ADEQUACY OF READING COMPREHENSION OF TURKISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS AND ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS WORKING IN GAZIANTEP IN THE SOUTHEAST ANATOLIAN REGION

Through the university entrance exam taken once a year in Turkey, language, mathematics, science and social studies proficiencies of high school students and graduates are tested. The results of this exam demonstrate the individual achievement of students and in light of these results, the achievement of each school, which in terms of the curriculum evaluation. Based on the outcomes of university entrance exam, the achievement level of each region can also be evaluated. According to the 2012 university entrance exam results out of 81 cities in Turkey. Gaziantep was among the least successful, ranked number 76 in mathematics and Turkish Language test results. The city of Gaziantep is located in the Southeast Anatolia region. The latest PISA 2009 results show that among the OECD countries, Turkey is the last but third in the list after Chile and Mexico. Again, according to 2009 PISA results, the Southeast Anatolian region is at the bottom among the other regions of Turkey in terms of reading competencies. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the reading habits of the Turkish Language teachers working in elementary and secondary schools in Gaziantep because these teachers have great influence on the development of reading proficiency of students. To collect the data, a questionnaire based on the components of reading comprehension was given to 407 teachers working in elementary and secondary schools. The collected data were interpreted through percentages and Chi-Square. The result of the study shows that reading habits of teachers differ in accordance with the socio economic level and education level of teachers' parents, socio economic level of parental education and socio economic level of the family, time devoted to reading-and level interpreting what is read.