The use of digital stories in determining the writing skills and writing attitudes of students learning Turkish as a foreign language

A mixed method research design was applied in the study, which aims to determine the effect of digital story creation on writing skills and writing attitudes of Turkish as foreign language learners in writing education. An explanatory sequential design was preferred since it aims to conclude by integrating quantitative and qualitative data. Qualitative data were collected through the interview method and analyzed with a case study approach. In the quantitative part, a single-subject experimental AB design was used, the baseline was determined, and the effect of the independent variable was examined. The study group of the research consisted of 12 students studying at a Turkish Language Teaching Center at a university in eastern Turkey during the 2022-2023 academic year. The data collection tools used in the study consisted of the "Attitude Scale on Writing Skills in Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language" developed by Kadan and Arı (2021), the "B1 Level Writing Skill Rubric for Turkish as a Foreign Language Learners" developed by Kürşat Yorgancı and Baş (2021), and the "Semi-structured Interview Form" prepared by taking expert opinion. While the study's quantitative data were analyzed with dependent groups t-tests, content analysis was used for qualitative data. According to the findings obtained from the data analysis, the difference between the writing skill pre-test and post-test scores of the study group and the difference between the total writing attitude pre-test and post-test scores were significant. The study's qualitative data were obtained using a semi-structured interview form. The codes, sub-themes, and central themes obtained as a result of the interviews that constitute the qualitative data of the research are presented and interpreted. The interview results showed that most students emphasized the positive aspects of the writing process and that using digital stories was accepted as a motivating and fun method in this process. It was determined that digital stories improved writing skills and reduced writing errors. The quantitative and qualitative data of the study, which support each other, reveal that the writing skills of Turkish as foreign language learners have improved significantly with the use of digital stories, their attitudes towards writing have changed positively, and this method is beneficial and practical in teaching Turkish.