The Effect of Total Physical Response Method on Vocabulary Learning/Teaching: A Mixed Research Synthesis

Abstract

This aim of this study is to determine the effect of the TPR method on students' vocabulary learning and the factors affecting the effectiveness of this method by combining the findings obtained from both qualitative and quantitative studies. For this purpose, a primary study with 13 quantitative and 7 qualitative findings was included in this study using mixed research synthesis. The data obtained from the studies with quantitative findings were combined with the meta-analysis method and the studies with qualitative findings were separately combined with the thematic synthesis method. Then, using the analytical themes obtained from the thematic synthesis, the variance among the studies included in the meta-analysis was attempted to be explained. As a result of the meta-analysis, it was determined that instruction based on the TPR Model had a “strong” effect size (ES=1.131, 95% CI: -0.705 to 3.729) on academic achievement. As a result of the thematic synthesis, four descriptive themes were formed: "Learning-teaching process in TPR method", "Learning outcomes in TPR method", "motivation" and "Implementation suggestions/requirements". It has been determined that teaching based on the TPR method has significant contributions to the learning process (increasing active participation, learning by having fun, cooperative learning, etc.) and learning outcomes (word learning, correct use, creativity, etc.), motivation in learning, and some requirements (according to teacher and feature) have been determined. According to the descriptive themes obtained from the thematic synthesis, 10 analytical themes were developed. It was observed that all analytical themes were made in the experimental studies, and two of the 10 analytical themes explained the variance among the studies included in the meta-analysis significantly (p<.05).