THE INVESTIGATION OF 4TH GRADE PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ READING AND WRITING ANXIETIES IN TERMS OF VARIOUS VARIABLES

Araştırma, ilkokul dördüncü sınıf öğrencilerinin okuma ve yazmaya yönelik kaygı düzeylerinin çeşitli değişkenlere göre incelemek ve okuma kaygısı ile yazma kaygısı arasındaki ilişkiyiyapılmıştır. İlişkisel tarama modeli ile yürütülen bu çalışmada, öğrencilerin okuma ve yazma kaygıları, cinsiyet, anne ve baba eğitim düzeyleri, okul öncesi eğitim alma durumu ve kitap okuma alışkanlığına göre incelenmiştir. Araştırmanın örneklemini Ankara ili Sincan ilçesinde belirlenen bir ilkokulda öğrenim gören 317 dördüncü sınıf öğrencisi oluşturmaktadır. Araştırma için gerekli veriler, öğrencilere ait demografik bilgilerin yer aldığı Kişisel Bilgi Formu, Çeliktürk ve Yamaç (2015) tarafından ilkokul ve ortaokul öğrencilerinin okumaya yönelik kaygılarını belirlemek amacıyla geliştirilen Okuma Kaygısı Ölçeği' ve Özbay ve Zorbaz (2011) tarafından Türkçeye uyarlanan 'Yazma Kaygısı Ölçeği' ile elde edilmiştir. .Araştırmadan elde edilen bulgulara göre ilkokul 4.sınıf öğrencilerinin okuma kaygıları, cinsiyet ile anne ve baba eğitim düzeylerine göre anlamlı farklılık göstermezken, okul öncesi eğitim alanların ve her gün kitap okuyanların okuma kaygılarının diğerlerinden düşük olduğu belirlenmiştir. Araştırmadan elde edilen diğer bulgulara göre ise, ilkokul 4.sınıf öğrencilerinin yazma kaygıları, anne ve baba eğitim düzeylerine göre anlamlı farklılık göstermezken, okul öncesi eğitim alanların, her gün kitap okuyanların ve cinsiyeti kız olanların yazma kaygılarının anlamlı düzede düşük olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Araştırmada okuma ve yazma kaygıları arasında pozitif yönlü ve orta düzeyde bir ilişkinin var olduğu tespit edilmiştir

