An error analysis on the reading and writing skills of Syrian students in primary school

In this study, it was aimed to determine the reading and writing errors made by Syrian students studying in primary school and teachers' views on Syrian students' reading and writing errors. The study group of the research, which is an example of a case study from qualitative research designs, consists of 50 first-grade students of Syrian nationality studying in a primary school in Adana province in the 2021-2022 academic year and 7 first-grade teachers, who were selected through criterion sampling from purposeful sampling methods. The data collected through document analysis, interviews and checklists were analyzed through qualitative content analysis and evaluations were made in line with the "Writing Errors Form" and "Reading Aloud Errors Form". MaxQda 2020 program was used in the analysis of teacher opinions. As a result of the analysis, the following findings were obtained: The most common writing mistakes made by the students in the study group are: making the extension of the letters short/long, missing one or more letters in the word, writing by adding one or more letters to the word, writing another letter instead of the letter in the word, not using punctuation marks in the appropriate place, starting the line from the wrong place and not leaving an appropriate space at the end of the line. The most common reading aloud errors made by the students in the study group were reading without paying attention to stress, reading without paying attention to punctuation rules, rereading the syllable, mispronouncing the sounds, and reading by prolonging the sounds. In our study, the sounds that made the most errors in "reading sounds differently" were "u-ü", "o-ö", "p-b", "b-d", "ı-i", and "ğ-g,h". When the teachers' opinions are analyzed, the most common writing error expressed by the teachers in the study group is missing letters in the word. Regarding the source of writing errors, teachers mostly stated that students do not know Turkish. The most common reading aloud error expressed by the teachers was not being able to pronounce the sounds. Teachers think that the most common sources of reading aloud errors are not understanding what they read and not being exposed to Turkish at home. Regarding the effects of reading and writing errors made by Syrian students on the education process, teachers stated that slow progress, distracting students quickly, spending more time with Syrian students, and spending more time on Turkish lessons. Teachers stated that they mostly resorted to one-to-one attention to correct errors. Regarding what needs to be done to reduce errors, teachers emphasized that language training should be given to students before they start school, families should be educated, family involvement should be increased, and motivation to learn Turkish should be increased. Keywords: Reading and writing instruction, Syrian students, error analysis, writing errors, reading errors