ESL games and vocabulary acquisition

Abstract

The use of games for English vocabulary acquisition in nowadays education has been avoided due to different aspects such as time, methodologies, strategies, and personal preferences that some tutors have. However, some educators agree with the idea of having playful activities for helping learners improve their language skills. The present study has the purpose of investigating the effects of using ESL games for improving students’ English vocabulary acquisition using a pre-experimental method of research. The population considered for this research were 20 students, 11 male and 9 female with an age range between 14 to 16 years old from 1 st level baccalaureate at Unidad Educativa Juan León Mera “La Salle”. The research had a length of three weeks in which eight interventions were carried out, two meetings for vocabulary form unit 1, two sessions for vocabulary words of unit 2, and two interventions for unit 3 vocabulary for applying the ESL game “Pictionary”, and a pre-test and post-test (divided in two sections, synonyms and meaning) application. Nevertheless, students worked asynchronously 6 times for developing their support material to practice vocabulary. After the three-week interventions quantitative data was gathered and analyzed using the SPSS program comparing the average scores from the tests, concluding that ESL games have a genuine improvement on vocabulary acquisition.