The effects of implicit, explicit, and blended types of vocabulary instruction on the fourth graders

The aim of research was to discover the effectiveness of Implicit, Explicit and Blended types of vocabulary instruction on the fourth graders who are the youngest learners in the present English Language Curriculum for Primary Education in Turkey, retention level, and gender difference in success levels of students. This quasi-experimental study was applied in 2011-2012 academic year in a state school, Çamlıkule Primary School. Three fourth grades (N=40) participated. Each group took a pre-test before the experiment. The target words were taught with three different types- implicitly, explicitly, in a blended way- in line with pre-made lesson plans. After the treatment a post-test and (after the following six weeks) a delayed post-test were applied to each group in order to measure the retention of the words. With this method whether the most effective vocabulary instruction type was the implicit instruction as suggested in the present language learning program, whether it was the explicit instruction as many researchers claim, or whether it was the blended instruction as it came forward in most of implementations was tried to be discovered. The results revealed that the students who received explicit treatment statistically outperformed the other two treatment groups in post-test and in delayed post-test and there was not any difference in their academic performance in terms of gender. Based on the findings of the study it can be concluded that foreign language learning programs should include explicit vocabulary instruction especially for young learners.