An experimental research on preservice mathematics teachers' reading comprehension skill in a foreign language within the context of mathematical thinking

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of pre-service mathematics teachers' reading comprehension skill in a foreign language in the context of mathematical thinking and the effects of mathematical thinking levels on this skill. Descriptive survey model was used to examine the reading comprehension skill levels of pre-service mathematics teachers in the context of mathematical thinking and also the causal comparative model was utilized for determining whether these skill levels differ according to gender, grade level and foreign language self-efficacy perception. On the other hand, at the end of the teaching process designed with activities for reading comprehension in a foreign language, it was investigated whether the increase in pre-service mathematics teachers' reading comprehension skill levels differed according to the pre-service mathematics teachers' mathematical thinking skills. This process was carried out using a single-group pre-test-post-test weak experimental design, which is one of the quantitative research designs. The study group of the research consisted of pre-service mathematics teachers whose mother tongue was Turkish, studying at the faculty of education in the 2021-2022 academic year. The "Foreign Language Reading Comprehension Skill Test", which was developed within the scope of the research and has a reliability of .915 was used to examine the reading comprehension skill levels of pre-service mathematics teachers; "Mathematical Thinking and Reasoning Competency Test" prepared by Başaran (2011) with a reliability of .765 and the "Mathematical Reasoning Assessment Scale" prepared by Çoban (2010) and consisting of 20 multiple-choice items with a reliability of .74 and six open-ended items with a reliability of .85 were utilized for examining the levels of mathematical thinking. In addition, the "Personal Information Form" containing various variables was presented to the participants together with these measurement tools. When the findings were examined, it was seen that the pre-service mathematics teachers' reading comprehension skills in a foreign language were at a moderate level. When evaluated in terms of gender and the total scores of the test, female pre-service mathematics teachers' reading comprehension skill levels in a foreign language were found to be higher than males'. It was revealed that the reading comprehension skill levels of the pre-service mathematics teachers studying in the second grade were statistically higher than the other grade levels. As the pre-service mathematics teachers' self-efficacy perceptions towards foreign language increased, it was observed that there was a significant increase in their levels of reading comprehension skill in a foreign language. In addition, it was concluded that the effect of the foreign language reading comprehension process was higher in the participants in the upper group from the point of mathematical thinking. Keywords: Mathematical thinking, foreign language skill, foreign language reading comprehension skill