Analysis of the effect of process-based writing education on the student's writing skill who has mild mental deficiency

In the research, it was aimed to improve the writing skills of a fourth grade student who was diagnosed to have mild mental deficiency. The problem of this research consists of the question 'How we can develop the writing skill of a student who has difficulty in writing?'. The research was carried out on a fourth grade special education student who was diagnosed to have mild mental deficiency. In the studies that lasted for fifteen weeks, thirteen applications in total were carried by the student. The applications were generally conducted as 2 course hours (40'+40). In the research, action scheme method was used within the Critical Theory Approach. Action research is a scientific activity that examines any event, phenomenon or activity carried out by the people working in many fields such as teachers and academicians, and that aims to analyze, change or develop these events, phenomenon or activities (Ekiz, 2009). In the research; diaries, unstructured observation, semi-structured interview, readability scale and grading key were used as data collection tools. In the research; the diaries kept after each application were subjected to content analysis. In the research, the data obtained from the interviews made with the student, were analyzed by 'descriptive analysis' method. Furthermore, a pre-study and a final study was carried out by the student. The data acquired were analyzed comparatively. The frequencies were given in the graphic form. Process-Based Writing application was carried out in the research. Process-Based Writing consists of five stages as; pre-writing, drafting, reviewing, editing and publishing/sharing. Before each study, a Process-Based Writing plan was prepared. The studies were conducted according to the plan. According to the results obtained, it can be seen that the student have developed a positive attitude towards Process-Based Writing applications. It was concluded that Process-Based Writing applications have improved the writing skill of the student. In the light of these results, we can say that it is possible to carry out Process-Based writing applications in order to improve a student's writing skills and to make him/her develop a positive attitude towards writing. In addition, this study was applied on a student who was diagnosed to have a mental deficiency. It is possible to carry out more studies with more students.