LATEST APPROACHES OF LITERACY EDUCATION

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LATEST APPROACHES OF LITERACY EDUCATION

• IN TURKEY

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• Literacy Education in Turkey
• the description of the Turkish language,
• the importance of literacy education in Turkey,
• the previous approaches
• the latest approach of 2005-2006 academic year

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• Turkish education does not have a long and rooted
  history.
• The education of Turkish language still covers
  areas to empirically theorize, effectively
  discuss and criticize.
• Literacy education in Turkey is one of those
  areas.

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• The literacy education in Turkey covers the first
  reading and writing education of the official
  language to pupils in their first years of
  compulsory education and to adults who do not
  know how to read and write in Turkish.

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• 2003 literacy rate figures indicate a total rate
  of 88.3, 95.7 for men and 81.1 for women in
  Turkey.

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• The ministry of national education in Turkey
  intervenes in the teaching approaches.

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• Since 1968 till 2005, Analysis Approach of
  Sentence Teaching Method was compulsory to be
  applied.
• 2005-2006 education year program offers a
  Synthesis Approach of a variation of the Phonetic
  Method.

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The Turkish Language

• how to teach the basic skills of a language
  should depend on what language to teach

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• Altaic branch of the Ural-Altaic linguistic
  family like Finnish and Hungarian.
• an agglutinative language, grammatical functions
  are indicated by adding various suffixes to
  stems.
• harmony of articulation, the existence of a
  preceding or following vowel is conditioned in
  terms of its either being back/front or
  round/unrounded by the presence of a preceding or
  subsequent vowel.

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• harmony rules are unique to Turkish
• the language has no prefixes.
• syntactic structure, Subject, Object, Verb order,
  similar to Japanese and Latin
• Turkish has eight vowels

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• 21 consonants excluding
• X, W, Q
• including
• Çç / ? / alveolar affricate
• (soft-G) Gg / ?/ pronounced as a front-velar or
  palatal approximant between front vowels,
• Ii /?/ unrounded back vowel,
• Öö / / rounded front vowel,
• Ss / ? / post alveolar fricative,
• Üü / y/ rounded front vowel.

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• the Turkish Society in Europe is the largest
  minority in the countries like Germany and
  Holland.
• The Turkish language is used in countries such as
  Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, the Former Yugoslav
  Republic of Macedonia, Cyprus, and Uzbekistan.

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• There are hundreds of thousands of Turks who live
  in countries such as Belgium, France, Sweden,
  Austria and England.
• Turks whose mother tongue is Turkish are 1.7 in
  Belgium, 1.6 in Germany, 1.1 in Holland, followed
  by 1 in France and Greece
• 200 million people speak Turkish in the world

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THE LITERACY EDUCATION IN TURKEY

• Possessing literacy skills of the mother tongue
  is not only an irrefutable human right but it is
  also an indispensable tool of national
  development.

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main goals of the literacy education

• Acquisition of the basic skills of accurate and
  effective use of Turkish,
• A general command of the use of punctuation,
• The comprehension of the true ways of writing the
  letters and writing the letters in an esthetic
  way,
• The ability to write the sentences and
  vocabulary,
• Reading and comprehending the texts with an
  appropriate speed,
• Enjoying the habit of reading and writing.

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THE LATEST APPROACHES OF LITERACY EDUCATION IN
TURKEY

• The ministry of national education has
  recommended the application of some of the
  literacy education approaches which have varied
  from time to time.
• These approaches are
• Inductive or Synthesis Approach
• Letter Method, Phonetic Method, Word Method
• Deductive or Analysis Approach
• Sentence Method.

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Letter Method

• the first literacy education method used
  throughout the world
• to pronounce the words, one must know the letters
  
• students are introduced the names of the letters
  of the alphabet
• After long repetitions of the names of the
  letters, vowels are used to form syllables

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Criticisms

• Students focus on reading the letters instead of
  the meaning.
• Fewer products are obtained
• The techniques lead to reluctance and they are
  boring and dull.
• The speed of reading is low.
• The method does not fit for the child psychology
  and perceptional properties.
• Stuttering may be observed.
• Writing is slow and skills develop slowly.

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Phonetic Method

• In 1924, the teachers in Turkey were allowed to
  apply phonetic method of literacy education.
• was used in teaching phonetic languages
• one must know the sounds of the language
• teaching begins with the presentation of vowels
  with their pronunciations as sounds and
  demonstrations of them as letters
• movements and positions of the articulatory
  organs

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Criticisms

• There may arise some pronunciation mistakes when
  the language as Turkish has some consonants which
  are difficult to pronounce alone.
• Consonants may be read wrong when they are placed
  in words.
• Comprehension level of the sentences may
  decrease.
• Speed of reading, like in letter method may be
  low.

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Word Method

• In 1926, in the national program of literacy
  education teachers were recommended to use word
  method or mixed method which is combination of
  sound and word method.
• Czech educational reformer Comenius, American
  Educationist Horace Mann and Belgian Ovit Decroly
  are supporters
• method begins with the presentation of meaningful
  and familiar words
• new sentences are formed with the words
• pictures of the words are used

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Criticisms

• The long repetitions of the words may get the
  students to be bored.
• The intense focus on the words may prevent the
  learner from comprehending the whole text.
• After the education, the students may sometimes
  not be able to read fast and with full
  understanding.
• As the students learn the words root forms, they
  have difficulty in adding or understanding the
  suffixes.

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Sentence Method

• In 1981, the sentence method of literacy
  education was made compulsory.
• Gestalt psychology theories have founded the base
  of the method.
• the whole meant much more than all the parts and
  the individual perceives it as a whole
• literacy education begins with the introduction
  of the sentences - the main meaningful components
  of the language.

