Determining the Copmprehensibility of Texts in Sixty Grade Turkish Course Books

DETERMINING THE COMPREHENSIBILITYOF TEXTS IN SIXTH GRADE TURKISH COURSE BOOKS

DR. KAMIL i§ERiNigde University

Faculty of Education

Texts are stated to have an important role in Turkish languageeducation relevant to the goals stated in the Primary SchoolsTurkish Lesson Teaching Program and Guide (2006), and in theformation and improvement of the individual's reading culture.The aim of the study is to determine the comprehensibility lev-els of the texts in the Turkish language course books in PrimarySchool 6* grade. Mixed (quantitative-qualitative) method is usedin the study. In the study structured with mixed model, SönmezModel is used to determine the comprehensibility levels of thetexts in Turkish language course books. According to this model,the word level is determined by the division of the number ofwords in the texts by the total number of sentences in the texts.Difficulty levels is determined by dividing the number of foreignwords, expressions, terms, concepts, metaphors, similes, sym-bols and formulas by the total number of words in the texts.Meaning levels is determined by dividing the number of foreignwords, expressions, terms, concepts, metaphors, similes, sym-bols and formulas by the total number of sentences in the texts.The meaning level is divided by the word levels, and the com-prehensibility levels of the texts are obtained by multiplying theresult of this division by difficulty levels. The data being inves-tigated in accordance with Sönmez Model, it is concluded thatthe texts in the Primary School 6'* grade Turkish language coursebooks are comprehensible and applicable in teaching environ-ments.

It i S frequently stated that the improve- reading skill, and teachers use course bookment of four basic language skills for as the most basic reading and writingPrimary School second stage will influ- means in every stage of education (2003,ence the individual's success in other p.14). In that case, the determination oflessons as well (Sever et all, 2006, p. 13). texts to be chosen for course books andTeaching environments in language edu- their applicability in teaching environmentscation present an integrity with its gain importance.classrooms, teachers, plans and programs. Language education is perceived as amethods and techniques, and materials to whole with its skills and contents, and con-be used in the lessons. All these environ- tains activities aiming to improve thements serve the goals determined in student's cognitive, emotional and psy-Turkish language teaching programs and chomotor features (Sever, 2004, p.7-27).mediate permanent achievements. Ceyhan Eields of Native Language Education& Yigit state that various materials, the Activities are composed of four basic skillsprimary ones of which are course books, for the primary education second stage,should be used for an individual to attain and of the use of grammar, spelling and

381

382/Education Vol. 131 No. 2

punctuation for the contents (Sever et all,2006, p.25-30). Turkish language educa-tion, in accordance with the goals stated inTurkish Lesson Teaching Program andGuide (2006), is carried out by texts, whichhave an important role in forming andimproving an individual's reading culture.Thus, the methods and the materials to beused in language education must be cho-sen properly to the goals, and appliedsystematically in conformity with teachingprinciples.

In Keçik & Uzun (2004, p.10), it is stat-ed that neither the phonemes nor the wordsand sentences by themselves takes on dutyin language based communication, and thatthe basic unit of language based commu-nication is texts and people use texts incommunication. The selection of the qual-ity of the texts in course books which willbe used in teaching environments in accor-dance with the goal gains importance forthe Primary School Education Turkish Lan-guage Program (6*-8"' degrees) goals to beattained. This makes it necessary for thetexts to be included in course books to bemoderate, systematic, applicable in teach-ing and chosen according to the goals. Italso requires modem authors' best productsof every type to be included, and the dataand criteria of theories such as linguistics,text linguistics, semiotics and pedagogyto be used. The importance of text selec-tion in Turkish language is pointed outsaying, "One of the primary goals of nativelanguage education is to enable students toachieve language awareness and sensitiv-ity. Texts used in Turkish education mustbe carefully chosen to attain this goal. Aneducation carried out with texts that neglect

child reality and in which Turkish is usedcarelessly can not be expected to causestudents to gain love of native language."in Sever et all, (2006, p.13). Students, inaccordance with this goal, are to be encoun-tered with texts of various genres reflectingthe expression power of Turkish languageand fitting the students' levels for them tobe able to gain reading culture. Therefore,texts have an important role with respectto Turkish language education.

