The Development Of Cognitive Processes In Writing Skills Through The Teaching Process Of Paragraph Types: An Action Research

Writing skills is a multifaceted and complex area consisting of many cognitive processes. It is not possible to say that teaching writing skills is in accordance with learners’ education levels studying at primary, secondary and high schools in our country (see. Coşkun, 2011; Çifci, 2006; Yıldız,2010; Tok Ünlü, 2013).One of the problems of the students who have problems in sentence, paragraph and text level is reflected in paragraph writing (Coşkun, 2011). In this study, it was aimed to reveal the contributions to the cognitive skills of students through teaching different types of paragraphs that are included in the literature. The participants of the study, which was designed as action research and lasted 14 weeks (28 hours), are 36 1st grade students studying at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Department of Turkish Education. The research data were collected through 6 different data collection tools including focus group interviews, interviews with instructors, students’ writing papers, students’ worksheets, student diaries and researcher diary. The obtained data were formed under categories by administering content analysis. In the focus group interviews that were carried out before the treatment, it was revealed that the students had not been instructed in the paragraph level in their previous educational process and paragraphs had not been analyzed in a qualified way, thus, the learners had come to the undergraduate education without knowing paragraph structure. Students’ opinions regarding the treatment process put forward the themes of teaching in the paragraph level, the application of a process-based writing approach, writing in electronic settings and the association of writing topics with life. The study is important in that learners have realized the relationship between thinking and writing, they have begun to better understand what they read, have thought in-depth on simple issues, have developed skills regarding analysis, sequencing and comparison. Students’ positive attitude towards writing through this teaching method regarding paragraph types has been also reflected in their diaries.