The effect of brain-based memory supporters on vocabulary teaching, retention and reading

The knowledge of vocabulary should be at requested level in order for individuals to develop high level mental skills such as comprehension, analysis and evaluation. So, instead of ordinary activity in their lessons, it is important for mother tongue teachers to prepare a learning process plan that will contribute to both the daily lives and the future learning periods of the students. This study tries to determine the contribution of using brain-based memory supporters to enrich their vocabulary and its impact on the Turkish language teaching process in the context of word teaching while teaching vocabulary to secondary school students. In the process of reading comprehension of individuals, the development of mental capacity can be improved in the brain-based learning axis. In the study, students were taught vocabulary by using memory supporters on the foundation of brain-based learning. For vocabulary teaching, the word frequencies of the best-selling children's literature books of 2017 were selected with the text frequency analyzer. A separate word frequency dictionary was created for each level. The students were taught words that they did not know their meanings and that had the highest frequency. The research was designed with the explanatory sequential pattern of the mixed research method. This pattern is a mixed method in which quantitative and qualitative steps are applied sequentially; the researcher first collected qualitative data to detail, explain and verify the quantitative results. One of the two classes randomly selected from the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades of secondary school were determined as the study group and the other as the control group. The quantitative data of the research were collected by word and reading comprehension tests. Questions that can serve the purpose of the test were produced by the researcher by creating a question pool for tests. As for the qualitative data, the necessary data were collected by making the students write texts before and after the study. In the analysis of quantitative data via SPSS 25.00 program, for the mean scores of the study and control groups, unrelated t-test and one-way anova were used; one-way anova was also used to determine the retention rates of the same groups. The qualitative data of the study was described with qualitative content analysis. After the application in the qualitative content analysis, the data were evaluated in accordance with the content of the pre-determined coding scheme. The qualitative data was analyzed within the framework of an inductive coding scheme. Then, the data taken from the scheme were described and presented as percentages and frequencies. As a result of the application after the word teaching, the pretest score of the 5th grade study group was = 20.5 and their posttest score was = 26.03; the pretest score of the 6th grade study group was = 18.9 and their posttest score was = 27.31; the pretest score of the 7th grade study group was = 21.9 and their posttest score was = 28.8; the pretest score of the 8th grade study group was = 24.66 and their posttest score was = 32.01. When these results are evaluated, the vocabulary knowledge that was tried to be taught to secondary school students reached its aim with the activities planned within the framework of brain-based learning. In order to measure the effect of the words taught as a result of vocabulary teaching on the students' reading comprehension, the reading comprehension test was applied. In this test, students' reading comprehension test scores were as follows: the pretest score of the 5th grade study group was = 14.22 and their posttest score was = 24.25; the pretest score of the 6th grade study group was = 14.10 and their posttest score was = 22.84; the pretest score of the 7th grade study group was = 15.12 and their posttest score was = 22.91; the pretest score of the 8th grade study group was = 13.23 and their posttest score was = 25.41. Hence, it was determined that word teaching is critical in the development of vocabulary. In this framework, attention should be paid to the cognitive and pedagogical levels of individuals for the development of vocabulary. Since the acquisition of speaking, reading, listening and writing skills in a qualified manner is subject to the development of vocabulary, the vocabulary development of students should be provided in a separate plan within the Turkish lesson curriculum.