Comprehension has two dimensions inTurkish language education: listening andreading. Rules of phonetics are valid in theformer while rules of morphology are validin the latter. Each skill (listening, speak-ing, reading, writing) is given importancein Turkish Language lesson Programmeand Guide (2006). Turkish languagelessons are charged with the responsibili-ty of having a society form reading cultureand gain reading habit. As a result, thereadability and the comprehensibility oftexts to be used in Turkish language edu-cation gain important. The physiological,psychological and sociological sides ofreading being stated in Demirel (2006,p. 18), the place and importance of readingin the society are emphasised. The physi-ological side of reading is defined as "avisual image of every word related to itsown form in our mind". The psychologi-cal side of reading is expressed as "Mindhas to rise up to a certain level of com-prehension and thinking. It is alsoimportant to make the students reach emo-tional maturity". The quality of the textsin course books in forming a reading cul-ture is emphasised by explaining thesociological side of reading as "Since an

Determining the Comprehensibility... / 383

individual is educated at a certain culturelevel, the presence of the environment heis in is very important. The culture levelsand reading habits of the individuals in thefamily affect the child during the improve-ment of reading education".

It is observed that studies on the read-ability and comprehensibility of the textsto be chosen for the course books are notsufficient for Turkish while such studiesare frequently conducted for other lan-guages. The concept of readability isdefined as "the determination of how eas-ily or difficultly comprehensible the textsare for the readers" in Ate§man (1997,p.71). In this respect, it becomes impor-tant for the comprehensibility levels of thetexts as well as their readability levels tobe high. The longer the words and sen-tences in a text are, the less desire forreading they arouse. Such texts are notapproved by the readers, (see. Temur, 2003,p.l70; Güne§, 1997, p.235). One of theimportant factors affecting the compre-hensibility levels of texts is also thehighness of their readability levels. Thehighness of a text's readability level affectsthe interpretation of that text. However,the texts organized well in terms of quan-tity should be organized well in terms ofquality as well although there is a relationbetween the readability and comprehensi-bility of a text.

The importance of content in the com-prehensibility of a text is expressed inAte§man (1997, p.71) as; "The content isvery important in the comprehensibility ofa text. For instance, while in which orderthe thoughts are told and the interests of thereaders to the subject affect comprehensi-

bility, the grammatical features of the textand average of words and sentences ratherthan readability should be taken into con-sideration". It is stated in Goldbort (2001,p.41) that "A text should also have somequalitative features besides its quantitativefeatures" (seeTemur,2003,p.l71; Güne§,1997, p.236). Accordingly, a good textshould be from known to unknown, andclear and explicit enough not to cause con-fusion. The words to be used in the textshould be chosen from words whose mean-ings are known in general. Words with thesame meanings shouldn't be used, or wordsas few, short and clear as possible shouldbe used. It is mentioned in Özmen (2001,p.24) that the length of the words and sen-tences forming a text should be determinedaccording to the student's level. The lev-els of the students should be taken intoconsideration since it makes it hard to readthe text if it is difficultly readable and com-prehensible or it lessens the interest toreading if the text is easy to read.

The features required from the textswhich will be chosen for the course booksare defined in Ministry of National Edu-cation Turkish Language Education andGuide (2006, p.l62) as following:

1. The text should be appropriate forthe general goals and basic principlesof the Ministry of National Educa-tion.

2. Components against national, cul-tural and ethical values and theindivisible integrity of our nationshouldn't take place.

3. Factious, destructive and ideologi-cal statements that will causepolitical oppositions and discrimi-

384 / Education Vol. 131 No. 2

nation shouldn't take place.4. Components like sexuality, pes-

simism, violence, etc which willnegatively affect the social, intel-lectual, psychological developmentof students shouldn't take place.

5. Components against human rightsand freedoms, and humane valuesshouldn't take place.

6. It should be of quality to fulfill thegoals and achievements of the les-son.

7. It should be appropriate for the inter-ests and levels of the students.

8. It should be of appropriate lengthfor the time during which it will bestudied.

9. It should reflect the richness andbeauty of expression in Turkish.

10.Each text should have integrity initself.

