Theses supervised by Doç. Dr. Levent Uzun
11 theses · Bursa Uludağ Üni̇versi̇ty
The effect of Youtube on EFL learners in Turkey
The incorporation of learning exercises reinforced by technology into the foreign language program has emerged as a new developing trend in language teaching today. Many proposals have been stated on the usage of technology in education, and YouTube has grown increasingly popular among video-sharing websites (Alimemaj, 2010). Given the popularity of YouTube as a video sharing platform among many Turkish individuals, this research was designed to investigate Turkish EFL learners' opinions on YouTube's effectiveness on their language learning. Along the same line, this study attempts to examine EFL learners' perceptions on how effective YouTube is in improving four language skills and three language components along with its impact on their autonomous learning and motivation. The participants of the study contains 2109 EFL learners who are the subscribers of the researcher's YouTube channel on English teaching, and they used YouTube at least a few times as a language learning tool. The data was collected using two separate data gathering instruments: two questionnaries one of which consisting of closed-ended items and the other with open-ended questions. To provide greater insight into the themes, the researcher acquired quantitative and qualitative data, examined the results separately, and then combined the data to provide a thorough description of the study topics. The results showed that, according to Turkish EFL learners, YouTube videos make a positive impact on language learning in terms of the four language skills and the three language components. Almost all EFL learners agree that it is quite useful in order to develop their speaking and listening skills along with vocabulary and pronunciation thanks to the large variety of content it contains and it provides exposure to authentic language and native speakers' videos. In addition, the findings indicated that YouTube is a useful source for EFL learners that boosts their autonomous learning habits and it motivates them to take actions to take responsibility of their own learning. Lastly, according to Turkish EFL learners, YouTube videos are very valuable in terms of their motivation to learn the language as it is a more interesting and an intriguing source compared to traditional learning environments. They also stated that on YouTube, they find themselves in an interactive environment where lots of language learners help each other. Even though there is study on YouTube in the field of English language education, there is a huge gap in research about YouTube as a language learning website and how it helps to language learners' autonomous learning disciplines. The current study provides a thorough examination of how YouTube aids EFL learners' language learning in numerous ways.
Vocabulary learning through collocations and gamification in EFL classes
The use of technology and gamification tools have been in great use over a few decades in EFL classes, and their popularity has increased considerably during the COVID-19 pandemic period during which online education replaced face to face education completely or partially. Quizlet is one of the most popular applications used in EFL classes to teach vocabulary in a more effective and enjoyable way. Although there have been several studies conducted to seek the effectiveness of Quizlet among students learning English as a second language, there have been only a few studies carried out in Turkey at tertiary level to investigate the effectiveness of Quizlet in terms of vocabulary learning and retention, and also there have been very few studies which investigated the use of collocations on Quizlet both in terms of vocabulary learning and retention. The present study aims to investigate firstly, the effectiveness of Quizlet as well as the effectiveness of using collocations on Quizlet in comparison to traditional methods in terms of vocabulary learning, secondly the effectiveness of Quizlet and the use of collocations compared to traditional methods in terms of vocabulary retention, and finally the perception of the students regarding the use of Quizlet to study new vocabulary. In this study, 60 participants in three different groups studied the same target words over three weeks using different tools. Then, the results of pretest, posttest and delayed posttests of the participants were compared and also a semi-structured interview was conducted to learn about the perception of the participants concerning the use of Quizlet. The results of the study revealed that not only the use of Quizlet, but also the use of collocations contributed to both vocabulary learning and retention of the students significantly. The study also found that the participants regarded Quizlet as an effective, practical and enjoyable tool to study vocabulary. Keywords: collocations, gamification, Quizlet, vocabulary learning
