以線上遊戲帶動台灣國中生的英語字彙學習：聚焦於字彙學習經驗與策略的教學行動研究 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學英國語文學系碩士在職專班碩士論文. 指導教授: 招靜琪博士 Advisor: Dr. Chin-chi Chao. 以線上遊戲帶動台灣國中生的英語字彙學習：. 政治大聚焦於字彙學習經驗與策略的教學行動研究立. ‧ 國. 學. Junior High School Students’ Vocabulary Learning. ‧. through a Digital Game: An Action Research Study on. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Learner Experience and Strategy. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 研究生: 黃家真撰 Name: Chia-chen Huang 中華民國一百零七年九月 September 2018. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(2) Junior High School Students’ Vocabulary Learning through a Digital Game: An Action Research Study on Learner Experience and Strategy. A Master Thesis Presented to Department of English,. National Chengchi University. 學 ‧. ‧ 國. 立. 政治大. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. n. v i n InCPartial h e nFulfillment i U h c g of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. by Chia-Chen Huang September 2018. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(3) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. First and foremost, I want to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Chin-chi Chao. She is an amiable and patient professor who always discussed my research with me in an unstressed but efficient way. Because it took me about three hours to go to Taipei by bus to meet her, she usually chose the nearest Starbucks to Taipei Train Station and waited me ahead. She is a professor of great wisdom for. 政治大. always pointing out my blind spots with clear suggestions and useful guidance. Even. 立. though I had much confusion during my thesis writing, she was always there to aid. ‧ 國. 學. me and refine my words and ideas. In addition, she is such a considerate professor that I felt very touched. When I was sick and had a physical examination of nuclear magnetic resonance in China Medical University, my dear professor was even willing. ‧. to come to Taichung to meet me and discuss my study. Her behaviors and warm care. and good luck to have her as my advisor.. io. sit. y. Nat. made me know what a cordial and devoted teacher is like, and I feel it is my honor. al. er. Also, I am very grateful to my colleagues and my family who always encouraged. n. v i n C h teaching adjustments, not only gave me useful advice to my e n g c h i U but also helped me. me to insist on my thesis writing and provided me a variety of helps. My colleagues proofread my thesis’ words and contents. When I had problems in setting the format of tables of the content, they also assisted me to overcome it. But for their willingness to help, I could not have had accomplished my study and thesis. As for my family, they usually cheered me up when I felt upset and got stuck in my thesis. They would take me to go out for a short trip or a movie and eat a delicious meal to comfort my worries and anxiety. Hence, I know they are always by my side, and thus I could persist in completing my study. Last but not least, I want to show my gratitude to my lovely students, Class 205, as my participants in my study. They fully engaged in the study and cooperated well with the teacher and their peers. They also performed better than what the teacher had expected, and sincerely told the teacher how they thought of the project and give. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(4) useful advice as well. Their learning performances and feedback are the backbone of my research. Had it not been for their participation, there would not have been other suitable students and I would not be able to complete the study.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. ii. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(5) Table of Contents. Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... i Chinese Abstract ......................................................................................................... iv Abstract ......................................................................................................................... v Chapter One: Introduction ......................................................................................... 1 Background and Motivation .................................................................................. 1 Purpose of the Study .............................................................................................. 1 Research Questions ................................................................................................ 2 Chapter Two: Literature Review ................................................................................ 3 Digital Games and Language Learning ................................................................. 3 Language Learning by Digital Games with Instructional Support ........................ 5 Language Learning Strategies................................................................................ 8 Chapter Three: Methodology.................................................................................... 12 Research Design................................................................................................... 12 Research Context ................................................................................................. 12 Participants ........................................................................................................... 13 Data Collection .................................................................................................... 15 Students’ Background Survey ....................................................................... 15 The Game Vocabulary Pre-test and Post-test .............................................. 16 Teaching Logs and Classroom Observation ................................................ 16 Students’ Digital Game Diaries ................................................................... 17 Individual and Group Interviews ................................................................. 18 Classroom Observation................................................................................ 19 Feedback by Two Colleagues....................................................................... 19 Procedure of the Study ......................................................................................... 19 The Digital Game................................................................................................. 24 Considerations for Choosing a Proper Digital Game ................................. 24 The Game Context: World of JumpStart ...................................................... 25 Instructional Measurement .................................................................................. 27 Requirements for Weekly Group Presentation ............................................. 27 Requirements for Digital Game Diary ......................................................... 27 Data Analysis ....................................................................................................... 27 Chapter Four: Results ............................................................................................... 30 The Test Results of the Vocabulary Pre-test and Post-test ................................... 30 The Situations in Group Presentation .................................................................. 36 The Situations in Digital Game Diary ................................................................. 41 Group One ............................................................................................................ 43 The Group Presentation ............................................................................... 43 The Group Interview .................................................................................... 44 Group One’s Digital Game Diaries ............................................................. 47 Group Two ........................................................................................................... 50 The Group Presentation ............................................................................... 50 The Group Interview .................................................................................... 52 Group Two’s Digital Game Diaries ............................................................. 54 The Teacher Researcher’s Weekly Adjustments for Teaching ............................. 57. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. ii. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(6) The Weekly Adjustments for Group Presentation ......................................... 57 The Weekly Adjustments for Digital Game Diary ........................................ 60 The Teacher Researcher’s Reflection................................................................... 63 Chapter Five: Discussion ........................................................................................... 65 Addressing Research Question 1 ......................................................................... 65 The General Analyses about the Digital Game ........................................... 65 The General Analyses about Group Presentation........................................ 66 The General Analyses about Digital Game Diary ....................................... 70 The Improvement of Listening Proficiency .................................................. 