Cilt 5, Sayı 27 (Kış I 2016)

Araştırma Makalesi

Fourth-Year Elt Students’ Word Knowledge in Academic Writing: A Case Study

Yayımlandı 30.11.2016

Cilt 5 Sayı 27 kapak

Abstract

Language proficiency requires the mastery of four language skills such as listening reading, speaking and writing, but in addition to these language skills, vocabulary holds a distinct place in attaining communicative competence. The purpose of the presents study is to investigate the reflection of the fourth year Pre-service English Teachers’ word knowledge on their academic writing. The study was conducted at the Department of English Language Teacher Education of a state university in Turkey. The participants are 10 pre-service teachers whose essay papers were randomly chosen among fourth –year Pre-service English teachers. In order to measure word knowledge of the participants in their academic writing VocabProfile (Laufer&Nation, 1995) which enables the data obtained to evaluate quantitatively was used. The analyses showed that the students mostly used different words (word range) and lexical density varies between 45% and 55%. Moreover, it is also observed that preservice English teachers mostly used words in the first 1,000 band (K1). The percentages range from 80 % and 89 %. It is seen that the students included in the study showed the similar results. However, when it comes to the using words that are included in 1001-2000 bands, only a few used them in their writings. Academic vocabulary is another dimension which was evaluated in this study. According to the results, seven out of ten students used nearly 10 % of the words from off-list words (out of 2,000 words).

Keywords Language teacher education, Pre-service English teachers, teaching academic writing, Word knowledge, Lexical Frequency Profile

Öz

Bir dilde yeterlilik; dinleme, okuma, konuşma ve yazma gibi dört temel dil becerisin ayrı olarak değil birlikte geliştirilmesini gerektirir. Ancak, tüm becerilerin gerçekleşebilmesi kelime yeterliliği ile doğrudan bağlantılıdır. Bu düşünceden hareketle çalışmamızın amacı; bir devlet üniversitesi Yabancı Diller İngilizce öğretmenliğinde okuyan öğrencilerinin kelime bilgilerinin akademik yazmalara ne ölçüde yansıdığını araştırmaktır. Araştırmanın katılımcıları 10 İngilizce Öğretmenliği dördüncü sınıf öğrencisidir. Bu öğrencilerin yazılı metinleri dijital ortama aktarılmış ardından VocabProfile (Laufer&Nation, 1995) programı ile analizine tabi tutulmuştur. Öğrenci metinlerinin analizinden Kelime çeşitliliği, Kelime Yoğunluğu, birinci 1,000 bandı, ikinci 1001-2000 bandı, Akademik Kelimeler, ilk 2000 dışı kelimeler olmak üzere altı değişken dikkate alınmıştır. Sonuçlar çalışmaya katılan öğrencilerimizin metinlerinde farklı kelimeleri kullandıklarını göstermiştir. Öte yandan öğrencilerin metinlerde yer verdikleri kelimelerin yüzde 83-89 oranında birinci 1-1000 bandında yer alan kelimelerden oluştuğu; 1001-2000 arası ikinci banttan kelimeleri nadir olarak kullandıkları; biraz da yazdıkları metinin yapısı gereği fazla akademik kelime kullanmadıkları görülmüştür. Sonuç olarak çalışmadan elde edilen bulgular; İngiliz Dil Eğitimi programlarının öğrencilerin kelime bilgisini akademik üretimlerinde kullanmalarını ne derece katkı sağladığı ya da yer verdiği konusunun yeniden değerlendirilmesinin önemini ortaya koymuştur.

Anahtar Kelimeler İngiliz Dili Öğretmen Eğitimi, Kelime Bilgisi, Akademik yazma, Kelime Sıklık Profilleri

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