Reading and Writing Experiences of Middle School Students in the Digital Age: Wattpad Sample

Author(s):  
Mazhar Bal

This study aimed to determine the in-school and out-of-school reading and writing experiences of middle school students. This study used phenomenology from qualitative research methods. All 12 participants (8 female, 4 male) were middle school grade 6 students. Various data collection techniques were employed: a survey and a semi-structured interview about the use of Wattpad, a semi-structured interview about the Turkish language subject, a semi-structured interview about the relationship between in-school and out-of-school reading and writing experiences, a diary of the students’ Wattpad reading list, a diary of the students’ Wattpad writing list, and the texts written by the students on Wattpad. Data collection lasted 16 weeks. The data collected from the survey questionnaire were analyzed descriptively. The data from the semi-structured interviews and diaries were analyzed using content analysis. The results indicated that most of the participants had a negative perception of in-school reading. Similar conclusions were drawn from the results in-school writing because most of the participants felt restricted and under pressure during the in-school writing process. Wattpad was considered a venue where participants can express themselves comfortably. The participants shared positive experiences characterized by willingness, diversity, meaningfulness, and entertainment. By contrast, in-school reading evoked negative experiences, such as feeling obliged, bored, and restricted, and perceiving the activity as meaningless. Out-of-school writing experiences were determined to promote internal motivation, to develop self-expression of one’s anxiety and enjoyment alike, and to develop digital writing skills in out-of-school writing experiences. Overall, no relationship was found between in-school and out-of-school reading and writing experiences.

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 79-94
Author(s):  
Mazhar Bal

The purpose of this research is to improve informative and narrative writing skills of middle school students. The study was designed with action research. The research group is middle school students. Data collection techniques were student diary, semi-structured interview form, semi-structured observation form and documents that consist of comics produced by the students. Descriptive analysis and content analysis techniques were used together in the analysis. It has been determined that the writing process has not attracted students; however, comic books have been shown to attract students It has also been found that the process of semantic interpretation of the text is facilitated. It has been determined that most spelling and punctuation mistakes were made in the writing process. It is thought that the reasons for these mistakes are the habits of out-of-school life. It has been determined that writing processes related to multimodal texts have a positive effect on students’ interest and sense of responsibility.Keywords: Comic book, graphic novel, informative writing, middle school student, narrative writing.*


1993 ◽  
Vol 86 (8) ◽  
pp. 682-685
Author(s):  
Frances R. Curcio ◽  
J. Lewis McNeece

The element of mystery can be a naturally intriguing component of a mathematics lesson for middle school students. Mystery stories capture students“ interest and attention and contribute to developing critical-reading skills (Crouse and Bassett 1975; Curcio 1982; Scalzitti 1982). When presenting mystery stories within the context of a mathematics lesson, students often ask, “What does this have to do with mathematics?” Significant connections can be made between solving a mystery and solving a mathematics problem that supply a rationale for incorporating mystery stories in the mathematics class. In particular, similarities in the questions a problem solver asks when confronting a problem (Polya 1973) and the questions a detective asks in solving a mystery can be found in figure 1. After solving short mystery stories, students will see the connection between solving a mystery and solving a mathematics problem.


2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zuheir N Khlaif ◽  
Soheil Salha ◽  
Shahid Fareed ◽  
Hadi Rashed

The aim of this paper is to investigate the challenges associated with emergency remote teaching in the developing countries of Palestine, Libya, and Afghanistan, as reported by middle-school students, their parents, and teachers. These countries have been struggling with an unstable and violent situation for decades. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 60 participants from the three countries and 60 online classes were observed. Findings revealed that COVID-19 widened the digital gap among students and families, which created challenges in terms of online class attendance. In addition, violation of students’ and parents’ digital privacy emerged as another key challenge to emergency remote teaching. However, teacher presence and timely feedback in synchronous online sessions strengthened students’ engagement within the emergency remote teaching environment. Overall, emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 crisis deepened inequities across students and infringed upon the digital ethics of students, teachers, and parents.


Author(s):  
Samet Çiçek ◽  
Osman Akhan

This research aimed to present reasons and solutions that soon-to-graduate preservice social studies teachers expressed in relation to middle school students’ low level of historical literacy as reported in the literature. To this end, we used a basic qualitative research design. The sample consisted of 30 soon-to-graduate preservice teachers (17 women and 13 men) who were studying social studies teaching at the faculty of education of a state university in the 2019-2020 academic year and already served their teaching internship. The data were collected using the semi-structured “Interview form” developed by Keçe (2013). The data were analysed using descriptive analysis. According to the analysis results, the preservice social studies teachers stated that middle school students’ low level of historical literacy was generally due to the methods and techniques used by teachers in teaching historical topics, students’ lack of interest in historical topics, and the lack of parental encouragement. The preservice teachers also highlighted that students should be encouraged to use social media tools properly and the content of historical series, films, documentaries, and television shows should be adjusted to students.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 544
Author(s):  
Erol Duran ◽  
Kadir Kaplan

