Effectiveness of multimedia applications in teaching literacy teaching at primary school

The aim of study is to examine the effectiveness of multimedia applications in teaching Literacy Teaching at primary school at first year of primary school.Posttest control group design, as one of the experimental design of research studies, was used in the study. For the study Gazipaşa Primary School and Canip Baysal Primary Schools located in the city center of Bolu was selected. 1-A class of Gazipaşa Primary School was assigned as the experimental group and 1-A class of Canip Baysal Primary School was assigned as the control group of the study. In order to assign and equate the Basic Competencies Test (5-7) developed by T.G. Thurstone, language aptitude test, reading test and alphabet test was answered. In the meantime, comparisons were made between the group in terms of variables related to students as; their ages, the education levels and professional status of their parents, whether they had early childhood education experience or not, their genders, and their classroom teacher?s characteristics. In the study, the experimental group had multimedia applications in teaching literacy at in one academic year while traditional applications were used in the control group. In order to collect data, reading comprehension test, individualized reading evaluation observation form developed to indent undesired reading habits by Ankara University Special Education Department, recording and analysis inventories were used. To analyze data, mean scores, standard deviation score, independent t-test, percentage and frequency valves were calculated.The finding of the study indicated;1. It was found that the reading time mean scores ( =59,33) of experimental group is more positive than the control group ( =80,22). That is; the experimental group students learn writing and reading skills earlier than the control group students.2. A significant difference was found in favour of experimental group students in their first and second semesters reading aloud speed in which multimedia applications were used. That is; experimental group students read the text in a short time.3. The experimental group students are more successful than the control group students in their reading skills as in their courses multimedia applications were used when their first and second semester reading skills are concerned.4. A significant difference was found in favour of experimental group students when their reading comprehension skills gained by the end of the semester.5. A significant difference was found in favour of experimental group students when their academic achievement scores about writing skills by the end of both semesters.6. The control group students made more mistakes both in reading and writing skills by the end of both semesters.7. It was found that in both groups reading and writing skills develop from syllable to word, from a word to simple sentences then complex sentences.Keyword: Teaching with multimedia instruments, Literacy teaching at primary school, multimedia, academic achievement