71 Relationships between the Students’ Learning Results and their Devoted Time .............................................................................................................. 72 Addressing Research Question 2 ......................................................................... 74 Chapter Six: Conclusion............................................................................................ 78 Summary .............................................................................................................. 78 Pedagogical Implications ..................................................................................... 79 Limitation of the Present Study ........................................................................... 81 Suggestions for the Future Research.................................................................... 81 References ................................................................................................................... 82 Appendix A ................................................................................................................. 92 Appendix B ................................................................................................................. 94 Appendix C ................................................................................................................. 96 Appendix D ............................................................................................................... 100 Appendix E ............................................................................................................... 103 Appendix F ............................................................................................................... 110 Appendix G ............................................................................................................... 112 Appendix H ............................................................................................................... 117 Appendix I ................................................................................................................ 120 Appendix J ................................................................................................................ 121 Appendix K ............................................................................................................... 122. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. iii. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(7) 國立政治大學英國語文學系碩士在職專班碩士論文提要論文名稱 : 以線上遊戲帶動台灣國中生的英語字彙學習：聚焦於字彙學習經驗與策略的教學行動研究指導教授 : 招靜琪博士研究生 : 黃家真. 政治大. 論文提要內容 : 本研究旨在探討指導措施搭配上台報告對於使用線上遊戲學英文單字的幫助，並且分析高成就與低成就學生於此研究中所發展的學習策略。此外，本研究也呈現出學生以遊戲為基礎的指導活動中所體驗到的優點與缺點。本研究採用質性行動研究。研究對象為研究者所任教的某國中八年級的二十五位學生。他們被要求在家玩指定的線上遊戲來學單字，並搭配寫日記的方式，進行為期六週的課程。然後，他們也被要求針對遊戲指定的地方做小組報告來幫助同學們學習新單字。與本研究蒐集資料來源有五項：(1) 學生需求分析問卷、(2) 遊戲單字的前測與後測、(3) 教師日誌與課室觀察、(4) 學生線上遊戲日記、(5) 小組與個人訪談。研究結果顯示，透過玩線上遊戲學習單字並搭配小組報告，不僅課堂上可實施於這些學生，也確實能提升學生們的字彙量。此外，高成就與低成就的學生皆發展出類似的學習策略，除了推敲語意這個策略是只有高成就學生才會使用的學習方式。另外，學生從中也有一些額外的收穫，例如：面對遊戲問題所發展出來的破關策略、從小組報告中獲得成就感、藉由接觸遊戲英聽提升英聽理解力。本研究結果建議教師可以把線上遊戲融入課室英文中，此方式在增加學習單字的樂趣，與提供學生新的學習情境都有幫助。建議教師可以自行發展新的指導方式或新的課程搭配活動，以提升語言學習的效率。此外，本研究亦提供教師現場教學及未來研究方向之建議。. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 關鍵字 : 線上遊戲、單字學習、指導、策略、以英語外語. iv. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(8) ABSTRACT. This study aims to examine how to boost students’ interests in learning vocabulary and it further explore how the instructional measurement and the required presentation supported vocabulary learning via online games. It also explores what learning strategies were developed by high and low proficiency students in the current study. Moreover, it presented the advantages and disadvantages that the students experienced from this game-based instructional activity.. 立. 政治大. This study adopted a qualitative action research design. The participants were. ‧ 國. 學. twenty-five eighth graders in a class taught by the teacher researcher. They were asked to learn new vocabulary by playing an online game at home while keeping a digital game diary in a six-week period. They were then required to do a group presentation helping. ‧. their classmates learn the new words that they found in a required section of the game.. sit. y. Nat. The data were collected from (1) students’ background survey, (2) the game vocabulary. io. game diaries, and (5) group and individual interviews.. al. er. pre-test and post-test, (3) teaching logs and classroom observation, (4) students’ digital. n. v i n C h presentation is feasible games along with the required group e n g c h i U to these junior high school. The important findings are listed as follows. First, learning vocabulary through online. students, and they did learn new words in this process. Second, both high and low. proficiency students developed their own learning strategies, most of which were similar. However, the learning strategy, inferring by using the context, was only adopted by high proficiency students. Third, there were some additional benefits students gained from participating in this study. For instance, many students also developed their own gaming strategies when facing problems. In addition, they obtained a sense of achievement from the group presentations. Furthermore, some of their listening comprehension was improved by the aural inputs of the game. The findings suggest that teachers can integrate online games into classroom activity, which can be useful in increasing the fun of learning vocabulary and creating new learning environments for students. Teachers are suggested to develop other instructions v. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(9) or new classroom activities to boost language learning efficiency. Pedagogical implication and suggestions for future studies were presented as well. Key words: online games, vocabulary learning, instruction, strategies, EFL. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. vi. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(10) CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Background and Motivation As the popularity of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) spreads worldwide, digital games have been adopted to teach languages. Many researchers have focused on language learning which takes place during game play (Steinkuehler, 2006; Steinkuehler and William, 2006) or through beyond-game interaction (Gee and. 政治大 positive effects of digital games on language learning (e.g. Peterson, 2010a; Peterson, 立 2010b; Peterson, 2011; Rankin, Morrison, McNeal, Gooch and Shute, 2009; Thorne,. Hayes, 2010; Williams et al., 2006). Although proliferating studies have reported the. ‧ 國. 學. Black and Sykes, 2009), most of the Taiwanese high school teachers still have much concern about the practice of integrating digital games into school curricula. Since. ‧. education of high schools in Taiwan are mainly test-oriented (Pan and Chen, 2011) and games are often considered nothing but a kind of entertainment, integrating. y. Nat. er. io. Taiwan.. sit. digital games into high school classrooms remains a promising but rare practice in. al. n. v i n C hPurpose of the Study U i e h n c g Many L2 studies about digital games have investigated impacts of games on language learning during game play (Steinkuehler, 2006; Steinkuehler and William, 2006) and learning motivation (Kiili, 2005; McLaren, Adams, Mayer, and Forlizzi, 2017; Papastergiou, 2009; Pearce, Ainley, and Howard, 2005). However, research investigating learning effects of digital games in Taiwan is still rare, let alone integrating games into school English curriculum for junior high school students. In order to fill this gap, this action research is conducted by a teacher researcher with a junior high school English class. The teacher researcher found some of her students were not interested in learning vocabulary, so she tried to let her students like to learn new words through combining computer games with some instructional activities. Through implementing a set of classroom instructions that required the students to. 1. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(11) learn vocabulary while playing an online game and then to present as a team the new words that they picked up from the game, this study has two goals: (1) exploring the effects of the instructional measurement and the required presentation on vocabulary learning, and (2) investigating learners’ strategies of learning English through playing the selected digital game.. Research Questions The research questions in the study are as follows: 1. To what extent did the game and the instructional measurement, including the required presentation, support vocabulary learning? 2. What learning strategies were used? Are there any differences between the high. 政治大. and low proficiency students?. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 2. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(12) CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW. The literature review section aims to review the recent studies on (1) the effects of digital games on language learning, (2) language learning via digital games with instructional supports, and (3) strategies of language learning in games.. Digital Games and Language Learning. 