process of teaching and learning to investigate the contribution of these materials.This research has been carried out in the second term of 2010-2011 school year in Fidan Demircioğlu Elementary School where the researcher works as a teacher. The sampling group has been chosen from two different branches of the 7th grade in total of 82 students. Experimental method with control group has been used in this study. Both groups have been selected randomly. There has been a preliminary test to determine the equivalence of the level in skill areas which are subject to the control and experimental groups.During the lesson of "Nature and the Universe" in the 7th grade, cartoons have been given to the students as teaching materials whereas control group have not. The results were obtained with t-test.As a result, it has been concluded from the analysis that the use of cartoons during class has more effective role in gaining the desired educational attainment in terms of reading comprehension and writing skills compared to the control group. Keywords: visual thinking, visual reading, communication, cartoons and education, use of cartoons in Turkish teaching