Effect of imagination activities on university students' achievement, interest and attitude toward English lesson

The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of guided imagery activities on university students' achievement, interest and attitudes related with English lessons. Population of the research is composed of 117 freshmen (female= 80, male= 37) studying at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at Abant İzzet Baysal University. Data related with the student's achievement towards the subjects within the scope of the research have been collected through an achievement test developed by the researcher. Data related with the students' attitudes towards English have been collected through the Scale of Attitudes towards English, originally developed by Altunay (2004); whereas the data related with the students' situational interests have been collected through two different versions adapted by the researcher from the Situational Interest Scale developed by Rotgans and Schmidt (2011a). All the data have been analyzed by using SPSS 20 and AMOS 20 statistical programs. Pearson Correlation analysis, independent-sample t tests, analyses of covariances (ANCOVAs) and Confirmatory Factor analyses were conducted in order to answer the research questions appropriately. Findings of the study have shown that guided imagery activities have positive and statistically significant effects on the level of achievement and interest. Previous achievement shows the quality of mediator variable on the relationship between guided imagery activities and interest, while the positive relationship between these activities and the achievement appear to be as independent of previous achievement. On the other hand, no effect of guided imagery activities has been observed on attitude. There is a positive relationship between the quantity of interest change, which is the difference between the scores of interest pre-test and post-test and the achievement originated from guided imagery activities. This positive effect of guided imagery activities is independent of previous achievement. No effects of guided imagery activities on the relationship between the quantity of interest change and attitude have been observed. However, previous achievement has a significant effect on this relationship. Educational implications and suggestions for the future research have also been discussed in the current study. Keywords: Guided imagery activities; Situational interest; Attitude; English; Course achievement.