政治大 learning during play as well as beyond games. Peterson (2016) categorized all 立 computer game genres adopted by CALL into several genres, including text. Digital games can both intrigue learners’ motivation and lead to language. ‧ 國. 學. manipulation, text-based adventure, simulation, first-person shooter, 3D adventure, massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), multi-user virtual. ‧. environment (MUVEs), sports, and rhythm. Several computer games genres have been widely adopted in CALL. Among them, the more popular games are those that. y. Nat. sit. have a virtual world, and players have to interact with others through their avatars. er. io. (Godwin-Jones, 2014). Due to the fact that players have to achieve certain goals in. al. v i n C hPeterson, 2010b; Peterson, learning (e.g. Peterson, 2010a; 2011; Rankin et al., 2009 U i e h n g c World of Warcraft, is one good example Thorne, Black and Sykes, 2009). The game, n. virtual worlds, this kind of games are viewed as highly suitable to use in language. with lots of studies examining its potential for learning a language (Nardi, Ly and Harris, 2007; Rama, Black, van Es, and Warschauer, 2012, Thorne, 2008; Thorne and Fisher, 2012; Thorne, Fisher and Lu, 2012; Zheng, Neugarden, and Young, 2012). Rankin, Gold, and Gooch (2006) investigated MMORPG, Ever Quest II, and chat interaction of a group of ESL learners. The research explored if participation and synchronous interaction with players and non-player characters could enhance English proﬁciency. The other goal was to establish language learning supports for learners with different language levels. On one hand, the advanced and intermediate participants had more chat than the other players. There was also limited evidence for improvements in vocabulary because most players displayed better understanding of 3. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(13) TL vocabulary in social interactions with other players. However, in the participants’ feedback, most of them claimed that their vocabulary, reading, and conversation skills had improved. On the other hand, researchers observed that the lower-level learners experienced problems with multiple abilities required by the environment, and confronted cognitive overload. The learners’ post-study feedback led the researchers to conclude that learning outcomes could be better if the game had included built-in language supports. Another study was conducted at Civfanatics. com (CVC) by Ryu (2013). Six participants whose native language was not English were recruited. The research adopted a multiple-case study to explore the integration of both game play and beyond-game culture. Generally, the repeated words or phrases were learned during. 治政 meaningful contexts. Last but not least, after game 大 play, the participants could join the 立 activities from native or more competent peers to practice language forms in the game play. Interaction with game characters also helped players to learn English in. ‧ 國. 學. so-called beyond-game community.. From the above and other related studies, it is obvious that there are many. ‧. benefits to adopt digital games to language learning. It is clear that language learning does occur while people are playing games. Especially for MMORPGs, they provide. y. Nat. sit. players some opportunities to communicate and interact with native speakers or more. al. er. io. competent players (Peterson, 2010a; Peterson, 2010b; Thorne, Black and Sykes,. n. 2009). Also, the communication tools offered by the MMORPGs establish an ideal. Ch. i n U. v. environment for language learning (Peterson, 2011; Rankin et al., 2009). In the. engchi. through-game culture or players’ interaction during games and beyond-game culture or interaction outside games, there are discussion and interaction between players as well. Players can talk about game strategies or skills (Lantolf and Thorne, 2006), discuss cooperation (Gass, 2003; Ellis, 2005; Long, 1996; Reinders and Wattana, 2011), or have meaning negotiation (Rankin et al., 2009). The close interaction and collaboration in the players’ online community, or “affinity spaces” (Gee, 2008, p.87) can allow players to use vocabulary and syntax related to their interests and experiences, so they can learn simple words, phrases or advanced sentence structures from native speakers or more competent peers within game or beyond-game community (Cheung and Harrison, 1992; Miller and Hegelheimer, 2006; Rankin, Gold and Gooch, 2006; Rankin et al., 2009; Ryu, 2013). Therefore, there is also a positive correlation between L2 proficiency and the time 4. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(14) spent on playing games (Sylvén and Sundqvist, 2012). Even though there are many digital games proved to be effective for facilitating learners’ language learning outcomes, some studies reveal that digital games may have negative impact on learners as well. For instance, there are two studies indicating the importance of learning strategy in learning languages through digital games. They stressed that players needed proper guidance to lead to successful learning experience in digital games, or learners would end up playing games only (Chen and Hwang, 2014; Hwang et al., 2014). Additionally, several studies show that educational digital games may fail to have expected outcomes if the game designs do not include appropriate learning strategy (Sung and Hwang, 2013; Chen and Hwang, 2014).. 治政大Instructional Support Language Learning by Digital Games with 立 Due to the fact that digital games involve complicated learning environments, ‧ 國. 學. players may not spontaneously devote themselves to learning language without any instruction. First, this infers that instructional support scaffolds players to focus and. ‧. select adequate and relevant information, and thus they facilitate language learning during games playing. Second, players usually see and react to the results from their. y. Nat. sit. actions in games; that may result in intuitive learning (Wouters and van Oostendorp,. al. er. io. 2013). In other words, players can understand how to apply what they learn, but they. n. cannot explain it (Leemkuil and Jong, 2011). In addition, it is vital for players to. Ch. i n U. v. recount and demonstrate what and how they learn because it makes them organize. engchi. new information and integrate them with previous knowledge. Hence, it causes an information and knowledge base with better accessibility and transfer of learning (Wouters, Paas, and van Merriënboer, 2008). The following is a meta-analysis of various types of instructional support which were proved to be successful in learning new knowledge by Wouters and van Oostendorp (2013). Wouters and van Oostendorp (2013) searched studies relevant to game-based learning (GBL) with instructional support from the period 1990 to 2012, and 29 studies were adopted for analysis. In this meta-analysis, they focused on the cognitive perspective of learning that was categorized into two parts, knowledge and cognitive skills by the classification of Wouters, Van der Spek, and Van Oostendorp (2009). Among these studies, they concluded ten kinds of instructional support were regularly adopted in GBL: reflection, modeling, advice, collaboration, narrative elements, 5. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(15) modality, feedback, personalization, and others. Based on their cognitive process types, these ten types were also classified into selection, organization/integration, and unknown. Regarding the instruction domains, biology, mathematics, economy, geology, and electricity and sciences as others were in the studies for the meta-analysis. As to the participants’ ages in these studies, they were divided into elementary school, middle/high school, college/university, and adults. With respect to level of realism, they used Vogel, J. J., Vogel, D. S., Cannon-Bowers, Bowers, Muse and Wright’s taxonomy (2006) to adopt and adapt, and they have realism levels into basic/schematic, cartoon, realistic and unknown. The last concerning were the methodological variables, entailing that the publication sources could be peer-reviewed journal, proceedings, and unpublished, that the studies were coded by. 治政大 only or both pre-test and experimental design of the studies were either post-test 立 post-test. whether participants were assigned randomly to the conditions, and that the. ‧ 國. 學. Wouters and van Oostendorp used Cohen’s d as an indicator for the effect size on the difference of the dependent variable that was learning by GBL with and without. ‧. instructional support. They adopted the random-effects model and moderator analyses with 95% confidence intervals about the weighted mean effect sizes. From the. y. Nat. sit. analyses’ results, they drew some conclusions as follows. First of all, according to the. al. er. io. cognitive process types, instructional support for selection and. n. organization/integration improved learning. And instructional support for selection. Ch. i n U. v. was more influential than that for organization/integration in learning. As for the ten. engchi. kinds of instructional support, reflection, modeling, collaboration, modality, feedback, and personalization all improved learning as well. Second, instructional support proved to be effective in terms of various domains and biology especially. Third, instructional support was only effective for elementary school and college/university people regarding participants’ ages. The effect was not statistically significant for middle/high school students and adults. Fourth, they further found that instructional support improved learning in games when the levels of realism were schematic/textual and cartoonlike designs. Last but not least, considering the methodological variables, they noticed that studies in peer-reviewed journals had higher gains when they were compared to unpublished and proceeding studies. Besides that, there was only one study having a nonrandom design, and four studies did not show information on the random assignment. It was not sure whether design 6. