Author: Ali Akbar Jafarpour Boroujeni Journal: Journal of Modern Research in English Language Studies

1. In The Name Of God
Course: Teaching EFL skills
Presenter: Saiede Bayat
Spring
1401/01/27

3. Domestic Article Foreign Article
Motivating EFL students:
E-learning enjoyment as a predictor of
vocabulary learning through digital
video games
Author: Ali Akbar Jafarpour Boroujeni
Role of Game-Oriented Instruction in
Learning L2 Vocabulary:
A Case of Iranian EFL Young
Beginner Learners
Journal:
Journal of Modern Research in English
Language Studies
Authors: Mohsen Ebrahimzadeh &
Sepideh Alavi
Journal:
Cogent Education
Key words: game, game-oriented instruction,
supplementary activity
Key words: digital video games; game-based
language learning; vocabulary learning;
e-learning enjoyment; language learning
motivation

4. Table of
Contents!
1- Introduction
Containing
-Abstract
3- Conclusions and Implications
-obtained results
-limitations
2- Method
- Participants
- Instruments
- Data Collection Procedure

5. 01
Introduction

6. - Vocabulary knowledge is
so essential for
successful communication
- It has an important role in
developing student’s
proficiency
- It also has a major role in
learning listening,
speaking, reading, and
writing
Importance of vocabulary
acqusition:

7. Vocabulary game’s benefits:
- brings real world context into the classroom
- enhances the student’s use of English in a flexible
and communicative way
- stimulates the students’ interest
- decreases their stress
- develops their own level of confidence

8. Properties of
a well-organized game
activity
a particular task
or objective
a set of rule
communication between
players by spoken or
written language
competition
between players

9. What should we do
instead?
● These techniques lead to rote
learning and transfer new words
into the learners’ shortterm
memory, therefore they are not
useful
● The teacher should apply new
techniques to help students
learn new vocabularies
meaningfully and use them in
real situation
● traditional techniques are so
boring.
● The teacher should use
interesting techniques to
motivate the students to learn
new words enthusiastically
Disadvantages of
Traditional techniques
in vocabulary learning

10. One of the interesting elements of game-oriented
instruction is providing a stress free environment
for the learners, so the students can practice a lot
without concerning about failures.
(Gee, 2009)

11. Research questions
1
Does game-oriented instruction
have any significant effect on
Iranian young beginner
learners' L2 vocabulary
development?
2
Is there any significant difference
among
learning vocabulary through textbook,
learning new vocabulary through game
as a supplementary activity,
and learning new vocabularies through
game as a main medium of instruction?

12. 02
Method

13. Participants
Total population number: 90
Nationality: Iranian
Gender: Male
Age: 14
School level: Junior high school students
in grade two
English proficiency level: Elementary
level learners
A Key English Test was administered
before starting the treatment. After
analyzing its results, 18 students were
excluded from this study and finally 72
students remained.
Instruments used for data collection:
1. Key English Test (KET)
- This standard test contained 50 multiple
choice items.
- It assessed the vocabulary knowledge of the
participants.
2. Teacher-made vocabulary test
- Contained 20 multiple choice items
- This test was administered as a pretest and
posttest in all groups
- This test assessed the vocabulary
knowledge of the students
Instruments

14. Data Collection Procedure
● KET test was administered before conducting the study. 72 students
remained
● Students divided into 3 groups of 24
● The teacher-made test evaluated by experts in order to be a valuable
pretest
● reliability and validity of the researchers-made test calculated and
the researchers administered the pretest.
● the results of the pretest analyzed
● The treatment started on 3 different groups
● the posttest administered to all control and experimental groups
● researchers analyzed the results of posttest and compared the scores
of three groups together in terms of vocabulary learning

15. Control group:
(traditional group)
the treatment was teaching new
vocabularies through traditional textbook
method.
Different methods of teaching
vocabulary such as definition, word
memorization, synonyms and
antonyms were used to teach new words
traditionally.

