Passing grade for Turkish had been raised to 70: Ministry of National Education explains the reasoning

Prof. Dr. Zarife Seçer, Director General of Basic Education at the Ministry of National Education (MEB), evaluated the decision, which has been debated by the public, to raise the passing grade for the Turkish language course to 70.

4 LANGUAGE SKILLS WILL BE SUPPORTED

In this context, Seçer explained that they have introduced a process-oriented assessment system in primary schools rather than one based on exams, ending exams conducted with multiple-choice questions, and that 4 language skills—listening, speaking, reading, and writing—will be supported, and that they have shaped secondary school exams accordingly. She stated that they have also updated the curriculum within this framework to meet needs.

Seçer reported that they implement all the decisions they make by collaborating with academics, experts, teachers in the field, and other stakeholders.

"THE TURKISH DECISION IS A NECESSITY"

Stating that they have conducted research to measure children's language skills in primary and secondary schools, Seçer provided the following information:

"During the COVID-19 pandemic, digitalization gained great momentum in Turkey, as it did in all countries around the world, and this situation caused our students to spend much more time with technology from an early age. Unfortunately, the support that families could provide to improve their children's language skills during this process was limited. We specifically measured the impact of the remote learning process on our students. We revealed the issue using very comprehensive research methods.

We examined the students' data regarding the Turkish language course over the last 5 years, also consulting the opinions of administrators and teachers from the field. Our research results, which provide very strong data, revealed that the measures we took regarding the Turkish language course were a need, a necessity. From now on, Turkish language courses will be among the subjects we focus on the most."

GOAL OF REDUCING LEARNING LOSS

Emphasizing that research shows students with high expression skills in the Turkish language also achieve high success in other subjects, Seçer said, "The success level we desire for Turkish is not a decision we made randomly. Our goal regarding this issue is to minimize the learning losses that affect our students' future educational lives."

"MAGIC YEARS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING"

Zarife Seçer also provided information about other studies they have conducted regarding Turkish language skills, reporting that they are carrying out the Turkish Vocabulary Project, which aims to support the language skills of children in the 3-6 age group.

Explaining that they are researching the vocabulary of children in this age group with a group of academics, Seçer stated, "For the first time, we have started research on language skills in this age group. The 'magic years' in language teaching are the preschool period. Since we accept children into preschool education institutions starting from 36 months, we are researching the 3-6 age range. We anticipate that the misuse of technology also creates negative effects in this age group."

Seçer added that they are also carrying out curriculum update studies at all levels and that they will make updates to the programs in accordance with the results of this research.

News Source: AA