Relationship between attitudes to reading and time allotted to writing in primary education

Abstract

Problem Statement: Writing is the expression of emotions, thoughts, wishes and plans in written form. Writing requires skill rather than knowledge. Skilful writing a process that necessitates hard work, reading, writing through drawing conclusions from reading texts, and years of practice. Development of the writing skill is possible through continuous and planned practice. This work should not be limited to the work done with the teacher or the Turkish language lessons. Writing essays, stories, anecdotes, poems etc. outside school work will help students to master their writing skills. For students to effectively express themselves in writing, they need to allocate time to writing every day. Aim of the Study: The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between attitudes to writing and time spent writing among 4th and 5th year primary education students. Method of the Study: Descriptive method was used in the study to identify trends in the situation. The study was conducted on 4th and 5th year students at primary education and the relationship between attitudes to writing and daily time spent writing was examined. Sampling: The study was conducted on 402 (208 girls, 194 boys) students in 4th and 5th years attending 7 primary education schools in İzmir/Buca. 51.7% of the participants were female and 48.3% were male. Stratified sampling method was used for determining the sample. Data Collection Instrument: To determine students' attitudes to writing, an "Attitudes to Writing Scale" (AWS) was used. Information about the daily time that participants spend writing (stated in minutes as a unit of time) was obtained through the personal information form included in the scale. The daily writing work denotes the writing activities that students undertake outside school work in their free time. Data Analysis and Interpretation: As a result of the analyses, attitudes to writing were found to be a significant predictor of time allotted to writing (R2=0.30, p=0.00). According to the result obtained, it can be stated that there is a positive significant relationship at a medium between attitudes to writing and time allotted to writing. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.