II.It should be of quality to improvethe students' taste and awareness oflanguage, and to enrich their imag-inations.

12.It should be of quality to contributeto the students' personal develop-ment and make them achieve anaesthetic sensitivity.

Texts which will be carried to the teach-ing environments are made sufficient interms of quality by considering otherrequired principles apart from the onesmentioned above. That texts should also beappropriate for some principles, as well asthe ones mentioned above, such as abstrac-tion principle, level principle, schemeprinciple, the material organizationprinciple, activity principle and visual orga-nization principle is also stated in Sönmez

(2003, p.25).

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to deter-

mine the comprehensibility levels of thetexts in Primary school 6* grade Turkishcourse books. The sub-goals of the studytowards this purpose can be formed asbelow:

1. What are the comprehensibility lev-els of the texts in Book A?

2. What are the comprehensibility lev-els of the texts in Book B?

3. What are the comprehensibility lev-els of the texts in Book C?

4. What are the comprehensibility lev-els of the texts in Book D?

MethodMixed (quantitative-qualitative)

research method is used in the study. It isstated in Punch, (2005, p.225-235) that thedifferences between the two approachesresult from the nature of the data and theanalysis method, and that quantitativeresearch can also be done to discover afield, and to develop a hypothesis and the-ory although it is basically done for thesake of theory trial. In addition to this, itis also stated that although qualitativeresearch is preferred for theory produc-tion, it can be used to test hypothesis andtheories as well. Quoting Miles & Huber-man ( 1994, p .42), the use of both methodsin the same study as a mixed method ismentioned in Punch (2005, p.226) as "Bothtypes of data may be efficient for descrip-tive, searching, exploratory, inductive andinnovative purposes. In addition, both maybe efficient in terms of explanation, con-


firmation and hypothesis trial". Further-more, the methodological reason for theuse of quantitative and qualitative studiestogether is explained in Punch (2005,p.231) by quoting Bryman (1988); "Themost fundamental reason for this combi-nation is to make use of the strong sidesof two approaches and eliminate the weaksides of them. Besides, particular reasonsfor combining these two approaches shouldbe evaluated in terms of the practical con-ditions and context of the research".

According to these explanations, deter-mining the unknown words from studentsthrough interview constitutes the qualita-tive design of the research while the testingof the data obtained from the course booksby various formulas constitutes the quan-titative design of the research.

It is asserted in Sönmez (2003) thatGunning's "Fog Index" is not appropriatefor texts in Turkish while they are appro-priate for texts in English. Accordingly, amathematical formula concerning the com-prehensibility of texts in Turkish isdeveloped and it is called Sönmez Model.The study is based upon Sönmez Model,which is proposed to be used to determinethe comprehensibility levels of the textsin Turkish. The texts in course books areevaluated through the formulas developedin Sönmez (2003).

Population and SampleThe universe of the study is composed

of the texts in Turkish language coursebooks of 6* grade. Texts in four Turkishlanguage course books which are chosenfor the primary school 6* grade by the Min-istry of National Education Training and

Education Committee and published bydifferent publishing houses are sampled.Each book is given a code (Book A, BookB, Book C, Book D). Each code refers toa book which is published by a differentpublisher and used as Turkish languagecourse book for the 6"̂ grade at PrimarySchools.

Content and LimitationsThe study is limited to the texts in Pri-

mary school 6* grade Turkish languagecourse books that are approved by theTraining and Education Committee. "Lis-tening texts" at the end of each theme inthe books are not included in the study.

Data Collection TechniqueTexts in the cotirse books are first exam-

ined by the researcher and the unknownwords are marked considering the levels ofthe students. Five students studying in the6"̂ grade are made to read each text andthey are asked to underline the words theydon't know. The words the researcherdetermined and the ones the studentsmarked are compared, students are askedquestions about the text, and unknownwords are defined in accordance with theanswers in order to find out whether thestudents have comprehended the text andgrasped the meanings of the unknownwords, which they underlined, in context.Words and sentences in the text are count-ed. Repeated words are extracted from thetotal word number. The data is collected inthis way.


