Effects of Data-Driven Teaching on Learning and Retention of English Prepositions by Intermediate Kurdish EFL Learners

Abstract

The current study aimed to examine the effectiveness of the data-driven learning (DDL) method in helping intermediate Kurdish students learn six English prepositions, which were in, on, at, to, behind, in front of, between, besides, over, and under. The participants of the study were 100 intermediate EFL Kurdish learners aged 18 to 20 from Lebanese French University in Kurdistan, Iraq. Those participants whose grades were +_1 above or below standard deviation were selected and then they were divided into two groups, one experimental and one control group (50 in each group). The present research adopted quantitative research as quasi-experimental research which was fulfilled in the form of a pre-test and a post-test. The uniformity of the EFL students was ensured using the Oxford Placement Test (OPT). The researcher created the pre-test and post-test in this study to assess the participants' learning and retention before and after the intervention. The experimental group received a data-driven teaching method while the control group received the traditional teaching method regarding teaching prepositions of in, on, at, to, behind, in front of, between, besides, over and under. The results revealed that DLL method had a greater impact on English preposition learning in comparison with rote learning. Thus, this study has some pedagogical implications for English language teachers in Iraq to be aware of cognitive linguistic usage as a frequent practice in the EFL classroom.