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Process steps

• Preparation phase
• Sentence Teaching phase
• Word Teaching phase
• Syllable Teaching phase
• Letter Teaching phase
• Free reading and writing phase

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Preparation Phase

• A period to balance individual differences,
• students are adapted to the school, the teacher,
  class and the other students,
• time devoted changes from one week to one and a
  half month,
• teacher gets advantage of learning about the
  students,
• students acquire the habit of using classroom and
  teaching materials,

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• hand-eye coordination, writing, speaking and
  listening skills are prepared,
• the rules of the class and school, the proper way
  of getting permission, the requirements of
  listening and speaking,
• stories, fairy tales, jokes and class debates.

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Sentence Teaching Phase

• When 90 of the preparation phase skills are
  demonstrated by each of the students teaching
  goes on with sentence teaching.
• Short, understandable, familiar sentences are
  chosen.
• The recommended number of the sentences changes
  from 30 to 54.
• Sentence slips are used

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Word Teaching Phase / Sentence Analysis Phase

• The phase of analyzing the sentences is word
  teaching phase.
• Words of the sentences are written with different
  colored chalks
• Words are separated and emphasized,
• Students write the words on their notebooks.
• Words are used to form new sentences.
• Games, revision exercises are used.

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Syllable Teaching Phase/ Word Analysis Phase

• When the students begin to recognize the same
  syllable in different words, the word analysis
  phase may start.
• The syllables of the word are identified and
  differentiated with the help of colored chalks.
• New words are formed with the syllables.

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Letter Teaching Phase

• Students are introduced with the letters.
• Vowels are introduced first as they can alone
  compose the syllables.
• Word slips are used.
• Letters of the words are identified.

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Free Reading and Writing Phase

• The phase is composed of comprehension and
  reporting, listening and reading, speaking and
  writing activities.
• Short and easy texts are followed by longer, more
  difficult texts.

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THE NEW METHOD OF LITERACY EDUCATION IN TURKEY

• Sound Based Sentence Method
• validates cognitive theories of learning
  proposed by Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky and Jerome
  Bruner,
• Learners should be made active in the education
  process.

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The Reasons of the New Approach

• Turkish is a phonetic language in which every
  sound is represented by a letter without any
  inconsistencies.
• The students shall find it easier to construct
  their own information by themselves.
• An earlier encounter with the letters enables the
  learners to write the words accurately.
• The learners perceive that speaking is composed
  of combined sounds and writing is composed of
  combined letters.
• The transition from spoken to written language is
  eased

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• Three phases take place in the application
• preparation for literacy,
• improving literacy/early reading and writing,
• attaining literacy

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Preparation for LiteracyGeneral Preparation

• An environment of free interaction is endowed.
• Games, role-playing, songs and riddles are used
  to stimulate communication.
• Parents are informed about the literacy education
  activities and encouraged to give support.

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Preparation for Reading

• proper ways of sitting in the desks, holding the
  book, turning its pages,
• reading visual materials,
• teacher models reading and reads stories, fairy
  tales, jokes, poems and riddles to the class
• students act as if they are reading by using
  picture stories.

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Preparation for Writing

• The teacher strengthens the learners hand and
  arm muscles through various activities.
• Free lining works are organized.

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Improving Literacy - Early Reading and
WritingFeeling and Knowing the Sound

• Activities such as telling short stories,
  role-playing, telling riddles and singing songs,
  finding the words, finding the friend are
  applied.
• Students give example words, imitate nature
  sounds and identify the sound.
• Visuals are used.

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Reading and Writing the Sound

• Teacher shows how to write the letter and reads
  the sound with the learners.
• Students follow the arrows in the exercise book
  and write the letter.
• Students look and copy the letter themselves.
• Students write the letter and read the sound when
  asked.

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• The order and the grouping of the sounds may be
  listed as follows
• 1st group e, l, a ,t ELAT
• 2nd group i, n, o, r, m INORM
• 3rd group u, k, i, y, s, d UKIYSD
• 4th group ö, b, ü, s, z, ç ÖBÜSZÇ
• 5th group g, c, p, h GCPH
• 6th group g, v, f, j GVFJ

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Composing the Syllables

• Every new sound is related with the given sounds
  and new syllables and words are composed.
• The meanings are emphasized when words or
  sentences are composed out of syllables.
• Students are encouraged to compose new sentences
  and new sentences should be written and read.

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Composing the Text

• Students are encouraged to read their own texts
  while they write it in a beautiful manner of
  italic handwriting.

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Attaining Literacy

• Free reading and writing phase
• Students read poems, riddles, stories, selected
  texts to the others in the class.
• They try to communicate their ideas on a written
  basis.

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Conclusion

• The main aim of the education remains to provide
  the society with individuals possessing the
  ability of thinking, understanding, interpreting,
  producing information and solving problems.
• The new literacy approach of Turkish aims to
  enable students to communicate in Turkish
  effectively and think critically.

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• Although the goals of the approach seem to meet
  high standards of education quality there may
  arise some application difficulties or
  limitations due to the lack of qualified
  teachers, appropriate teaching materials,
  parental support and proper class physical
  settings.
• The available theoretical background of the new
  approach has to be developed.
• The structure of the Turkish language and its
  teaching methods should be searched and studied
  in more detail.

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• Much more effort has to be launched to discuss
  about the characteristics of Turkish education
  and its quality relations with the future success
  of the learners.
• Along with literacy education, the reading and
  writing habits of the learners should be paid
  attention and learners should be encouraged to
  read in every step of education.

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Thank you !!!