An action research aiming at improving the effectiveness of Turkish language course in vocational schools of higher education

The study aims to improve the practices of the Turkish language course lecturer through the views of the students and the reflection of the lecturer himself in order to achieve the objectives of the course which is offered in vocational schools of higher education. To this end, an action research design was adopted within qualitative research approach. This approach enables the researcher to be in the very process of the research as a practitioner, and provides the pratitioner with the opportunity of observing and detecting the problems occur during the practice as well as evaluate the results of the new practices implemented after the designation of the problems.The study was conducted on 186 students in 14 weeks period in 2011-2012 academic year. The data was collected through the diaries of the practitioner, and semi-structured interviews with the students. Some of the students did not provide any or enough data within the scope of the study during the data colection process. The data were processed by constant-comparative analysis.At the end of the study, the practitioner concluded that the course lecturer should be the model for the students by attaching importance to the course and be a model to the students in this respect. Besides, the students need to be engaged with literary works which provide to them language awareness, and thus this should be practiced with the the writing practices. Additioanlly, necessary techniques which enable the large number of students to participate in such activities should be used in the crowded classrooms.Keywords: Vocational School of Higher Education, Turkish Language Course, Action Research, Qualitative Method.