Analysis of primary school students' attitudes regarding speech skills

Speaking skill, one of the four basic language skills, is used in all areas of life regardless of variables such as status and age. Speaking skill, which is a part of life and has the power to open and close the doors of life, is expected to be used and developed correctly by individuals from a young age. In the study, it was aimed to examine primary school students' attitudes towards speaking skills. A significant difference was sought for primary school students' levels of attitudes towards speaking skill, according to the variables of their attitudes, gender, class level, mother's profession and whether they have their own room, and students' opinions about using speaking skills were discussed. The research is a descriptive study carried out using the general scanning model, which is one of the scanning models. The participants of the study consist of primary school 3rd and 4th grade students studying in 6 state schools, 6 village schools and 2 private schools in Marmaris district of Muğla province in the academic year of 2020-2021. Speaking Skills Attitude Scale and Speaking Questionnaire, which were conducted by the practitioner, were used in the study, in which a total of 1105 students participated. SPSS 21 program was used to analyze the quantitative data regarding the first three sub-objectives of the study. Content analysis was performed in the analysis of the data related to the other subobjectives of the study. As a result of the study, students' attitudes towards speaking skills were found above the middle average over the general scores of the scale and the "Speaking Behavior" sub-dimension, while the average level was obtained over the "Speaking Anxiety" and "Speech Perception" sub-dimensions. A statistically significantviii difference was found in the speaking skill attitudes of the students according to the gender variable in the Sub-factors of Speaking Behavior and Speaking Anxiety. According to the grade level variable in the study, there was no significant difference in the attitudes of primary school students towards speaking skill in general and within the scope of all subdimensions of the scale; it was revealed that there is a significant difference only in the Speaking Behavior factor of the scale according to the maternal occupation variable. According to the variable of having their own rooms, there is a significant difference in the attitudes towards speaking skill in the Speaking Behavior factor; it was revealed that there was no significant difference in the overall and other factors of the scale. According to the opinions of the students, speaking was found as their most comfortable language skill and 6 headings were obtained as the reasons for choosing the speaking skill; "Positive emotion, Communication, Educator, Skill, Personality and People in the Environment". It was concluded that primary school students mostly talk to their families in their daily lives; they mostly underline the lesson as Mathematics by talking the floor; they mostly feel the emotion as happiness related to talking. According to the results of the study regarding whether speaking is a need or a request, it has been revealed that most of the primary school students think that speaking is a need. Keywords: speaking skill, speaking attitude, attitude, primary school students