An Evaluation on Turkish Language Teachers' Views About Visual Reading

Design/Methodology/Approach: The study was designed as a case study, one of the qualitative research methods. The research group consists of 10 Turkish language teachers working in secondary schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in the city center of Trabzon. The data were collected through a semi-structured interview form. In the first part of the interview form, there are three questions for identifying teachers, and in the second part, there are eleven questions for determining teachers' visual reading skills. All of the teachers in the study group participated in the study voluntarily. Content analysis technique was used in the analysis of the data.

Findings: In the study, it was determined that the connotations of Turkish language teachers towards visual reading are interpreting something seen and understanding and expressing related questions. It was determined that the most used material in the visual reading of the teachers was the textbook. It was revealed that the reasons for using the textbook were that they were ready and do not require additional preparation. It has been determined that teachers usually do visual reading activities when they see it in the textbook. According to teachers, visual reading mostly improves students' interpretation skills. It was determined that students had problems in visual reading activities due to the lack of attention and reading habit. It was determined that teachers prefer open-ended and multiple choice questions in the assessment and evaluation process for visual reading studies. It was concluded that most of the teachers found the visual reading activities in the textbooks insufficient. While visual reading sounds more fun, enjoyable and easy for students, reading a written text is more boring. It shows that these also affect teachers' preferences in class. It has been determined that teachers think that technology and visual reading show an intertwined and parallel development. It is concluded that visual reading studies eliminate boring in the lesson, motivate students to the lesson, and enrich the lesson. In addition, it was concluded that some of the teachers have perceptions that visual reading is not important except for the exam.
Highlights: Especially teachers need training on visual reading and therefore it is necessary to provide training on visual reading skills to teachers through in-service courses.

INTRODUCTION
Today, most of the children who are involved in education and training are those who have grown up with technology. Starting from the early childhood, these children are exposed to technological tools that are mainly characterized by visuality, such as TV, smartphones, tablets and computers, and spend long periods of time with these tools. It can also be suggested that these tools usually become a child's toys. Accordingly, these tools always attract children's attention as they offer them an unlimitedly audio-visual world. The children who come across the visuals a lot in their daily lives also frequently come across the visuals in their education and training life as well. Particularly with COVID-19 pandemic, students undergo a process in which they are intertwined with visual materials like never before in distance education process. As children are engaged in visuals in daily life to such a great extent, the term of visual literacy has been distinguished more, which showed the necessity that students should be equipped with this skill.
Although visual literacy dates back to two thousand five hundred years as a skill, it is a newly coined term with only forty-fifty years of history (Balun, 2008, p. 37). This term has been used first by John Debes in 1968. Debes (1969 argues that visual literacy is a group of vision competence that a person can develop visually as well as by combining and integrating other sensory experiences. When these competencies are developed adequately, any person with visual literacy is expected to distinguish and to interpret natural or man-made visual actions, objects and symbols. Burns (2006) specifies that visual literacy is the skill to decode, understand and analyze images to achieve a meaning by visual presentations of ideas and concepts. In addition, Yeh (2008) defines visual literacy as learned knowledge and skills, which are required to understand, interpret, analyze visual messages properly and to create such visual messages. In the broadest sense, visual literacy is described as a series of competences in reading, writing and thinking (Thompson, 2019, p. 111). Akyol (2009) asserts that visual literacy has many benefits for students as follows: it develops all kinds of verbal skills, improves personal expression skills, ensures the organization of ideas, can help to find anything appropriate for reading skills of students at different mental and developmental levels, contributes to the comprehension of a big picture that cannot be expressed in words, helps to make sense, is effective for disadvantaged children in social and economic respects, children with emotional problems, those with mental disabilities, dyslexia and speech problems (Akyol, 2009). Güneş (2007) suggests that visual literacy develops thinking, understanding, learning and allows students to integrate information.
Visual literacy education started to be included in curricula in Australia, Europe and the USA as of the early 1990s (Felten, 2008). In Turkey, it was first introduced as a learning domain with visual presentation in the curriculum of Turkish Language prepared by the Ministry of Education in 2004. In this program, visual literacy referred to reading, understanding and interpreting figures, symbols, pictures, graphics, tables, body language, nature and social events, which were not considered written texts, as well as mass media and information technologies (Ministry of National Education, 2005). However, visual literacy is not a separate learning domain in the 2019 curriculum of Turkish Language, which is still applied. In this respect, the achievements for visual reading are included among the achievements related only to language skills (Ministry of National Education, 2019).
It is important that there are achievements related to visual literacy in curricula. However, teachers have the most important role in students' acquisition and use of visual reading skills properly and effectively. Teachers are responsible to allow students to gain this skill in classrooms. Therefore, it is necessary for teachers to have a certain education on this and to become ready and willing to provide students with this skill. In this respect, a teacher's knowledge, skills and attitudes affect the quality of applications in a classroom (Akpınar, 2009, p. 40). Incompetence or negative attitudes of a teacher regarding this may cause negative results in students' having adequate visual literacy. This may result in raising individuals, who could not act in accordance with today's world where communication channels have changed, information is presented in various forms, digitalization has increased, artificial intelligence has become widespread and many other rapid changes are ongoing. Competence, willing and positive attitudes of teachers on this concept will have a significant role in raising qualified future generations.
