The Investigation of the Effects of Frayer Model on Vocabulary Knowledge in Social Studies

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to determine the effects of Frayer model on the development of
vocabulary knowledge in social studies. A quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group design was used in the
study. For the research, an experimental (N=19) and a control group (N=18) were randomly selected. While Frayer
model as text based organizer was utilized on vocabulary instruction in the experimental group, the definitional and
contextual approaches by integrating were used in the control group. This research was implemented at a state school
with the 4
th grade students in Bayburt, in 2013-2014 academic season. The scale, which was developed by Wesche and
Paribakht (1996) and validity and reliability of which were examined and adapted to Turkish by the researcher, was
used to determine the students’ vocabulary knowledge level. As for the results, it was found that the experimental
group was more successful in vocabulary knowledge through the meanings of the target words by enlarging their
vocabulary capacity in-depth. The data obtained from the study demonstrated that Frayer model facilitated the students
to identify relevant, irrelevant attributes, examples and non-examples of the concepts and uncover the relationships and
hierarchical structures between the concepts, thus guide to generate the meanings of terms by activating prior
knowledge. Therefore, it helps to the students facilitate development of vocabulary knowledge and vocabulary
acquisition