Technology Utilization in Teaching Vocabulary at Tertiary Level

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of a web-based corpus (WBC) teaching on learner autonomy, e-learning readiness level, use of vocabulary learning strategies, and vocabulary size development. This study was carried out at two state universities in the province of Ankara, Turkey during the spring term of the academic year 2017-2018. The study group consisted of one control and one experimental group, all of whom were ELT Department freshman students. Having a mixed method research design, both quantitative and qualitative data collection was carried out in the current research. As for the quantitative data, at the beginning and at the end of the study surveys of learner autonomy, e-learning readiness level, the use of vocabulary learning strategies and vocabulary size tests were administered to both groups. As for the qualitative data collection, semi-structured interviews were carried out with 9 control group students (5 males and 4 females) and 8 experimental group students (4 males and 4 females) from each group. The quantitative analysis of the dataset was conducted through the use of Multivariate Analysis of Variance/Covariance (MANOVA & MANCOVA) and Mixed Between-Within Subjects Analysis of Variance, while for the qualitative data, content analysis technique was run. The quantitative analysis yielded that there was no statistically significant difference between the groups’ scores. Lack of motivation, classroom teaching practices, time management issues were some of the points the interviewees highlighted in regard to their achievement.