Investigation of thesis made in the field of primary reading and writing in Turkey

At the beginning of the skills that should be acquired in the first years of basic education, the first literacy skill comes. The acquisition of this skill affects the whole life academically and socially. The first literacy is of great importance in transferring the social accumulation to the next generations and increasing the socio-cultural level. Early literacy, which is such an important field, has always attracted the attention of researchers. With this study, it is aimed to examine the theses on the first reading and writing. It is expected that the research results to be obtained will give an idea to the researchers who will work in this field in the future. For this purpose, theses made in 2017-2022; graduate level, years of study, language of writing, accessibility, subject, universities and their status, participants, study method, sample groups, data collection tool and suggestions were classified under sub-headings. The data obtained in the study conducted with descriptive content analysis were expressed with frequency and percentage. Of the 81 theses included in the research; 69 of them are at master's level and 12 of them are at doctorate level. These studies; the most in 2019, the least in 2017. 78 of the studies were written in Turkish and 3 of them were written in English. No English thesis was found at the doctoral level. These studies were carried out in 40 different state universities and 7 different foundation universities. Gazi University is the university with the most studies. When we list them as academic units; As an institute, the Institute of Educational Sciences, the Department of Basic Education as the department, and the Department of Classroom Education take the first place as the branch of science. It has been concluded that the most number of consultants with the title of Associate Professor as thesis advisors are the teachers, and the teachers are in the first place as a sample. It was determined that the qualitative study method was preferred more than the other methods, the case study as the research design and the questionnaire as the data collection tool were the most preferred. The factors affecting the first literacy took the first place as the most studied subject. When grouped as recommendations, researchers are advised to repeat the same study with a different sample group. Depending on the results of the research, while most suggestions are made to teachers, the proposal for regulation and improvement in education and training activities is in the first place. According to the research results; It can be suggested to increase the number of doctoral thesis studies in the field of primary literacy, to increase the number of studies in English, to homogenize the distribution of theses according to universities, and to prefer the mixed method more as a study method.