The effects of cooperative learning method supported by multiple intelligences theory on reading comprehension academic achievement and attitudes toward Turkish language course

The primary purpose of the study was to find out whether there are significant differences in terms of reading comprehension achievement and the attitudes towards the Turkish Language Course between the experimental group in which the cooperative learning method supported by multiple intelligences theory (MIT) applied in the fifth grade Turkish language course in elementary education was administered and the control group in which ?the traditional method based on the teaching of whole class instruction? was administered.The study was designed on the experimental group with pre-test and post-test control groups. The study was conducted in a state/public elementary school the district of Seyhan-Adana in the fall semester of 2005-2006 academic year. The application was carried out on 115 fifth-grade students attending three classes. The study was conducted in one experimental and two control groups, and lasted for 12 weeks. The courses were done on the basis of schemes prepared for cooperative learning method supported by multiple intelligences theory in the experimental group. As for the control groups, the courses were done through the course plans prepared for traditional teaching methods. While the courses were tought by the researcher in the experimental and the first control group, they were taught by the class-teacher in the second control group. ?Reading Comprehension Achievement Test? and ?Turkish Language Course Attitude Scale? were administered as pre-test and post-test to both the experimental and control groups. Furthermore, prior to the study ?Teele Inventory for Multiple Intelligences? and ?Personal Information Form? was utilized to all of the participants. ?Assesment Form of Group Study? was used in order to determine the students? opinions concerning the experimantal processes. At the end of instruction, ?Semi-Structured Interview Form? was used for getting opinions about cooperative learning method supported by multiple intelligence theory instructional teaching.Covariance analysis was conducted on the data obtained from the achievement tests and attitude scale. The level of significance was p<.05. Content analysis tecnique was used in order to analyze the data obtained from ?Assesment Form of Group Study? and ?Semi-Structured Interview Form?.The results obtained at the end of the study indicated that while there was a significant difference in favour of the experimental group in terms of the post-test scores on the achievement test, no significant different was observed between the control groups. Regarding the findings obtained from the ?Turkish Language Course Attitude Scale?, there was a significant difference among the groups in favour of the experimental group. The results of the interview can be summerized as below:The students stated that their willing to attend the courses has increased through the cooperative learning method supported by multiple intelligences theory . They also stated that this method increased their success, they go well with their friends and they learned to share, solidarity and studying cooperatively.