The impact of dialogic method on student motivation and academic achievement in language teaching

With the development of technology and the increase in international interactions, the importance given to foreign language learning worldwide is growing every day. Like other countries, Turkey also places great importance on foreign language teaching. Although various methods have been tried in the teaching process to make foreign language instruction more effective and efficient, the debate over which method is the most effective continues. The dialogic method, which has recently drawn attention, is one of the approaches that has begun to be used in language teaching. Unlike methods used in the language learning process to date, the dialogic method is student-centered and emphasizes active student participation. It aims not only to teach the language but also to help students acquire communication and critical thinking skills. It is expected that this method will positively affect student motivation and academic achievement. In the dialogic method, which is based on Vygotsky's social constructivist theory and Bakhtin's philosophy of dialogism, the goal is not to give information directly to the student but to enable the student to uncover knowledge by asking questions and collaborating with peers or teachers. The purpose of this thesis study is to measure the effect of the dialogic method, a topic frequently discussed in the recent educational sciences literature, on student motivation and academic achievement. The research was conducted with 60 10th-grade students at an Anatolian High School in the province of Zonguldak during the 2023-2024 academic year. In the study, an experimental method, one of the quantitative research methods, was used. A quasi-experimental pre-test post-test design with a control group was employed, as the study worked with pre-existing classes formed by the school administration, leaving no opportunity for random assignment to experimental and control groups. To measure student motivation levels, the foreign language motivation scale developed by Gardner and adapted into Turkish by Yılmaz (2014) was used. To measure academic achievement levels, an academic achievement test prepared by the researcher was used. All analyses in the study were conducted using the SPSS 27 statistical package program. Before the experimental study began, pre-tests were administered to determine the students' motivation levels. To check for equivalence in academic achievement, the average exam scores of both groups from the previous semester's English classes were considered. Subsequently, the designated topic was taught, and post-tests were administered upon its completion. An independent samples t-test was used for the between-group comparison of pre-test and post-test scores. A paired samples t-test was used to compare the pre-test and post-test scores within the same group. The research results showed no significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of foreign language learning motivation, but a significant difference was found in terms of academic achievement. Although the dialogic method did not significantly affect student motivation, student interaction both inside and outside the classroom during the teaching process should not be disregarded. Keywords: Academic Achievement, Dialogic Method, Motivation, Foreign Language