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(16) differences would affect the results. Furthermore, studies with post-test design had higher effect sizes than studies with pre-test and post-test design. In short, the methodological factors moderated the reported effect sizes. To conclude, it was clear that instructional support facilitated learning in GBL when the players’ goals were about knowledge and skills. Corresponding to several scholars’ arguments for the importance of instructional support in GBL (Ke, 2009; Leutner, 1993), players were unlikely to learn domain-specific knowledge and skills without any instructional support. It was needless to emphasize the function of instructional support in learning by games. Even though many studies manifested that instructional support helped players learn better in games (Clark, Tanner-Smith, and Killingsworth, 2016; Ke, 2009; Ke,. 治政大some studies had opposite 2013; Wouters and van Oostendorp, 2013), there were 立 outcomes concerning learning effects with instructional support. The following was 2016; Leutner, 1993; Wouters, van Nimwegen, van Oostendorp, and van Der Spek,. ‧ 國. 學. an example about instructional support’s negative influence on learning. Hawlitschek and Joeckel (2017) examined the effects of merging instructional support in an. ‧. educational game, and saw if it was proper to take an educational game as a learning material to prompt learning.. y. Nat. sit. There were 150 participants at the age of 13 to 17 from three German secondary. al. er. io. schools in this study, and the participants were randomly assigned to the experimental. n. group or the control group. The experimental group received explicit instruction, and. Ch. i n U. v. the control group had entertainment instruction before playing the game “1961” for. engchi. history lessons in the computer labs at their own schools. After playing the game, the participants filled the questionnaire concerning intrinsic motivation, mental effort, extraneous cognitive load, and learning performance. They examined the first three parts by Cronbach’s αand the learning performance by four open-ended questions regarding historical situations. Then, they first concluded that compared to the prior knowledge before the game, the game facilitated learning when they saw the significantly higher outcomes in transfer knowledge after the game. However, the students with learning instruction had significantly lower scores than those without instruction. Then, it was also obvious to see the students with learning instruction in the experimental group had higher extraneous cognitive load. On top of that, there was no apparently direct impact from 7. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(17) the learning instruction on transfer knowledge, but a direct influence of extraneous cognitive load on transfer knowledge by the path analysis. Furthermore, the players’ mental effort was not affected by learning instruction, either. Therefore, players with learning instruction obtained lower scores in the transfer knowledge test, and showed higher extraneous cognitive load. In other words, increasing extraneous cognitive load led to lower transfer knowledge, and it meant instruction increased irrelevant processing and decreased the learning scores. Other studies that reached similar results objected the use of instructional support in games as well (Charsky and Ressler, 2011; Johnson and Mayer, 2010). Hence, the effectiveness of instructional support might be impacted by other factors. For instance, Nelson (2007) mentioned that a player’s intensity to use instructional feature. 治政大 the efficiency as well were carried out in the game context or outside it affected 立 (Vandercruysse et al., 2016). The application of instructional support in games leaves 學. room to be further explored and discussed.. Language Learning Strategies. ‧. ‧ 國. influenced the effectiveness of the instruction. Also, whether the instructional features. Research on language learning strategies (LLS) was influenced by the cognitive. y. Nat. sit. psychology (McLaughlin, 1987; O’Malley and Chamot, 1990), cognitive learning. al. er. io. theory (Anderson, 1983; Anderson, 1985; McLaughlin, 1987), social cognitive model. n. (Bandura, 1986; Vygotsky, 1978), and information-processing theory (Anderson,. Ch. i n U. v. 1980). Besides, there is evidence indicating that language learning is affected by. engchi. metacognition as well (Goh and Hu, 2014; Vandergrift et al., 2006; Wenden, 1999). Further, empirical studies have found metacognitive instruction beneficial for learners in language learning (Graham and Macaro, 2008; Pressley and Gaskins, 2006). Learning strategies are useful to ESL or EFL learners for helping them develop language competence in various ways (Oxford, 1990; Rubin, 1981). Thus, teachers can improve their students’ learning by instructing learning strategies with the assumption that learning strategies can be taught and learned (Chamot and Kupper, 1989; O’Malley and Chamot, 1990; Oxford, 1990). Indeed, strategy instruction has been considered useful in leading to a positive correlation between strategy use and language proficiency (Oxford et al., 2004). According to Liu’s (2010) brief introduction to O’Malley and Chamot’s (1990) strategy classification, these language learning strategies were classified into three 8. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(18) main categories, inclusive of cognitive, meta-cognitive and affective strategies. In their definitions, “cognitive strategies refer to the direct manipulation or transformation of the learning materials, such as resourcing, repetition, grouping, deduction, imagery, auditory representation, key word method, elaboration, transfer, inferencing, note taking, summarizing, recombination and translation. For meta-cognitive strategies, they entail knowing and leading learning through planning (including advance organizers, directed attention, functional planning, selective attention and self-management), monitoring (checking, verifying, or correcting one’s comprehension or performance in the course of language tasks) and evaluating the learning procedures (checking the outcomes of one’s own language learning against a standard one). As for affective strategies, they mainly involve learners in. 治政大 learners have the Many researchers indicated that a lot of successful 立 characteristics of good exertion of various learning strategies with higher frequency. communication with others such as problem-solving exercises (p.101). ”. ‧ 國. 學. (Bruen, 2001; Chamot et al., 1988; Green and Oxford, 1995; Grifﬁths, 2003; Kim, 2001; Lai, 2009; Park, 1997; Wharton, 2000), and awareness of strategy use (Chamot. ‧. and Kupper, 1989; Khaldieh, 2000; O’Malley and Chamot, 1990). Also, these learners are prone to use cognitive and metacognitive strategies more because these strategies. y. Nat. sit. are linked to higher level of language abilities (Bruen, 2001; Green and Oxford, 1995;. al. er. io. O’Malley and Chamot, 1990; Park, 1997; Peacock and Ho, 2003; Wharton, 2000).. n. Basically, successful learners often use the two types of strategies to support each. Ch. i n U. v. other (O’Malley & Chamot, 1990). The following is an empirical study concerning. engchi. the relationship between the strategy use and students’ proficiency levels. The study by Lai (2009) was to verify what learning strategies were used by EFL learners in Taiwan, and whether there was a relationship between learning strategy use and tendencies toward certain learning strategies used by different English levels of learners. There were 418 freshmen of three different English levels according to the English Language Placement Test practiced by the university, from the College of Management. The data were collected by the self-reported language learning strategy use by adopting Oxford’s (1990) Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL). From the data analyzed by ANOVA test, it was apparent that the higher level students used learning strategies more often than the lower level students. In addition, high level students used cognitive and metacognitive strategies the most, and memory strategy the least. But for low level students, they preferred social and memory 9. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(19) strategies instead. In the present study, the digital game not only has text in dialogue bubbles and tasks’ directions as inputs, but also offers audio inputs, so listening strategies may play an important role in listening comprehension just as many studies (Ahmadi & Yamini, 2003; Bidabadi and Yamat, 2010; Chang, 2008; Golchi, 2012; Gonen, 2009; Jowkar, 2012; Serri, Boroujeni, and Hesabi, 2012; Vandergrift, 1999) divulge that learners use different listening strategies due to many factors. According to O’Malley and Chamot’s taxonomy (1990), there are cognitive, metacognitive, and affective strategies in the strategy categories. For cognitive strategies used in listening, learners directly manipulate or transform the listening materials, such as repeating the listening task, using image or keywords, taking notes,. 