MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA – VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY HOANG NGOC LAN EFL STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES AND PERCEPTIONS OF TECHNOLOGY-BASED GAMES IN LEARNING ENGLISH AT NGUYEN THAI BINH SECONDARY SCHOOL MASTER’S THESIS Ba Ria - Vung Tau, March 2023 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA – VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY HOANG NGOC LAN EFL STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES AND PERCEPTIONS OF TECHNOLOGY-BASED GAMES IN LEARNING ENGLISH AT NGUYEN THAI BINH SECONDARY SCHOOL MASTER’S THESIS Submitted to the Postgraduate Institute in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL Course code: 8140111 Supervisor’s name: Dr. TRAN QUOC THAO Ba Ria - Vung Tau, March 2023 i CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: EFL STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES AND PERCEPTIONS OF TECHNOLOGY-BASED GAMES IN LEARNING ENGLISH AT NGUYEN THAI BINH SECONDARY SCHOOL In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s programs issued by Higher Degree Committee of Postgraduate Institute, Ba Ria Vung Tau University. Ba Ria - Vung Tau, March 2023 HOANG NGOC LAN ii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, Hoang Ngoc Lan, being a candidate for the degree of TESOL accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan, and reproduction for thesis.
Ba Ria - Vung Tau, March 2023 Hoang Ngoc Lan iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere thanks to those who have made great contributions to my thesis completion. First and foremost, I would like to express my profound gratitude to Dr. Tran Quoc Thao, my supervisor, for his valuable comments and suggestions during the whole research process. His dynamism, enthusiasm, vision as well as his patience have deeply inspired me.
Without his support and guidance, this thesis would never have been completed. Secondly, I am very grateful to the school board staff including the principal and the Postgraduate Institute of Ba Ria - Vung Tau University who have given me encouragement, support of time and finance, and permission to complete the course and implement this thesis there. Thirdly, I am very grateful to Dr. Ho Van Han - my homeroom teacher and my other teachers at Ba Ria - Vung Tau University who have given me support and encouragement to complete this course.
My sincere thanks also go to my friends and colleagues for all their help and motivation. I would like to thank the research participants who have contributed to this study. Last but not least, I warmly thank my family for their countless support, greatest sympathy, and unconditional love who have provided me strong spiritual and material support. iv ABSTRACT It is universally acknowledged that technology-based games play an important role in the language teaching and learning process.
In many countries all over the world, technology-based games have applied to the process of teaching and learning English widely and effectively. Nevertheless, when it came to the context of education in Vietnam, especially the English subject, examinations were mainly grammar focused. Hence, teaching and learning English were purely examination-based. This leaded to the fact that students lost their interest in acquiring the new language and failed to interact with foreigners.
That affected quite much to language knowledge, language skills and their studying emotion. Therefore, the main aim of this paper is to explore EFL students' attitudes and perceptions of technology-based games in learning English at Nguyen Thai Binh Secondary school. This study involved 86 students in grade 6 who were having chances of studying with technology-based games in classrooms and taking part in answering the questionnaire and twelve students in responding to the semi - structured interview questions. The data gained from the questionnaire was analyzed by SPSS software version 22 in terms of descriptive statistics (means, standard deviation and frequency).
The findings of the study showed that learner- related factors had positive impacts on learning engagement for technology-based games. The researcher then analyzed the data taken from the semi-structured interview to make the results of the study clearer. These preliminary findings are hoped to contribute to a better understanding of the current perspectives of EFL students' perception of technology-based games in learning English, with a view to bringing some practical implications in the Vietnamese context, thereby improving the quality of the teaching English language for EFL students at Nguyen Thai Binh secondary school in particular and Vietnam in general. Keywords: Attitudes, perceptions, technology - based games, EFL students v TABLE OF CONTENT CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.
Background of the study. Statement of the problem. Aims and objectives of the Study. The scope of the study.
Significance of the study. Definitions of the terms. Technology-based games. Organization of the study.
7 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Technology in English language learning. Technology-based games in English language learning. Types of technology-based games in English language learning.
How to hold technology-based games. Attitudes toward technology-based games in learning English language. The components of attitude. Effectiveness of technology-based games in learning English language.
36 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. Sample and sampling procedures. Semi-structured interview. Data collection procedures.
Data analysis procedure. Validity and reliability. 52 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS. EFL students' attitudes toward technology-based games in learning English53 vii 4.
EFL students' perceptions of effectiveness of technology-based games in learning English. EFL students' attitudes toward technology-based games in learning English68 4. EFL students' perceptions of effectiveness of technology-based games in learning English.1 Summary of the main findings of the study. Implications for the administrators.