The relevant literature indicates that the studies on visual reading skill in Turkish education have generally focused on experimental studies on visual reading, students' competencies, program development and teachers' views. In the studies conducted on teachers, researchers have mostly engaged in teachers' views on textbooks (Bozkurt, 2011;Güldaş, 2012, Kırbaş, Orhan & Topal, 2012Ünver & Genç, 2013) and curricula (Balun, 2008;Kuru, 2008;Akpınar, 2009;Bozkurt, 2011;Bozkurt & Ulucan, 2014) regarding visual reading, to what extent they used visuals (Aslan, 2015;Brugar, 2017), and how can be improve students' visual reading skills (Kaya, 2011). It is observed that these studies have subjected mostly primary school teachers. In the study carried out by Ateş, Sur and Demir (2020) on the Turkish language teachers working at middle schools, education received of teachers on visual reading, their level of knowledge, their views on textbooks and the achievements in the curriculum regarding visual reading, the visual reading studies they did in a lesson and the materials they used and the problems they had in lessons were discussed. However, any study could not be found on the connotations of Turkish teachers related to the concept of visual reading, the factors affecting their material choices, how often they do visual reading activities in classrooms, whether they do different visual reading activities according to grade levels, the problems students have in visual reading activities, the tools they use to assess and evaluate visual reading skills, the contributions of these activities to lessons. In addition, any study could not be identified on the investigation of the Turkish teachers' views regarding the relationship 80 between visual reading and technology as well as the difference between a visual text and a written text. The COVID-19 pandemic, rapid development in technology and students' encountering more visuals make it necessary to focus on the awareness of Turkish teachers on this subject and their activities on this skill. This research differs from previous studies regarding the aforementioned questions for which answers were sought in this study. The conclusions of this study are expected to raise awareness of the Turkish language teachers, to contribute to in-class activities of Turkish language teachers, teacher training process and the process of the Ministry of National Education to determine the needs of teachers and to develop training for these needs regarding visual reading.

The Purpose of the Study
In this study, it was aimed to determine the views of Turkish language teachers about visual reading skills. In this regard, answers were sought for the following questions: 1. What are the connotations of Turkish language teachers regarding the term visual reading? 2. What materials do Turkish language teachers use in visual reading activities? What are their reasons for choosing these materials? 3. What is the frequency of Turkish language teachers including visual reading activities? 4. To what extent do Turkish language teachers do visual reading activities according to grade levels? What is the effect of grade levels on the effectiveness of these activities? 5. What are the problems students experience in visual reading activities according to Turkish language teachers, and what are the causes of these problems? What are the visual reading activities that students have difficulty most? 6. What are the tools used by Turkish language teachers in the assessment and evaluation process of visual reading studies? 7. What are the benefits of including visual reading activities in classrooms for students according to Turkish language teachers? What are the contributions of visual reading activities to lessons? 8. Do Turkish language teachers think that the visual reading activities in textbooks sufficient? What are their reasons? 9. What are the differences between reading a visual and a written text according to Turkish language teachers? Do these differences affect their choices? 10. Do Turkish language teachers think that there is a relationship between visual reading and developing technology? If so, what are these?

METHOD/MATERIALS
This study is designed as a qualitative research. Qualitative research refers to investigations, in which a qualitative process is followed to present perceptions and cases in a realistic and holistic manner in the natural environment (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2008, p. 39). In this process, it is of importance to focus and understand the special language, meanings and concepts created and used by the people subjected to research and to try to reveal what they mean to the person being researched (Ekiz, 2017). This study was designed as a case study, one of the qualitative research methods, in order to understand and make sense of what are the views of Turkish language teachers on visual reading skill in detail. The case study aims to examine in depth a subject whose boundaries are determined by the researcher (Creswell, 2018;Merriam, 2018). In the study, data were collected by interview method. It is advantageous in providing useful information and details of participants in cases where participants could not be observed directly (Creswell, 2017). In addition, one of the reasons for being used frequently is the fact that it is based on speaking, which is the most widespread communication tool (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2008, p. 127).

Study Group
The sample of the study consisted of 10 Turkish language teachers, who were working at state middle schools in the center of Trabzon province in the 2019-2020 school year. The sample group was selected using the convenience sampling method, which is one of the purposeful sampling methods. The convenience sampling, used frequently in qualitative studies, contributes to studies regarding speed and practicality. Moreover, convenience samples cost less than other samples (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2008, p. 113). In this study, the Turkish language teachers, who were working in the center of Trabzon province and willing to participate in the study voluntarily, were selected by considering accessibility conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Descriptive information about the teachers is presented in Table 1.

Data Collection Tools
In this research, data were gathered by semi-structured interview form. The semi-structured interview technique enables the researcher to obtain more systematic and comparable information as it provides the opportunity to prepare questions in advance. In addition, it also provides researchers and participants with flexibility regarding time (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2008, p. 123). Researchers firstly carried out a literature review and then created a question pool in this study. Questions with similar contents or out of study purpose were excluded from the question pool, and the views of three academics on Turkish Education were received for the remaining questions. Expert opinion is obtained during the preparation of a question form in order to increase the content validity of a study (Çepni, 2012). The semi-structured interview form was developed in line with the expert opinions. Regarding the pilot application of the question form, it was interviewed with two Turkish language teachers. The questions they had difficulty in understanding or repeating were removed, and the form was finalized. While the first part of the interview form consisted of questions regarding the descriptive information of teachers, the second part included questions on their views and experiences in using visual reading.
