IMPLEMENTING ENGLISH GAME-BASED LEARNING APPLICATIONS IN CLASSROOMS TO IMPROVE PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ENGLISH VOCABULARY SKILLS

Abstract

The aim of this study is to find the most effective teaching method to use along with English Game-Based Learning applications for teaching vocabularies in classrooms. The quasi-experimental research was employed to compare vocabulary scores among three teaching methods (Pre-teaching, Group learning, Exploratory learning). The purposive sampling technique was used to select ninety-one grade-1 students in a primary school located in Samut Prakarn Province. The three teaching methods were applied separately in three classrooms with two types of English Game-Based Learning applications. Three research hypotheses had been tested using One Way ANOVA, paired-samples t-test, and MANOVA. To find the most effective teaching method resulted from One Way ANOVA, it shows that the mean of Exploratory Learning improvement scores from application A (x̄ = 8.19, S.D. = 5.16) and B (x̄ = 10.57, S.D. = 6.00) are better than Pre-teaching (x̄ = 6.69, S.D. = 5.73 and x̄ = 6.34, S.D. = 5.54) and Group learning (x̄ = 3.59, S.D. = 7.61 and x̄ = 6.59, S.D. = 5.75). Furthermore, the result from paired-samples t-test shows that the improvement scores from application A (x̄ = 6.12, S.D. = 6.49) and B (x̄ = 7.82, S.D. = 6.02) are not different and the results from MANOVA shows that none of the improvement scores from the application A and B are influenced by the teaching methods (pairwise comparison was tested at .025 divided by 3, resulting in .008 level). The open-ended questions were made to interview the teacher for finding the teacher’s suggestions and opinions. In contrast with the results from the quantitative data analyses, the teacher believed that Pre-teaching is the proper method to use. The major findings are these followings: (1) English Game-Based Learning applications attract students’ attention and help students to learn English vocabularies, (2) Exploratory learning through Game-Based Learning applications promotes self-learning or learning by doing, (3) English Game-Based Learning application types do not affect students’ English improvement score, and (4) The teacher prefers to use the familiar teaching methods in the traditional learning environment with English Game-Based Learning applications.