The effect of reading comprehension instruction enriched with cultural materials on students' vocabulary knowledge and attitudes towards English course

In this research, the effect of reading comprehension instruction enriched with cultural materials given to the fourth grade students on students' vocabulary knowledge and attitudes towards English lesson is examined. First of all, a need analysis was done through interviews and document analyses. In accordance with the results obtained from the needs analysis, this research was decided to be done. The study group comprises two seventh grades at a socio-economic middle-level public school in Aydın province at the spring semester of 2013-2014 academic year. In the research, pre-test and post-test quasi-experimental model was used. In the research, "Achievement Test for Vocabulary" and "Scale for Attitudes towards English Course" were applied to experimental and control groups before the practices. Reading comprehension instruction enriched with cultural materials having two course hours per week was given to the students in experimental group in the spring semester of 2013-2014 academic year for six weeks. On the other hand, the control group followed their traditional reading comprehension instruction. The activities in the experimental group have been carried out by the researcher while the control group has followed his English course with their own English teacher. At the end of the practices, "Achievement Test for Vocabulary" and "Scale for Attitudes towards English Course" has been applied as post-test in order to assess the differences between groups. Also, "Achievement Test for Vocabulary" has been applied again to determine the retention of the vocabulary knowledge. According to the results, it is seen that reading comprehension instruction enriched with cultural materials positively contributed to students' vocabulary knowledge and attitudes towards English course. KEYWORDS Attitude, Cultural Materials, Reading Comprehension Instruction, Vocabulary Knowledge, .