Theses supervised by Prof. Dr. Gülden Ertuğrul
11 theses · Dokuz Eylül University
The effects of multiple intelligences activities on vocabulary achievement and attitudes of learners of English
The acquisition of vocabulary is one of the main tasks in second language classrooms. Many language teachers are aware of the necessity of making vocabulary a main part of their teaching. The growing importance of vocabulary teaching in English Language Teaching (ELT) classrooms and the problems encountered in this process shaped this dissertation. The central aim of the researcher was to offer a better way to teach vocabulary in ELT classes using Gardner?s Multiple Intelligences Theory (MIT), which suggests there are many ways to be intelligent and an individual has several of them. Therefore, the effects of multiple intelligences (MI) activities on vocabulary achievement and retention of the learnt items constituted the keystone of this study. Whether MI activities affect students? attitudes towards English was the second question this research intended to answer. This study also designated the intelligence profiles of the students in the sample group.In order to test the effect of MI activities on achievement, retention and attitudes, an experimental study with a pre, post-test and delayed post test was conducted. The subjects of the study were 10th grade students of Söke Cumhuriyet Anatolian High School in the Spring Term of 2007-2008 academic years. These students had taken 10 hours of English lessons per week in the previous academic year. In the year the study was carried out, they had 4 hours of English lessons in a week. At the time of this educational treatment they were in the beginnings of the second semester. The selection of the participants was determined on the basis of a multiple-choice recognition test of the chosen target linguistic component. The students who showed any sign of knowledge of the target vocabulary items would have been excluded from the study. However, since none of the students scored over 50 in the recognition test, the number of the students in the sample remained 56. These students were divided into two groups in order to form the control and experimental groups. Thus, the sample of this research was composed of the sophomores of two Turkish-Mathematics department classes in Söke Cumhuriyet Anatolian High School. The control and experimental groups were assigned randomly. The age of the subjects ranged between 15 and 16. In the experimental group MI activities were used in presentation, practice and production. On the other hand, in the control group traditional method was implemented and controlled activities in presentation and practice, and freer activities in production were used to teach target vocabulary items. Both of the groups had an eight-week-treatment period.The outcome of the experiment reveals that MI activities have a significant positive effect on vocabulary achievement. However, MI activities do not have significantly more positive effects on the retention of the vocabulary items. The second primary research question is related to whether the students? attitudes towards English vary significantly in terms of the activities in the control and experimental groups. The analyses indicate in both groups there is a decrease in the students? attitudes towards English which is not statistically significant. Finally, it is found out that the most dominant intelligence type of the students in the sample group is verbal-linguistic. The second dominant type in both experimental and control groups is logical-mathematical intelligence. The lowest mean score in the multiple intelligence inventory belongs to interpersonal intelligence in both groups.
Education in utopia and anti-Utopia
The essence of mankind is optimism. Therefore, he has always dreamed of a better future and a better world since the existence of humanity. Utopias are the establishment of this ideal society and order created by human consciousness. However, as being creations of a perfect place, not only do they reflect our desires and hopes about the future, but also criticize the periods and therefore the societies in which they are written. On the other hand, anti-utopias are literary works depicting a society or a place which is much worse than the existing one. Therefore, by portraying a darker future, they satirize the existing conditions and unlike utopians they express their fears and try to warn the reader about the dangers awaiting them.One common point shared by all utopian and anti-utopian works is that they have a message to send. The writers of both types, as citizens of their society, are influenced by the events that surround them. Thus, they base their works on various themes such as education which is a central concern to many utopian and anti-utopian writers. In their works they describe the features of an ideal educational system and emphasize the importance of such education in the creation and maintenance of a desired society and a perfect life. Anti-utopians, on the other hand, indicate the wrongdoings in education and serve as a caution for people to avoid these actions which would result in a worse life and a worse world.In this dissertation utopian and anti-utopian works written in different centuries and which deal specifically with the subject of education have been chosen: Thomas More?s `Utopia? (1516), Jonathan Swift?s `Gulliver?s Travels? (1726), Samuel Butler?s `Erewhon? (1872) and Aldous Huxley?s `Island? (1962) have been studied in terms of aims and principles of education, education of children and adult education. The aim has been to analyze the similarities and differences in the studies of these works written during different periods and an effort has been exerted to analyze their views on education.Key Words: Utopia, Anti-utopia, Education.
