Effect of reading books on vocabulary development of primary school fourth grade students

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of reading books on the vocabulary development of fourth grade primary school students. In the study, pre-test post-test control group experimental design, one of the quantitative research models, was used. The sample of the study consisted of 60 fourth grade students of a primary school located in Ankara province. The experimental group consisted of 30 students who were given 30 minutes of silent reading every day for two months, and the control group consisted of 30 students who were not given this practice. The students wrote essays on the theme of family before and after the research. As a pre-test and post-test, the frequency of different words in the compositions written by the students were compared. The data obtained were analyzed using t-test in SPSS program. The experimental and control groups were equal in terms of pre-test results. As a result of the research, there was no significant difference between the different vocabulary scores of the control group in the pre-test and post-test. While the average number of different words used by the control group in the pre-test was ¯x=52,66, the average number of different words used in the post-test was ¯x=54,73. In this case, it is seen that the vocabulary of the students in the control group increased by 2,07 words in a three-month period. In other words, the vocabulary of fourth grade primary school students increased by 4% during the three-month normal education process. There was a significant increase in the vocabulary of the experimental group after the book reading intervention. While the mean vocabulary of the experimental group students was ¯x=61,00 before the intervention, it increased to ¯x=97,20 after the book reading intervention. In this case, it is seen that the vocabulary of the students in the experimental group increased by 36,20 words in a three-month period. In other words, the vocabulary of primary school fourth grade students who engaged in regular and controlled book reading activities for 30 minutes every day increased by 59% during the three-month education process. There is a significant difference between the different vocabulary scores of the experimental group and the control group in the post-test. The number of different words used by the experimental group in the post-test ¯x=97,20 is more positive than the control group ¯x=54,73. This finding is interpreted as a significant relationship between book reading and vocabulary.