Journal of Mother Tongue Education

Abstract

With the introduction of the 2024 Turkish Course Curriculum, notable changes have been observed in the assessment sections at the end of each theme in the revised textbooks, particularly in terms of their titles, content, and question types. The section previously referred to as the “end-of-theme evaluation” is now titled “checkpoint.” Accordingly, the research aims to examine the checkpoint questions in the 5th grade Turkish textbooks (first and second books) and on the EBA platform, with reference to question types and the perspectives of Turkish language teachers instructing 5th grade classes. To this end, the study employed document analysis to examine the checkpoint questions in terms of question types, and utilized semi-structured interviews to gather the views of Turkish teachers. In the research, a total of 20 Turkish language teachers, 13 female and seven male, who taught 5th grade classes in the provinces of Konya, Ankara, Afyonkarahisar, Adıyaman, and Kars was interviewed. A semi-structured interview form and a question type checklist were used as data collection tools in the research. Descriptive and content analysis techniques were employed to analyze the data. The findings revealed that in both the 5th grade Turkish textbooks and the EBA platform, open-ended and short-answer questions were the most frequently used, while multiple-choice questions were the least common. Turkish language teachers considered the checkpoint activities to be effective, as they included a variety of question types, supported comprehension of the subject matter, and were appropriate for the grade level. Teachers who incorporated checkpoint activities into their lessons did so for purposes such as review, assessment, and practicing language structures. Those who did not allocate time for these activities cited the excessive number of exercises in the textbooks as a barrier. The teachers recommended that checkpoint activities either be embedded within the main exercises or placed at the end of the unit, and that the number of activities in the textbook be reduced to help address the issue of not being able to complete all exercises within the available time.