Investigation of Attitudes and Success of Secondary School 7th Grade Students Towards Turkish Language Lesson in Terms of Various Variables

The study was conducted to investigate the success and attitudes of the secondary school 7th grade students towards Turkish language lesson in terms of various variables. The study is a descriptive study and based on data collection. In this study, a 27-item attitude scale and a personal information protocol consisting of 5 questions were used. In addition, a pre-prepared multiple-choice Turkish course achievement test consisting of a total of 30 questions was applied. Students’ attitudes towards Turkish language lesson were measured and compared with success and other variables. The attitude scale, personal information protocol and achievement test were applied to 48 students in total. The population of the study consists of the students studying in Sarıkamış county of Kars province. The sample of the study consists of 7th grade students studying in Halit Paşa Secondary School and Şehit Taner Baran Regional Boarding Secondary School in Sarıkamış county of Kars province. The obtained data was interpreted by conducting t test, variance analysis with SPSS 20 package program. As a result of the findings, it was determined that there was a difference in the attitudes of the students in terms of gender and the number of the siblings. It was found out that the attitudes of the students towards Turkish language lesson did not differentiate in terms of mother educational background and interest in the lesson.


INTRODUCTION
Behind life and behavior, there is a sense of desire and in the front, there is a sense of purpose. In order to achieve the objectives, the requirements must be fulfilled. Happiness and objectives can be gained to the extent that the goals are achieved. This desire-goal cycle should be calculated well while targeting the behaviors and information to be given in the education programs. These two factors are very important in gaining cognitive and affective characteristics. According to Kağıtçıbaşı (1999), the affective characteristics that the students should gain in the courses are liking the course, being interested in the course, developing a positive attitude towards the course. The attitude mentioned here is defined as the general self-assessment of individuals about themselves, others or other objects, events or problems (Petty &Cacciopo 1986, cited in Kaplan, İpek, 2002, p.70), learned self-tendencies regarding a concrete object or a concrete concept, which appear in the form of being opposed to or favoring it, which direct the thoughts and feelings of the individual (Turgut, 1977), a positive or negative intensity order and rating towards a psychological object (Thurston, 1967) response tendency (Tezbaşaran, 1997, p.1) Attitude can be defined not only as emotional desire or behavioral tendency but as a triple of knowing-hearing-acting. There are several studies investigating the attitudes of language learners from various perspectives (Ataş Akdemir, 2018;Akdemir, 2019;Gardner, 1985;Kaya & Akdemir, 2016;Kormos & Csizér, 2008;Takkaç, Çatal & Akdemir, 2011). The concept of "success" can be defined as the achievement of the determined goal or the achievement of the objectives determined within the curriculum (Demirtaş, Güneş, 2002;Carter & Good, 1973;Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993). We can define success in terms of student as the achievement of the target behavior and displaying target behavior in the curriculum. It cannot be said that the elements such as curriculum, equipment, teacher training and technology alone are sufficient for student success. According to Bloom (1998), there are many factors affecting the quality of education. These factors can be listed as learner characteristics, teacher, teaching environment and teaching service. In the literature review, cognitive, affective and both cognitive and affective content are mentioned under the title of lesson-success" (Ekici, Kaya, & Mutlu, 2014;Savaji, Niusha & Boreiri, 2013;Trevino & 22 ALLS 11(2):21-27 DeFreitas, 2014). According to the findings of these studies, it is emphasized that attitude-motivation and achievement are central concepts of teaching and these concepts should be interacted as much as possible.
Turkish language learning at each grade level consists of listening / watching, speaking, reading, writing, basic language skills and grammar, which are aimed at the development of understanding, interpretation, communication skills. Students' success levels in Turkish language class may be related to their affective and cognitive preparation levels (Gelbal, 2008). Students' cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills are different from each other. Because each student is unique and has different interests. Considering the content and structure of the Turkish language course in the light of this information, it is seen that it is based on four basic skills. It is thought that the success of the students in this course may vary according to various variables. These are gender, number of siblings, parents' education level.
As within every lesson, students' interests and attitudes towards Turkish language course differ and this situation affects in-class activities. Although it is thought that the interest in the lessons is due to some experiences, it is known that some factors also play an important role. These factors can be listed as gender, the number of siblings, the educational status of parents. In addition to these factors, parents' attitude is also important. Students sometimes imitate their parents' attitudes. This affects the student's attitude towards skills. According to Başaran and Ateş (2009: p.79-92), the arrangements made by parents at home affect children's attitudes towards reading. For example, activities such as having a study room and a bookcase at home, buying books, magazines or newspapers on a regular basis, arranging environmental conditions for children after they start studying will increase children's positive attitudes towards studying.
The fact that language is a skill and that skills are learned by doing-living should not be forgotten (Göğüş, 1978). The biggest instructor of the language is Turkish. The students first come across Turkish language course at primary school level during the teaching of reading and writing. In fact, an attitude towards the course starts to be formed in the students at that level. Over time, attitudes change with experiences.

Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to investigate the success and attitudes of the secondary school 7 th -grade students towards Turkish language lesson in terms of various variables (gender, the number of siblings, educational status of the parents, whether s/he has his/her own room). The aim is to understand how the variables mentioned above affect the students' attitudes towards Turkish language course and how they make a change.

Sub-problems
1. Is there a relationship between the attitudes of 7th-grade students towards Turkish language course and their success in the course?
2. Do the attitudes of students towards Turkish language course differ according to gender? 3. Do the attitudes of students towards Turkish language course differ according to the number of siblings? 4. Do the attitudes of the students towards Turkish language course differ according to the mother's educational level? 5. Do the attitudes of the students towards the Turkish language course differ according to the education level of the father? 6. Do the students' achievement scores in Turkish language differ according to gender? 7. Do the Turkish students' success grades differ according to the number of siblings? 8. Do the Turkish students' success grades differ according to their mother's educational background? 9. Do the Turkish students' success grades differ according to their father's educational level? 10. What is the level of attitudes of students towards Turkish language lessons?

Importance of the Study
Attitudes of people to a number of situations have a significant impact on their lives and lifestyles. It takes a great deal of time to change the behaviors that settle in the self of the children, especially at an early age. Moreover, the effect of students' attitudes on success is quite high. Because if the attitude of the student to a course is positive, the success of the course increases. When this course is Turkish language, its importance increases more. Because positive attitudes and behaviors towards Turkish language course will be reflected in success. Individuals who love Turkish language course and can express themselves will be more successful in other courses. Different variables that affect the success of the course are also known by everyone. In this study, it was aimed to determine the effect of students' attitudes on success, whether the attitude varies according to gender, the number of siblings, the level of mother and father education, and to determine whether the success in Turkish lessons varies according to gender, number of siblings, and education level of parents.

Assumptions
• The sample is capable of representing the population.
• The students answered the attitude scale related to Turkish language course truly. • The students answered the achievement test carefully.

Limitations
• This study was conducted in the first semester with 7 th -grade students in the 2018-2019 academic year. • This study was conducted only in two schools in Sarıkamış district. • The study was applied to the students of Şehit Taner Baran Regional Secondary School and Halit Paşa Secondary School.

Investigation of Attitudes and Success of Secondary School 7 th Grade Students Towards Turkish Language Lesson in Terms of Various Variables 23 Method
This section focuses on the research model, the universe, the sample, the characteristics of the data and the data collection tool, the application of the data, and the statistical analysis techniques used to obtain the findings.

Research Model
In the study, causal-comparative research model was used as it investigated whether the attitude level of the primary school students, which is the dependent variable, differ in terms of success, gender, the number of siblings and the educational status of parents, which are the independent variables, and whether success, the dependent variable, differ in terms of gender, the number of siblings and the educational status of parents, the independent variables. Causalcomparative studies are studies that determine the causes of an existing / naturally occurring situation or event and the variables that affect these causes or the consequences of an effect (Büyüköztürk, Çakmak, Akgün, Karadeniz, Demirel, 2008, p.185). In causal-comparative studies, there are at least two groups that are affected differently from the same situation, or two groups that are affected and unaffected by the assumed situation, and these groups are examined in terms of some variables to determine the possible causes and effects of the present situation (Cohen and Manion, 1994).

