An Application for Persuasive Communication Instruction in Turkish Education

The learning outcomes concerning the characteristics of persuasive communication are specified within Turkish curriculum from 4th grade onward. Depending on the field and purpose, persuasive communication exhibits different characteristics. Turkish language education program addresses such general characteristics of media texts as cultural transmission, interpretation, elucidating, entertaining and persuading. In Turkish courses, activities regarding the characteristics of persuasive education are not implemented. Therefore, this particular study primarily aimed to provide activities concerning persuasive communication instruction with the aim of assisting secondary school students analyze and interpret media texts. In this mixed methods study, the data were collected through literature review, pre-post test and course activities towards persuasive communication used in education, public relations, advertisement and propaganda. The activities were carried out with 14 voluntary students attending 7th grade in a Turkish state school. Pre and post-test activities were assessed by two experts. The results were keyed into SPSS 18 program. The data were analyzed via paired sample t-test and Wilcoxon Test together with students’ opinions. Based on students’ performances evaluated prior to, during and after the activity, it has been concluded that learning towards the characteristics of persuasive communication occurs with a significant level. As a result, teaching the characteristics of persuasive communication in Turkish lessons should be considered