16. experimental group(1) or
Game group:
the treatment was using game as
a main medium of instruction
vocabulary games used such as:
Dance of the Ostriches,
Four corner,
Slow Reveal,
and Guess Who

17. Dance of the Ostriches

19. Experimental group (2) or mixed group:
the treatment was using the combination of game and traditional
methods. first, the new words were taught through traditional text book
strategies such as definition, translation, and so on and then game-
oriented instructions were used as supplementary activity to promote
learning.

20. 03
Conclusions and
Implications

21. 1- Game by itself does not have the great effects on learning
data analysis revealed that there is not a significance difference between the group who were taught
vocabularies through game as a main medium of instruction and those who learned vocabulary through
traditional text book methods
2- Game as a supplementary activity can help the learners to learn new vocabularies
more effectively.
data analysis revealed that there is a significance difference between learning vocabulary of those students
who were taught vocabularies through using game as a supplementary activity and those who learned new
words traditionally. It means that using game as a supplementary activity had the greatest effect on
learning vocabulary of Iranian young beginner students.
3- vocabulary improvement is not associated with using game exclusively but it is
associated with how to use game more perfectly to help learners to develop their own
vocabulary learning.
if students firstly encounter to ordinary methods of teaching and then they use game as a supplementary
activity, it can be more beneficial and the students can learn new words easily.

22. Limitations in this study
Actions must taken for further studies
- using teacher-made achievement test
for pretest and posttest
( not a strong predictor of the
participants’ actual proficiency level.)
- multiple choice tests used for data
collection
- participants of the current study were
male students
- Participants of this study were young
beginner students
- Using standardized English proficiency test for
pretest and posttest
- Better to use different data collection procedures
such as questioner, interview, or observation or
combination of above-mentioned data collection
procedures
- use female students or the combination of male
and female students to investigate the effect of
gender and game on learning vocabulary of
Iranian young beginner students
- Better to use age factor and compare the different
age groups such as young and adult students to
investigate whether age moderates the relationship
between game and vocabulary learning in the
Iranian EFL context.

24. content
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4
Introduction
Conclusion and
limitations
Method
Results

25. 01
Introduction

26. Enjoyment in game-based language learning
Definition of enjoyment:
Enjoyment is defined as an attitude, circumstance, or favorable
response to a stimulus that tends to make one happy. As a construct,
researchers have defined it as an emotion, attitude, blend of affect and
cognition.
benefits of Using video games as educational instruments:
● they are designed to be fun and engage gamers
● DVGs are believed to have inherent characteristics such as
competition, narrative, fantasy, climax, and visualization

27. DVG enjoyment: Key issues and scholarly works
eight major components regarding the phenomenology of enjoyment
● there should be a chance to complete the task or challenge
● it should be possible to concentrate.
● concentration is usually realized through having clear goals and receiving
immediate feedback
● task involvement is so deep, yet effortless, that removes daily worries and
frustrations
● the enjoyable experience enables people to feel some sense of control over
their activity.
● the sense of self is forgotten during flow and emerges stronger afterwards.
● time distortion happens with hours passing by in minutes or vice versa
combination of all these elements “causes a sense of deep enjoyment that is so
rewarding

28. Computer-assisted vocabulary learning
general processes that lead to vocabulary learning:
noticing,(a private experience that is necessary for converting input into intake. It forces the
learner to pay attention to the vocabulary and consider it to be a useful item)
retrieval,(If a word is retrieved from memory for subsequent use, it is more
likely to be remembered later in time. Successful retrieval can be reinforced through
receptive or productive activities)
and creative use (using vocabulary that was learned earlier in different contexts)
Features of vocabulary learning software:
It should provide noticing(colorization, text stylization, and highlighting)
It should provide Retrieval(repeated use of vocabulary to complete an objective or acquire
some items)
It should provide generative use(presentation of vocabulary in different forms such as
written, spoken, and pictorial)

