Ana Düşünceyi Belirleme Sürecinde Ortaya Çıkan Sapmalar: Metin İşlemleme Düzeylerine Göre Bir İnceleme
Deviations in the Process of Main Idea Identification Across Text Processing Levels

Summary/Abstract: The fundamental indicator that a text has been understood is the correct identification of its main idea. However, research findings indicate that, in the majority of cases, readers are unable to formulate the main idea in a comprehensive and consistent manner and require support. According to the structure-integration model proposed by Kintsch (1998), readers process the main idea sentence representing the text at three cognitive levels. The three categories of representation under discussion are (a) surface, (b) propositional, and (c) mental representation. The issues encountered in comprehending the text can be attributed to these three levels. In this study, which was conducted with 100 participants, a main idea identification form was utilized; the resulting data were then analyzed according to the three fundamental levels that had been mentioned. The relationships between the frequencies of deviations and the types of deviations were evaluated using correlational analyses. A mere 21% of the responses provided an adequate and sufficient explanation of the primary concept. As indicated by the text processing processes, deviations were distributed in the following manner: The proportion of the sample that could be accounted for at the proposition level was 56.27%, 34% based on surface text, and 9.73% at the mental representation level. A significant and negative relationship was identified between deviations at the surface structure and proposition levels (r = –.340, p < .01). A negative and significant relationship was also identified between problems at the proposition level and those at the mental representation level (r = –.291, p < .01). No statistically significant relationship was observed between surface text errors and deviations at the mental representation level (r = –.183, p = .069). The investigation revealed a heightened propensity among fifth-grade male students to exhibit deviations in surface structure. The findings of the study demonstrated that female students exhibited a greater propensity for propositional processing in comparison to their male counterparts. Deviations at the mental representation level appear to be a general problem at this age, independent of gender. Participants demonstrated higher levels of success in the comprehension of explanatory texts in comparison to narrative and allegorical texts. The findings demonstrate that only a limited proportion of students were able to express the main idea appropriately and adequately; deviations were concentrated mainly at the text base and surface text levels. The processing at the mental representation level was found to be relatively limited. These deviations can be categorized as follows: incomplete structuring of the main idea, focusing on surface details, and expressing the topic instead of the main idea. The existence of negative correlations between levels indicates that text processing processes predominantly remain at a single level, thereby hindering the attainment of integrative transitions. Furthermore, the results of the study demonstrated significant variations based on gender and text type. The findings indicate that the pedagogy of main ideas can be approached by relating it to students' cognitive characteristics, textual features, and text processing stages. A more comprehensive analysis of the developmental dimension of the ability to identify the main idea may be achieved by analyzing the tendencies of groups of different ages and reading levels.

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