In this study, which was conducted to determine the views of Turkish language teachers on visual reading, all teachers participated in the study voluntarily. The interviews were made face to face at the schools of participating teachers by taking required measures and recorded with a voice recorder. Teachers were not restricted regarding time. The interviews averagely lasted for 20-30 minutes. The teachers were asked whether they had anything to add to the subject. And, the data collection were finalized. The obtained data were first transferred to the computer software and the interview form of each teacher was transcribed.

Data Analysis
In the analysis of obtained data, descriptive analysis and content analysis were utilized. The data summarized and interpreted in the descriptive analysis are subject to a more detailed process in content analysis, and any concept and theme that could not be recognized by descriptive approach are discovered as a result of this analysis (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2008, p. 227). The main aim of content analysis is to gather similar data under certain concepts and themes and to organize and interpret them in a way that readers can understand (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2008, p. 227). In this study, the transcribed interviews were read several times by researchers, and it was tried to obtain meanings. Important points were written down in this process. Later on, coding started. The purpose of coding is to obtain meanings from available data, to divide them into text or visual parts, to label these parts with codes, to examine whether codings are overlapped or used unnecessarily, and to narrow down these codes with broad themes (Creswell, 2017, p. 314-315 ). Researchers coded data separately and then tried to identify similarities and differences by comparisons. Views on differences were shared and common points were achieved. After completing codings, themes were created by bringing similar codes together. Names of participating teachers were not disclosed, and they were coded as T1, T2, T3… The findings obtained as a result of the analysis are presented in tables and interpreted. The views of teachers were directly conveyed where appropriate.

FINDINGS
In this section, the views of Turkish language teachers on visual reading skill are provided and interpreted.
The results of the connotations formed by Turkish teachers regarding the concept of visual reading are shown in Table 2. To understand and express visual reading questions T4, T8, T10 3 Perception of real-world equivalent / concrete image of text-related visuals T2 1 The ability to describe/express a visual T1 1 To make sense of everything other than written texts T5 1 Short, punchy, effective T6 1 To follow any information about a graphic, table and to achieve a truth T7 1 To embody an example T8 1 A high-level skill T9 1 There are differences in the answers given by Turkish language teachers regarding the connotations that the term visual reading causes them to form. It was identified that the connotation created most was to interpret a visual. Teachers mean pictures, graphics, tables, physical characteristics of a person, landscape photographs by the term visual. For example, T1 expressed her thoughts as follows: "Reading now is not just reading what is written in the book. To be able to describe what you see. Being able to interpret something you see. It means being able to recognize and describe a picture, a landscape, or the physical characteristics of a person." T7, on the other hand, stated that "it appears as making comments about the picture, following the information about the graphic table and catching the truth." Another connotation that teachers had was understanding and answering visual reading questions. It is seen that three teachers responded in this respect. When considering these answers, it is understood that teachers considered visual reading as a field of study only for exams. T4 stated this as follows: "I definitely think that visual reading questions are more effective in understanding and expressing them, but visual reading questions should be more effective, more explanatory and more understandable. ... Now that I look, we see that visual reading questions are on the increase in books, compared to the past." T10 also stated the following: "Visual reading requires some attention of students because when we look at visual reading, when we ask, many students cannot perceive some things. That's why students who are a little more attentive and have a good interpretation power do these kinds of questions better." A connotation was also developed by the perception of the real-world equivalent and concrete image of a visual reading through visual-related text. One teacher stated that visual reading associated with the ability to describe, to express a visual properly. The connotation that another teacher had was to make sense of everything other than written texts. In this regard, it is seen that all unwritten materials are considered visual. There was a teacher expressing the term visual reading as short, punchy, effective. The connotation of following any information about a graphic, table and to achieve a truth had in parallels with the connotation to embody an example. It was also seen that visual reading was considered a high-level skill.
The results of the materials used by Turkish language teachers in their activities for visual reading skill are shown in Table 3.
Total 10 5 4 1 Table 3 displayed that Turkish language teachers used a wide range of materials in the activities regarding visual reading skill. It is also seen that the basic materials of teachers for visual reading were textbooks. All participating teachers stated that they used visuals in the textbooks. They expressed that they frequently interpreted the visuals related to a text, especially in visual reading studies. One of the teachers (T2) described the studies she fulfilled by textbooks as follows: "Yes, we conduct visual reading activities but these are the activities in our books. They are our basic materials as they are common. First of all, we interpret the pictures given in texts so that children have predictions about a text before reading it." It is seen that the most used material by Turkish language teachers was the smartboard. Using a smartboard, T2 described what she did during in-class studies as follows: "We all use social media… I save any type of image I see there on my phone and have my students watch them on a smartboard at school." T4 expressed that she mostly used online education portals as follows: "We use Eba, our education portal. There are also Okulistik, Morpa Kampüs. We use visuals there in our lessons." It was determined that teachers brought additional visuals to lessons in order to attract the attention of students. Of the teachers bringing additional visuals to lessons, T5 described the materials she used in classroom: "In creative writing lessons, I ask them to write a caricature or only a visual and write an article based on it." In addition, it was seen that test books were used in visual reading activities.
