The relationship between the systems thinking skills and writing skills of English preparatory schools' students

The main purpose of this research which can be stated as a descriptive study is to search for the relationship between the systems thinking skills and writing skills (components of writing skill, which are content, organization, grammar, lexis, and mechanics) of English preparatory schools' students. Additionally, variables of age, gender, high school types of graduation, and university entrance exam score types of the students consisting the study group of this study were handled in terms of systems thinking levels. Students (N=394) studying at the preparatory department of a university in Istanbul make up the study group for the dissertation. Data required for the study were gathered via the "Demographic Information Form" which the researcher developed, writing exam scores obtained via special permission from the university of concern, and the "Systems Thinking Scale" adapted from its English origin into Turkish by the researcher. Descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Sheffe tests, and regression analyses were used for data analyses through SPSS and LISREL software packages. The summary for the research results are as follows: According to the scores obtained from the systems thinking scale, the highest possible score of which is 80, themean score for the systems thinking skill (STS) levels of preparatory school students was X̅̅=50.01. There is no statistically significant difference in STS scores of students according to the age variable (p=.106, p>.05) and gender variable (p=.763, p>.05). STS scores showed a statistically significant difference in terms of high school types (p=.012, p<.05) and university entrance exam score types (p=.002, p<.05) in favor of Anatolian High Schools and quantitative score type. A statistically significant relation (r=.743) between STS and writing achievement test scores of the preparatory school students was found. The exploration of a relation between STS and five components of writing (content, organization, grammar, lexis, and mechanics) showed statistically significant outcomes. Compared to the other four components, rate for prediction of content through STS had the highest levels (F (1,348) = 286.812, p<.001; R2=.452, β=.672 t=16.936 p<.001). Key words: Curriculum, ELT, Systems Thinking, Writing Skills