Implications for English teachers. Implications for EFL students. Recommendations for the further research. 78 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS NO ABBREVIATIONS MEANING 1 EFL English as a Foreign Language 2 SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences ix LIST OF APPENDICES APPENDIX A: Questionaire for students APPENDIX B: Bảng câu hỏi cho học sinh APPENDIX C: Interview Protocol APPENDIX D: Quy trình phỏng vấn APPENDIX E: Interview transcription APPENDIX F: Nội dung cuộc phỏng vấn APPENDIX G: Qualitative data analysis APPENDIX H: Results of the survey APPENDIX I: Mean of attitudes and perceptions x LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Plan for teaching English .2 Research participants' general information .3 Interviewees' general information .4 Reliability statistics of students' questionnaire .1 EFL students' attitudes toward technology-based games .5 EFL students' perceptions of effectiveness of technology-based games .8 Students' learning motivation.
66 xi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.2 Word rearch design .4 Un-attempted crossword puzzle .8 Games library in Baamboozle application .12 The role of technology-based games in education .2 Data analysis procedures. 49 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The earlier years of the 21st century have witnessed the significant innovation of educational in Viet Nam, especially in language teaching. It is the change from the teacher-centered approach to the learner-centered one. Since then, the ways that students study have been changing.
Under the direction of superiors, in accordance with Resolution No. 123/2019/Resolution-people's council of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province and plan No. 1081/plan-Department of Education and Training on the Improving the ability to use English, enhancing listening and speaking skills and natural communication for high school students from grade 3 to grade 12 shows innovating teaching methods towards valuing students; considering students as the subject of all activities and encouraging them to learn actively, creatively. In other words, innovating teaching methods is the process of changing from the method of teachers giving presentations and analyzing language into a new method that the teacher only organizes and helps students' learning activities.
Students are active participants in the learning process. Currently, the application of information technology in foreign language teaching and learning is making strong progress and increasingly asserting an important role in the teaching and learning process. 58-Directive/the Central Committee directs “Promoting the application of Information Technology in Education and Training at all levels, grades, and disciplines”. Over the past years, the leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training and the Management Board of the Foreign Language Project have focused on regional centers, typical units, the nucleus of the movement, and focused on fostering teachers in using information technology to teaching English.
Leaders of Departments of Education and Training of schools have increasingly paid attention to teaching foreign languages, looking for ways to promote information technology program in teaching and learning English. Foreign language teachers in schools have 2 enhanced their skills to use technology equipment. In the process of both teaching and observing students, it is not difficult to find that many students get bored very fast and they also forget them fast if the teacher is teaching them by using the old conventional methods and techniques. In the past, many teachers spent a lot of time making teaching tools to bring to the class to use and finding ways to help students improve their remembering.
However, the results obtained are not high and those materials cannot be used for many times. Not only is it time consuming, but it is also costly. Harmer (2007) contends that educators of teenagers should devote a significant amount of effort to studying and comprehending how their pupils behave and think. Because children like playing and having fun, educating teenagers is much more difficult than teaching adults.
Therefore, teachers must select effective teaching strategies. The usage of games is one strategy that can be employed to combat period boredom. They have a unique role in the teaching and learning of any foreign languages. Playing games in class will be beneficial to both students and teachers.
Furthermore, by using games to teach vocabulary and structure in particular, teachers can fulfill all of the educational goals. It has been reported that using games to engage pupils' attention is quite successful. Games are fun and simple to create, according to Ulrich and Glendon (2005), and they may be used to challenge students and give them rapid feedback. Students can evaluate their own abilities, as a result their need for additional study.
Many students are assisted and motivated by games to maintain their interest and effort. Additionally, it aids educators in developing pertinent context. As a result, their experiences with the language they listen to, read, speak, and write will be more vivid, resulting in improved memory. If it is acknowledged that games may offer rigorous and purposeful language exercise, then they must be seen as an essential part of a teacher's toolkit Technology-based games can aid in the learning and improvement of pupils' English language abilities.
There are games made specifically to assist kids in learning English. The Cambridge Assessment English games and social media website is an excellent 3 location to get started. Children can play a variety of games and activities either by themselves or with their teacher or friends. Carrying out this research to explore how important, necessary and benefits of using technology- based games to improve students' perceptions successfully in learning English in English classes at Nguyen Thai Binh Secondary school in Vung Tau city.
In this study, the author was both the teacher and the researcher. Now, English is one of compulsory subjects in all school levels. It is no longer new to students. This subject has taken the attention of parents as well as students because they see the need of the subject when applied in real life and socio-economic.
However, doing well in English is quite difficult for almost students. It can be seen from the reality of Nguyen Thai Binh Secondary school’s students that there is little interest in learning English. Students are found to encounter considerable difficulties in reality. One of the difficulties is English skills of grade 6 students in Nguyen Thai Binh Secondary school is still limited.