The Relationship between working memory, English (L2) and academic achievement in12-14 year-old Turkish students : the effect of age and gender

Download

index.pdf

Date

2013

Author

Çalışkanel, Gamze

Metadata

Show full item record

Item Usage Stats

245
views

98
downloads

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between working memory, English as a second language and academic achievement of secondary school students between the ages of 12-14. The study also examines the effects of age and gender factors on working memory capacity and its relation with academic attainments. Data were collected from 12-14 year-old children (N=54) in two state secondary schools in Kırşehir, Turkey. Verbal working memory was assessed by a reading span (RS) test and a backward digit span (BDS) test. Academic achievement was determined by performance on basic secondary school courses which were English (foreign language), Turkish (mother tongue), Social Sciences, Mathematics and Science. The study examined the predictive role of working memory capacity on success on each course. The results revealed that verbal working memory tests significantly correlated with the tests of both general academic achievement (for RS: r=42, for BDS: r=43) and specific courses (.001≤ p <.01). The results also indicated that verbal working memory capacity had a far more predictive role on school success for females than males.

Subject Keywords

English language, Short-term memory., Academic achievement., Sex differences in education., Verbal learning.

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12615726/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/22531

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis

Suggestions

OpenMETU
Core

The Relationships among academic self-efficacy, academic optimism, family income and academic achievement Şenay, Hanife Hilal; Kondakçı, Yaşar; Department of Educational Sciences (2018) The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the relationships among students’ academic self-efficacy, academic optimism, family income and academic achievement. The hypothesis of the study was that all the variables might be directly correlated with student achievement. For the data collection, firstly Academic Self-Efficacy and Student Academic Optimism scales were translated into Turkish. Later, a form including questions regarding demographic information, family income, socioeconomic status and cGPA of...
The Role of perceived teacher affective support and sense of relatedness in achievement emotions of middle school students in EFL classrooms Kök, Ezgi Hazal; Çapa Aydın, Yeşim; Department of Curriculum and Instruction (2017) The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of perceived teacher affective support and sense of relatedness in middle school students’ achievement emotions experienced in EFL classes. The study also included individual variables (gender and grade level) to examine the relationship between these variables and English achievement emotions. There were 810 5th, 6th, and 7th grade students who participated from two districts in Ankara and were administered Achievement Emotions Questionnaire- English...
The L2 production of English comparative structures More support for L2 developmental changes Kırkıcı, Bilal (2012-01-01) This study presents the results of an elicited production task on English comparative adjectives conducted with L1 Turkish learners of L2 English. The obtained results indicated processing differences both between the L2 participants and the L1 controls and between the higher and lower proficiency L2 participants. It is claimed that these results provide further support for the view that L2 learners tend to rely more on lexical storage and less on computational processes in the processing of morphologically...
The effects of a game-enhanced language learning intervention on students’L2 development and L2 motivational self-system. Musaoğlu Aydın, Seda; Akkuş Çakır, Nur.; Department of Educational Sciences (2020) The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of a game-enhanced language learning intervention on language learning and on the development of L2 motivational self-system of EFL students. The study employed a quasi-experiment design with 76 EFL students at a private university. The experimental group (N=38) participated in a game-enhanced language learning program for 10 weeks, whereas the control group (N=38) received traditional instruction. Students in the experimental group were asked to...
The Role of English proficiency level, personal and affective factors predicting language preparatory school students' acedemic success Aydın, Gökçen; Güneri, Oya; Department of Educational Sciences (2012) This study investigated the role of demographic factors, English proficiency level, personal and affective factors in predicting language preparatory school students’ academic success. Participants of the study were 415 Department of Basic English students (158 pre-intermediate level, 158 intermediate level and 99 upper-intermediate level students) from a state university in Turkey. As data collection instrument, demographic information form, College Learning Effectiveness Inventory and Affective Characteri...

Citation Formats

G. Çalışkanel, “The Relationship between working memory, English (L2) and academic achievement in12-14 year-old Turkish students : the effect of age and gender,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2013.