The effect of the activities in middle school Turkish textbooks on developing the skills of students 'reading

This study examines the effect of reading comprehension questions in the evaluation section of texts in Turkish textbooks taught in middle school 5th and 8th grades on students' reading comprehension skills. In the research, descriptive analysis technique was used by making document analysis, one of the qualitative research methods. In the study, 1928 questions were examined in the activities in Turkish textbooks, and 964 of the examined questions were evaluated as reading comprehension questions. Considering the reading achievements in the Turkish Teaching Program, the cognitive steps of the outcomes were determined, the questions prepared in accordance with the outcomes were evaluated as pre-reading, reading order and post-reading activities at four grade levels. Finally, the reading comprehension questions in the Turkish course book were evaluated in terms of their suitability to class and age levels, and they were interpreted according to Chall's development stages. As a result of the study, it was seen that questions were asked mostly at the stages of comprehension and recall at the middle school 5th and 8th grades. It was concluded that the questions were prepared in accordance with the cognitive skill levels targeted by the acquisitions in the Turkish Teaching Program. As the class and age levels increased, it was observed that the cognitive skill levels represented by the questions decreased. Keywords: Turkish Teaching, Textbook, Activity, Reading