The effect of thinking development training on writing skills in teaching Turkish as a foreign language

Each language has a narrative universe that it offers to its users. In this universe, there are words, structures, forms of how people can express themselves in various situations. People get acquainted with this universe in natural ways while learning the native language. However, when learning a foreign language, although those who are known from the source of the native language are the source of the narratives in terms of content, it is necessary to express feelings and thoughts with the structures of this new universe. The ways to develop thinking consist of techniques that can be used at this point when expressing feelings and thoughts and that will allow the expressions to achieve their purpose. In the production dimension of the language, the ability of the language user to create oral or written texts in the target language is seen as the ultimate goal of language teaching. One of the main elements used in the process of writing and speaking is ways to develop thinking. In teaching Turkish as a foreign language, educating students about ways to develop thinking in their written production can also have a positive effect on oral production skills, especially written production. The research aims to determine the effect of the education of developing thinking on writing skills in teaching Turkish as a foreign language. It is aimed to create a comprehensive analysis by using quantitative and qualitative approaches together in the research. The pre-test and post-test control group pattern was used in the study. The descriptive survey model was used because the situations of the learners in the written expression will be determined by examining the written products. The descriptive survey model was used as the situation of the learners in written expression would be determined by examining their written products. The study group of the research is 40 students at the B2 level studying at Gazi University TÖMER in the 2018-2019 academic year. The raw data of the research are formed from the texts written by the learners for the pre-test and post-test. The students were divided into two groups unbiased assignment and experiment and control. As a pre-test measurement, both groups were asked to write a composition from the selected topics of written expression in line with expert opinions. The experimental group was given training on ways to develop thinking for 7 weeks. During this period, no study on the subject was conducted in the control group. At the end of the training, a composition was written for both groups as a post-test measurement. The texts written by the learners in the pre-test and post-test were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively in line with the sub-problems of the research. In the analysis phase, "Ways to Develop Thought Form", "Text Length Form" and "Consistency Evaluation Scale" were used. As a result of the study, it was determined that there was an increase in the use of thinking development ways and text consistency between the pre-test texts and post-test texts, and the use of thinking development ways did not affect the length of the text. As a result of the training on ways of developing thinking, there was an increase in the use of each of the ways of developing thinking in the post-test texts of the experimental group. In line with these results, suggestions were presented for the field of teaching Turkish as a foreign language in the dimensions of curriculum, teaching staff, materials, measurement and evaluation, and researchers in this field. Keywords: Teaching Turkish as a foreign language, writing skills, ways to develop thinking.