The Effect of Language Learning Strategies on Learning Vocabulary in Teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language

Abstract

The aim of this study is to specify the learning strategies that the students use while learning Turkish as a foreign language and the effects of these strategies on learning vocabulary. Conducted in compliance with “pretest – posttest control group model” among experimental patterns, this study involved 40 students of Turkish as a foreign language in Istanbul University Language Center, who were divided into two groups as the experimental group and the control group, each of which consisted of 20 students. While the experimental group was subjected to the use of strategies and strategy-oriented activities, traditional method of teaching was applied in the control group. The data of the research was gathered with “Language Learning Strategies Inventory”, which was developed by Oxford (1990) and adapted into Turkish by Demirel (2009), and “Vocabulary Success Test”, which was developed by the researcher of this study, was evaluated in SPSS software. As a result of this study, it is found that while learning Turkish the students use language learning strategies in medium level, they use metacognitive strategies the most and they apply to the affective strategies the least and there is a meaningful correlation between the students level of strategy use and achievement in vocabulary knowledge.