Application of active learning strategies of English teachers in beginning lessons

ABSTRACTAPPLICATION OF ACTIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES OF ENGLISH TEACHERSIN BEGINNING LESSONSZühal DÜZTEPEL LERAnadolu University Graduate School of Educational Sciences Department of EducationalSciences Curriculum and Instruction ProgramJanuary 2006Supervisor: Asst. Prof. Dr. Kıymet SelviActive learning strategies that are applied in English classes enable the students to haveself-esteem, not to be afraid of making mistakes, to be happy to involve in lessons, to managetheir learning by themselves, to have positive relationships with their friends and authorities,to be aware of the feelings and thoughts of the people around them. In English classes,applying active learning strategies at the beginning of lessons enable students to know eachother, to work together in agreement, to remember and review the subjects that have beenlearned before, to plan the activities to learn the subject. These strategies also increasewillingness of learning the subject and involving in lessons.In the research that aimed to define application of active learning strategies of elementaryEnglish teachers in beginning lessons, descriptive method is applied. The research wasconducted on 139 English teachers who work in the state, MLIO and private elementaryschools situated in the center of Eskişehir in the first semester of academic year of 2005-2006.A five-scaled questionnaire utilizing Silberman?s ?How to Get Students Active from theStart? and Harmin?s ?Strategies for Beginning a Class? strategies was prepared and it wasapplied between 15th September and 10th November. SPSS for Windows 13.0 was used toanalyze the data that were obtained from the research. Percentage, frequency and arithmeticalmeans were used in the analysis of the frequency of application of the strategies. t test wasused to compare two groups and F test was used to compare more than two groups in theanalysis of comparing the personal differences and the application of the strategies. In order toidentify meaningful relations between variables, meaningful level was taken as 0,05.vAs a result; it was identified that the English teachers who work in elementary schools inEskişehir sometimes apply active learning strategies. In terms of gender; male teachers applyactive learning strategies in beginning lessons more than female teachers. In terms ofseniority, schools of graduate and the schools of work; there weren?t any meaningfuldifference in applying active learning strategies in beginning lessons.vi