Examining the Fourth Grade Turkish Textbook and Classroom Teachers’ In-class Practices in Vocabulary Teaching

Abstract

This study was conducted to identify the activities aimed at improving vocabulary included
 in the fourth grade Turkish course and textbook, the opinions of classroom teachers in this
 regard, the strategies, practices and activities they used for this purpose, and the time they
 spent on this in the teaching-learning process. The research was carried out as a case study,
 one of the qualitative research designs. In the data collection process of this study, an
 activity identification table was used for examining the Turkish textbook, a structured
 observation form was used for classroom observations, and a semi-structured interview
 form was used for interviews with the participants. Descriptive analysis and content
 analysis techniques were used for data analysis. As a result of the study, it was determined
 that the distribution of activities in the textbook, which is acknowledged as one of the
 important tools for supporting the development of vocabulary, varied depending on basic
 language skills. It was concluded that in the Turkish course teaching process, teachers
 included 14 different activities related to vocabulary instruction, using 19 different
 methods, techniques and strategies, in line with the textbook. The results obtained from the
 observations and interviews revealed that teachers did not have adequate knowledge about
 the methods, techniques and strategies that they used to improve vocabulary, and that
 therefore, they were unable to appropriately use the implementation steps required for the
 strategies.