Population and Sample
The population of this study consists of the students in Sarıkamış district of Kars province in 2018-2019.

Sample
The study was applied to the 7 th -grade students of Halit Paşa Secondary School and Şehit Taner Baran Boarding Regional Secondary School in Sarıkamış region.

Data Collection Tools
In this study, a 27-item attitude scale and a personal information protocol consisting of 5 questions were used. In addition, a pre-prepared multiple-choice Turkish language course achievement test consisting of a total of 30 questions was applied. Students' attitudes towards Turkish language course were measured and compared with success and other variables. This attitude scale, personal information protocol and achievement test were applied to a total of 48 students. The attitude scale and achievement tests of the students who participated in the attitude scale and achievement test were evaluated.

Data Analysis and Interpretation
The data obtained were analyzed using the SPSS program.
In the first sub-problem, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was calculated to evaluate the relationship between Turkish language course attitude scores and Turkish language course achievement scores of secondary-school 7 th -grade students.
In the second sub-problem, firstly, the students were divided into two groups according to their gender, and the attitude scores of the groups were compared with the T-test. As a result of the statistical analysis, T = -1.05, this value was found to be statistically significant at the level of p > .05.
In the third sub-problem, one-way analysis of variance was used to test whether there was a difference between the number of siblings of the students and the attitude points of the Turkish language course, and a significant difference was observed between the mean scores of the groups (F = 4.25, p <0.05).
In the fourth sub-problem, one-way analysis of variance was used to test whether there was a difference between the mother's educational status and the attitude scores of Turkish language course of the students. The education level of the mother was determined as primary, secondary, high school, university and graduate.
In the fifth sub-problem, one-way analysis of variance was used to test whether there was a difference between the father's educational status and the attitude scores of Turkish language course of the students. The education level of the father was determined as primary, secondary, high school, university and graduate.
In the sixth sub-problem, according to the independent sample t test results, a statistically significant difference was found between male students 'achievement scores (X = 55.78) and female students' achievement scores (X = 65.76) [t (46) = -2.2, p <.05].
In the seventh sub-problem, one-way analysis of variance was used to test whether there was a difference between the number of siblings and the achievement scores of the Turkish language course, and no significant difference was observed between the mean scores of the groups (F = 1.22, p> 0.05).
In the eighth sub-problem, one-way analysis of variance was used to test whether there was a difference between the mother's educational status of the students and the Turkish language course achievement scores. The education level of the mother was determined as primary, secondary, high school, university and graduate.
In the ninth sub-problem, one-way analysis of variance was used to test whether there was a difference between the educational status of father and the Turkish language course achievement score, and a significant difference was observed between the mean scores of the groups (F = 4.47, p <0.05).

Findings and Interpretation
The findings and interpretations of the study are given below according to the sub-problems of the study. 1. Is there a relationship between the attitudes of 7 th -grade students towards Turkish language course and their course success?
The findings regarding the relationship between student attitude scores and achievement scores are presented in Table 1.
Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was calculated to evaluate the relationship between Turkish language course attitude scores and Turkish language course success scores of 7 th -grade students. Based on the above table data, it was seen that students' attitude towards Turkish language ALLS 11(2):21-27 lesson had no effect on the course success. It was seen that some of the students showed a positive attitude and received low grades from the achievement test. As a result of the calculation, it was determined that there was no significant relationship between the two variables [r = .079, n = 48, p <.01]. 2. Do the attitudes of students towards Turkish language course differ according to gender? When Table 2 was examined, according to independent sample t-test results, no statistically significant difference was found between the mean attitude scores of male students (X = 107) and the mean attitude scores of female students (X = 110). It was determined that heir attitudes towards Turkish language course vary according to their gender. Firstly, the students were divided into two groups according to their gender and the attitude scores of the groups were compared with the t-test. As a result of the statistical analysis, T = -1.05, this value was found to be statistically significant at the level of p > .05. In other words, the attitude scores of the students towards Turkish language course vary according to their gender.
As can be seen in Table 2, 52.08% of the students included in the research were female and 47.91% were male. When the mean attitude scores of the students towards the Turkish language course according to their gender are examined, it is seen that the average of the female students' attitude scores (110) is higher than the average of the male students (107).

