Tài liệu Efl students' attitudes towards gamified learning activities and their learning engagement at viet anh primary school in vung tau city master of tesol

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY ---------THESIS DUONG THI THANH HUYEN EFL STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS GAMIFIED LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND THEIR LEARNING ENGAGEMENT AT VIET ANH PRIMARY SCHOOL IN VUNG TAU CITY Ba Ria – Vung Tau 2022 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY ---------THESIS EFL STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS GAMIFIED LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND THEIR LEARNING ENGAGEMENT AT VIET ANH PRIMARY SCHOOL IN VUNG TAU CITY Submitted to the Postgraduate Institute in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL Course code: 8140111 By Duong Thi Thanh Huyen Supervised by Tran Quoc Thao, Ph.D. Ba Ria – Vung Tau 2022 i The thesis entitled EFL STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS GAMIFIED LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND THEIR LEARNING ENGAGEMENT AT VIET ANH PRIMARY SCHOOL IN VUNG TAU CITY was successfully defended and approved on September 18th at Ba Ria Vung Tau University (BVU). Academic supervisor: Dr. TRAN QUOC THAO ii BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE Ba Ria Vung Tau, December 2021 MASTER’S THESIS REPORT Student name: DUONG THI THANH HUYEN Date of birth: 08/03/1990 Sex: Female Place of birth: Quang Binh Province Major: English Language Student code: 18114193 I- Thesis title: EFL STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS GAMIFIED LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND THEIR LEARNING ENGAGEMENT AT VIET ANH PRIMARY SCHOOL IN VUNG TAU CITY II-Objectives and contents: This study explores the EFL students' attitudes towards gamified learning activities and their learning engagement in gamified learning activities at the context of Viet Anh Primary School in Vung Tau. The research objectives are as follows: To find out the EFL students' attitudes towards gamified English learning activities at Viet Anh Primary School. To identify EFL students' level of learning engagement in gamified English learning activities at Viet Anh Primary School. To examine the relationship between EFL students' attitudes towards gamified English learning activities and their learning engagement in gamified English learning activities. This study was carried out at Viet Anh Primary School in Vung Tau City. Viet Anh Primary School is a private school which belongs to Viet My school system whose head office is in Ho Chi Minh City. One of the practical English teaching methods is gamification has been implemented recently in Viet Anh Primary iii School's English classrooms. The 4th grade and 5th grade students' attitudes and level of engagement toward the gamified English teaching activities are examined to evaluate the effectiveness of the methods in the environment of the studied school. Two methods of gathering data are executed in the research: Questionnaire and semi-structured interview. The subjects to use these data collection methods to are 84 students from 4th grade and 5th grade. III- Starting date: (as stated in the Decision issued by the University) IV- Completing date: .............................................................................................................. V- Academic supervisor: (full name,title) TRAN QUOC THAO, Ph.D. iv CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: Efl students’ attitudes towards gamified learning activities and their learning engagement at Viet Anh primary school in Vung Tau City 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 province, June 2022 DUONG THI THANH HUYEN v RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, Duong Thi Thanh Huyen, being a candidate for the degree of TESOL accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses 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 theses. Ba Ria Vung Tau, June 2022 Signature …………………… Duong Thi Thanh Huyen vi 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 vice principals as well as my leader at Viet Anh Primary School in Vung Tau who gave me the golden opportunity to do my research here. Any attempt at any level can’t be satisfactorily completed without the support and guidance of my friends and colleagues. Especially, Mr Henry Boon has helped me a lot and given me encouragement and motivation to enroll this M.A. course. I also would like to thank the research participants and their parents who have contributed to this study. At last but not in least, my deepest and sincerest gratitude goes to my family members, including my parents, my husband and my son for their countless support, greatest sympathy, and unconditional love. Without their support I couldn’t have succeeded in completing my thesis. vii Abstract Gamification’s benefits have been extensively acknowledged in a massive body of work, both philosophically and experimentally. However the research on gamification is popular, but the research on gamification that applied to and considered the views of young learners as primary ESL learners have not yet been clarified. Thus, the present study covers the research gap by conducting mixed-method research to explore the EFL students’ attitudes towards and their engagement in gamified learning activities in the context of Viet Anh Primary School in Vung Tau. This study includes 84 boys and girls students from grade 4 and grade 5 at Viet Anh Primary School in Vung Tau City. A mixed-method research design was implemented, and data was collected through students’ questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The findings of this study divulged that 4th and 5th-grade students at Viet Anh Primary School had positive attitudes toward gamified English learning activities in the EFL classroom. Furthermore, they expressed positive and active engagement in gamified English learning activities. Also, the results revealed a positive relationship between EFL students’ attitudes and their learning engagement in gamified English learning activities. In other words, an increase in students’ attitudes could increase their engagement with gamified English learning activities. (200 words) Keywords: attitudes, engagement, gamification, young learners. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................... 1 1.1. Background of the study ......................................................................... 1 1.2. Statement of the problems ...................................................................... 3 1.3. Aims and objectives of the study............................................................. 