A research on the effect of text modification of Köroğlu Epic to the level B1 on reading comprehension

In this study, it was aimed to adapt "Köroğlu'nun Zuhuru", "Köroğlu ile Demircioğlu" and "Demircioğlu ile Reyhan Arap" stories that in the narrative of "Behçet Mahir" which is one of the Anatolian field narratives of the Epic of Köroğlu, which has been told in Turkic countries and communities that have cultural interaction with the Turks for centuries, into B1 level for using as reading material in the field of teaching Turkish as a foreign language and to determine whether these adapted texts have an effect on reading comprehension. In this study, "Single Group Pretest - Posttest Weak Experimental Design" was used as a method. In the research process, a total of six data collection tools were used: Student information form, expert evaluation form, original and B1-level adapted texts, reading comprehension tests, readability formulas and interview questions. The study group of the research consisted of 10 international students studying at the B2 level at the Uşak University Turkish Teaching Application and Research Center in the spring semester of the 2020-2021 academic year. Before the implementation process, the relevant stories included in the research were adapted to the B1 level by using the text adaptation techniques "Simplification", "Elaboration" and "Easification". After the adaptation process was completed and the data collection tools to be used in the implementation process were created, the implementation process started. The implementation process of the research covers the 7-week period between 14.06.2021 and 30.07.2021. In the first week of the implementation process, detailed information about the process was given to the students in the study group, and in the remaining six weeks, the texts were read by the students and reading comprehension tests were conducted. After the implementation process, the data obtained for the first, second and third sub-problems of the research were recorded in an Excel file and interpreted in separate tables for all parts of the reading comprehension exam. Wilcoxon signed-rank test, which is one of the non-parametric tests, was used with the help of SPSS 22.0 program to determine whether there is a statistically significant difference between the pretest and posttest results obtained for the fourth sub-problem of the study. Quantitative data obtained for the fifth, sixth and seventh sub-problems of the research were used to determine the readability scores and levels of both the original and adapted versions of the stories included in the research by using two different readability formulas. Based on the findings obtained from the research, it was seen that all of the students in the study group achieved higher scores from adapted versions than the original versions of the stories named "Köroğlu'nun Zuhuru", "Köroğlu ile Demircioğlu" and "Demircioğlu ile Reyhan Arap". Students scored an average of 42,65 points from the original version of the story called "Köroğlu'nun Zuhuru", an average of 83,80 points from the adapted version of the same story, an average of 49,90 points from the original version of the "Köroğlu ile Demircioğlu" story, 85,50 points from the adapted version, an average of 52,10 points from the original version of the "Köroğlu ile Demircioğlu" story, 86,80 points from the adapted version. In addition, it was understood that the pretest and posttest scores of the students in the study group obtained from stories showed a positive ranking in the direction of the posttest scores and differed statistically significantly (p: ,005< 0,05). Keywords: Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language, Epic of Köroğlu, Behçet Mahir, Text Adaptation, B1 Level