A retrospective look towards the success of online education during Covid-19 shutdown in the eyes of the teachers
During the pandemic of 2020-2021 period face-to-face education was halted and a distance education period had started. Distance education was mainly conducted with computers, smartphones and tablets utilizing internet connections while being assisted by television. Research conducted during this era pointed out that while this distance education period had some problems like technological device accessibility or internet connection issues and some more, it overall achieved a satisfactory success. The next education year of 2021-2022 that followed this distance education period marked a return to face-to-face education. During this face-to-face education period, some teachers have expressed that they faced some issues that were not present in previous face-to-face education periods. Purpose of this research is to gather retrospective perspectives of teachers to assess their satisfaction regarding online education, to learn the problems they faced during distance education and to learn what kind of problems they have faced in post-pandemic face-to-face education period that they think was stemming from distance education period. It is also aimed to learn if there is a difference between problems participants expressed regarding regions they work, their ages, their experience in terms of years, their gender and school level they work at. This research was conducted by a 29-question quantitative questionnaire that was applied to 146 participants from all regions of Turkey, who had all features this research involved in different combinations, and a 6-question qualitative structured written interview form that was applied to 30 participants who again had different demographics that fit for aims of the research. Therefore, as a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, this work is considered mixed-method research. According to results of this work, teachers have noted that there were technological issues like device availability and internet connections and overall, it was hard to conduct distance education, also teachers were not particularly satisfied of distance education. They also expressed that there were academic and behavioural problems that they think as based on distance education period and lockdowns.
A study on the effectiveness of a blended learning model in English language learning in higher education: Student attitudes and opinions
The unprecedented development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools in recent years has led to the spread of new models in English education. In addition to traditional face-to-face teaching, the 'blended learning' model of education, which was created by incorporating online resources into and out of the classroom, has been widely applied in recent years. From this point of view, the aim of this study is to evaluate students' attitudes and opinions about the blended learning model realized through a virtual classroom environment created through the Easyclass website (Easyclass, n.d.). This study was conducted in a state university for 15 weeks with 61 vocational school students with a beginner level of English. In this study, mixed method research design was used. Blended Learning Environment Scale developed by Cabı and Gülbahar (2013) was used to collect quantitative data. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 volunteer students to collect qualitative data. These interviews were analyzed using content analysis. For the analysis of quantitative data, descriptive statistics were made with SPSS 23 program. There are 55 items in the scale with four factors: Online Learning (OL), Face-to-face (FtF) learning, Blended Learning (BL), and Technical Issues. The obtained data revealed that the students favored FtF learning the most (Mean=4.35) compared to BL and OL models. The students have the highest perceptions of 'learning with the guidance of the instructor' (Mean=4.60). With regards to the BL model, it was revealed that they have a very positive approach (Mean=4.15). As for online learning, although the students are quite positive, their ratings are relatively lower than those of FtF and the BL model (Mean=3.64). Regarding online learning, 'getting instant feedback from the instructor' has the highest rating (Mean=4.03). With respect to technological issues, it was found that the students do not have negative perceptions as they stated they rarely had technology-related problems (Mean=2.51). Student interviews indicated that they found the BL model in English lessons quite useful and motivating. They stated that the BL enhanced their vocabulary and grammar knowledge the most. They believed that getting feedback from the instructor outside the classroom and doing self-assessment exercises helped improve their English language learning. The triangulation of the qualitative and quantitative data of the study revealed that the vocational school students had quite high perceptions towards utilizing a blended learning model via a learning management system for English language learning in higher education. Keywords: Blended learning, online education, virtual classroom, ELT, WEB 2.0 tools