Class and East-West confrontation in E. M. Forster's selected works and teaching of the theme in ELT classes
In this thesis E. M. Forster, a well-known author who has used class and east-west confrontation themes in his literary works, will be taken as a very useful and valuable input source through his works in the so mentioned themes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the benefits and advantages of the classes in which E. M. Forster?s literary texts including the theme of class and East-West confrontation are used. Forster?s five books are handled for this dissertation: A Room with a View including an individual?s opposition to and clash with the society; The Longest Journey, handling Rickie?s labeling people instead of seeing them as plain individuals; Howards End, the tale of typical episodes of class envy and snobbery, a possible budding romance between a wealthy scion and a poor girl, and the like; The Machine Stops with the description of people living in individual cells, empty except for a chair, a desk, and the controls of a machine, from here to people's relationship to a power outside themselves, and their ceasing relationships with each other; A Passage to India, the famous story of East-West confrontation.The themes in these works are quite colorful and useful and thus, they might be a good source of material for writing and speaking sessions in ELT classes. The texts and quotations which can be extracted from these novels can be fitted to any level. But they will be useful in classes and will be very meaningful as outside reading material especially for upper-intermediate and advanced level learners of English.This thesis aims at finding out the applicability of sentences, quotations, specific themes, questions and various implications of statements in E. M. Forster?s literary texts in ELT classes. Two productive skills out of four that one experiences during foreign language learning process are speaking and writing. It is a known fact that learners of English language in various age groups and at different comprehensive levels will have greater tendency towards practicing the language and develop deeper enthusiasm for learning when authentic literary material is provided for activities in productive skills. As literary texts are very useful input resource for ELT classes, such material can be thought as promising a more valuable, thematic and, most importantly, encouraging language learning atmosphere. Recent ELT series like New Cambridge Advanced English or Passages can be parallel to this understanding. When one examines the texts and quotations in these series, one can realize that the learners show greater interest and enthusiasm in speaking and writing classes of those series mentioned above and alike. As for the theoretical base, mainly, Whole Language Learning emphasizes the use of authentic literary material in ELT classes. It is known that the use of such literary texts and quotations is naturally very useful when native speakers of that language are practicing their own language. Likewise, the use of such material in curricula of ELT classes is undeniably important.It can be evaluated that learners of English language in various groups, especially middle school, high school and college students, will show greater interest in studying on the thought inspiring theme of East-West confrontation, cultural diversity and dichotomy, class differences among different strata of society. For Turkish people, it is a very well known fact that a great deal of the intellectual, political, social, educational investments are directed to westernization process throughout the last two hundred and fifty years, mostly to be able to integrate with European Union in recent decades. In our country, when one compares the eastern values and life style to the western understanding, one may come across some paradoxical and thought inspiring situations. Such phenomena, which are handled and studied very meticulously in literary works, naturally arouse the interest in studying on literary texts and quotations in the process of foreign language learning. The use of such material in ELT classes will offer more enjoyable activities and more positive language learning environment and therefore increase the success.
A comparative postcolonial discourse in The God of Small Things By A. Roy and Things Fall Apart By C. Achebe and its incorporation in elt multicultural literature curriculum
This dissertation examines the transcultural forms, the colonial heritage, and language in the postcolonial India and Nigeria depicted in Arundhati Roy?s The God of Small Things and Chinua Achebe?s Things Fall Apart. Roy?s and Achebe?s portrayal of the covert and overt ways on transcultural forms, colonial heritage, and language and their impact on the characters? lives will be a major focus in constituting a hybrid identity in postcolonial discourse. This study aims to do a postcolonial discourse on these two different texts in order to find the different methods chosen by each author in his or her representations of the space in which the colonial subject develops and his or her reaction to the changes brought by colonization.The dissertation consists of seven main parts. The introduction overviews the world of each text in terms of the transcultural forms, the colonial heritage, and language. The first chapter examines postcolonial theory and its reflection in literature. The second chapter looks at the life and works of the two selected authors. The third and forth chapters consists of a textual analysis of selected novels which will be an analysis of the interaction between indigenous people and their colonizers as well as the struggle between tradition and modernity. The fifth chapter explores the need and the ways of incorporating postcolonial texts in the curriculum of ELT Departments. The conclusion compares and overviews the process of colonization portrayed in the two texts resulting in cultural and linguistic hybridization.
