The effect of breathing exercises on the reading comprehension skills of second grade primary school students

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of breathing exercises on the reading comprehension skills of second-grade primary school students. A pre-test-post-test control group quasi-experimental model was used in the study. The study group consisted of a total of 69 second-grade students, 35 in the experimental group and 34 in the control group, studying at a primary school in the center of Bolu. Whether the students in both groups were breathing correctly was determined in accordance with the definition given in the literature, and the "Primary School Second-Grade Reading Comprehension Test" was used as a data collection tool as a pre-test before the study. The experimental group was given breathing exercises for 15 minutes every day for eight weeks. At the end of the process, the same data collection tool was used again as a post-test. The data were analyzed with the SPSS 24.0 program. The results obtained from the study indicate that the breathing exercises contributed to the comprehension processes by increasing the students' attention and focus during reading in the experimental group students, who were determined not to know how to breathe correctly at the beginning of the study. Although no significant difference was found between the groups, it is thought that the breathing exercises have positive effects on reading performance due to the difference between the means. In addition, it was determined that the male students in the experimental group showed insignificant progress compared to the female students, and when the students in the experimental group were evaluated according to their birth month, no significant difference was found.