Transforming receptive vocabulary knowledge into productive vocabulary through ict tools and investigation of students' views
Today's world has been continuously changing including education thanks to technological developments. As a result of this movement, teaching strategies have naturally undergone a change. By considering this, the objective of this present thesis is to integrate technology with vocabulary teaching process. Thereby, this study incorporates Quizlet and Word Art in order to improve vocabulary knowledge. This thesis also clarifies the effect of Quizlet on students' receptive vocabulary knowledge. Besides, Word Art has been used to develop students' productive vocabulary knowledge. The researcher also aims to see possible effect of ICT tools on students' lexical densities. All groups learned target vocabulary explicitly within a context and this context was provided by reading texts, listening texts and speaking models but for the first 6 weeks, they practiced all target vocabulary through Quizlet while they practiced all target vocabulary through Word Art for the other 5 weeks. The treatment lasted 11 weeks with 70 students at a state university; one group with three subgroups were created. Mixed method one group research design was used in this thesis. In order to collect quantitative data, pretest and posttest technique was applied in order to see to find out whether there is an effect of ICT tools on students' vocabulary knowledge with the help of SPSS 25. By using SPSS 25, descriptive statistics of pretest and posttest scores were calculated and ANOVA was applied to find out significance value of both tests. Furthermore, the researcher applied pre writing, post receptive and post productive writing tests to identify students' lexical density thanks to http://www.analyzemywriting.com. To check whether students used target vocabulary after Quizlet and Word Art treatments, all writings were again analyzed via AntConc and target vocabulary used by the participants were determined. Finally, interviews were conducted with 10 students in order to collect qualitative data to identify the students' perceptions towards the course and ICT tools. These interviews were analyzed by using content analysis. The results of this thesis showed that ICT tools were greatly effective in developing vocabulary knowledge, and also lexical density. A significant difference was found in posttest scores and lexical density mean scores. Word Art was more successful than Quizlet in terms of using target vocabulary in writing; besides, this study pointed out that students have positive perceptions towards ICT tools and they found ICT tools enjoyable and mostly attractive.
A study on improving EFL learners' listening skills through Education Informatics Network (EBA) and identifying learners' perceptions towards the platform
Language teaching environment changed its direction from utilizing modern approaches to the postmodern approaches since the postmodern approach is learning and learner-oriented, participatory and contributory, individualized, global, digitalized and flexible in terms of time and place (Uzun, 2012). Considering these, the current study aims to utilize Education Informatics Network (EBA) in order to improve learners' listening skills and identify their thoughts about the platform. The participants of the study were 44 6th grade students in a state school. They were divided into two groups as the experimental and control group. Both of them consisted of 22 students. While the experimental group made use of the EBA materials to study listening, the control group utilized course book materials. The mixed-method one group research design was adopted and the pre-test-post-test technique was applied to gather quantitative data in order to understand achievement differences between the groups and see whether a significant difference occurred or not. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 5 successful and 5 unsuccessful participants of the experimental group to gather qualitative data to investigate learners' perceptions towards the course and the EBA platform. The quantitative data were analyzed through IBM SPSS 21 while the qualitative data were put into coding for further understanding. The results of the study pointed out that utilizing the EBA material created statistically significant difference between the scores of the groups. Besides, it was seen that the perceptions of the learners towards the platform were positive as they stated that using the platform was attractive, fun and motivating.