Data AnalysisThe data is analysed in Microsoft Office

Excel for Windows basing on the SönmezModel in Sönmez (2003). According to themathematical approach developed in Sön-mez (2003), word proportion is defined bydividing the number of words by the num-ber of sentences and the difficultyproportion is determined by dividing thenumber of foreign words, expressions, for-mulas , terms, concepts, metaphors, similes,and symbols by the number of words inthe text. The comprehensibility level isdefined by dividing the meaning propor-tion by word proportion, and multiplyingthe result of this division of by difficultylevel. This gives us information about thecomprehensibility of a text.

Gunning' "Eog Index", which forms amathematical formula on whether a text iscomprehended by people, is claimed to beinvalid for texts in Turkish in Sönmez(2003). Sönmez has tried to find outwhether there is a mathematical formula todetermine the comprehensibility levels oftexts in Turkish and, as a result of the exper-imental studies he conducted; he hasdeveloped which is called "SönmezModel".

Findings and ResultsEindings obtained by Sönmez Model

concerning the comprehensibility levelsof the texts are given in tables below.


Table 1 : The comprehensibility levels of the texts iti Book A

Book A Comprehensibility Proponion Comprehen Result

in Sönmez Model sibility

Propottion

Text 1

Text 2

Text 3

Text 4

Text 5

Texte

Text 7

Text 8

Text 9

Text 10

Text 11

Text 12

Text 13

Text 14

Text 15

Text 17

Text 18

Text 19

Text 20

Text 21

Text 22

Text 23

Text 24

1.00-.99 Text is totally

meaningless

.98-.26 Text is meaningless

.25-. 16 Text is ambigious

.15-.09Textishardto

comprehend

.08-.04 Text can be

comprehended by aid

0.026754 Text is comprehensible

0.000055 Complete communication is assured







0.000749 Text is clear and comprehensible

0.066639 Text can be comprehended by aid






Text 16 .03-.001 Text is comprehensible 0.002211 Text is comprehensible


.00099-.0001 Text is clear and 0.001820 Text is clear and comprehensible

comprehensible

000001-0 Complete

communication is assured







According to Table 1 ; 3 of the 24 texts comprehensible" position, and 3 of themin the book are in "Complete communi- are in "Text can be comprehended by aid"cation is assured" position, 6 of them are position,in "Text is clear and comprehensible" posi-tion, 12 of them are in "Text is


Table 2: The comprehensibility levels of the texts in BookB

BookB Comprehensibility Proportion in Comprehen Result

Sönmez Model sibility

Proportion

Text 1

Text 2

Text 3

Text 4

Text 5

Texto

Text 7

Text 8

Text 9

Text 10

Text 11

Text 12

Text 13

Text 14

Text 15

Text 16

Text 17


meaningless


.25-. 16 Text is ambiguous

.15-.09Textishardto

comprehend

.08-.04 Text can be

comprehended by aid

.03-,001 Text is comprehensible

.00099-.0001 Text is clear and

comprehensible

0.008747

0.000916

0.000024

0.000315

0.000330

0.000169

0.000043

0.000262

0.000067

0.000543

0.000618

0.000772

0.001179

0.000039

0.000675

0.000013

0.000180

Text is clear and comprehensible


Complete communication is assured










Text is comprehensible





Text 18 000001 -0 Complete



According to Table 2; 5 of the 18 texts tion, and 2 of them are in "Text is com-in the book are in "Complete communi- prehensible" position,cation is assured" position, 11 of them arein "Text is clear and comprehensible" posi-


Table 3: The cotnprehensibility levels of the texts iti BookC

BookC Comprehensibility Proportion in Comprehen Result


Proportion

Textl

Text 2

Text 3

Text 4

Text 5

Texto

Text 7

Text 8

Text 9

Text 10

Text 11

Text 12

Text 13

Text 14

Text 15

Text 16

Text 17

Text 18

Text 19


meattitigless



.15-.09Textishardto

comprehend

.08-.04 Text can be

comprehended by aid

.03-.001 Text is comprehensible


comprehensible

000001-0 Complete


0.0053

0.02250

0.000094

0.000796

0.001225

0.001712

0.001259

0.000087

0.000654

0.004803

0.000848

0.000150

0.001890

0.000947

0.006944

0.000443

0.000387

0.000820

0.000171



Complete cotnmunication is assured












Text can be comprehended by aid





According to Table3; 2 of the 19 texts comprehensible" position, and 1 of themin the book are in "Complete communi- are in "Text can be comprehended by aid"cation is assured" position, 11 of them are position,in "Text is clear and comprehensible" posi-tion, 5 of them are in "Text is