6 1.4. Research questions .................................................................................. 6 1.5. Scope of the study.................................................................................... 7 1.6. Significance of the study ......................................................................... 8 1.7. Definition of the key term ....................................................................... 8 1.8. Organization of the study ........................................................................ 9 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................... 11 2.1. Gamification .......................................................................................... 10 2.1.1. Definition of gamification ........................................................... 11 2.1.2. Elements of gamification............................................................. 14 2.1.3. Gamification applications. .......................................................... 16 2.1.4. The significance of gamification in teaching English as a foreign language ..................................................................................................... 17 2.1.5. The challenges of learning and teaching by gamification method for EFL students. ......................................................................................... 20 2.2. Attitudes towards gamified English learning activities ......................... 20 2.2.1. Definitions of attitudes towards gamified English learning activities ..................................................................................................... 20 2.2.2. The components of attitudes ....................................................... 20 2.3. Student engagements ............................................................................. 23 2.3.1. Definition of student engagements .............................................. 22 2.3.2. The importance of student engagement in learning English as a foreign language. ......................................................................................... 23 2.3.3. The relationship between student engagements and attitudes and gamification in teaching and learning. ........................................................ 26 2.4. Previous research ................................................................................... 26 2.5. Conceptual framework .......................................................................... 31 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ......................................... 33 3.1. Research design ..................................................................................... 32 3.2. Research site .......................................................................................... 32 3.3. Sample and sampling procedures .......................................................... 36 ix 3.4. Research instruments ............................................................................. 38 3.4.1. Questionnaire............................................................................... 38 3.4.2. Semi-structured interview ........................................................... 40 3.5. Data collection procedures .................................................................... 41 3.5.1. Plot study ..................................................................................... 41 3.5.2. Data collection procedures .......................................................... 41 3.6. Data analysis procedures ....................................................................... 42 3.7. Reliability and Validity ......................................................................... 43 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ..................... 45 4.1. Results ................................................................................................... 45 4.1.1. Students’ attitudes toward gamified English learning activities . 44 4.1.2. Students’ learning engagement in gamified English learning activities ..................................................................................................... 53 4.1.3. Some negative comments from the semi-strutured interviews. .. 60 4.1.4. The relationship between EFL students' attitudes towards gamified English learning activities and their learning engagement in gamified English learning activities ............................................................ 61 4.2. Discussion .............................................................................................. 62 4.2.1. Students’ attitudes toward gamified English learning activities . 62 4.2.2. Students’ learning engagement in gamified English learning activities ..................................................................................................... 65 4.2.3. The relationship between EFL students' attitudes towards gamified English learning activities and their learning engagement in gamified English learning activities ............................................................ 67 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ................... 69 5.1. Summary of the main findings of the thesis .......................................... 69 5.2. Recommendation ................................................................................... 70 5.3. Limitation and further research suggestion ........................................... 71 REFERENCES .................................................................................................. 74 APPENDICES .................................................................................................. 86 x APPENDICES APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR RESPONDENTS APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS APPENDIX C: BẢNG KHẢO SÁT Ý KIẾN HỌC SINH APPENDIX D: CÂU HỎI PHỎNG VẤN xi LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Participants’ general information ........................................................ 37 Table 3.2 Structure of the questionnaire ............................................................. 40 Table 3.3 Cronbach’s Alpha Score ..................................................................... 44 Table 4.1 The overall results of students’ attitude toward gamified English learning activities ................................................................................................ 46 Table 4.2 Student’ attitudes toward gamified English learning activities in terms of cognitive attitudes ........................................................................................... 47 Table 4.3 Student’ attitudes toward gamified English learning activities in terms of affective attitudes ............................................................................................ 