Effects of (V-CASTS) on EFL vocabulary expansion of Turkish high school students in writing

With the onset of the integration of the digital world's speed and content into education, web-based courses were launched into pedagogics. In the digital century, as we are going through, learners are exposed to their target language on various platforms through their daily lives. English language learners are expected to utilize several tools in learning with the object of improving a certain skill in their foreign languages. The main purpose of this study is to investigate whether and how viewing v-casts (short videos) influences the 9th grade EFL learners' written performances regarding vocabulary enhancement in English. The v-cast preferences of learners' and the views of EFL teachers on the use of v-casts with high school students in a Turkish ELT environment were additionally in the scope of the study. The participants of the study were 51 high school students of 9th grade in Hatay, Turkey. We searched for any differences and/or improvements in the participants' written performances regarding vocabulary learning proceeding the continual implementation of v-cast viewing activities. The study followed a mixed-method research design. The participants watched v-casts during their English courses and as extramural work. Pre and post-viewing written performances of the participants as well as semi-structured interviews and reflections reports were analyzed based on four titles; usage of affixation, the usage of content words based on CEFR, topic-based lexicon usage and the analysis of word count. The findings demonstrate that 9th-grade high school students formed a wider reservoir of vocabulary after the regular practice of v-cast watching activities and that they manage to use it in their written scripts. This study presents considerable implications for the teachers who prefer integrating v-casts into the training of writing skills in EFL. Since v-casts are downloadable and do not require advanced ICT skills or a permanent internet connection to display, they become easily accessible for the learners as well as the teachers. Keywords: ELT, short videos (v-casts), vocabulary enhancement, written performance, listening and viewing skills, digital classroom