ELT Research Journal

Yazarlar: Eda ÜSTÜNEL, Seyran ÖZTÜRK

Konular:-

Anahtar Kelimeler:Attitude,Culture,Motivation,Young learners

Özet: The main purpose of this research is to examine the impact of culturally enriched classes on young learners in terms of motivation, knowledge, attitude, and awareness through the administration of two-week culturally enriched revision classes for 5th and 7th grade students of a Turkish middle school. The experimental groups had culturally enriched revision classes for two weeks. The topics chosen for the revision classes were food and festivals. These cultural elements were integrated to the ordinary syllabi to review the structures and vocabulary they had already learned. Data were collected before, during and after the experimental activities via three different instruments: an attitude and motivation questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and field notes taken by the researcher during the culturally enriched revision classes. The results of the questionnaire were analysed using SPSS 20.0 software and the interview protocols were analysed under five categories: experience (with other cultures), interest (in other cultures), attitude (towards learning English and other cultures), knowledge (about other cultures), and awareness (of their own and other cultures) taking into account factors such as gender and age. The results showed that the students were generally highly motivated; with the younger learners being the most motivated. To some extent, their levels of motivation showed meaningful difference according to gender. The field notes and interview results showed that most of the students were not biased against other cultures. 

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