49 Table 4.4 Student’ attitudes toward gamified English learning activities in terms of behavioral attitudes ......................................................................................... 51 Table 4.5 The overall results of students’ engagement toward gamified English learning activities ................................................................................................ 52 Table 4.6 Students’ engagement toward gamified English learning activities in terms of behavioral engagement ......................................................................... 54 Table 4.7 Students’ engagement toward gamified English learning activities in terms of cognitive engagement ........................................................................... 56 Table 4.8 Students’ engagement toward gamified English learning activities in terms of affective engagement ............................................................................ 58 Table 4.9 Pearson Correlation Results ................................................................ 61 xii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 The Octalysis Framework by Yu-kai Chou (Chou, 2015) ......................15 Figure 2.2 Conceptual framework of gamification and learners’ attitudes and engagement ...............................................................................................................32 1 CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study Language learning plays a prominent role in the present scenario as English is a language for communication in education and business, sports, trade, etc. Currently, more than 53 countries and territories use English as an official language. Vietnam is not out of the trend and has begun to teach English from the primary school level. Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has set English as one of the three most important subjects at school. Specifically, many study promotion programs are proposed, from English talent contests in schools to competitions on the Internet, on TV, in scientific journals, annual Olympic competitions, etc. These programs are the motivation for students to practice and apply English in practice Bahang et al. (2020). Vietnamese students are also aware that English is considered indispensable luggage on the path of integration and development, a universal key to open the doors of knowledge to help them reach out to the world. To improve the quality of teaching English at schools, English teachers have applied various teaching methods in teaching. One of the newest methods to apply is gamification, which has received much criticism in increasing students' engagement in the classroom (Phuong, 2020). The use of games to learn languages is an innovative method that is gaining popularity. Gamification for language learning is highly motivating and inspirational for students since there are several tasks to complete, goals to attain, and prizes to be won. Gamification is a concept that attempts to combine preexisting successful teaching techniques with game elements such as competition, leaderboards, and advancement in order to make tasks and exercises more enjoyable, motivating, and engaging for learners (Kapp, 2012). Gamification's beneficial benefits have been extensively acknowledged in a massive body of work, both philosophically and experimentally (Dehghanzadeh et 2 al., 2019). Gamification has the potential to improve student engagement, motivation, learning outcomes, problem-solving, and collaborative learning in ESL classrooms (Buckley & Doyle, 2014). The theory of motivation, engagement, and psychology has investigated and described the benefits of gamification. The self-determination theory (SDT) (Ryan & Deci, 2000) is the most widely grounded theory linked to gamification. It discusses both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. According to Muntean (2011), gamification increases intrinsic motivation by generating a sense of mastery, autonomy, and connectivity through the usage of extrinsic components such as levels, points, and badges. In particular, most research on gamification has emphasized its ability to engage learners actively. For example, after treatment with the Gamified Program, learner motivation in the experimental group (25 students) increased considerably (25 students). Lam et al. (2018) used quasi-experimental and qualitative research methodologies to investigate engagement and motivation. The findings also revealed that learner engagement and motivation were much more significant in the experimental group. However, there was no difference in academic outcomes between the two groups in this study. In terms of learner outcomes, gamification is associated with an increase in the percentage of passing students and engagement under challenging activities (Iosup & Epema, 2014). Similarly, pupils in a 14-week gamified course outperformed those in nongamified learning circumstances (Yildirim, 2017). In contrast, some research found no substantial difference in academic performance between the two groups (Lam et al., 2018). As a result, the academic improvement literature needs more contributions. Furthermore, gamification has been shown to minimize language fear, enhance student focus, and promote readiness to speak (Arnold, 2014). It might be argued that students enjoy a sense of autonomy and are not scared to fail. According to the NMC-Horizon Report (2014), well-designed gamification activities boost 3 learners' productivity and creativity (Johnson et al., 2014) by instilling a feeling of progression and learner agency. Furthermore, learners' attitudes are thought to be one of the most significant factors in language achievement. Widespread research interest in numerous studies by many academics has lately been adopted to obtain in-depth insights into this issue. Scholars have emphasized the importance of attitudes in the learning process. According to Clarke (1976), attitudes are essential for mastering a language and facilitating language learning. Attitudes, cooperation in teamwork, self-concept, and 21st skills are among the key factors that help learners reinforce their learning ability, achieve insightful comprehension of conceptual knowledge, and increase their learning autonomy. Obviously, when pupils have good attitudes, their learning performance improves and is facilitated. However, if pupils have negative attitudes, their performance and achievements in language learning may suffer. At Viet Anh Primary School, teachers have applied the gamification methods in teaching various subjects including English. Thus, deepening the knowledge about the relationship between gamified learning activities in the classroom and primary students' attitudes and engagement levels at this school is imperative to evaluate the method's effectiveness. 