Examining the effect of the discussion method in developing primary school students' writing skills and their attitudes and motivation towards writing

Writing skill, which is one of the Turkish language skills, occupies an important place in terms of an individual's ability to express him/herself. Writing develops from primary school onwards and is an essential feature of a person's identity. An individual should be able to use his/her writing skills effectively when expressing his/her feelings, thoughts and wishes. For an individual to be able to use his/her writing skills efficiently from primary school onwards, he/she must be taught grammar, spelling rules and punctuation during the instruction process. Implementing appropriate materials, methods/techniques, and writing activities in Turkish lessons can be effective in the process of improving an individual's writing. Therefore, students' writing skills should be developed, and students should be supported with practical studies in this direction. The aim of this study is to examine the effect of the discussion method, applied in the context of children's books, on fourth grade primary school students' writing skills, writing attitudes and motivation. The study group of the research consists of fourth grade primary school students (n=18). In this study, a mixed method was used, in which quantitative and qualitative approaches were used together. Within the scope of quantitative research approaches, the single-group pretest-posttest experimental design was selected, and within the scope of qualitative research approaches, the case study and document review methods were chosen. In the quantitative dimension of the study, the 6+1 Analytical Writing and Evaluation Scale, Writing Attitude Scale and Writing Motivation Scale were used. In the qualitative dimension of the study, students were interviewed, and their pieces of writing were examined as documents. In this study, the aim was for the quantitative and qualitative data to support each other, and therefore, the study was conducted with a mixed method. In this study, it was concluded that there was a significant difference between the pre- and post-implementation scores obtained by the students in the 6+1 Analytical Writing and Evaluation Scale in favour of the posttest score. Based on the analysis results, it can be stated that the discussion method applied in the context of children's books was effective in improving primary school students' writing skills. When the total scores obtained by the students for their pieces of writing were evaluated, it was concluded that they generally obtained the lowest scores for the ideas and sentence fluency criteria and the highest scores for the word choice criterion. When the students' writing texts were examined, it was seen that they had difficulty in finding ideas and writing sentences fluently, but that they performed well in terms of choosing words. In this study, 10 different discussion techniques were used, and it was concluded that the discussion method was effective in improving students' writing skills. It was observed that students obtained the highest writing scores in the weeks when group activities involving two or more people were conducted in cooperation with their peers, and when discussion techniques were applied in which they actively participated ("aquarium" and "buzz 22"). In addition, it was observed that students obtained the lowest writing scores in the weeks when a specific group participated as speakers and the remaining students participated as listeners, and when discussion techniques were applied that were more informative than participatory (panels, symposiums, and conferences). However, it was concluded that the discussion method had no effect on students' writing attitudes and motivation. Based on students' views on the optional writing activity included in the motivation scale, it was seen that they mostly stated that they wanted to "write a play" before and after the implementation. However, it was observed that optional writing choices varied in type in the final interview and that new ideas were added, such as "taking lesson notes", "preparing a list", "writing a story", "writing a letter", "writing a message", or "taking notes". According to the students' statements in the interviews that were conducted, it was seen that the number of students writing something at home increased. When the differences between the books students read and the pieces they wrote were examined, it was observed that these differences increased, and therefore, the use of the discussion method can be given as the reason for this difference in students' pieces of writing. As a result of the implementation, a change was observed in the writer profiles of the students. When this change was examined, it was seen that the number of students who considered themselves to be good writers also increased. It was observed that students stated that the course that improved their writing the most was the Turkish language course. It is recommended that writing skills be handled in a process-based manner, developed using different methods and techniques, and developed under the guidance of the teacher.