The aim of this study is to longitudinally determine the level of students' ability to identify the topic and main idea from third grade to eighth grade. The data for the study was collected from 506 students, randomly selected from state schools in Ankara during the 2023-2024 academic year. The data was gathered using the "Topic and Main Idea Identification Tests" developed by the researchers. For each grade level, from third to eighth grade, separate tests consisting of 20 questions were prepared, with 10 questions on "topic identification" and 10 on "main idea identification." At the end of the study, it was found that the overall average score of students on topic and main idea identification was 58.15 out of 100. Considering that the two essential elements of understanding a text or paragraph are identifying its topic and main idea, the obtained average is not at the desired level.

Elementary education, subject, main idea, comprehension.