1.2 Statement of problems The English proficiency of students at Viet Anh Primary School is superior to that of local public schools. One reason is that parents' investment in English language learning is higher compared to public counterpart. Students at Viet Anh Primary School learn English from kindergarten. Significantly, many students are invested in learning English from a very early age. By the time they enter primary school, some students can speak fluently and present a short topic in English confidently and in a good communication demand. Second, students studying at Viet Anh Primary School have access to English in more directions and more time than those in local public schools. First, they learn under the Cambridge 4 international bilingual program with English subjects, Mathematics, and Science. In addition, the children also participate in extra-curricular activities held in English. The above reasons make the general level of English ability of students at Viet Anh school much higher than that of public primary schools in Vung Tau. In addition, the school's investment in English learning and teaching facilities is significant. The classrooms are equipped with modern equipment such as televisions, projectors, speakers for convenient listening and speaking activities. In addition, class sizes are kept at 20-25 students/class. This enhances teachers' interaction with students, especially during speaking and gamified activities or other teaching activities. However, the English level of students at Viet Anh Primary School is not equal. In particular, in the same class, there are students whose ability to use English is superior to other students. There are many reasons for this situation. Firstly, this difference comes from before students join Viet Anh school. There a usually two types of English ability of students when enrolling the school, the English equipped and the non-English equipped. The former group includes students who are invested in English from the early years. In this group, parents have their children learn English from kindergarten (4-5 years old, even 3 years old). The latter group of students follows the MOET's learning path and starts their English learning journey when they enroll primary level. This difference in English entry level is not detected or classified in the school's admissions process. There is no requirement to have a certain level of understanding of English to study at Viet Anh School for primary school level, as stated in the requirement for admission. The second reason for the disparity is that the level of English acquisition and absorption in each student is different, even if placed in the same learning conditions. In addition, this disparity is also caused by several factors, such as how regular students participate in extra-curricular classes and their parental support in children learning English. 5 The disparity in students' English proficiency in a classroom leads to lameness when teachers impart knowledge to students. It is difficult for teachers to apply the same resource, activity, or assessment to multiple students' levels in the same classroom. If the teacher focuses on straightforward content during the learning process, good students may find this lesson boring and no longer motivated to join the class. On the contrary, weak students will find it difficult to absorb and create a rejection mentality if the lesson's content is more complicated than their learning ability. Because of this inadequacy, Viet Anh School has adjusted its class placement process. The school has conducted a classification of students with the same level of English into the same class. This new classification makes it easier for teachers to provide appropriate and correct teaching methods and approaches to students. However, when teachers apply active teaching methods such as gamification in English classes at different levels, they encounter different problems. Students in higher English level classes tend to participate in activities enthusiastically and excitedly. In addition, teachers find that that organizing game activity easy and convenient. However, for students in lower English levels class, the process of implementing teaching activities by gamification encounters many difficulties. The students in these classes lack confidence. Their ability to listen, speak, and understand English is limited, so they do not understand the requirements for the content of the activity to participate correctly. Especially during participating in activities, students in this class show timidity and lack of confidence, requiring a lot of encouragement and guidance from teachers. Since then, teachers cannot evaluate the effectiveness of this learning method. In addition, inexperienced teachers in organizing game activities in English classrooms also cause inefficiencies and poor classroom interaction. Learning through game activities is a new form of learning, requiring teachers to have research and study to learn and apply correctly in their English lessons and teaching 6 activities. However, currently, English teachers at the school experience a shortage of methods to diversify their games and activities. Many studies have investigated the effectiveness of the gamification method in the classroom and in teaching English. However, these studies mainly focus on high school and university levels. Therefore, primary school English teachers do not have a diverse and accurate source to enhance their knowledge about gamification for successful teaching activities. In summary, the above difficulties and challenges have posed to the writer an urgent need to research the attitude and level of participation in gamified activities in the English classroom of elementary school students of 4th and 5th grade at Viet Anh Primary School. 1.3 Aims and objectives of the study This study explores the EFL students' attitudes towards gamified learning activities and their learning engagement in gamified learning activities at the context of Viet Anh Primary School in Vung Tau. The research objectives are as follows: • To find out the EFL students' attitudes towards gamified English learning activities at Viet Anh Primary School. • To identify EFL students' level of learning engagement in gamified English learning activities at Viet Anh Primary School. • To examine the relationship between EFL students' attitudes towards gamified English learning activities and their learning engagement in gamified English learning activities, 1.4 Research questions The following research questions must be addressed in order to achieve the goals as mentioned above: