Investigation of the effect of interactive word wall technique on vocabulary teaching at secondary school 5th grade level

This research is carried out to determine the effect of Interactive Word Wall Technique on vocabulary teaching at secondary school 5th grade level. The study was conducted with a mixed pattern in which the quantitative and qualitative research methods were used together and Turkish language vocabulary test, reflective diaries and observation notes developed by the researcher were used as data collection tools. The study group of the research consists of 74 students studying in the 5th grade of a public secondary school in Muratpaşa, Antalya, in the academic year 2019-2020. The 5th and 6th themes in the Turkish textbook were chosen for the research. The words in the themes were taught to the experimental group through Interactive Word Wall Technique and activities, and the control group by the activities in the ongoing curriculum. The practice continued during eight weeks for a total of eight course hours. Turkish lesson was applied as a pre-test before applying the vocabulary test, a post-application after the application and a permanence test one month after the application of the post-test. At the end of each practical lesson, students were asked to write their thoughts about the course and the Interactive Word Wall Technique in reflective diaries. The researcher also noted her observations about the course and the Interactive Word Wall Technique at the end of each course. At the end of the research, the quantitative data got from the Turkish course vocabulary test were analysed with the statistical analysis package program and the qualitative data obtained from the reflective diaries and researcher observation notes were analysed through content analysis. While there was no significant difference between the pre-test scores obtained from the vocabulary test of the experimental and control groups, a significant difference was found between the post-test and permanence test scores in favour of the experimental group. As for the findings, it was inferred that Interactive Word Wall Technique is effective in teaching Turkish lessons at the 5th grade level. When the qualitative data obtained from the reflective diaries and researcher observation notes were analysed, it was observed that it supported the quantitative data and that most of the students had positive thoughts about the Interactive Word Wall Technique and Turkish lesson.Keywords: Interactive word wall technique, Turkish lesson, 5th grade, vocabulary teaching.