The effect of ontological text analysis method based on activities on the poem analysis success and attitudes of seventh grade students

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether activities may be prepared for secondary school students to be used in teaching poems with Ontological Text Analysis Method; and determine the effect of this method on the poem analysis skills and poem attitudes of seventh graders. In addition, it is also the purpose of the study to determine the viewpoints of the students who participate in the study on the method and application process. The explanatory design, which are among the mixed method designs, were used in this study. The study group consisted of 76 seventh grade students who were selected with Extreme or Deviant Case Sampling Method and who were studying at a secondary school with low success level (O1) and at another secondary school with high success level (O2) in terms of 2014 TEOG Exam and socio-economic levels in the city center of Erzurum. Firstly, the teacher factor was considered in assigning the study and control groups in these schools. The study and control groups were determined by lottery method from among the classes of the teachers who were teaching seventh graders in the schools. The teachers volunteered to participate in the study. There were 9 girls, 8 boys in the O1 Study group (D1); and 10 girls and 7 boys in the Control group (K1). There were 11 girls and 10 boys in the O2 Study Group (D2); and 7 girls and 14 boys in the Control Group (K2). The application was performed in 2015-2016 Academic Year. The data were collected with the "Poem Analysis Method (PAM)", which was developed by the author of the study; the semi-structured "Student Interview Form (SIF)", and with the "Poem Attitude Scale (PAS)", which was developed by Karadeniz (2012). The Mann Whitney U-Test, Wilcoxon Test and t-Tests (Paired Samples t-Test and Independent Samples t-Test) were used in the analyses of the quantitative data. The qualitative data were analyzed with the Content Analysis Technique. According to the findings obtained in the study, it was concluded that the Ontological Text Analysis Method Based on Activities increased the poem analysis success levels of the Study Group students in both schools; however, it did not have any significant differences on their poem attitudes. In the light of the interviews made with the students and with the help of the observations of the author of the study, it was observed that the Ontological Text Analysis Method Based on Activities increased the knowledge of the students on poems and their interests in poems. In addition, it was also concluded that the students had positive viewpoints on the method used. These results showed that poem analysis activities might be formed proper for the levels of seventh graders with the Ontological Text Analysis Method Based on Activities, and these activities may be used to develop the poem analysis success of students. Keywords: Turkish education, poem education, Ontological Text Analysis Method Based on Activities, poem attitude, students' viewpoints.