The results obtained regarding the reasons for Turkish language teachers to choose these materials during in-class activities for visual reading are demonstrated in Table 4. The reasons for Turkish language teachers to choose textbooks for visual reading studies may be categorized as follows: teachers have textbooks, these books prepare for exams, they are more effective on children and there is no material other than textbooks. In particular, most of the teachers stated that they used textbooks as they already had them and there was not any other material in this field. In this respect, T6 stated her thoughts as follows: "There is no material that I have prepared. There is no material prepared by any of the teachers in my group on this subject at school. Unfortunately, most of us take the easy way out and chooses what is already prepared. We carry out as much evaluation as there are visual readings in the books provided to us by the National Education, so it cannot be said that we have made much choice." The reasons for Turkish language teachers, who choose a smartboard in visual reading skills activities, are categorized under five themes. These are as follows: the opportunity provided by teachers to find visuals for a text, the visuals for children's interest, children like studies done on a smartboard more, providing the opportunity to use online portals and presence of various visual reading questions for exams. For example, T1 stated: "Since visual reading has emerged more recently, it has been emphasized more, and various materials are not available. But I can think like this; any image, even the view we go out and show the students, can be enough for visual reading. In other words, visual reading material can be found anywhere, in any form. We use materials related to interpreting images related to any topic or text, for this we use books and often use the smart board. Other than that, we don't have many varieties in terms of material." Other teacher T3 said: "We use the smart board because children like technology, they like the activities done on the smart board more, but it is not as efficient as looking on paper." The reasons for teachers bringing additional visuals to classroom for visual reading studies are as follows: enriching any subject discussed, attracting students' attention and cooperation with other disciplines. T7 expressed that they made cooperation especially in visual reading course. He said: "We prepare children for the exam based on the activities given in the textbooks about visual reading. We warn and guide children on how to carefully follow the visual, graphic or table. In addition, we can get help in the visual arts class to make comments on the pictures, children can be guided in that way to make comments." It is also seen that test books were preferred as they provided activities related to exams. When examining these reasons, it can be argued that the exam anxiety of teachers is an important reason in the selection of materials even in visual reading studies.
The results on how often Turkish language teachers use studies on visual reading skills in their lessons are demonstrated in Table 5.  T1, T3, T6, T7, T8, T9, T10  7   While solving questions for an exam every week  T3, T4, T10  3 I use in every lesson T2 1 In writing exercises once a week T5 1 Table 5 showed that a significant number of Turkish teachers used visual reading studies in classroom only when they saw them in a textbook. In this regard, the frequency of visual reading activities in textbooks determines the frequency of teachers' using visual reading studies in lessons. For example, T1 stated: "For us, there are definitely visuals in the text of every lesson for Turkish. I have those texts interpreted before the student reads the text beforehand. In other words, we definitely work on visual reading for one or two hours a week. In this visual work, I often include these works, asking what is the relationship between the text and the title of the text." T6 answered similarly: "The more often it is included in the National Education books, the more we place it, I think it is beneficial." Some teachers stated that when they solved questions for an exam every week, they also solved questions about visual reading. For this, T3 expressed: "There are also visual reading activities in the books sent to us by the National Education, but not too many. One hour a week, I have the children solve tests. I include as many visual reading activities as possible there, and I think it increases the attention of children since they are exam-oriented and visual reading questions are also asked. But in general, we prepare students in accordance with the examination system in accordance with the system." One of teachers carried out visual reading activities once a week in writing studies. However, one teacher stated that she always used visual reading activities in her lessons.
The results of the Turkish language teachers' opinions about the benefits students have when they use visual reading studies in classroom are provided in Table 6.  T1, T2, T6, T7, T8, T9, T10  7 Developing problem-solving skills T3, T4 2 Developing creativity of students T5 1 Developing higher-order thinking skills T9 1 Attention increase T3 1 Developing relationship establishment skills T9 1 When examining Table 6, the Turkish language teachers thought that the most important benefit of their using visual reading activities in classrooms regarding students was the development in interpretation skill of students. T9 stated how visual reading activities developed the interpretation skill of students by the following sentences: "They try to describe what is on a visual. We emphasize that we all see a visual but when we look at that visual we all think something different and try to find it. By doing so, children try to remember what they have learned before, try to interpret them, try to combine parts related to the things they see and reach a whole, thus their interpretation skill develops." It is considered that performance of visual reading activities in a classroom develops students' visual reading-based problem-solving skills. As there are questions related to visual reading in exams, students are required to solve such questions in lessons. Therefore, they stated that this contributed to students when solving questions. T3 expressed the followings on this: "I have students take tests one hour a day in a week. I use visual reading activities as much as possible, and I consider that they can solve visual reading questions more easily because children are examoriented." Some Turkish language teachers considered that visual reading activities developed students' creativity, relationship establishment and higher-order thinking skills, and increased their attention.