<p><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p>The speeches prepared in a plan and presented to the target group are in the ready speech class. Changing world conditions personalize the person and break away from the outside world. This situation leads to an increase in the number of people who are inadequate in interpersonal communication, difficult to express themselves, and who can not express the situation they are facing. Appropriate studies should be carried out to train the generations that can express your verbal thought and adopt a level of personality. At this point, it is very important to determine the levels and interests of individuals. At this point, the motivation of individuals who are reluctant to open individuals can be improved in this way.</p><p>This research was conducted to determine the selection of topics on the lower level prepared by junior high school students. "Are middle school students different in their choice of subject, such as readiness, gender, grade level, parental level of education, family economic level, book page reading per month?" And "What are the opinions of the middle school students in the subjects of the prepared talk?" the answer was searched. A complementary hybrid design was used in the study. The first group of the study consisted of 24 selected students. Data; The semi-structured interview form for the first sub-problem and the second semi-structured interview form for the second sub-problem were analyzed by frequency and percentage calculation. It has been examined whether subject selection tendencies differ according to variables such as gender, class level, parental education level, family economic level, number of book pages read in one month. In the second part of the research, thematic coding was done.</p><p>5th and 6th grades, animal and nature in topic selection, environment in 7th grade, 8th class sports branches are extraordinary. Subject selection; The gender of the students, the level of education of the father, the educational status of the mother, the profession of the father, the occupation of the mother, the monthly income of the family and the number of books read in a month. When the general opinions of the middle school students are evaluated regarding the prepared speech, the negative aspects such as excitement, interruption and not being able to express themselves can not be prevented with prepared speeches. Students can communicate their thoughts effectively.</p><p><strong>Öz</strong></p><p>Bir plan dahilinde hazırlanıp hedef kitleye sunulan konuşmalar, hazırlıklı konuşma sınıfındadır. Değişen dünya koşulları, insanı bireyselleştirmekte ve dış dünya ile olan ilişkilerini koparmaktadır. Bu durum kişiler arası iletişimde yetersiz, kendini ifade etmekte zorlanan, karşılaştığı sorunlar karşısında içinde bulunduğu durumu dile getiremeyen bireylerin artmasına neden olmaktadır. Düşündüğünü sözlü olarak doğru ifade edebilen nesiller yetiştirmek, beceriyi kişilik özelliği olacak düzeyde benimsetmek için seviyeye uygun çalışmaların yürütülmesi gerekmektedir. Bu noktada ise bireylerin seviyelerinin ve ilgi alanlarının belirlenmesi büyük önem arz etmektedir. Duygu ve düşüncelerini açığa vurmada isteksiz durumda olan bireylerin motivasyonu bu şekilde artırılabilecektir.</p><p>Bu araştırma, ortaokul öğrencilerinin hazırlıklı konuşmada konu seçimlerini belirlemek amacıyla yapılmıştır. “Ortaokul öğrencilerinin hazırlıklı konuşmada konu seçimleri, cinsiyet, sınıf seviyesi, anne-baba eğitim düzeyi, ailenin ekonomik seviyesi, ayda okuduğu kitap sayfası değişkenlerine göre farklılık göstermekte midir?” ve “Ortaokul öğrencilerinin hazırlıklı konuşmada konu seçimleri ile ilgili görüşleri nelerdir?” sorularına cevap aranmıştır. Araştırmada tamamlayıcı karma desen kullanılmıştır. Araştırmanın birinci çalışma grubunu, resmi bir okulda öğrenim gören 120 ortaokul öğrencisi; ikinci çalışma grubunu, birinci çalışma grubu içerisinden seçilen 24 öğrenci oluşturmaktadır. Veriler; birinci alt problem için ölçme aracı ile ikinci alt problem için yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme formu ile toplanmış, frekans ve yüzde hesaplamasıyla çözümlenerek yorumlanmıştır. Konu seçme eğilimlerinin cinsiyet, sınıf seviyesi, anne-baba eğitim düzeyi, ailenin ekonomik seviyesi, bir ayda okunan kitap sayfası sayısı değişkenlerine göre farklılaşıp farklılaşmadığı incelenmiştir. Araştırmanın ikinci kısmından elde edilen veriler tematik kodlama yapılarak analiz edilmiştir.</p><p>5 ve 6.sınıfların konu seçimlerinde hayvanlar ve doğa konusu, 7.sınıfta çevre konusu, 8.sınıfta spor dalları öne çıkan konulardır. Konu seçimleri; öğrencilerin cinsiyetlerine, baba eğitim durumuna, anne eğitim durumuna, baba mesleğine, anne mesleğine, ailenin aylık gelirine, bir ayda okunan kitap sayfası sayısına göre anlamlı bir şekilde farklılaşmamaktadır. Ortaokul öğrencilerinin hazırlıklı konuşmayla ilgili genel görüşleri değerlendirildiğinde hazırlıklı konuşma ile heyecan, kekeleme, kendini ifade edememe gibi olumsuzlukların ortadan kalktığı; öğrencilerin düşüncelerini etkili bir şekilde aktarabildikleri görülmüştür.Çalışmanın bulguları öğretmenler, ders kitabı yazarları tarafından dikkate alındığında öğrencilerin duygu ve düşüncelerini ortaya koymadaki isteksizliği giderilmiş, motivasyonları artırılmış olacaktır. Kendilerini daha iyi ifade eden ve konuşma becerisini kişilik özelliği olacak düzeyde benimseyen bireyler yetiştirilebilecektir.</p>


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