29. The aim, focus, and questions of the study
• Aim
• Enjoyment is a central characteristic
of DVGs, and it becomes an
important aspect of game-
enhanced language learning.
• If learners enjoy playing a DVG,
chances of focused attention,
persistence, exploration, and
replays increase through which
learning occurs
• new theories on language learning
motivation are assigning a more
important role to enjoyment
• Focus
• Focusing on inspiration and
enjoyment to build up continuing
motivation in the learners.
• Boring but systematic teaching can
be effective in producing, for
example, good test results, but rarely
does it inspire a life-long commitment
to the subject matter.

30. Research questions
1
Is there any difference in experienced
enjoyment between Players and Watchers of
a commercial DVG?
2
How well can a measure of enjoyment predict
vocabulary learning through a commercial
DVG?

31. 02
Method

32. Participants
Total population number: 136
Nationality: Iranian
Gender: Male
Age: 12-18
School level: high school students
English proficiency level: The majority
of these students studied English only in
high school but some attended private
institutes as well.
Students were divided in 2 groups:
-players (65 students)
-watchers (71 students)
Instruments used for data collection:
1. EGameFlow scale
- To measure the learners’ enjoyment from
e-learning
2. the digital video game
3. Selected list of vocabulary items
-Twenty one simple and compound noun phrases
were selected from the game and students had to
infer the meaning of these
words through interacting with the DVG
4. The delayed vocabulary posttest
-This test included 21 multiple choice questions on
the selected list of vocabulary items
5. Researcher field notes
- Made during and after each session
Instruments

33. Data Collection Procedure
● Headway placement test and the vocabulary pretest was administered
before conducting the study.
● The treatment started and continued for five sessions—one session a
week each lasting 45–60 min.
● Teaching 3–6 vocabulary items during each session
● the posttest which was the one-month delayed vocabulary administered
● researchers analyzed the results of posttest and compared the scores of
three groups together in terms of vocabulary learning

34. Player’s group:
● the students received instruction on how
to work with the game
● Through the use of an overhead
projector, each vocabulary item and
instructions on its location were
presented initially
● The students then played the game
trying to attain these items.
● The ultimate goal of the game was to
destroy the enemy base. To do so
purchasing the target vocabulary items
was necessary.

35. Watcher's group:
• the same principles as the Players’ followed
• The class was divided into two groups that supported their player by
providing hints and encouragement.
• The game was projected on a screen so that everyone could follow.

36. 03
Results

37. results
Question 1:
Is there any difference in
experienced enjoyment between
Players and Watchers of a
commercial DVG?
Answer:
The first question examined
the difference between playing
and watching a DVG in terms of
enjoyment. There was no
significant difference between
the two groups, players and
watchers
Question 2:
How well can a measure of
enjoyment predict vocabulary
learning through a commercial
DVG?
Answer:
E-learning enjoyment predicted a
significant amount of variance in
vocabulary learning scores

38. 04
Conclusion and
limitations

39. conclusions
• The e-learning enjoyment dimensions of challenge and immersion were
negatively correlated with vocabulary learning. This suggests that challenge
needs to be adjusted to the gamers’ skill and immersion should prioritize the
target content through audiovisual features.
• Game-enhanced language learning seems to correlate with enjoyment
experienced by students which may enhance their motivation helping them
persist time-consuming tasks such as second language learning.
• the study hopes to have shed some light on how enjoyment plays its role in
increasing learner engagement

40. Limitations in this study Actions must taken for further studies
 - self-report measures face a problem
of validity since they are highly
sensitive to the respondents’
comprehension and willingness to
provide honest answers.
 Students’ familiarity level with
DVGs and computers, which might
have affected their performance
 limited age range
 Using students of different language
proficiency levels
 using different game genres and different
age groups.
 use female students or the combination of
male and female students to investigate the
effect of gender and game on learning