The Effects of “I Practicethe Language in Nature” Project Supported by TÜBİTAK on English Education


AYMEN PEKER E., ÇİFTLİ S., ÇOBANOĞLU E. O.

Ondokuz Mayıs Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, vol.39, no.3, pp.58-78, 2020 (Peer-Reviewed Journal) identifier

Abstract

One of the main qualities needed by 21st century individuals is the ability of learning foreign languages. It is observed that foreign language education has been provided in our country from kindergartens to university for long years. Depending on reasons such as theoretical and grammar oriented English programs applied in Turkey, deficiencies in classroom materials and lack of appropriate places for students to practice English, desired productivity cannot be obtained from our English teaching programs. If the necessary facilities are provided and the students are given the opportunity to practice in natural environments where the taught foreign language can be spoken, it is thought that the level of foreign language learning of the students will increase. The aim of this study is to make learning English enjoyable and funny by removing the traditional grammar and vocabulary memorization, to provide students with the opportunity to use foreign language in daily life, to teach English through nature and scientific activities and to reveal the effects of teaching on English education.For this reason, this project was implemented between June 26 and July 4, 2019 in Samsun. In this study, a learning environment was created in which participants could learn English practically and practice English language at any time of the day, and it was aimed to investigate the effect of this learning environment on participants' foreign language development and attitudes towards foreign language learning. The participants of the study were forty-two Turkish students from two secondary schools in Samsun and thirty-five students from Czechia, Italy and Romania. The daily activities to be performed throughout the project have been designed in three stages. At the first stage, English activities prepared by Turkish teachers of English has been carried out. Secondly, sports activities and nature trips has been organized. And at the third stage, art and science oriented interactive activities (Archeology, Science, Handcraft, Coding, Music ,Painting, STEM and brain teaser) has been held. A total of thirty-five activities were designed to help students develop their foreign language skills in nature, with 5 experts, 16 instructors and 6 guides. these activities were used in the ten-day training process. Scientific and artistic activities have been conducted by 8 groups. Speech videos (before and after the application), English achievement test and vocabulary tests were used to determine the foreign language development levels of the students. The language attitude scale was also applied before and after the application in order to determine the change in attitude. With this project work, the participants participated in activities involving many different methods and techniques in out-of-class educational environments where they had to speak English for ten days. While the participants had the chance to see the different natural areas of Samsun, they participated in activities in which they could gain environmental awareness and in sports and artistic activities by seaking English.When the literature is analyzed, studies on determining the effects of a single method on English education on the level of knowledge of English vocabulary, success in English or attitude towards learning English were reached. Such a comprehensive study on the development of English-speaking skills of secondary school students has not been achieved. In this respect, it is thought that the results obtained with this study will contribute to overcoming this deficiency in the field. As a result of the application, when the video recordings were examined, it was observed that the students' speech skills improved compared to the beginning. According to the word test, an increase in the number of words was found. As a result of the achievement test, it was found that there was a significant increase in English knowledge level of the students as a result of t test analysis. it was found that there was no significant difference between the participants' achievement levels in terms of gender. Although there was a significant difference between 6th and 7th grade ELuT pre-test scores in favor of 6th grade at the beginning of the application, there was no significant difference between the groups in terms of ELuT post-test scores applied after the completion of the application. It was concluded that there was a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of the participants according to the countries. In both tests, this difference was between the Italian participants and the other country participants. It was also revealed that there was change in the attitude scores of the students.
21. yüzyıl bireylerinin sahip olması gereken en önemli yetkinliklerden biri, yabancı dil öğrenebilme becerisidir.Ülkemizde uzun yıllardır anasınıfından başlamak üzere üniversite dâhil olmak üzere dil eğitimine önemverilmektedir.. Öğrencilere, gerekli olanaklar sağlanarak, öğretilen yabancı dilin konuşulabileceği doğal ortamlardauygulama imkânı sunulduğu takdirde öğrencilerin yabancı dil öğrenme düzeylerinin artacağı düşünülerek bu projeçalışması 26 Haziran-4 Temmuz 2019 tarihleri arasında Samsun ilinde uygulanmıştır. Çalışmada katılımcılarınİngilizceyi uygulamalı öğrenebilecekleri, günün her anında İngilizce dil pratiği yapacakları bir öğrenme ortamıoluşturulmuş ve bu öğrenme ortamının katılımcıların yabancı dil gelişimleri ile yabancı dil öğrenmeye yöneliktutumları üzerindeki etkisinin araştırılması amaçlanmıştır.Araştırmanın katılımcıları Samsun ilindeki iki ortaokulda öğrenim gören kırk iki Türk öğrenci ile Çekya, İtalya veRomanya’dan projeye dâhil olan otuz beş öğrencidir. Proje süresince günlük aktiviteler üç aşama şeklindeuygulanmıştır. Birinci aşamada, Türk ve yabancı İngilizce öğretmenlerinin iş birliği ile hazırlanan İngilizce etkinlikçalışmaları yürütülmüştür. İkinci aşamada sportif aktiviteler-doğa gezilerine yer verilmiştir. Üçüncü aşamada isesanat ve bilim odaklı interaktif çalışmalar (Arkeoloji, Bilim, El Sanatları, Kodlama, Müzik, Resim, STEM, ZekâOyunları) 8 grup halinde düzenlenmiştir. Öğrencilerin yabancı dil gelişim düzeylerini belirlemede; uygulama öncesive sonrasına ait konuşma videoları, İngilizce başarı testi ve kelime bilgisi testlerinden yararlanılmıştır. Dile yöneliktutum ölçeği de tutumda meydana gelebilecek değişimi belirlemek adına uygulama öncesi ve sonrası uygulanmıştır.Uygulama sonucunda video kayıtları incelendiğinde öğrencilerin konuşma becerilerinde başlangıca göre gelişmeolduğu gözlenmiş, kelime sayısında artış olduğu belirlenmiştir. Uygulanan başarı testi sonucunda öğrencilerinİngilizce bilgi seviyelerinde anlamlı bir artış olduğu t testi ile tespit edilmiştir. Öğrencilerin tutum puanlarındaanlamlı artış olmakla birlikte, tutum puanının cinsiyet açısından farklılık oluşturmadığı da yine çalışma sonucundaortaya konmuştur. Bu sonuçlar uygulanan projenin öğrencilerin dil gelişimi üzerinde etkili olduğunu ortayakoymaktadır.