Journal of Learning and Teaching in Digital Age (Jul 2018)
Vocabulary Learning Through a Gamified Question and Answer Application
Abstract
Learning German as a second foreign language is the most selected second language among public and private schools in Turkey. Among the components in learning the German language, vocabulary is one of most difficult and important component. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of using a gamifiedapplication, on German vocabulary to Turkish students learning German as a second foreign language. The Quiz Game, a gamified question and answer tool, was implied to participants by the researcher. Totally,31 3th grade students participated in this study. During 8-week treatment, the students practiced the Quiz Game application in 20 minutes periods. Qualitative data include interviews and personal motivational inventory that were collected for each participant to determine how participants perceived their experience with this game. Quantitative data for each participant, including pre-tests and post-tests were collected to examine participants' progress in word recognition and the impact of games on the students’ use of vocabulary learning strategies. The findings show that with the help of this gamified practice tool the 97% of the learners are more eager to learn German especially vocabulary and a significant difference between pre-and-post test scores of the students’ vocabulary knowledge was found (t(30)=-9.12, p<.01). It is clear from the interview answers that participants wrote most of them have positive attitudes and adjectives towards to the Quiz Game application. This study may have recommendations to be taken for consideration for further research; younger learners and elder learners may be conducted to enlarge the findings.
