Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
TURKOPHONE, cilt.11, sa.3, ss.159-180, 2025 (Scopus)
A large portion of educational activities in Turkey is conducted through textbooks. This is also true for teaching Turkish. Therefore, students' competency in reading and understanding their native language depends on the appropriateness of textbook texts to students' developmental, age, and knowledge levels. One of the important criteria in evaluating textbook texts is readability. This research aimed to examine the word and sentence lengths along with readability levels of texts in primary school (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade) Turkish textbooks. The study was conducted using a descriptive survey design. The study materials consist of texts from primary school Turkish textbooks published by the Ministry of National Education (MEB) Publications, which began to be used in the Fall Semester of the 2024-2025 Academic Year. Poems and listening texts were excluded from the research scope. In data analysis, readability formulas developed by Ateşman (1997), Çetinkaya-Uzun (2010), and Bezirci-Yılmaz (2010) were used. Research results revealed that word lengths in textbook texts did not show a regular increase according to grade level, but sentence lengths increased with grade level. The Kruskal-Wallis H test found statistically significant differences in word and sentence lengths across grade levels. When examining the readability levels of primary school Turkish textbook texts, they were generally found to be medium according to Ateşman Readability Level and at educational level according to Çetinkaya-Uzun Readability Level. According to Bezirci-Yılmaz Readability Level, texts in first and second-grade Turkish textbooks were at primary school level, while texts in third and fourth grades were at high school level. This situation revealed that readability scores and levels of texts at the same grade level vary according to different formulas.