Fluent Reading Skills of Learners of Turkish as A Foreign Language

Abstract

This study utilized a “sequential descriptive pattern”, one of the mixed method designs with a view to (doing what? Please state the aim here). The qualitative data were collected through the analysis of the participants’ oral reading voice recordings. Data on oral reading prosody were collected using the “Prosodic Reading Scale” and the quantitative data on reading speed and accurate reading were collected through the analysis of oral reading recordings. Whilst Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was utilized to determine the relationship between the data that did not distribute normally, Pearson’s correlation coefficient was employed to test the relationship between the data that distributed normally. Analysis results indicated a negative, low-level, and significant relationship between the participants’ oral reading errors and reading comprehension skills. While there was a positive, weak, and nonsignificant relationship between prosodic reading scores and reading comprehension skills in the A1-level, there was a positive, low-level, and significant relationship in the C1 level. It was found that oral reading speed, prosody, and oral reading errors did not predict fluent reading skills in the A1 level, and the model established was significant, but the dependent variables did not predict reading comprehension skill in the A2 level. In B1 and C1 levels, the regression model established in both levels were significant, and the rank of importance of the variables on oral reading comprehension was found as oral reading speed and oral reading errors.