İLKOKUL 4. SINIF ÖĞRENCİLERİNİN OKUMA VE YAZMA KAYGILARININ ÇEŞİTLİ DEĞİŞKENLER AÇISINDAN İNCELENMESİ

The purpose of the study was to investigate fourth-grade primary school students’ anxiety levels of reading and writing in terms of various variables, and to determine the relationship between reading anxiety and writing anxiety. This study adopts a relational screening model and students’ reading and writing anxiety were investigated in terms of gender, mother’s and father’s educational levels, having preschool education and reading habit. The sample of the study consists of 317 fourth-grade students in a primary school in Sincan, Ankara. The data were collected by using “Personal Information Form,” which was formed as a result of the literature review, by “Reading Anxiety Scale,” which was developed by Çeliktürk and Yamaç (2015) in order to determine primary and elementary school students’ anxiety towards reading and by “Writing Anxiety Scale,” which was adapted into Turkish by Özbay and Zorba (2001). According to the findings of the research, fourth-grade primary students’ reading anxiety were found insignificant in terms of gender, and mother’s and father’s educational level; however, found significant in terms of having preschool education and reading book every day. According to the other findings, fourth-grade primary students’ writing anxiety were found insignificant in terms of mother’s and father’s educational level; however, found significant in terms of having preschool education, reading book every day and gender. It was determined that there were a positive and moderate relationship between reading anxiety and writing anxiety Reading includes physiological, psychological and sociological processes (Demirel, 1999). Therefore, reading has a complex structure (Melanlıoğlu, 2014b). Reading anxiety is one of these problems. According to Zbornik (2001), reading anxiety is a specific and situational phobia towards reading action (Akt: Jalango and Hirsh, 2010). Writing is the transfer of emotion, idea, claim and events in compliance with certain rules using various symbols. In other words, writing is putting structured information in mind into the paper (Güneş, 2014).It would be wrong to perceive writing process as a cognitive dimension only and to ignore emotional aspects of it (Karakaya and Ülper, 2011). In that case, it can be said that anxiety is one of the emotional processes that make writing a complex and hard process. When considering he importance of reading and writing in the life of a human being, the investigation of writing anxiety and reading anxiety in terms of different variables and the determination of the relationship between them worth analyzing. When considering that reading and writing are two language skills that are learned rather than acquired, the determination of anxiety levels of fourth-grade primary school students in terms of personal characteristics and to determine whether there is a significant difference in terms of these personal characteristics constitute the research problem of this study. Method This research was done in order to determine fourth-grade primary school students’ reading and writing anxieties in terms of different variables and to reveal the relationship between reading anxiety and writing anxiety. In this research that adopted relational screening model, the reading and writing anxieties of the students were investigated in terms of gender, mother’s and father’s educational level, having preschool education and reading habit, and it was analyzed whether there was a significant relationship between students’ reading anxiety and reading anxiety The data for the research were collected by using “Personal Information Form,” which was formed by the researher, “Reading Anxiety Scale,” which was developed by Çeliktürk and Yamaç (2015) and “Reading Anxiety Scale,” which was developed by Daly and Miller (1975) and adapted into Turkish by Özbay and Zorbaz (2011). Findings and Discussion When investigating students’ anxiety in terms of gender, students’ anxieties towards reading are in favor of male students in average; however, this difference is not statistically significant. The effect of gender on reading can be handled in terms of language acquisition because reading skill is learned rather than acquired (Karakaya and Ülper, 2011) and anxiety levels affect learning (Seven and Engin, 2008). In accordance with this aspect, Genç (2009) ascertained that foreign language learning anxiety did not differ for gender, which was analogous with this research finding. In another study, Öy (1990) revealed that students’ anxiety levels did not differ for gender. In another finding of the research, writing anxiety levels of the students differed significantly for female students. In other words, female students’ writing anxiety levels were significantly lower than male students’ writing anxiety levels. The studies done by Zorbaz (2010), Aşılıoğlu and Özkan (2013) revealed that male students’ writing anxiety levels were higher than female students’ writing anxiety levels, which was similar to this research. According to the findings obtained from the research result, it was determined that the reading anxiety levels of fourth-grade primary students were in favor of having preschool education significantly. The similar studies that investigate the relation between writing anxiety and having preschool education show that anxiety levels are in favor of having preschool education. Having preschool education affect students’ reading and writing anxieties positively as it extinguishes the dependence to parents, reveals students’ creativity, and contributes to physical and mental development, constructing personal characteristics and native language development (Gediklioğlu, 2005). According to findings gained from the research, it was determined that reading anxiety levels of fourth-grade primary students were in favor of reading a book every day. Having problems at the sub-factors of reading fluency such as reading prosody, reading rate and accurate reading can cause reading anxiety for a student. Reading anxiety affects every level of students’ reading achievement and students prevent themselves from reading activities when anxiety level rises. The way to block this anxiety is to read in a regular and controlled manner, and to create self-esteem by making them have experiences they could manage to. Getting into the habit of reading is the most permanent and essential factor in learning reading because the relationship between reading performance and reading anxiety is closely related to reading anxiety level. On the other hand, considering that anxiety is divided into two as constructive and destructive, that constructive anxiety help students focus on the subject and be aware of the learning process, and that destructive anxiety lowers the attendance to the process and makes students alienate from the reading activities, it can be thought that individuals who have reading habit should have lower reading anxiety (Scarcella ve Oxford, 1992; Zin ve Rafik-Galea, 2010; Şahin, 2009; Çeliktürk ve Yamaç, 2015; Beydoğan, 2010; Melanlıoğlu, 2014a). According to the findings obtained from the research, it was determined that fourth-grade primary school students’ writing anxieties differed in favor of reading a book every day. In the same way, Karakoç Öztürk (2012) found that writing anxieties of the students who read a book every day were lower than the students who did not read, and Yaman (2010) found that the reading anxieties of the students who read no books were higher than the students who read three-four book every month. In another finding handled within the research scope shows that students’ reading and writing anxiety levels do not differ significantly for mothers’ and fathers’ educational levels. In smilar way, Karakaya and Ülper (2011) stated that there were significant difference between parents’ educational level and writing anxiety according to their study.

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