The results of Turkish language teachers' views regarding using visual reading activities at all grade levels and implementing different activities between classes, whether there is any difference in terms of grade levels in the effectiveness of activities are summarized in Table 7. The effect of grade levels on the effectiveness of activities Table 7 showed that all Turkish language teachers used the activities related to visual reading activities at all grade levels (5 th , 6 th , 7 th , 8 th grades). When they were asked to do different activities between classes, all teachers excluding one stated that they carried out visual reading activities in line with grade levels. T1 expressed that she used different visuals in different grade levels as follows: "It is necessary to apply different activities according to grade levels. Because levels are not same, in this case, we do different activities." T2 stated that "Activities are same, but I try to choose visuals which are a little more understandable for the fifth-grade students and a little more abstract for the eighth-grade students in accordance with their levels." On the other hand, T4 indicated why she did not conduct different activities in different grades: "The levels of grades are almost same." Turkish language teachers stated that there was a significant difference in terms of grade levels in the effectiveness of the activities on visual reading skills. T3 explained the effectiveness of activities in different grade levels: "A child in the fifth grade cannot perceive much, does not know what to do, she comes and asks. She goes and then asks again. It is more difficult, when they group, it becomes easier." T2 specified the important role of the ability to read and imagine as a reason for the difference above-mentioned: "Older students understand better, if they want to understand. If reading and imagining skills are advanced, I notice that they understand visuals better." The views of Turkish language teachers about their students' problems with visual reading and the reasons for these problems are shown in Table 8. When examining Table 8, most of the Turkish language teachers stated that students had difficulties in visual reading activities. The reasons for the problems were gathered under nine titles. Attention deficit, no reading habit and academic failure are the most faced ones of these problems. Emphasizing especially no reading habit of students, T2 indicated why students had difficulty in reading by the following sentences: "They sometimes could not even express what they see. I see that they have difficulties even with very simple visuals. The mind of a student not reading does not work. Everything we read is received by our brains as a raw material. That raw material works that machine we call brain. I always mention about this to children. You will provide it with material, and it will process. When children do not read a book, they cannot imagine it. I say them that When you make a description, imagine it in your mind. As a student not reading cannot do this, naturally s/he cannot see any detail in a visual or cannot understand what is aimed to be given." Other reasons for these problems are as follows: students' desire for nonthinking, difficulty in interpretation, insufficient vocabulary, inadequate primary education, insufficiency of the tools used, socio-economic status of students and their ages. For example, T1 expressed her views as follows by emphasizing insufficient vocabulary: "Vocabulary is of paramount importance in understanding what you see. When I ask, what do you see here on a visual picture or what does it evoke, children can use one word or two at the most." Mentioning about inadequate primary education, T6 shared her thoughts: "The primary school teachers are very effective on our students graduated from primary school. You must fill the gap of the inadequate students in secondary school." Two Turkish language teachers stated that students had problems partially in visual reading activities, which was resulted in their difficulty in understanding and lack of perception. Only one teacher stated that her students had no problems with visual reading activities.
The results of visual reading activities with which students have problems most according to Turkish language teachers are shown in Table 9. Interpreting the visuals of a text T1, T9 2 Caricature T5, T6 2 Table 8 indicated that students had the most difficulty with reading a graphic among visual reading activity according to Turkish language teachers. T2 stated this about it: "I think they have a hard time with graphs, maybe there is a bias because they consider it more of a Mathematics subject. Or there may be a lack of interpretation, they may think that it is not necessary because they do not encounter such things in their daily lives. Maybe they will understand better if they have to try harder." T7, one of the teachers who emphasized graphic reading, also said: "They have more difficulty with graphics that require very detailed information because they have to put them in a certain order and say them in sentences. It wants to understand the meaning of the sentence, that is, at the point of the sentence. Being able to put the given information into a sentence, to be able to approve it in the sentence, for example, when we look at a graphic or table question, the way of putting it into a sentence sometimes the child cannot impose this in his own mind. In other words, it is a very good feature to be able to put that graphic into a sentence to reflect it well, actually, this is a goal we want, but sometimes they can't do it." It is also observed that there were teachers thinking that students had difficulty in interpreting the visuals of a text and cartoons. Expressing the difficulty experienced while interpreting the visuals of a text, T9 said: "When students look at the picture, they try to say what they see in the picture. However, in visual reading, one has to establish a relationship between what he sees in that picture and reach a conclusion. That's what they do all the time, we have to warn about it. The reason for this is a chronic reason anyway, they don't want to think about it. This is difficult for them. They choose the easy one." T5, one of the teachers who expressed the cartoons, also stated the following: "If it is a very difficult cartoon, eighth graders may not be able to understand this meaning. If there is such an extreme, metaphorical meaning, they may not be able to make much sense, but they are generally students with a low academic level anyway." The types of tools used by Turkish language teachers for visual reading in assessment and evaluation activities during and at the end of the term are provided in Table 10.

Teachers
Open-ended questions Multiple-Choice Oral exam Activity papers Post theme questions Table 10 showed that all Turkish language teachers carried out activities regarding visual reading in assessment and evaluation process. It is observed that teachers mostly preferred open-ended questions and multiple-choice exams to assess students' visual reading skills. It was identified that teachers assessed visual reading skills of students by urging them to write compositions over visuals. There were also teachers who used oral exams, activity papers and only post-theme assessment questions to evaluate students' visual reading skills. It was concluded that while two teachers used three different tools when assessing visual reading skill, six teachers utilized two different tools in this process. Remaining teachers were observed to have used only one type of assessment and evaluation tool. Using three different types of tools in assessment and evaluation process, T9 described his tools as follows: "We mostly use multiple-choice assessment tools. There are always questions based on visuals in these tools. We also hold classical exams. We have compositions, we definitely ask them to write a composition based on a visual. Children don't consider a graphic and painting as a visual. They perceive it as a mathematics question, and think about why it is used in a Turkish language lesson. They have more difficulties when giving a visual and they are asked which may be removed, which cannot be removed in establishing a relationship, what can be said, what cannot be said." Using two different tools, T1 described what she did in assessment process: "In our test questions, there are generally tables or caricatures. We ask at least one or two questions on what is described in a caricature. In addition, we frequently distribute study papers. Especially in new generation questions, there is a lot of visual reading. We frequently try to raise awareness of children with study papers."