The study and teaching of stream of consciousness technique in Virginia Woolf's three novels: Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, The Waves
Virginia Woolf?un Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, The Waves adlı üç romanı kullanılarak bir edebiyat akımı olan bilinç akışı tekniğinin incelenmesi ve öğretilmesini ele alan bu tez dört bölümden oluşmaktadır.Giriş bölümünde Virginia Woolf?un kariyeri ve İngiliz Edebiyatı?ndaki önemli yeri kritiklerin de görüşlerine yer verilerek anlatılmıştır. Bu bölümde ayrıca bilinç akışı tekniği hakkında bilgide verilmektedir.Zihnin Koridorlarında olarak isimlendirdiğimiz Gelişme bölümünde, Woolf?un bu teze konu olan üç kitabı, tematik olarak incelenmiş ve ayrıca kullanılan tekniğin özellikleriyle ilişkilendirilerek sunulmuştur.Tezin Öğretim bölümünde Virginia Woolf?un adı belirtilen üç romanını kullanarak bilinç akışı tekniğinin öğretilmesi ele alınmıştır. Bu bölümde sadece öngörülmüş olan ders planları teorik olarak hazırlanmıştır. Öngörülmüş olan bu ders planlarının böyle zor bir anlatım tekniğinin öğretilmesine ışık tutacağı umulmaktadır.Sonuç bölümünde, Virginia Woolf?un bu üç ana romanı üzerinde durularak O?nun bilinç akışı tekniğinin kullanılmasına farklı bir tarz getirdiği sonucuna vardık. Woolf bu tekniği kendi tarzına göre şekillendirmiştir. Kelime seçimi, ritm duygusu, şiirsel bir tat eşliğinde kullandığı renkler bilinç akışı tekniğini etkilemiştir. Sonuç olarak, bud a Virginia Woolf?u İngiliz Edebiyatı?nda bilinç akışı tekniğini kullanan en iyi yazarlardan biri haline getirmiştir.
The teaching of symbolism and fantasy in all the books of Lord of the Rings by J.R.R.Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings was written by J.R.R.Tolkien in 1954. It is not just a adventure story about a ring though the plot is not complicated.It is an embodiment of the author's linguistic,philological,geographical and historical knowledge. Due to this background the story can be examined through realistic context. This pecularity differs it from other fantasy fiction.The purpose of this THesis work is to reveal its symbolic value. As the story carries deep moral meaning, themes and messages due to the author's intention to renew fantasy genre, we tried to correlate it with our time and show its significance in planning lessons of the English language. The Lord of the Rings can be interpreted from different aspects which enlarge the readers' opportunity to find important things according to individual taste.
Teaching the humanistic culture of Socrates, Erasmus and Thomas More through textual analysis
Konu her ne olursa olsun humanizm her zaman önemli bir kavram olmuştur. Edebiyatta, Tarihte, Felsefede hatta Yöntem Bilimde bile temel ilgi alanı insanın kendisi olduğu için, humanizm önemli bir konu olarak kabul edilmektedir. Önemli bir başlık olarak humanizm neredeyse her yüzyıla ait eserlerde yer almaktadır. Ancak humanizm denilince ilk akla gelen isimler Sokrates, Erasmus ve Thomas More olduğundan dolayı bu tezde, adı geçen kişilerden her birinin en çok ses getiren eserleri seçilerek, humanizm teması incelenmiştir. Sokrates?in eğitici amacının oldukça net anlaşılabildiği diyalogları olan Crito, Euthyphro, Apology of Socrates ve The Republic humanizm açısından irdelenmiştir. Adı geçen diyolaglarda Sokrates?in insane ve gerekli koşullar sağlandığında yapabileceklerine olan inancı oldukça nettir. Diğer bir önemli dönemin temsilcileri olan Erasmus ve Thomas More?un en çok bilinen eserleri olan Utopia ve The Praise of Folly?de ise yine insan kavramını tartışmanın merkezine koyan ?insanın her şeyi başaracak yeterliliğe sahip olması, savaşın anlamsızlığı, toplumdaki eşitlik ve adalet kavramları? gibi konular ele alınmıştır.Sonuç olarak, adı geçen bu altı eserde insan, potansiyeli, hakettiği hayat tarzı ve yer alacağı toplumdaki vazgeçilmez koşullar ile birlikte temel konudur.Yukarıda adı geçen bütün eserler ELT sınıfları için yararlı kaynaklardır. Başlığa dayalı tahminler, yaratıcı yazma ve tema bazlı tartışmalar gibi aktiviteler sayesinde, ileri düzey ELT sınıflarındaki edebiyat çalışmaları daha verimli hale getirilebilir.Anahtar Kelimeler: Humanizm, Humanist Kültür, Edebiyatta Metin Analizi.
