The effectiveness of "Learning by doing" as a strategy that uses the elaboration of didactic material done by the learners

Tesis (Pedagogía en Inglés)Nowadays, the instruction of vocabulary on the acquisition and learning of English as a second language is important and it has been recognized as a relevant aspect by academics and theoreticians of the area. The aim of this study is to prove, through a concrete and an experimental form, the effectiveness of the constructivist strategy that uses the elaboration of didactic material as an improvement manner for the acquisition and learning of explicit vocabulary that, at the same time, may be meaningful to the pupils. The “Learning by Doing” strategy has been built under the perspective of the theory of constructivism, which has been adapted to be applied on two different educational establishments; both subsidized. The first school is located in El Belloto and the second school institution located in Villa Alemana. Accordingly, the thesis study was carried out on 5 different courses with a final average of 132 students. This inquiry has a quantitative nature with a quasi – experimental design that has as a sample a paired – dependent kind, which took into account the control subunits and the experimental subunits from each EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classroom where the strategy previously mentioned was conducted. As described on the previous paragraph, the results were analyzed using a mathematical – statistical type of measurement denominated “T – Test” table. These demonstrated that the constructivist strategy namely “Learning by Doing” improve the learning of explicit vocabulary on those grades belonging to the primary education. Nowadays, the instruction of vocabulary on the acquisition and learning of English as a second language is important and it has been recognized as a relevant aspect by academics and theoreticians of the area. The aim of this study is to prove, through a concrete and an experimental form, the effectiveness of the constructivist strategy that uses the elaboration of didactic material as an improvement manner for the acquisition and learning of explicit vocabulary that, at the same time, may be meaningful to the pupils. The “Learning by Doing” strategy has been built under the perspective of the theory of constructivism, which has been adapted to be applied on two different educational establishments; both subsidized. The first school is located in El Belloto and the second school institution located in Villa Alemana. Accordingly, the thesis study was carried out on 5 different courses with a final average of 132 students. This inquiry has a quantitative nature with a quasi – experimental design that has as a sample a paired – dependent kind, which took into account the control subunits and the experimental subunits from each EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classroom where the strategy previously mentioned was conducted. As described on the previous paragraph, the results were analyzed using a mathematical – statistical type of measurement denominated “T – Test” table. These demonstrated that the constructivist strategy namely “Learning by Doing” improve the learning of explicit vocabulary on those grades belonging to the primary education.En la actualidad, la instrucción del vocabulario es importante para la adquisición y aprendizaje del inglés como segunda lengua. Esto ha sido reconocido como un aspecto relevante por académicos y teóricos del área. El objetivo de esta investigación es probar a través de una forma concreta y experimental la efectividad de una estrategia que usa la elaboración de material didáctico como manera de mejorar la adquisición y el aprendizaje del vocabulario explícito, y que éste a su vez sea significativo para el alumno. La estrategia “Learning by Doing” ha sido construida bajo la perspectiva de la teoría del constructivismo, la cual ha sido adaptada para ser aplicada en dos establecimientos educacionales diferentes, ambos subvencionados. El primero situado en El Belloto y el segundo ubicado en Villa Alemana. Por consiguiente, esta investigación se realizó en 5 cursos diferentes con un promedio final de 132 alumnos. Esta investigación tiene una naturaleza cuantitativa con un diseño cuasi – experimental y tiene como muestra un tipo dependiente y pareado, la cual tomó en consideración las subunidades controles y las subunidades experimentales de cada clase “EFL” en donde la estrategia previamente mencionada fue llevada a cabo. Según lo descrito en el párrafo anterior, los resultados fueron analizados usando un tipo de medición matemático – estadística denominada tabla “T – Test”. Éstos demostraron que la estrategia constructivista nombrada “Learning by Doing” mejoró el aprendizaje de vocabulario explícito en aquellos cursos pertenecientes a la educación general básica. Sin embargo, el curso perteneciente a la enseñanza media no mostró ninguna señal de mejoramiento cuando la estrategia que usa la elaboración de material didáctico llegó a su fin