治政大 strategies are beyond strategies adopted by listeners (Bacon, 1992). Metacognitive 立 cognitive ones to help learners’ listening by planning, monitoring, and evaluating.. translating, summarizing and so on. They are the most popular and common type of. ‧ 國. 學. They are often seen as a series of processes to regulate cognitive behaviors and make sure to achieve a goal (Wang, Spencer, and Xing, 2009). As for affective strategies,. ‧. they let listeners release their feelings positively and negatively by interaction with others in social-mediating activities, such as writing about emotions, asking for. y. Nat. sit. clarification and cooperating with peers. The strategies can lower listeners’ anxiety,. al. er. io. build their confidence, and elevate their motivation in improving their listening. n. proficiency (Vandergrift, 1997). Here is a study about the use of listening strategy.. Ch. i n U. v. Chen, Zhang, and Liu (2014) investigated the L2 learners’ listening strategy use. engchi. and factors affecting their choices for strategies in a Web-based computer assisted language learning system. Once students started using the listening materials and activities, their learning process, performance, and relevant information were recorded and sent to the server. The students could keep practicing as long as they wanted, but if they did not reach the score of 70 out of 100, they could not practice the next level. Data were obtained through a national standardized listening comprehension test, part of the CET-4 subtest developed by the Ministry of Education in China. The adopted strategy inventory and the factor questionnaire were conducted to analyze students’ strategy use, their motivation, learning styles and anxiety. The findings, first, manifested similar results as other studies in which cognitive and metacognitive strategies were highest in terms of the frequency, while affective strategies were used the least. Second, motivation and learning styles significantly predicted the use of 10. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(20) listening strategies in a Web-based learning, but motivation was the stronger factor of the two. That is, students used strategies more frequently when their motivation increased. However, learners’ styles and anxiety showed a relatively negative relationship. However, some studies reveal different results. Researchers found that unsuccessful learners also used a lot of various strategies, but in a different way. They failed to choose and used the most efficient strategies (Chamot et al., 1988; Vandergrift, 1997; Vann and Abraham, 1990). To synthesize some suitable listening strategies for language learning by CALL in two studies (Pujola, 2002; Roussel, 2011), there were effective strategies for application in similar situations such as identifying the difficulty and then deconstructing it, listening to the speech once, consulting. 治政大effects on language learning, Despite the recognition of digital games’ positive 立 little research has been carried out to offer convincing evidence about their efficiency dictionary, and inferring by using the context.. ‧ 國. 學. when the context is in Taiwan. In addition, researchers have seldom paid attention to the learning strategies which might be adopted in learning vocabulary via digital. ‧. games. Therefore, the study intends to explore whether learning language through digital games is beneficial to junior high school students in Taiwan, and what the. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. learning strategies are used by the students.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 11. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(21) CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY. This action research study employed a qualitative approach, aiming to explore how the game-based instructional measurement and the required presentation support vocabulary learning, and what learning strategies are used by the students to learn English through digital games. In the sections below, research design, context and participants will be presented, followed by a discussion on the instruments, the. 政治大. particular digital game adopted for the study, the data collection and analysis. 立. Research Design. 學. ‧ 國. procedure.. As a teacher’s action research study on her own teaching, the present study. ‧. adopted the qualitative approach in order to obtain insights into the students’. sit. y. Nat. vocabulary learning experiences with the required online game and the team presentation, and it focused on both product and process of the students’ playing. io. er. experiences (Mertler & Charles, 2011). Qualitative research entails in-depth. al. n. v i n C The comprehensive descriptionhofea topic involves n g c h i Ucollecting and analyzing. interpretation based on narrative and descriptive data (Gay, Mills, and Airasian, 2006).. nonnumeric data, such as transcripts of interviews, observational notes, and. recordings (Mertler & Charles, 2011). Thus, the reasons for employing the qualitative approach were that it allowed a rich and vivid description of students’ experiences and thoughts based on their digital game diaries, group presentations, and group interviews. Second, as an action research, the study also allowed the teacher researcher to reflect on the process and product of this innovated classroom instruction and derive insights for future practice.. Research Context This study was conducted in an urban junior high school in central Taiwan. There were around 70 faculty members and 400 students, and 24 classes in total, which was 12. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(22) considered a small-sized school in this area, with parents that welcame computer-mediated instruction. Students from the 7th to 8th graders have five English class periods per week, and the 9th graders had 6 class periods. They learned English mainly from textbooks for the purpose of passing exams. This junior high school was featured so-called 'dance specialty' classes. Students in these classes were actually considered more advanced than the others because these classes brought together academically advanced students and dancing specialty students. In addition to textbooks, students from these specialty classes also studied many supplementary materials, such as English-learning magazines and additional reading workbooks. Although generally better in English over the past few years, the performance of these specialty classes on Comprehensive Assessment Program for Junior High School. 治政大 students in this class had being excellent to medium levels. This shows that these 立 extremely differentiated levels in English. With respect to the school’s requirements,. Students was still varied: their English scores ranged from A++ to B, which stands for. ‧ 國. 學. all of the classrooms were equipped with computers connected to overhead projectors. Besides, two computer classrooms were available for teachers to reserve. In other. ‧. word, this school also had sufficient facilities conducive to the game-based language learning that this teacher researcher was interested in implementing.. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Participants. n. Twenty-five eighth graders from a dance specialty class (5 boys and 20 girls). Ch. i n U. v. taught by the teacher researcher participated in the study. These students participated. engchi. in this research project with their parents’ consent and their own willingness. This particular class was selected for the following reasons. Firstly, their language abilities were much better than those of the other normal grouping classes, so they did not need to struggle hard for understanding or playing the digital game in English. Secondly, being their teacher, the teacher researcher knew the students well and had good rapport with them. Thirdly, this class is a mixture of dance specialty students and academically advanced students. As a heterogeneous group, they were expected to work well with one another. According to Dembo (1994), many researchers believe that heterogeneous groups are better than homogeneous groups in terms of learning process and performance. Other studies also reveal that heterogeneous groups provide many chances for students to learn how to interact with various types of people, and boost possibilities of academic success (Cohen, 1994; Johnson and Johnson, 1994). 13. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(23) For the purpose of this study, the students were categorized into three different English levels based on six sectional exam scores from the previous school year in the beginning. High achievers were those who obtained an average score of over 95; low achievers were the ones whose scores were below 85; medium achievers were the ones in between. Since the average score for this class was around 85, when any one student whose scores were under 85, this means their English proficiency lagged behind most of the students in the class. On the other hand, anyone who could achieve 95 would be considered very strong in their English ability. For the convenience of the study, the high achievers were coded as H1 to H5 (with H1 being the best); the medium achievers were from M1 to M14; the low achievers were coded as L1 to L6 (with L6 being the lowest in score). Then the class was. 2.. 