Benefits of Multilingualism in Foreign Language Learning: A Comparative Study of Bilingual and Multilingual Grammar Strategies

In 21th century world in which the borders fade away, multilingualism and meeting multilingual individuals is quite a common phenomenon. This study aims to reveal any difference between multilingual and bilingual learners in constructing grammar strategies while learning English as L2 for bilinguals and L3 for multilinguals. It is hypothesized that multilinguals have superior grammar strategies when compared with bilinguals as they have linguistic knowledge for one more language. In this study, 3 groups of bilinguals (2 coordinate- additive bilingual groups and 1 balanced bilingual group) are compared with a group of multilinguals. Linguistic inventory for all bilingual groups include English and Turkish while it is French, Turkish and English for multilingual group. Current study is a quantitative one that includes a 33 item likert type questionnaire on grammar strategies by Kemp (2007). Cronbach Alpha coefficient of the study was calculated as .814 which indicated a high level of reliability. Data obtained from multilingual and bilingual groups were compared through Mann Whitney U Test and correlations are presented to reveal any difference. In the conclusion part, recommendations are given for instructors of multilingual and bilingual classes.

Portfolio Assessment Through Cooperation Between Teachers and Students in English Lessons

Portfolio assessment has gained much importance lately and there are many types of portfolios used in English Language Teaching and Learning. This study was carried out in a private school and it illustrates the types of portfolios which are used by learners, learners’ attitudes toward using the portfolio, the relationship between portfolio and learners’ self-confidence, and the skills that the learners use while preparing their portfolio

Opinions of Students and Teachers on Using Different Foreign Language Teaching Activities in Young Learners’ Classrooms in Turkey

The study was conducted to find out what kindergarten students and their teachers think about using different foreign language teaching activities in young learners’ classrooms in Turkey. It also examines which activities (songs, games, drawing) are favored most by the students and what kind of interaction patterns (individual, pair, and group) the students and teachers of young learners favor most. The study compares pre-school and primary school students’ and teachers’ opinions of the activity types. 52 kindergarten students, 31 primary school students and 10 teachers of young learners participated in this study. The students were interviewed one by one and the teachers were asked to answer a questionnaire including 12 statements. According to the results, both the teachers and the students agree with using different foreign language teaching activities in young learners’ classrooms. Students like games most, then drawing and lastly songs. It was also found that there is a difference in the opinions of pre-school and primary school students on the activity types. As for the opinions of the teachers, there is no significant difference between the opinions of pre-school and primary school teachers concerning the activity types. Lastly, the results indicated that both teachers and students prefer pair and group work activities to individual activities.

An Analysis of Recognition of Extended Compound Sentences

The aim of this research study was to clarify whether recognizing extended compound sentences is a problem for first grade ELT students of Dicle University. This study also investigated the effect of remedial teaching on students’ recognition of extended compound sentences and gender differences in terms of the recognition of extended compound sentences. The participants were 35 first grade ELT students of Dicle University. A pre-test of 30 questions was  answered by the participants and the same test was answered as the post-test after 2-weeks of remedial teaching