Science and religion in anti utopias and their use in classroom
Anti utopian literature which has been the subject matter of this study has become extensively popular in the years following the two annihilating world wars and subsequent developments. Although it is possible to comb literature and find out the early examples of anti utopias in the Ancient Greek Literature, the first canonical work is Mary Shelley?s `Frankenstein? which was written in the years following the groundbreaking Industrial Revolution. The anti utopian writer as a member of the real society is inevitably affected by the social, economic and political problems strives to warn the readers to take precautions to prevent the awaiting problems he prophesized. He depicts a fictive model of a nightmarish society which confronts with the aggravated version of the problems the real society experiences. Anti utopian themes are varied; yet, as the title of this study may imply, here only themes related to science and religion have been discussed. The menaces of scientific developments and misuse of technology, computerization, the dominance of machines, genetics can be exemplified for the employment of `science? in anti utopias while loss of faith, manipulation of religion, the image of a Saviour have been the most frequently used themes of `religion? in anti utopian narratives. In the first part of this study, the concept of anti utopia and its historical background have been examined besides the themes of `science? and `religion? in anti utopian novels. In the second part of the thesis, six selected anti utopian novels between 1950-2008 have been explored with regard to the themes of `science? and `religion?. The timeline between 1950-2008 is divided into three parts; 1950-1970, 1971-1990 and 1991-2008. Two anti utopian novels from each period are studied in correspondence with the social events and developments of the time they were written in. Thus, it is aimed to find out if there is parallelism between the experiences of the real society and the fictive anti utopian society. As the use of literary texts in teaching has been proven to be helpful to linguistic, psychological and intellectual development, in the third part the classroom implications of anti utopian fiction are tried to be exemplified with activities based on the selected novels.Key words: anti utopias, science, religion, classroom activities
Teaching vocabulary at intermediate levelin efl classes
In chapter one, the meaning of 'Intermediate Level in EFL classes' is elaborated on, with some definitions of major terms that constitute the background of the thesis, its purpose and scope of study. In chapter two, in addition to the importance of learning and language strategies, word learning strategies are also explained. In this context, the meaning of knowing and being able to recall a word is studied. In chapter three, the methods and approaches in EFL classes in vocabulary teaching are studied from the past to today together with their applications, and how they can best be used functionally in classes. The fourth chapter summarises the main criteria for selecting vocabulary. In this part of the study, factors which influence teachers' selection of vocabulary during teaching are examined, and also how learners influence some of those decisions. In chapter five, techniques for vocabulary teaching are introduced, examining the most common and useful methods. In addition, the traditional techniques that help to convey the meanings of new lexical items are studied. In chapter six, some teaching and practice activities based on the previously mentioned factors are suggested, along with other games that would be beneficial in practising the known vocabulary. In the Conclusion section, it is deduced that the expansion of vocabulary at Intermediate Level should not be ignored, or else, there will not be ongoing development in the following stages. Furthermore, the techniques used in vocabulary teaching for Intermediate Level EFL classes should be different from the ones used at other levels.
Thematic and stylistic analysis of the spire
ABSTRACT William Golding is, without doubt, one of the most distinguished of modern British novelists. Among his numerous works, The Spire occupies a special place for its style and intensity of theme. A simple story is told in a complicated manner. The novel is difficult to comprehend and requires to be read with great attention. This thesis aims to illuminate some of the elements that make it difficult to understand the novel. In the light of these elements such as symbols, references and images, the novel is thematically analysed. In Preface, a piece of information is given about Golding' s literary career, particularly The Spire. In Introduction, opinions of various critics about Golding' s style are given and then the focus is on The Spire and some opinions about the book are presented. In A View From The Spire, a general view of the book is given, a kind of summary is made and the basic characters are introduced. And the starting point in writing this novel is discussed. In Thematic And Stylistic Analysis of The Spire, thematic and stylistic analysis of the book is given. Various symbols, references, images and motifs are analysed and the novel is studied thematically with regard to these elements. In Conclusion, the insights that are derived in the development part are put forward and a useful perspective is reached out about the novel.
The Analysis of the characters in The Razor`s Edge in terms of moral and social values
William Somerset Maugham who had a different point of view and evaluation about moral and social values in the society is positive not destructive. Especially, he, not only consideres the corruption and degenaration in the society from the eye of his different characters but also he sums up his own views. Interpreting these values wrongly, in fact moral and social corruption occurs in the society. Consequently, these values cause a social pressure among the members of society. Accordingly, Wiliam Somerset Maugham points out that the concept of individuality comes to an end. This thesis concentrates on one particular book of William Somerset Maugham, The Razor's Edge. The aim of this study is to seek moral and social values and to describe the differentiation among cultural, social and moral values with the increase in the sizes of various problems in society.