治政大 Group One: H4, M2, M3, M4, and L5 立 Group Two: H3, M5, M11, M14, and L4. 3.. Group Three: H1, M8, M10, M12, and L1. 4.. Group Four: H2, M6, M9, M13, and L3. 5.. Group Five: H5, M2, M7, L2. and L6. divided into five heterogeneous groups composed as follows:. 學 ‧. ‧ 國. 1.. y. Nat. sit. In order to understand students’ experiences before the study, a background survey. al. er. io. was first conducted (see Appendix A for the survey of the basic personal information).. n. The survey revealed that nineteen out of the twenty-five students in this class had. Ch. i n U. v. learned English for the period of six to ten years. This showed that their English. engchi. learning experience was long. Besides, the average English scores for nineteen out of the twenty-five students’ were in the range of eighty to one hundred, and only six students were under the score eighty. This meant the English level of the whole class was generally good and that playing the game in English as required by the teacher researcher should not be difficult for them. As for gaming experience, more than half of them, fourteen students to be exact, had played games for over six years. This indicated that most of them were used to digital devices since they were young, and they were what Prensky (2003) named “digital natives.” Nonetheless, there were still eleven students who had less than five years of gaming experience. The teacher researcher thus thought that the students might need some orientation before playing new games. 14. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(24) Data Collection Generally, to understand the students’ learning efficiency, the pre-test and post-test were used to examine whether there was any improvement in vocabulary learning. Also, the students’ learning strategies were counted by the times they recorded in the digital game diaries. Besides, their thoughts and suggestions were collected from the interviews. Furthermore, some suggestions were offered by the teacher researcher’ colleagues through their feedback. Therefore, data collection in this study was from the sources which included (1) students’ background survey, (2) the game vocabulary pre-test and post-test, (3) teaching logs and classroom observation by the teacher researcher, (4) students’ digital game diaries, (5) individual and group interviews, and (6) feedback by two colleagues.. 立. 治政 Survey Students’ Background 大. As discussed earlier, before the study, the teacher researcher first conducted a. ‧ 國. 學. background survey in order to understand the students’ background information, habits and preferences for digital games, and their experience and willingness to learn. ‧. English by playing digital games. From the results, it was obvious that more than half of the students had the habit of playing games. Besides, most of the students showed. y. Nat. sit. positive attitudes toward digital games. In the second part of students’ background. al. er. io. survey, sixteen out of twenty-five students expressed positive attitudes toward games. n. since most of them liked to play digital games or liked to play digital games very. Ch. i n U. v. much. There were even eight students agreed or highly agreed that they played digital. engchi. games every day; however, nine students remained neutral to this question, and eight students disagreed or extremely disagreed on it, showing that they could play games but not for a long time (see the second part: preferences and habits for games of Appendix A). According to the survey, there were two students who were not interested in playing digital games and eight of them did not play games every day (see Appendix A). The teacher researcher wondered the reasons behind, and thus carried out an anonymous questionnaire to have the students write down possible reasons why some students did not like to play digital games. Generally speaking, three reasons were listed more frequently than the others. The first one was because of their parents’ opposition; the second one was a lack of interest for games, and the third one was the dearth of time to play games. This result reflected that most of the students knew that 15. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(25) their parents did not want them to spend too much time playing games. Most of them were also refrained from playing games, but spending most of their time studying school subjects. For this reason, the teacher researcher decided to schedule the amount of weekly tasks for about one hour, so playing the online game for this study would not be a big burden for the students in managing their study time.. The Game Vocabulary Pre-test and Post-test The teacher first played the game to check its contents and arranged the weekly game schedule based on most of the students’ normal weekly games playing time. Then, the game vocabulary which was new to the students was identified and selected by the teacher researcher to design the pre-test and post-test. Both of the tests were. 治政大the order of the test questions same twenty-five sentences for multiple choices, but 立 was adjusted and was completely different. For each item, there was a blank in each presented in the form of multiple choices (see Appendix C). They both included the. ‧ 國. 學. sentence with four corresponding vocabulary items to be chosen by the students. Only one of the four was the most appropriate. In order to test if there was any progress in. week and the post-test in the twelfth week of the semester.. Nat. sit. y. ‧. vocabulary learning, the students took the pre-test before playing the game in the fifth. al. er. io. Teaching Logs and Classroom Observation. n. In order to realize what students’ reactions and record the situations of group. Ch. i n U. v. presentations, teaching logs and classroom observation were adopted to help the. engchi. teacher researcher. For facilitating students’ vocabulary learning and making students play the online game more smoothly, the teacher researcher designed instructional measurement and required group presentation to make the most of the online game in terms of the learning efficiency. With an eye to adjusting the students’ weekly group presentation for reporting better, and making the most of the students’ digital game diaries to help them learn new words, the teacher researcher observed and recorded what happened during group presentation and in their diaries in detail. For comprehensive understanding, the teacher researcher focused the observation on the students’ vocabulary learning strategies, gaming strategies, new words’ example sentences, students’ reactions and special incidents during playing games in the teaching logs. Classroom observation was vital for the teacher researcher to fully understand 16. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(26) students’ problems and performances in different contexts. Mertler & Charles mentioned that observations involve “carefully watching and systematically recording” what the researcher sees and hears in a specific setting (2011, p.194). Thus, the observations were divided into three types of situations; one was for the game demonstration in the computer lab (see Appendix E), and another was for the observation of the weekly group presentation and the whole class (see Appendix E); and the other was for the weekly check of the digital game diaries (see Appendix G). Besides, there was feedback (see Appendix F) kept by the colleagues who were invited to offer feedback, and offer advice to the teacher researcher. Based on these teaching logs, the teacher researcher could adjust the procedure and lead students to find out useful strategies and tools for the tasks.. 立. 治政 Diaries Students’ Digital Game 大. The participants were asked to keep diaries whenever they played the game. The. ‧ 國. 學. students played the online digital game at their pace anywhere anytime. Given that it was not possible for them to clearly remember what tasks they had accomplished,. ‧. what words or phrases they had learned from the game, or how they had solved the problems, they needed to record all their situations in detail. The diaries were. y. Nat. sit. collected once a week for the teacher researcher to check for their progress and to. al. er. io. understand how they played, learned, and interacted with other online players after. n. school (see Appendix B for the weekly game schedule).. Ch. i n U. v. In order to make sure that the students would not take notes randomly or. engchi. irregularly, the teacher researcher demanded the form and content for the digital game diaries. The students were required to first record the date and time they spent on the game whenever they played it. Second, they had to write down what tasks they played/worked on during the time. Third, they needed to express whether or not they felt the tasks they played were interesting and why they felt so. Fourth, they should fully explain and depict what the problems were from the tasks they played and how they solved the problems. Fifth, they had to take notes about what new words they identified during the game and consulted them in the dictionary for the words’ Chinese meanings. Then, they gave a sentence for each new word. Sixth, they had to write down what vocabulary learning strategies and gaming strategies they adopted during game playing. Every Monday, the student assistant helped to collect all the digital game diaries 17. