Investigation of bilingual first-grade students’ school readiness

Abstract

This study was designed as a case study and the school readiness of first-grade bilingual students speaking Turkish and Kurdish was examined according to gender, whether they had preschool education, the language spoken at home, the number of siblings, and the educational background of their parents. The study group consisted of 300 children who started first grade in primary school in Viranşehir district of Şanlıurfa province, Turkey, in the 2014-2015 academic years and 15 first grade teachers working in this province. The data were collected using the Metropolitan Readiness Test, semi-structured Teacher Interview Form, and Family Information Form. The obtained data were evaluated with a two-way analysis of variance and content analysis. The results of this study revealed that receiving preschool education, the language spoken at home, the number of siblings, and the educational background of parents made a significant difference in the school readiness of the children, but the gender did not make a significant difference. As a result of the interviews with the primary school first-grade teachers, it was determined that children who received preschool education started primary school more ready than those who did not and that the family played an important role in school readiness.