A norm development study on fluent writing skills of grade 1-6th students

In this study, it was aimed to determine the norm values of 1st-6th grade students' fluent writing skills. In the study, in order to determine the norm values of 1st-6th grade students' fluent writing skills, fluent writing skills of 1st-6th grade students were investigated longitudinally in three different seasons [fall (October), winter (January), and spring (May)] for one year through text generation with story starters, dictation and copy writing practices. The study was designed with a longitudinal model from quantitative research methods. In the study, which was carried out with a total of 5000 1st-6th grade students, 2344 girls and 2656 boys, in 5 different districts located at different socioeconomic levels, including lower, middle and upper socioeconomic levels in Istanbul Province in the 2022-2023 academic year, inclusion and immigrant students of different nationalities were excluded from the scope of the study. In the study, story starters, which were created by the researcher and finalized with expert opinions, were used as data collection tools for fluent writing practices with story starters, different for each season and grade level; narrative texts taken from Turkish textbooks of previous years approved by the Board of Education for fluent writing practices with dictation and copying, different for each season and grade level; and the Mechanical Writing Success Evaluation Rubric, which was created by the researcher and finalized with expert opinions, was used to identify the types of mechanical errors made in the fluent writing process. During the data collection process, fluent writing practices with story starters were carried out within the framework of 1 minute of thinking-imagining and 3 minutes of writing; fluent writing practices with dictation were carried out within the framework of 3 minutes of writing; and fluent writing practices with copying were carried out within the framework of 3 minutes of writing. In the analysis of the data, the total number of words and correct words written by each student in different types of fluent writing practice in different seasons were calculated. When calculating the number of correct words, the number of correctly written words was subtracted from the total number of written words. Spelling errors were determined according to the Turkish Language Association spelling guide. The mechanical error types of the students were determined in the type of fluent writing practice carried out with story starters. In the data analysis, SPSS 25.0 package program was used to determine the norm values for the fluent writing skills of students in different percentiles in different writing practices and to examine the students' fluent writing skills in terms of grade level, gender and socioeconomic level. As a result of the research, fluent writing norm values of students at each grade level, in different seasons and in different writing practice types were formed in terms of various percentiles [10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th]. In addition, the fluent writing norm values of the students in the 50th percentile at the same grade level were compared according to the practice types (story starter, dictation, copying). In addition, it was seen that students' fluent writing skills differed significantly in terms of grade level, gender and socioeconomic level variables. It was determined that students made different mechanical writing errors at different grade levels during fluent writing with story starters.