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(27) for the teacher researcher to check and to give suggestions, and see if there was anything wrong or incomplete. The teacher researcher would return these diaries to the students before the weekly group presentation on Friday. Hence, when the group reported, the rest of the students could note down the new words that they did not find, some other learning or gaming strategies they had not tried, or the ways the presenter completed certain task.. Individual and Group Interviews To understand the reasons behind the students’ test performances and their opinions, both individual and group interviews were required for comprehensive information. After the post-test, the students knew their own scores and the progress. 治政大intentions (Law, 2012; Patton, gain more information such as feelings, opinions and 立 1980). The teacher interviewed all the groups, and discussed with the group members. they made in vocabulary learning. Then, the teacher had interview with each group to. ‧ 國. 學. about the reasons behind their game actions. Every interview was sound-recorded by a smartphone, and the interview questions were semi-structured (see Appendix J). The. ‧. interviews entailed open-ended questions focusing on the game playing process, the preparation process for the group presentation, the group presentation, general views. y. Nat. sit. and attitudes toward the study, and other suggestions. As these questions brought out. al. er. io. new ideas and views, the teacher researcher maintained flexibility and would adjust. n. the questions accordingly (Patton, 1980).. Ch. i n U. v. In addition to group interviews, the teacher researcher also conducted individual. engchi. interviews. The teacher researcher first examined the students’ grades in pre-test and post-test to decide whom to be interviewed. Thus, the teacher researcher drafted some questions to ask not only students who obtained the highest score and the lowest score, but also the students whose grades improved and whose grades became worse the most in the post-test. The questions focused on how they studied their notes for the post-test, what the possible reasons were leading to the resulted scores, how they felt when they worked on the post-test, and why they answered some multiple-choice items wrong (see Appendix K). Through individual interviews, the teacher researcher could infer possible reasons that could have resulted in their various learning performances.. 18. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(28) Classroom Observation To avoid ignoring some students’ feelings and learning situations, the teacher researcher had classroom observation to clearly understand all the students’ learning conditions. Because there were five groups, the group presentations were five times in total. The teacher researcher observed the students’ reports and adjusted the group presentation’s requirements by herself, and she also invited her colleagues to offer some feedback on the second group’s presentation.. Feedback by Two Colleagues Two colleagues were invited to evaluate the second group’s presentation and to offer feedback to the teacher researcher during the process of instruction. They were. 治政大 class, they knew the school. Even though they did not teach the dance specialty 立 students’ English levels well. Their suggestions were recorded in a form designed by suitable for the evaluation because they also taught the eighth graders at the same. ‧ 國. 學. the teacher researcher (see Appendix F for question five as it related to their suggestions), and some of the ideas were adopted to adjust the following group. ‧. presentations (see Appendix H). For example, they suggested to me that having an award system could encourage students to work harder. Besides, students could add. y. Nat. sit. words or phrases relevant to a new word that they found, so they could learn more. er. al. n. words.. io. words and meet the teacher researcher’s requirements for the amount of the of new. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Procedure of the Study. The study comprised the following steps: (1) the vocabulary pre-test, (2) the demonstration of the digital game, (3) the students’ weekly group presentation, data collection from teaching logs and digital game diaries, and the teacher researcher’s weekly adjustments, (4) the vocabulary post-test, (5) the individual and group interviews, (6) the data analysis, and (7) the pedagogical implication and conclusions for the study. The whole procedure was below (see Figure 5).. 19. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(29) The Vocabulary Pre-test. The Demonstration of the Digital Game. Weekly Group. Digital Game. Presentations. Diaries. Teaching Logs. The Teacher Researcher’s Weekly Adjustments. The Vocabulary Post-test. 政治大. The Individual and Group Interviews. 立. ‧ 國. 學. The Data Analysis. ‧. The Pedagogical Implication and Conclusions for the Study. Figure 5. The Procedure of the Study. sit. y. Nat. io. er. For the first step, the teacher researcher’s preparation, it took five weeks for the teacher researcher to make the necessary arrangements and scheduling. In the first. n. al. i n U. v. week, the students were divided into five heterogeneous groups. For the second week,. Ch. engchi. the teacher researcher had the students fill out a background survey (see Appendix A) in order to understand their English proficiency and gaming experience. Meanwhile, the teacher researcher played the game to make sure that the game and tasks were of an appropriate amount for the students. After knowing the time the students usually spent on playing games, the teacher was able to develop a weekly schedule for the game and tasks (see Appendix B). In the third week, the teacher researcher passed on the informed consent notification for the parents explaining this study. After receiving all the permissions from the parents, the teacher researcher had the students do the vocabulary pre-test (see Appendix C) to see how much vocabulary from the game they had already known. This was the fourth week and the second step of the study. After the first sectional exam in the fifth week, the teacher researcher demonstrated how to play the digital game and what were needed to be recorded on 20. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(30) the digital game diaries and group presentations by using a PowerPoint file (see Appendix D) in the classroom. Besides, the teacher researcher told the students some tools that they could use, including the fan forum and some online dictionaries such as Cambridge Dictionary, Oxford Dictionary, and Dr. Eye. In the sixth week, the teacher researcher reserved the computer lab to demonstrate the first five tasks (see Appendix B) in order to help them become familiar with the game interface and context. During the seventh week to the twelfth week, the students started to have their weekly group presentations and digital game diaries. There was a short pause in the eleventh week due to the second sectional exam. In the meantime, the teacher collected data from various sources and made weekly adjustments to the requirements for the digital game diary and the group presentation. Then, the students took the. 治政大One and Group Two had an thirteenth week. In the same week for step six, Groups 立 interview with the teacher researcher respectively. In the following week, Group. post-tests to see if there was any progress in vocabulary learning after the game in the. ‧ 國. 學. Three to Five had their interviews as well. The whole process took about fourteen weeks as Table 1 indicates:. (9/10 – 9/16). Ch. activities.. sit. The Teacher’s Activities. er. al. 1. The students had no. v icalculated n students’ average U 1. The teacher collected and. n. 1. The Students’ Activities. io. Week. y. ‧. Nat. Table 1: Procedure of the Study and Data Collection. engchi. scores.. 2. The teacher divided them into five heterogeneous groups. 2 (9/17 – 9/23). 1. The students did the students’ 1. The teacher estimated background survey.. students’ English proficiency. 2. The students wrote possible. and gaming experience.. reasons behind those who did 2. The teacher played the game not play games at all.. and arranged the suitable amount of tasks for each week.. 21. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(31) 3. 1. The students took. (9/24 – 9/30). 1. The teacher explained the. notification home for their. project and passed out. parents’ permission to join. notification to the students to. this study.. ask for their parents’ permissions.. 4. 1. The students took pre-test in. (10/1 – 10/7). class.. 5. 1. The teacher carried out the pre-test in class.. 1. After the first sectional exam, 1. The teacher use PowerPoint. (10/8 – 10/14). the students listened to the. to introduce the game and. teacher’s introduction to the. demonstrated the regulations. game, and the regulations for. for group presentation in. 政治大 class. digital game diary. 2. The teacher also offered 立 some useful resources, such. 學. as fan forum and dictionaries. 