The Effect of Four-Square Writing Method on Undergraduate and Associate Degree Students' Written Expression Skills, Attitude and Anxiety

Four-Square Writing Method helps organize thoughts; it is a process-based method that supports and promotes the writing process by allowing the creation of thoughts, supporting and concretizing them. In this study, the effect of the four-square writing method on students' writing skills, attitudes, and anxiety in their written expressions was examined. The research was designed according to the quasi-experimental design with a one group pre-post test. In the study group in the research consists of a total of 80 students studying in Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal University undergraduate (40) and associate degree (40) programs in the 2022-2023 academic year. According to the results of the research, this method did not have a significant effect on the positive development of undergraduate students' written expression, attitudes, and concerns, but it significantly improved the written expression skills, attitudes, and concerns of associate degree students. Students stated that this method improved their writing skills, imagination, and thought production and transfer, increased their vocabulary, enabled them to create meaningful paragraphs, and reduced their writing anxiety. Regarding its negative aspects, they mentioned that it is boring, time-consuming, challenging, tiring, and has limited subject matter. They stated that this method would be more effective if the keywords were given to the students in advance and the frequency of study and variety of topics were increased. briefly and concisely. Based on these results, it was concluded that writing skills can be developed in a process-based manner with different methods in mother tongue education.