Factors affecting perceived technology proficiency of Turkish teachers of English in the light of 21st century learning
The 21st century has brought many changes and innovations into our lives. Smartphones, 3D painting, augmented/virtual reality, online shopping, social networking sites, cloud computing, social robots, drone technology, wearable technology, artificial intelligence, big data, etc. are just to name a few. They are becoming parts of our lives at varying rates, and changing our settled habits. This change is also affecting teaching and learning practices. Therefore, the actors in these environments, namely learners, teachers, administrators, policymakers, related institutions, have had to work tremendously to integrate these changes into their practices, which requires competence in technological devices and applications. The present study aims to discover how Turkish teachers of English are doing in this process, and to find out if such variables as their sex, age, what level they teach, whether they teach at a private or state institution, how long they have been teaching, and the duration of time they spend in electronic environments affect their perceived technology proficiency. iv Survey research method was adopted in this study. Data collection was performed through the Technology Proficiency Self-Assessment Questionnaire for 21st Century Learning (TPSA C-21) (Christensen & Knezek, 2017), which is designed in a 5-point Likert scale. Before answering the questionnaire, the 273 participants were asked their sex, age, what level they teach, whether they teach at a private or state institution, how long they have been teaching, and how much time they spend in electronic environments. The participants were reached through convenience sampling method, and they were asked to share the questionnaire with their colleagues, which is an example of snowball sampling method. Independent-samples t-tests and ANOVA tests were performed on SPSS 22 for the analysis of the collected data. The findings reveal that the participants' gender, age, years of teaching experience and what level they teach do not affect their perceived technology proficiency while how much time they spend in electronic environments and whether they teach at a public or private school do. Key Words: Digital competence, technology integration, technology proficiency, technology self-efficacy, Turkish teachers of English
A study on the effectiveness of a blended learning model in English language learning in higher education: Student attitudes and opinions
The unprecedented development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools in recent years has led to the spread of new models in English education. In addition to traditional face-to-face teaching, the 'blended learning' model of education, which was created by incorporating online resources into and out of the classroom, has been widely applied in recent years. From this point of view, the aim of this study is to evaluate students' attitudes and opinions about the blended learning model realized through a virtual classroom environment created through the Easyclass website (Easyclass, n.d.). This study was conducted in a state university for 15 weeks with 61 vocational school students with a beginner level of English. In this study, mixed method research design was used. Blended Learning Environment Scale developed by Cabı and Gülbahar (2013) was used to collect quantitative data. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 volunteer students to collect qualitative data. These interviews were analyzed using content analysis. For the analysis of quantitative data, descriptive statistics were made with SPSS 23 program. There are 55 items in the scale with four factors: Online Learning (OL), Face-to-face (FtF) learning, Blended Learning (BL), and Technical Issues. The obtained data revealed that the students favored FtF learning the most (Mean=4.35) compared to BL and OL models. The students have the highest perceptions of 'learning with the guidance of the instructor' (Mean=4.60). With regards to the BL model, it was revealed that they have a very positive approach (Mean=4.15). As for online learning, although the students are quite positive, their ratings are relatively lower than those of FtF and the BL model (Mean=3.64). Regarding online learning, 'getting instant feedback from the instructor' has the highest rating (Mean=4.03). With respect to technological issues, it was found that the students do not have negative perceptions as they stated they rarely had technology-related problems (Mean=2.51). Student interviews indicated that they found the BL model in English lessons quite useful and motivating. They stated that the BL enhanced their vocabulary and grammar knowledge the most. They believed that getting feedback from the instructor outside the classroom and doing self-assessment exercises helped improve their English language learning. The triangulation of the qualitative and quantitative data of the study revealed that the vocational school students had quite high perceptions towards utilizing a blended learning model via a learning management system for English language learning in higher education. Keywords: Blended learning, online education, virtual classroom, ELT, WEB 2.0 tools
Comparing three different techniques for english vocabulary learning and retention
Vocabulary is an inseparable part of language. Whichever language it is, to communicate, everyone needs a certain amount of vocabulary. Based on this, there is also a need to know how one can learn and retain new vocabularies successfully. Much research has been dedicated to the comparing of vocabulary teaching and learning techniques. However, there is limited research about the comparison of vocabulary teaching and learning techniques combined with the other language skills. Grounded on this gap, the present thesis aimed to investigate the differences between three different vocabulary learning and teaching techniques (reading only, pictured reading combined with writing, video watching combined with speaking) in terms of vocabulary learning and retention. Besides, it also tries to find out which technique is more motivational for learners, and which technique has more contribution to vocabulary learning and vocabulary retention. The participants were chosen randomly by the school administration from a private school in Bursa, and the total number of students was 20, who were the 6th grades. A pre-experimental research design with only one group, and a qualitative method have been used. The treatment process lasted 12 weeks in total; however, the first week was allocated for pre-test, and the last (twelfth) week was allocated for immediate post-test. To check the retention level of students, two delayed post-tests were used, one 4 weeks after the treatment, the other 13 weeks after the treatment. As a result, no difference was found among the techniques in terms of vocabulary learning; however, the pictured reading with writing technique had more contribution to vocabulary retention. Additionally, the video watching with speaking was the least effective technique for vocabulary retention, while most of the students reported the video watching combined with speaking as the most motivational technique in the interview.