390/Education Vol. 131 No. 2

Table 4: The comprehensibility levels of the texts in BookD

BookD Comprehensibility Proportion in Comprehen Result


Proportion


















Text 1

Text 2

Text 3

Text 4

Text 5

Text 6

Text 7

Text 8

Text 9

Text 10

Text 11

Text 12

Text 13

Text 14

Text 15

Text 16

Text 17

1.00-.99 Text IS totally

meaningless



.15-.09Textishardto

comprehend

.08-.04 Text can be

comprehended by aid

.03-.00I Text is comprehensible


comprehensible

0.000182

0.000082

0.000198

0.000790

0.002356

0.000576

0.000191

0.000017

0.000426

0.000133

0.000108

0.000524

0.000053

0.000067

0.004867

0.009633

0.000234

Text 18 000001 -0 Complete



According to Table4; 4 of the 18 texts Conclusions and Recommendationsin the book are in "Complete communi-cation is assured" position, 10 of them are Conclusionsin "Text is clear and comprehensible" posi- As a result of the analysis of the data,tion, and 4 of them are in "Text is it can be said that, except for a few texts,comprehensible" position. the comprehensibility of the texts in the


Turkish language course books which arecarried to the teaching and education envi-ronments after being approved by theMinistry of National Education Trainingand Education Committee are at high level.However, that some texts are "Text can becomprehended by aid" is not seen as adesired situation in terms of teaching andeducation principles. Therefore, to carryout teaching through "Complete commu-nication is assured" texts is a desired andexpected situation.

It is seen that, out of the 79 texts stud-ied in the research, 4 (one from Book A andone from Book C) are "Text can be com-prehended by aid", 23 (twelve from BookA, two from Book B, five from Book C andfour from Book D) are "Text is compre-hensible", 38 are "Text is clear andcomprehensible" and 14 are "Completecommunication is assured". Eour texts thatare "Text can be comprehended by aid"are in Book A and Book C. On the otherhand, there are no texts of "Text can becomprehended by aid" in Book B and BookD. In accordance with this, it can beinferred that the comprehensibility levelsof the texts in Book B and Book D arestronger than those of the texts in Book Aand Book C.

The result that four of the texts in BookA and Book C are "Text can be compre-hended by aid" supports the idea that touse these texts in teaching environmentspresents an inconvenient situation.

Half of the texts in Books A, B, C andD are seen as "Text is comprehensible".To use texts of "Complete communicationis assured" is thought to be more conve-nient for the education to be carried onmore efficiently.

It is concluded that, when educationand teaching is carried on through texts of"Complete communication is assured", thequalities of the texts will rise and this willincrease the efficiency.

RecommendationsThe selection of the texts to be carried

to the education and teaching environmentby Sönmez Model will increase the qual-ity of education. Sönmez Model should beused to measure the comprehensibility ofthe texts which will be included in thecourse books at every grade of Primaryand Secondary Education.

In addition, texts which have commu-nicational values according to the textualcriteria discussed in Beaugrande &Dressier (1981), which are the criteria fortext's communicational value and avail-ability, and are mentioned in l§eri (2007,p.250) as well, should be carried to edu-cation and teaching environments.

The comprehensibility and readabilitylevels of texts as well as their other featuressuch as appropriateness to the level, edu-cational principles, linguistic andexpression features, and to what extentthey represent their type of text should alsobe paid attention.

The texts to be chosen for course booksshould be chosen and carried to the edu-cation and teaching environments aftermultidimensional analysis considering thedata of various sciences (linguistics, textlinguistics, semiotics, pedagogy) in addi-tion to the author of the text and formal orliterary features.

Studies like this should be conducted forother grades of teaching and education aswell.


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Determining the Copmprehensibility of Texts in Sixty Grade Turkish Course Books