Effects of multimedia materials on reading-writing skills of the students who have problems about reading and writing

In this study, according to traditional techniques, effects of multimedia materials on students' reading and writing skill who have problems about reading and writing was investigated. In the study, a quasi-experimental design with pretest-posttest control group was used. The experimental and control group of the study were formed students who have problems about reading and writing in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade studying at one of the central schools in Van. Students who were participated into study were designated by taking teachers' opinions. Each experimental and control groups were composed of 15 students, (8 students from 2nd grade, 4 students from 3rd grade and 3 students from 4th grade) and the application was made with a total of 30 students. A detailed information was obtained about students' academic achievement and reading-writing skills to provide the equality of the control and experimental groups by cooperated with students' classroom teachers. A rubric, which was prepared by referring to expert opinions, was applied as a pre-test to the students in the form of the primary reading-writing process and the reading-writing skill evaluation form. The pre-test was applied by both the researcher and each class teacher. The correlation between them was calculated and the pre-test was measured to be reliable. With the read-write speed measurements, the number of words that students can read and dictate in a minute are recorded. Students' readiness levels were determined with evaluation form which were used as pretest. In the creation of the experimental and control groups, both the collected data, the opinions of the classroom teachers of the students and the criterion of the class of the students were taken into account and the equivalence of the groups was ensured. In the application process while reading and writing education was being practiced to control group via traditional technique by the researcher, at the same time reading and writing education was practiced to experimental group via multimedia materials by the same researcher. While the first and the last week of the process were being reserved for students' evaluation, lasting 6 weeks education activities were made as 5 hours weekly, totally 30 hours education program for both group and is totally 8 weeks. At the end of the application process, reading –writing speed measurements were applied again and data which were gathered with posttets were analysed with SPSS program. As a result of the data analysis, both experimental and control groups showed a significant increase in reading and writing process skills, reading skills, writing skills and reading and writing speeds after application. Experimental and control groups were compared at the end of the process. In the analyzes, there was no significant difference between reading speeds and writing speeds of the groups. According to rubric, there is no significant difference between the two groups in writing skills, while it seems that there are significant differences in the reading-writing process skills and reading skills in favor of the experimental group. Moreover, semi-structured interviews with teachers in order to learn about the thoughts of the students during and after the process have led to the finding that multimedia materials have had a positive effect on the students. In the light of these findings, it may be suggested to investigate the effects of multimedia materials which will be applied over a longer period on the reading-writing skills of students who have learning difficulties. Multimedia materials can be improved by considering the individual characteristics of the students.