The integration of ICT tools into listening skill classes to improve listening comprehension of EFL learners
In this century, teachers start to abandon traditional teaching methods since they are aware of that these methods are not as effective as it is expected for the students who are digital natives (Prensky, 2001; Uzun, 2012; 2016); in addition to that, teaching process has started to lose its power while learning process becomes much more creative and innovative (Uzun, 2017). With regard to these facts, the current study aims to integrate technology with language learning process; thus, the study integrates ICT tools with listening skill classes and investigates the differences in achievement levels of students before and after the treatment with the purpose of improving EFL learners listening comprehension skills. The participants of the study were 50 students; they were divided into two groups as the control and the experimental group. The experimental group practiced listening skills through ICT tools while the control group practiced it through course book tracks. The study conducted mixed-method research design and applied pretest-posttest technique to gather quantitative data in order to understand achievement differences between the groups and see whether a significant difference occurred or not. Besides, the researcher conducted interviews with 10 students to gather qualitative data to investigate learners' perceptions towards the course and ICT tools. The quantitative data were analyzed through IBM SPSS 25 while the qualitative data were put into coding for further understanding. The results of the study pointed out ICT tools were highly effective in improving listening skills and creating a positive attitude in EFL learners since it was found out that the experimental group outperformed the control group with a significant difference in the posttest scores; besides, it was seen that learners' perceptions towards the tools were highly positive and as digital natives, they identified the course as attractive and effective for their learning process.
A comparison of three different vocabulary size tests for testing lexical competence in an Efl context
In this study, three receptive vocabulary size tests in similar designs to the Yes/No Test (Y/N Test) (Meara, 1992), Vocabulary Size Test (VST) (Nation & Beglar, 2007a, 2007b) and Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) (Nation, 2001) and covering the first 5K words in bilingual format were used to measure English receptive vocabulary knowledge of university preparatory class students. These tests, though being in different formats, are assumed to be measuring receptive knowledge of vocabulary at the same level and treated as equivalent. However, there does not exist a study which uses these tests all together and handles the matter whether they measure receptive word knowledge at the same level, so this study aimed to contribute to the field by filling this gap. Towards this aim, the study questioned whether the three tests, as assumed, can estimate overall receptive vocabulary size offering similar statistical figures a) in different proficiency levels, b) across test sections and c) in different frequency bands for different proficiency levels groups. Beside this, how well the tests correlate with each other and which one correlates best with the participants' university preparatory class exit scores and yields consistent results were investigated. The data were collected from elementary, pre-intermediate and intermediate level 581 students studying at two different universities in Turkey and statistically analysed through the SPSS 22.0 packet program. The tests were administered in two sessions. The findings put forth that in general, the Y/N Test provided the lowest scores in almost all frequency and proficiency based comparisons. The VLT and VST, though, presented diverse scores for different proficiency groups and at different frequency bands. According to the statistical analyses, all mean scores were in line with the participants' level of proficiency, which meant higher level students did better in all frequency levels, and the scores declined accordingly as participants proceeded to lower frequency bands. In addition, the highest correlation was found between the VST and VLT, and lastly, the most correlated test with the students' university preparatory class exit scores was the VLT. All these results are important in terms of creating awareness in EFL teachers about the fact that there are different tests which they can substitute for institutional exams to measure students' vocabulary knowledge, and that they can use these tests in different contexts according to students' individual differences. Keywords: EFL, English Receptive Size of Vocabulary, English Vocabulary Tests, formmeaning link