1. The students downloaded,. play Task 1 to 5 in the. and play Task 1 to 5 in the. computer lab.. computer lab.. y. how to download, register. io. al. n. their digital game diaries.. (10/22 - 10/28). Ch. engchi U. (10/29 – 11/4). 2. The teacher observed the. v n istudents and took notes in the three different levels of. teaching logs.. 1. The students played Task 6 to 1. The teacher asked the 10 and kept their digital. students about the content or. game diaries for a week.. errors of their presentation.. 2. Group One had the. 8. sit. Nat. registered, and learned to. 2. The students started to keep. 7. ‧. (10/15 - 10/21). 1. The teacher demonstrated. er. 6. ‧ 國. group presentation and the. 2. The teacher observed the. PowerPoint presentation in. students and took notes in the. class.. teaching logs.. 1. The students played Task 11. 1. The teacher asked the. to 15 and kept their digital. students about the content or. game diaries for a week.. errors of their presentation.. 2. Group Two had the. 2. The teacher observed the 22. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(32) 9. PowerPoint presentation in. students and took notes in the. class.. teaching logs.. 1. The students played Task 16. (11/5 – 11/11). to 20 and kept their digital. students about the content or. game diaries for a week.. errors of their presentation.. 2. Group Three had the. 10. 2. The teacher observed the. PowerPoint presentation in. students and took notes in the. class.. teaching logs.. 1. The students played Task 21. (11/12 – 11/18). 1. The teacher asked the. to 25 and kept their digital. 1. The teacher asked the students about the content or. errors of their presentation. 治政大2. The teacher observed the 2. Group Four had the 立 presentation in students and took notes in the PowerPoint. The activities were paused. because of the second sectional. because of the second sectional. exam.. exam.. al. n. game diaries for a week.. Ch. 2. Group Five had the. 13 (12/3 – 12/9). 14 (12/10 -12/16). engchi U. y. sit. to 30 and kept their digital. 1. The teacher asked the students about the content or. er. 1. The students played Task 26. io. (11/26 -12/2). The activities were paused. Nat. 12. teaching logs.. ‧. (11/19 – 11/25). class.. 學. 11. ‧ 國. game diaries for a week.. errors of their presentation.. v n2.iThe teacher observed the. PowerPoint presentation in. students and took notes in the. class.. teaching logs.. 1. The students took post-test in class.. 1. The teacher carried out the post-test in class.. 2. Group One and Two had an. 2. The teacher interviewed. interview with the teacher.. Group One and Two.. 1. Group Three to Five had an. 1. The teacher interviewed. interview with the teacher.. group Three and Five.. 23. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(33) The Digital Game Considerations for Choosing a Proper Digital Game One of the reasons for choosing a digital game as the media for language learning for this study was based on a consideration of Keller’s model of motivation, which includes attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction (ARCS) (1987). The selected digital game in the present study was fun with interesting tasks, which met satisfaction in Keller’s model. Also, its English level was similar to what students had learned at school in terms of the grammars and vocabulary, which was in accordance with relevance in Keller’s model. Besides, more than 60% of the students displayed strong interests in digital games, which showed their confidence in playing games. Furthermore, nearly 70% of them played digital games more than 1 hour per week,. 政治大 meant that their attention 立for games was acceptable in terms of a week as a period. according to the results of students’ background survey (see Appendix A), which. students from the perspectives of Keller’s ARCS model.. 學. ‧ 國. Hence, learning new words through playing an online game was proper to most of the. Another reason to select the digital game was that convenient and accessible. ‧. digital games provided good opportunities for students to immerse themselves in. y. Nat. English. This game was all in English, and there were many international online. er. io. the students to learn and practice English on their own.. sit. players that the students could interact with. Thus, the game was an ideal platform for. al. n. v i n C h Games (MMORPGs). Multiplayer Online Role-Playing e n g c h i U In the MMORPGs, students The other reason to choose digital games was the characteristics of Massively. could have chances to create new L2 self-images and to increase their motivation in both completing tasks and exposing to the L2 (Dörnyei, 2009). Studies had also proved that players had high motivation and enjoyment when they played digital. games which offered a large amount of authentic inputs (Gee, 2007; Sternberg, 2011; Thorne, 2008; Thorne et al., 2009). These games offered customizable avatars, which facilitated social interaction, immersion, sharing information and supporting communication between players in the online communities, called “affinity spaces” (Gee, 2008, p.87). Thus, players could obtain a sense of belonging and elevate their motivation.. 24. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(34) The Game Context: World of JumpStart The online digital game, World of JumpStart, for this study was available on the website JumpStart: Fun Games for Kids (http://www.jumpstart.com/). Since 1991, the JumpStart Games series have been designed to be learning-based games for three-year-old to thirteen-year-old children whose native language is English. The purpose is to help children learn and practice language, math, geography, science and so on. In 2009, the game company started to expand its games into the online games market. According to the website’s introduction, these series have earned many awards and certified by such organizations as Common Sense Media, The National Parenting Center, the kidSAFE Seal Program and so forth. The game, World of JumpStart, is a 3D adventure learning-based game for. 治政大 menu, to allow players The game not only offered the Jumpee Creator, an interactive 立 to design their avatars, known as their Jumpeez (standing for plural players), but also children and a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) as well.. ‧ 國. 學. had Name Randomizer to create unique names. Also, players tried to earn JumpStars to obtain a higher rank, and reveal some hidden functions or extra tasks for Jumpeez. ‧. in the game. Besides, Jumpeez were given coins for playing games or completing tasks, so they could buy items and decorate their houses or avatars. Further, Jumpeez. y. Nat. sit. could make friends with other players through two methods. One was to add a friend. er. io. to the buddy list by using every player’s Jumpstart Buddy Code; the other was to press the add button on the “About Me” page of another Jumpee to add a new friend.. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. In the game, players could freely control their Jumpeez and explore the world by. engchi. using arrow keys, or quickly gain access to specific areas via the JumpStart Map to teleport Jumpeez to the locations they wanted to. In the beginning, there were characters to guide players to learn how to use the game’s interface by completing assigned tasks step by step. For example, there was a dog, Frankie (see Figure 1), who was responsible for teaching players how to use arrow keys to control their Jumpeez by giving simple tasks such as collecting balls. With another important character’s assistance, Ivy (see Figure 2), the blue-skinned fairy not only taught new players how to hatch and raise their Mythies (the pets in this game) (see Figure 3), but assigned simple tasks for players to follow. After players finished all the assigned quests, they could choose any other series of tasks in every land or area in the map (see Figure 4). Different lands or areas, such as Marine Land or Future Land, Mainstreet or Downtown, all had their own unique features and 25. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.

(35) certain tasks that suited players of all ages.. Figure 1. Frankie. Figure 2. Ivy. 立. Figure 3. Mythies. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學 er. io. sit. y. Nat. n. a lFigure 4. World of JumpStartiMap v n Ch In order to develop some understanding e n g c hofitheUperspectives of language in the game, the teacher researcher first played the game by herself and found that all the conversations and descriptions in the game were either in the past tense or present tense. In other words, the sentence patterns were the ones that the students had already learned. Besides, most of the words were within the vocabulary scope required by the Grade One to Nine Curriculum Guidelines in 2008 regulated by Minister of Education. This meant that the students should be able to understand most of the game context and tasks. Even though some new words were harder or some were new to the students, the game’s animation and contexts gave players enough hints for inference. Hard as the new vocabulary was, the words from the characters’ dialogues would not disappear until players clicked the dialogue bubbles. Hence, players could pause for a while to consult new words in the dictionary as they needed. Also, all the tasks’ 26. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.ETMA.005.2018.A07.