Tales for teaching German: Examining student-centered activities in terms of students' willingness to participate in the classroom

Abstract

The goal of this study is to determine the willingness for participation and opinions of the high school students who learn German as a foreign language in the context of the student-centered activities carried out within the scope of a student-centered teaching approach lasting four weeks. The sample of the study consists of 20 students who continue their 11th grade education in a secondary school in Çankaya, Ankara in the spring term of the 2019-2020 academic year. The research was conducted with a mixed research method. As data collection tools, a questionnaire was used to determine the effect of student-centered activities on students' active willingness for course participation and a course evaluation form was used to determine students' opinions and views on the applied activities. Descriptive statistics were used in the analysis of quantitative data obtained from the questionnaire and course evaluation forms, and inductive content analysis was utilized in the analysis of qualitative data. As a consequence of the evaluation, it has been detected that student-centered activities, in which visual materials and creative work styles are used, contribute to the increase of the students' willingness to participate. Furthermore, it has been observed that these students shared the view that such activities were effective and useful for foreign language learning processes.