Özet:

A majority of the studies in language education are designed to measure students’ vocabulary size. Thus, they point to the fact that children receive education that focuses on language and comprehension tools, and content materials are taught and tested. Experiments have been conducted to determine the effect of vocabulary size on the performance of linguistic skills in Turkey and confirmed that vocabulary size affects reading and listening comprehension. This paper uses causal comparison scanning, which investigates the causes and effects of the difference between specific groups and how much a dependent variable is affected by an independent variable. The population of this research is seventh and eighth grade students in the city of Istanbul. Socioeconomic variables were considered in the selection of the sample. There are 151 seventh graders and 102 eight graders. The results of the analyses indicate that the students in the sample have significantly different vocabulary assets depending on their SES, gender, reading habit, and reading frequencies variables. The analysis conducted to find the effect of the grade variable shows that the only significant difference is in favour of the seventh grade students’ total word count. Overall, it is reasonable to argue that male students, socioeconomically disadvantaged students and students who do not have reading habits need more support in vocabulary teaching.. Since vocabulary teaching is not systematically planned in Turkey, educational planners should consider doing so. Finally, research should be conducted to improve vocabulary teaching and test the effectiveness of new educational programs and practices.

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