An Investigation of Secondary School Students' Attitudes Towards Their Native Language Course in the Context of Foreign Language Preparatory Education

The primary aim of this study is to examine the attitudes of secondary school students whose native language is Turkish toward the Turkish Language and Literature course by comparing students who have received one year of foreign language preparatory education with those who have not. The study was designed using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach integrating quantitative and qualitative data. Due to non-normal data distribution, non-parametric statistical methods were employed. Attitude scale data collected from 275 secondary school students were analyzed using the Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis H tests. The qualitative dimension of the study was based on semi-structured interviews conducted with students selected from both groups. Interview data were examined through content analysis to identify themes related to students’ perceptions. Quantitative findings indicated that female students exhibited more positive attitudes toward the course than male students. In addition, a statistically significant decrease in attitude scores was observed among 11th-grade students compared with other grade levels. However, no statistically significant difference was found between students who had received foreign language preparatory education and those who had not. Despite this quantitative similarity, qualitative findings revealed cognitive differences between the groups. Students who received preparatory education demonstrated a more analytical and comparative awareness of their native language, whereas students without preparatory education emphasized differences mainly related to teaching methods.