Research paper presented as part of ongoing professional development for Brazilians teachers of English in the United States - PDPI -Programa de Desenvolvimento Profissional para Professores de Ingles/CAPES Governo Federal

1. Government of Brazil – Ministry of Education
Brazil English Teachers Program
Programa de Desenvolvimento Profissional para Professores de Língua Inglesa nos
EUA - PDPI
Rosana Magnani da Costa
Professor Rebecca Harclerode
Philadelphia/ PA/ USA
2014
Action Research

2. Project
Action research
How is it possible to improve students’ reading skills by
playing games on the internet?

3. Context
• This Project will take place in a public
school located in a slams in the
neighborhood of São Joao Climaco , EMEF
CEU Meninos, in São Paulo City, Brazil.
• The students age are 9 to 12 years old.

4. Introduction
Despite its relevante function in modern society, English language learning is
devalued and students don’t show interest in English as a foreign language.
Therefore , teachers believe students may have an extrinsic motivation:
something useful for their future life of for immediate purposes; others
consider students should have an intrinsic motivation : for self improvement.
Both situations consider motivation for learning English language. The point
is: is it possible motivate students for a language learning environement? What
devices can motivate students for English classes? I assert : technological ones,
like cell phones and video games or on line games .
Games or games online can result in noise but result in all students active
envolviment. Games can encrease students ability in the use of the language in
context of use.

5. Objective
This research aims to study the use of the
computing tools such as on line games as
a way to improve reading ability in English
language lessons.

6. Review of literature
Why teaching English language through reading? How could it be
possible? Teaching language even if its L1 is a very difficult work for
teachers, because usually it is done only in a formal way, formal texts
don’t involve interaction during reading, involves loneliness and
concentration. For beginners learners it is too difficult, and it is completely
different of what they know, their background , students need to be
involved to the subject or even to the classroom environment to read in a
successful way.
About the development of reading ability in L2, Penny Urr says as
follows: "we do not need to understand every word in order to understand
the meaning of the text". And she completes that reading is usually done
after knowing spoken language what makes reading easier to beginner
learners.

7. Game
Mouse
internet
Photos
Lose
Space
bottom
Playclick
move
left
Move
right
Win
Game
over
I will develop my research through:
1- Classes in classroom where I will present a clustering with the
word game which will bring some other words from the students
related to it such as

8. 2-In the computer lab:
In this place we’ll go for 2 classes:
1st class : students in pairs will play a game with no
teacher’s orientation will observe how much written
informations students need to accomplish each step of
the game, even knowing nothing about the game, how
does it work and what to do.
2nd class: students changing pairs will play a game with
teacher’s orientation. In this step I will observe how fast
students accomplish each game’s step and phase .
Both observations will be recorded by the teacher in
written journals and with pictures, with their parents’
written authorization. This project will last for 2 months.

9. Assessment strategies
• In the beginning of the project with videogames I
will make students know what they know with the
first exercise . I’ll talk to the students to be aware about
their knowledge about English language and at
the end of the project I’ll give to them ( students)
good informations about how much of English
language they know in comparison to the
beginning. These assessments will be:
Crosswords with the vocabulary.
Observations of the classes with the students playng
the games on line.
Texts.

10. Closing remark
One of the things that make me aware for this project
are the online games I will work with the students .
Mainly because I thing they can’t like the game that I
have chosen to them or the game shoudn’t be
appropriate to my objective.
References
Ur Penn. (1996).A Couse in English Language.CUP: Cambrigde University
Press.
Mills, Geoffrey E. ( 2011) Action Research. Pearson.