The effect of VARK Learning Model on achievement, attitude and permanent learning in grammar teaching

The purpose of this study is to reveal the effect of grammar teaching through the VARK Learning Model on academic achievement, attitudes toward grammar and permanent learning levels of sixth grade secondary school students. In parallel with the purpose of the study, "the quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test control group" was employed. The sampling group was composed of students (n=57) studying in two different sixth grade classes from one of the state schools affiliated to Ministry of National Education in the city center of Hatay during the autumn semester of 2019-2020 academic years. The classes, one of which was the experimental group (n=27) and the other one was the control group (n=30), were determined via random sampling. The experimental intervention of the study revolved around the subjects of case suffixes, possessive suffixes, nouns and adjectives covered in Turkish lessons. These subjects were taught through teaching activities based on the VARK Learning Model in the experimental group whereas the control group was taught with the teaching activities in Turkish textbooks. In the intervention lasting for 11 weeks in total, "The Student Information Form", "The Scale of Attitude toward Turkish Grammar", "The Achievement Test of Turkish Grammar" and "The Semi-Structured Interview Form" were utilized as data collection tools. The data obtained through the data collection tools were analyzed using SPSS package program. For the analyses of quantitative data, such techniques as frequency, mean, standard variation, independent samples t-test, paired samples t-test, one-way repeated measures analysis of variance, two-way analysis of variance for mixed or repeated measures (ANOVA) were used. Regarding the qualitative data, responses of students in the experimental group to the interview form were evaluated by using frequency and percentage calculations depending on the content analysis method. The results of the study indicated that academic achievement of both the experimental and control group increased and a significant difference was found in favor of the posttest when the in-group achievement pretest and posttest mean scores were compared. Based on the comparisons of between-groups achievement posttest mean scores, which are of vital importance for the study, a significant difference was identified in favor of the experimental group. The comparisons of in-group attitude pretest and posttest mean scores showed that there was a significant difference in the attitude scores of the experimental group in favor of the posttest. However, no significant difference was observed between the attitude scores of the control group. When the between-groups attitude posttest mean scores were compared, a significant difference was detected in favor of the experimental group. Whereas there was a significant difference in ensuring the permanence of knowledge for both groups when the in-group pretest, posttest and retention test mean scores of the control and experimental groups were compared, the results were found to be in favor of the experimental group when the between-groups pretest, posttest and retention test mean scores were compared. Thus, the practices based on the VARK Learning Model, compared to the activities in Turkish textbooks, were found to be more effective in terms of increasing achievement, taking a positive attitude, ensuring the permanence of knowledge. As a result of the interviews with students in the experimental group where the VARK Learning Model was applied, it is unraveled that students found the way of teaching the lesson fun and understood grammar subjects better; activities were memorable and attractive. In line with the general evaluations, it is suggested that teaching practices based on the VARK Learning Model can be beneficial in grammar teaching and those practices can be given place in Turkish textbooks.