Writing a composition
The status and reasons to what extent Turkish language teachers find the visual reading activities in Turkish language textbooks sufficient are demonstrated in Table 11. It is seen in Table 11 that the Turkish language teachers generally found the visual reading activities in Turkish language textbooks insufficient or partially sufficient. Only two teachers considered textbooks sufficient. The reasons for those finding the textbooks insufficient were categorized under two main titles: insufficient activities and activities are not proper for children's level. The teachers, who found them partially sufficient, considered activities in textbooks sufficient in number but insufficient in terms of quality. On the other hand, it was concluded that some of the teachers, finding textbooks partially sufficient, assessed the activities in books sufficient in terms of quality and insufficient in terms of number. It is seen that those, find textbooks sufficient, assessed them only in terms of number. Finding the activities in the textbooks sufficient in terms of quality and insufficient regarding number, T2 emphasized that recent books were more quality compared to previous textbooks: "There are good things now, there were a few caricatures drawn without much control years ago. Naturally, everything given should be in accordance with children's level, level of knowledge and level of morality. Those problems are not seen this year, but there are not many visual reading activities. Is it sufficient? No. There should be a little more, by the way, they should provide us with training." Another important point in T2's statement is the fact that teachers need training on this issue. Drawing attention to level problem, T4 expressed her thoughts as follows: "The visuals in the books are not proper for children's age levels, but address to lower age groups. A small visual is given at the beginning of a text, visuals are definitely not enough. The visuals are unfortunately far below the level. The books other fifth grade ones need much criticism." The differences between visual reading and reading a written text according to Turkish language teachers, and the results regarding the effects of these differences on their choices are shown in Table 12. Visual reading is funnier T1 Written text gives more freedom to imagination T2 A ready text is read in a written text while a visual text requires attention and thinking T9 T3 Visual reading offers the opportunity to interpret without knowledge T4 Visual text is more attention-grabbing while written text requires reading one by one, which is boring. T5 Visual text conveys a message more quickly and effectively T6 While a visual is described, it is actually transformed into a written text T7 Visual reading is easier, reading written text is based on reading and comprehension T8 While a visual makes a written text easier to understand, it becomes difficult to understand a visual without a written text. T10 As it is seen in Table 12, the Turkish language teachers considered that there were various differences between reading a visual and reading a written text. While most of the teachers had a positive view on reading a visual, only two teachers expressed positive views on reading a written text. Teachers stated that reading a visual was more funny, remarkable, effective, easy, provides the opportunity to make an interpretation without knowledge, and gives related message in a short time compared to a written text. However, they indicated that reading a written text was a process, which was more boring, timeconsuming, based on reading and understanding a ready text. They expressed that these were effective in their selection of texts based on visual reading in classes. T6 stated that s/he considered the visual reading more effective: "While you can give a same message with too long paragraphs by a written text, you can fulfil this much shorter and much more effective in visual reading." On the other hand, the teachers, who reported positive views for a written text, expressed that a written text was more effective in developing students' imagination compared to a visual, and it was difficult to understand a visual without a written text. In this respect, T2 shared his/her thoughts as follows: "In visual reading, I think visuals try to impose something directly on me without allowing imagine it. However, when I read something, I am free to imagine. I have all control. If there is a visual, I can't add much to it, because it's there. You are free while reading a book, something is said and described that is right, but I can add whatever I want to it." In the classroom activities, it is seen that teachers' views about a visual and written text affect their choices. When examining Table 11, most of teachers preferred visual texts. Only two teachers preferred written texts.
The results about whether there is a relationship between developing technology and visual reading according to Turkish language teachers are provided in Table 13. When examining Table 13, most of the teachers considered that there was a relationship between rapidly developing technology and visual reading. While four teachers evaluated technology and visual reading integrated, three teachers argued that technology and visual reading developed in parallel. Two teachers stated that students were more curious about visuals and technology provided them with these visuals. T1 indicated how students' curiosity was combined with their desire to see, and 89 technological devices were their most important assistants at this stage by the following thoughts: "The smartboard is our most important assistant regarding visual reading. We can reach almost everything. Students are curious, they say I will find it immediately on smartboard, I will show it, my teacher, let's open it, let's see it alive, they like it." Teachers considered that students were more successful in visual reading, as they were more accustomed to technology. For example, T4 expressed his/her positive view on this subject as follows: "They influence each other positively, the speed of children in visual reading has increased with technology. They are better than us, now they are superior than us. I have been working as a teacher for twentyfour years. When compared to us, children interpret visuals better, they can perceive them very well." On the other hand, T3 argued that although there was a strong relationship between technology and visual reading, this does not contribute students in cognitive respect: "Particularly, phone means internet for children. Naturally, they look at visuals rather than text. They almost never use text. There is a strong relationship between technology and visual reading, but this does not develop them. They can't, because technological era refers somewhat to speed, they only slide visuals. As they only look at a certain point, they cannot interpret that visual either." Only one teacher indicated that there was no relationship between technology and visual reading. T9 stated this as follows: "Everything based on thinking is too difficult for children. They do not use the developing technology in order to associate it with visual reading anyway." The results regarding the contribution of visual reading to lessons according to the teachers are shown in Table 14. Enabling students to become active T1, T8 2 Allow students to view a subject from different angles T5, T10 2 Develops interpretation power of students T1, T9 2 Develops imagination power of students T2 1 Enriching lessons T2 1 Table 14 presented the views of Turkish language teachers on the contributions of visual reading activities to lessons are generally collected under nine categories. There was an agreement that visual reading activities removed boredom in lessons, allow students to focus on lessons and develop their thinking skills. It was seen that T1 evaluated the contributions of visual reading activities to lessons in several respects: "In the past, teachers would go to board and lecture verbally, we would be bored. Now, I think at least this boringness has been eliminated. Students were bored with verbal speaking, now, we have enriched Turkish lessons more with visual readings, we have made Turkish lessons funnier. We enable students to spend time in lessons in a funnier way." Teachers also stated that visual reading activities enrichened lessons, enabled students to become active, allowed students to view a subject from different angles and developed their interpretation power. It was also identified that there were teachers thinking that visual reading activities developed imagination and expression skills of students.

CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION
The study was conducted to identify the views of the Turkish language teachers regarding visual reading skill. Included in the curriculum for the first time in 2005 in Turkey, visual reading skill is a skill area that was delayed and neglected. However, rapid development in technology and visual elements encountered by children growing up with technology is increasing the significance of visual reading. For this reason, the views of Turkish language teachers on visual reading and the activities conducted by them on this skill are of importance. The conclusions of this study are expected to contribute teacher training process, in-service training for teachers and especially in-classroom activities of Turkish teachers, who play an important role in enabling students to acquire this skill properly.
There are achievements regarding visual reading among the achievements for four basic language skills in the Turkish language curriculum. Therefore, it is expected to carry out visual reading activities in Turkish language lessons. Based on this, it was aimed that the connotations of Turkish language teachers were identified towards the concept of visual reading. It is considered that a concept that is not clearly formed in the mind will cause problems in practice. It concluded that the connotations of teachers regarding the term of visual reading are to interpret something seen, to understand and express visual reading questions. It determined that they used actions, such as interpretation, comprehension, expression, explanation and concretization for the concept of visual reading. In this respect, the connotations of teachers regarding the term visual reading may be interpreted as very limited. As they did not receive any education on this skill, this may be ranked as an effective factor for their low awareness regarding the term of visual reading. One more significant point is the fact that visual reading has associated with only exam questions for some of the teachers. This may be based on the fact that some teachers perceived visual reading only as a study area for exams. The continuous emphasis of the teachers in interviews shows that the skill perceived as a question type that should only be fulfilled in order to be successful in exams. It is a significant question mark to what extent the visual reading activities performed for exams may be effective in gaining this skill.
It was found that Turkish language teachers mostly conducted visual activities based on the visuals in textbooks. Teachers also used smartboards and additional visuals they brought to classrooms. One teacher identified to use test books during inclassroom activities. The reasons for choosing to use textbooks is they already provided to teachers. However, there are also teachers stating that they preferred textbooks, as there was no various material on this subject. This is a significant conclusion. Yet, there are many different materials on visual reading (Sarıkaya, 2017). This may be interpreted that insufficient knowledge of teachers on this issue caused teachers to complain about lack of material. When examining the literature in this respect, Ateş, Sur and Çelik (2020) reported that Turkish language teachers mostly used textbooks in visual reading activities. In addition, it is also a significant conclusion obtained in our study that only half of the Turkish language teachers benefit from a smartboard. Teachers is expected to use smart boards more in visual reading activities especially today, when students encounter more visuals due to technology. However, the conclusion on the use of smart boards at low levels by teachers can be interpreted as teachers could not keep up with technological developments to an adequate extent.
It was concluded that a significant number of Turkish language teachers used only textbooks in visual reading activities in classrooms. This is a parallel conclusion with the result that teachers stated that they used mostly textbooks in visual reading studies. It determined that some of the teachers carried out visual reading activities every week while solving questions, while one teacher performed visual reading activities in writing activities once a week. Only one teacher identified to teach lesson and to conduct visual reading activities. Kuru (2008) reported that most of the 5 th -grade teachers asked students to interpret visuals in textbooks in visual reading activities. Kuru also added that most of the teachers consider that they do a sufficient number of activities in classrooms.
It was concluded that it was mostly agreed on the fact that the visual reading studies done in the classroom develop students' particularly interpretation skill. Teachers also considered that these activities develop students' question-solving skills, creativity, higher-order thinking skills, relationship establishment skills, and increase their attention. In this regard, Güneş (2007) emphasizes that visual reading develops especially thinking, understanding, learning. Akpınar (2009, p. 47) argues that teachers considered that the visual reading activities develop students' higher-order thinking and creative thinking skills, and adds that the visuals restrict learning by inactivating senses, weaken vocabulary and reduce text-based reading. There was also a teacher in the current study stating that making visual reading instead of a written text weakens students' imagination skill.
It achieved that all Turkish language teachers conducted visual reading activities at all grade levels. It determined that all other teachers except one teacher perform different activities between grades. All teachers considered that grade levels have an effect in the effectiveness of visual reading activities.
The Turkish language teachers expressed that there are students who have problems in visual reading activities. It was specified that students have problems especially due to attention deficit, no reading habit and academic failure. In addition to these, students' desire for nonthinking, difficulty in interpretation, insufficient vocabulary, inadequate primary education, socioeconomic status, ages, difficulty in understanding and lack of perception are ranked other problems students have. Moreover, insufficiency of the tools used in classrooms causes students to have problems. Ateş, Sur and Çelik (2020) reported that teachers have problems in visual reading activities as students do not read much book, their inadequate verbal expression skills and insufficient course materials. It was concluded in this study that students have problems due to similar reasons. Only one teacher stated that the students do not have any problem.
