Ana Dili Eğitimi Dergisi

Öz

This study investigated the professional knowledge and classroom practices of Turkish language teachers in teaching reading comprehension skills. Adopting a basic qualitative research design, the study collected data through interviews with 25 Turkish language teachers selected via purposive sampling. The data were analyzed using content analysis. The findings revealed that teachers possessed limited knowledge of instructional strategies for reading and struggled to implement these strategies effectively in their classrooms. Teachers who predominantly employed routine or traditional methods in reading comprehension instruction exhibited shortcomings in differentiating instruction based on individual student differences. Moreover, most teachers attributed reading achievement primarily to cognitive factors, perceiving reading comprehension as a skill reliant on students’ innate cognitive abilities rather than a competence that could be systematically developed through instructional practices. This perspective suggested that teachers encounter difficulties in equipping students with systematic and conscious reading strategies. Additionally, the study highlighted the insufficient integration of instructional methods that fostered higher-order thinking in reading instruction, with assessment practices largely dependent on traditional text-based questioning techniques. Furthermore, teachers' beliefs about the characteristics of proficient readers strongly influenced their instructional and assessment approaches, often resulting in the exclusion of skills failing to conform to these perceived standards from their teaching practices.