Do the attitudes of students towards Turkish language course differ according to the number of siblings?
One-way analysis of variance was used to test whether there was a difference between the number of siblings of the students and the attitude points of Turkish language lesson, and a significant difference was observed between the mean scores of the groups (F = 4.25, p <0.05). As a result of the multiple comparison test, it is seen that the significant difference is in favor of the students who have one sibling (X = 124) and the students who have four siblings (X = 100.93).

Do the attitudes of the students towards Turkish language course differ according to the mother's educational level?
One-way analysis of variance was used to test whether there was a difference between the mother's educational background and Turkish language attitude scores of the students. The education level of the mother was determined as primary, secondary, high school, university and graduate. The variance analysis result of this result is presented in Table 4. As shown in Table 4, no significant difference was observed between the mean scores of the groups (F = 2.56, p> 0.05).

Do the attitudes of the students towards the Turkish language course differ according to the education level of the father?
One-way analysis of variance was used to test whether there was a difference between the fathers' educational status and the attitude scores of the Turkish language course of the  students. The education level of the father was determined as primary, secondary, high school, university and graduate. As can be seen from Table 5, it is analyzed whether there is a significant difference between the fathers 'educational level and students' attitudes towards Turkish language course. We can state that fathers do not play an effective role in school-student interaction regardless of the level of the school they have graduated. (F = 0.23, p> 0.05). 6. Do the students' achievement scores in Turkish language differ according to gender? When Table 6 is analyzed, according to the independent sample t-test results, it was found that there was a statistically significant difference between male students 'achievement scores (X = 55.78) and female students' achievement scores (X = 65.76) in favor of female students [t (46) = -2.2, p <.05]. It can be said that the success of Turkish language course varies according to gender. Firstly, the students were divided into two groups according to their gender and the mean achievement scores of the groups were compared with a t-test. In other words, achievement scores of Turkish students vary according to their gender.

Do the Turkish students' success grades differ according to the number of siblings?
One-way analysis of variance was used to test whether there was a difference between the number of siblings of the students and the success of the Turkish language course, and no significant difference was observed between the mean scores of the groups (F = 1.22, p> 0.05).

Do the Turkish students' success grades differ according to their mother's educational background?
One-way analysis of variance was used to test whether there was a difference between the mother's educational status and the achievement scores of Turkish students. The education level of the mother was determined as primary, secondary, high school, university and graduate. The variance analysis result of this finding is presented in Table 8. As seen here, there was no significant difference between the mean scores of the groups (F = 0.27, p> 0.05). 9. Do the Turkish students' success grades differ according to their father's educational level?
One-way analysis of variance was used to test whether there was a difference between the educational status of the father and the success scores of the Turkish language course of the students, and a significant difference was observed between the mean scores of the groups (F = 4.47, p <0.05). As a result of the multiple comparison test, it is seen that the significant difference is in favor of the students whose father education level is secondary school (X = 54.91) and the students whose father education level is high school (X = 69.35).

What is the level of attitudes of students towards
Turkish language lessons? According to Graph 1, students' attitudes towards Turkish language lessons were 59% 'I like' for boys and 74% for girls. According to Graph 1, most of the 7th grade students have positive attitudes towards Turkish lessons.

RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
There are many variables that have an impact on the student's success in the class. Güleç and Alkış (2003) define these variables as "learning variable" and that they will change according to physiological, psychological and social conditions and situations, and school success is determined by many "non-mental" factors (success motive, anxiety, family qualities, socio-economic characteristics, general environment properties, nutritional and health conditions).
In this study, the evaluation of the analyzes made to measure whether the students' attitudes towards the course affect the success and whether the attitude affects other variables as well as whether the success is affected by various variables were evaluated.
The study showed that there are meaningful and distinctive relationships between students' attitudes towards Turkish language lesson and their motivation regarding education. Most students have positive attitudes towards Turkish language lesson. In the study of Bölükbaş (2010), it was observed that approximately 68% of the students' attitude towards Turkish language lesson was positive. In addition, according to graph 1, the attitudes of female students towards Turkish language lessons are more positive than male students. When this is examined in the literature, it is seen that Deniz and Tuna (2006: 339-349); Kaya, Arslantaş and Şimşek (2009);Bölükbaş (2010); Gür, Dilci, Şener and Yıldırım (2013) and Okur and Özsoy (2013) have the same results. In terms of the results obtained, it was observed that the findings overlapped and supported the findings. According to these results, it can be interpreted that female students like Turkish language lessons more than male students. When we look at whether students' achievement scores change according to the interest in Turkish language lesson, it is seen that females are more successful than males. In the studies of Ateş (2008) and Arıcı (2007), the average grades of female students were found higher than those of male students. This was stated by Kuzgun (2004) as "Female students are more successful than male students especially in matters requiring memorization, they exhibit behaviors that are more sensitive to the expectations and approval of others, and these features may lead to more success in the academic field than male students." There is a significant relationship between students' achievements and attitudes. It can be said that the increase and decrease of both are at the same level. In other words, as the attitude level increases, success increases. According to Gömleksiz (1993: 79), attitude has a determining feature in shaping the individual's cognitive, affective or psychomotor behavior or how to show it.
According to the number of siblings, there was a difference in the attitudes towards Turkish language lesson between students with one brother and students with four siblings. This result is parallel with the research result of Arı (2007). According to Gelbal (2008: 13), when the number of siblings is four or more, the student's success in the Turkish language test decreases. According to these results, the number of siblings is important according to the opportunities provided at home. The number of children should be as much as we can support their education. According to Karaaslan (2010), the attitudes of the students towards the Turkish language lesson with the number of siblings are completely independent.
It was observed that the attitudes of students towards Turkish language lesson did not differ according to the education level of the mother. Considering whether the educational status of the father, which is the other variable, affects the attitude, it is observed that there is a difference in success between the students whose father's education level is secondary school and the father's education level is high school. The students whose father's education level is high school got higher scores in the achievement test compared to those whose father's education level is secondary school. It was found in the studies of Kaya, Arslantaş, and Şimşek (2009) and Gür, Dilci, Şener and Yıldırım (2013) that the education levels of the father and the students' Turkish language course achievement averages were independently. In the research conducted by Gelbal (2008) on the education level of mother, it is seen that the increase in the education level of mother contributes positively to the success of children. Contrary to the results found in our study, Ateş (2008) 's research did not find a significant relationship between the education levels of the mother and father and the Turkish language achievement averages. In addition, according to Deniz and Tuna (2006) and Bölükbaş (2010), it was observed that the attitude was more positive as the education level increased.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Knowing the attitudes of the students towards the Turkish language course will be useful in the preparation of the curriculums, in the implementation of the teacher and in increasing the success in the classroom. In order to achieve this, attitudes tests related to the course, working environment and order should be applied to the students and parents before the academic year. With this pre-application, educational activities that will develop positive attitudes towards Turkish language lesson should be investigated. In addition, it has been seen that positive attitudes towards Turkish language course affect the success of other courses. Studies should be carried out to improve the success and attitudes towards Turkish language lessons in favor of female students for male students as well. At this point, experimental studies should be conducted based on the development processes and psychological characteristics of male students, and the main causes of failure in male students should be identified and solutions should be sought.
The more effective the teacher and student use their mother tongue, the higher the success of the other courses will be. Families should be educated in various fields such as student psychology and parental education. Parental attitudes and behaviors affect student achievement and attitude. Families' having a supportive attitude in terms of education will increase the school success of children. It is also recommended that families have enough children to support their education.
There is a close relationship between student-lesson relationship and student's love towards that lesson and

Investigation of Attitudes and Success of Secondary School 7 th Grade Students Towards Turkish Language Lesson in Terms of Various Variables 27
success. Instructors need to take into account the affective characteristics of students while organizing their educational environment.