Most of the Turkish teachers stated that students have problems most in reading graphics. Durgun and Önder (2019) found out that a significant number of students received zero point in the exam of sciences. In his study on the problems of 7 th -grade students while reading visuals, Kranda and Akpınar (2020) urges that students have problems as they find graphics complex, difficult and boring. In addition to reading graphics, there are also teachers indicating that students have problems in reading text visuals and caricatures.
It was observed that most of the Turkish language teachers prefer open-ended questions and multiple-choice exams to assess students' visual reading skills. There were also teachers preferring to make assessment by compositions. It was achieved that there are teachers performing assessment and evaluation by oral exams, study papers and post-theme questions. It is a significant conclusion that although teachers did not use various and a lot of materials regarding visual reading during classes, have not received education on visual reading and find themselves insufficient in this respect, they always ask questions about visual reading. in assessment and evaluation process. This may be interpreted that teachers prepare exams mostly in accordance with the exams students will take in transition to high school. The Turkish language teachers have generally found the textbooks they use in lessons insufficient or partially sufficient. Only two teachers have been identified to evaluate the activities in textbooks sufficient. Teachers consider that activities are insufficient in terms of both quality and number. In a similar vein, Ateş, Sur and Çelik (2020) reported that most of the Turkish language teachers find the visual reading activities in textbooks insufficient. In the study carried out by Balun (2008) with 550 classroom teachers, it has been found out that teachers evaluate the activities in textbooks insufficient. Based on these issues, it can be urged that the visual reading activities in the textbooks do not have desired quality, although more than ten years have passed. In addition, this shows that while Turkish textbooks have focused on the activities for reading a written text, visual reading activities have been neglected. However, it has become an important necessity for children, who are exposed to visuals at any time in their lives, to be competent in this issue. For this reason, it can be argued that it has become compulsory to include activities of visual texts as much as written texts in reading activities. Other significant point is the fact that although teachers find books insufficient in terms of visual reading activities, their tendency to use a different material in their lessons is quite low. This may be interpreted that although teachers are aware of a lacking issue, they could not leave their habits.
It was concluded that the visual reading activities remove boredom in lessons, allow students to focus on lessons and develop their thinking skills according to the Turkish language teachers. In addition to these, it has been found out that these activities enrichened lessons, enabled students to become active, allowed students to view a subject from different angles and developed their interpretation and imagination power.
Turkish teachers evaluate reading a visual as funnier, easier, more effective and attractive compared to reading a written text. However, some teachers have stated that a written text provides students with more imagination opportunity compared to a visual text. On the other hand, some teachers have evaluated a written text as a readily provided reading exercise that does not require the effort of students. The Turkish language teachers have been generally found to have more positive views on visual reading. This leads them to prefer visuals more during in-classroom activities.
New technological tools enter people's lives and change many things each passing day. In order to adapt this change, visual literacy is needed as well as oral literacy (Balun, 2008, p. 43). In this respect, it is needed to read and comprehend a visual with every new technological tool. In this study, most of the Turkish teachers consider that there is a general relationship between developing technology and visual reading. They have stated that technology and visual reading are developing in parallel, they are integrated and they can provide access to visuals by technological tools as students are more curious about visuals. Only one teacher has expressed that there is no relationship between technology and visual reading. However, it is considered an important finding that some teachers stated that although there is a relationship between technology and visual reading, this does not improve the visual reading skills of students, on the contrary, it even regresses their thinking skills.

RECOMMENDATIONS
As visuals are seen more with technology every passing day, the importance of visual reading skill is increasing at schools. This skill is drawn attention when students encounter more visuals in distance education in the period of COVID-19 pandemics.
For this reason, it should be emphasized on visual reading in all curricula.
Visual reading has been first included in curricula in 2005. The reflection of this has been observed later on undergraduate programs. It is seen that there are still no direct courses for visual reading in many teacher training programs, but they are included in reading education or as an elective course. In this regard, the courses directly addressing visual reading should be included in undergraduate programs in order to train more developed teachers in this respect. In addition, illustrated children's books are getting widespread nowadays. Accordingly, an elective course, such as illustrated children's books, can be included in undergraduate programs.
It has been identified during interviews that teachers considered themselves inadequate in this respect and need training on this subject. Therefore, teachers should be given the training they need by in-service courses and various training to be organized by the Ministry of National Education. It has been also found out that teachers do not properly use technological tools, such as smart boards in visual reading activities. However, it is necessary to benefit from technology as much as possible while providing education to today's children who grow up with technology. To this end, teachers should be given various practical training and seminars regarding the technological tools they can use in training-education environments.
Teachers should spend more time on visual reading activities in their lessons and allow students to acquire this skill in the most accurate way with purposeful activities.
Students should be provided with the opportunity to read a visual from different perspectives by including interdisciplinary activities in visual reading studies in lessons by teachers.
Children encounter visuals at every stage of their lives. For this reason, in order to raise the awareness of particularly families in this respect, various public service announcements, training programs and applications should be prepared under the leadership of the Ministry of National Education. These programs and applications should be published on social media tools and television channels that families may watch and follow.