An experimental study on enhancing eight grade students' academic achivement in teog English examination by implementing innovative lean educational method

The present study is the first experimental example of the application of innovative Lean Educational Method in middle school English classes in Turkey. How to learn and teach foreign languages has become the preoccupation of teachers, researchers, educational authorities, parents, and the students. All of the stakeholders in the education processes want to meet the learning needs of the students ideally. As a result of the relevant efforts, many teaching methods emerged in the field of ELT. In other words, related methods and techniques have caused uncountable changes on how to teach and learn English, but almost all of them could not meet the needs of all of the stakeholders who attend the educational processes. Nowadays, large scale standardized tests (i.e. TOEFL, IELTS, PET, KET, FCE, CAE, CPE, PTE, SAT, LYS, TEOG etc.) play a major role in the context of ELT, especially in Turkey. Exams are the indispensible component of all teaching processes, because exams provide the information about how much the language instruction in educational institutions is successful. In the second step of primary education, which is middle school contexts, when the students reach the grade of eight, Ministry of National Education place them into secondary schools (high schools) by applying TEOG (Transition from Primary to Secondary Education) examination. In TEOG English examinations, with the help of questions, not only the level of comprehension, but also the ability to reading more correctly, making coherent inferences, and the vocabulary knowledge of the students are also measured. Besides, the organization of the each question was in an understandable context, and generally in a question-answer format, which increases the quality of the questions. However, the results taken from TEOG English examinations are not in the expected levels (Average of 2016-2017 academic year was 57,371). Lean Educational Method (hereafter LEM), which is a methodological innovation in the field of ELT offers a remedy for this problem. In LEM, the measurement and evaluation process is completed with weekly small exams (quizzes) and achievement tests. With the help of weekly small exams, the errors and mistakes in the language learning and teaching process can be diagnosed on the spot, and they can be treated immediately, so the possibility of future learning problems can be prevented. In LEM, the main aim is to increase productivity and efficiency in all of the learning and teaching processes by eliminating the wastes of them. In this study, the effect of LEM was investigated on the eighth grade learners' vocabulary, grammar and reading acquisition in English classes. In order to question the effect LEM in English lessons, an experimental study was conducted. A control group, which contains 40 students, and an experimental group, which contains 40 students, were chosen through random cluster sampling in a public middle school. The experimental group subjected to foreign language instruction in line with LEM, and the control group took standard foreign language instruction. The analyses were carried out on total number of 80 students from a middle school context. The experimentation process continued 19 weeks, and before the experimentation both experimental and control groups took pre-test, after the experimentation two groups took a post-test, in order to see the effect of LEM on foreign language achievement. Statistical analyses of the collected data were conducted through descriptive statistics and the variance analyses carried out through one-way ANOVA. It has been found out that there is a statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of their scores in the pre-test and post-test (control group's pre-test mean=8.9, sd=3.801 / post-test mean=8.775, sd=4.293; experimental group's pre-test mean=8.45, sd=4.437 / post-test mean=13.375, sd=3.998). In the post-test, it has been found out that the average achievement of the experimental group has increased by a mean of 4.925, approximately 60%, while the average achievement of the control group has decreased by a mean grade of .125, approximately 2%. Additionally, variance analyses of the pre-test and the post-test showed a statistically significant difference on the dependent variable (F=27.197, p<.05). The results showed that the implementation of Lean in middle school contexts is quite possible. It has been found out that LEM increases the foreign language achievement in nation-wide public exams. In addition, some clues about how to form efficient classroom practices by providing practical implications for foreign language teaching are also presented in this study. Keywords: Lean, Lean educational method, English language teaching, Foreign language achievement