Readability of Turkish tales

Abstract

The present study aims to determine the readability and clarity levels of certain Turkish tales for middle-school students. The study was conducted with a survey model. The study material consists of three tales each chosen from the books titled Az Gittik Uz Gittik and Masal Masal İçinde, and the study group consists of 90 students who were studying in a middle school located in the central district of a province in the Spring semester of the 2018-2019 academic year. The data collection tools used in the study include the Ateşman Readability Formula, Çetinkaya-Uzun Readability Formula, and a Cloze Readability Application. Data collection was performed in two stages. In the first stage, the readability conditions of the first one hundred words of the tales were determined in order to apply the readability formulas. In the second stage, the Cloze Readability application was completed within three weeks by applying it to the study group using two texts per week. The analysis of the data was performed using the Descriptive Analysis technique. It was determined that the tales had a readability level of “easy” according to the Ateşman readability formula, and “educational” according to the Çetinkaya-Uzun readability formula. It was found that the book titled Az Gittik Uz Gittik had a readability level of “difficult (frustration)” while the book titled Masal Masal İçinde had a readability level of “educational (assisted)” according to the Cloze Readability application.

Keywords

• reading habit; Turkish tales; readability; cloze readability

References

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