3. THE STUDY
3.7. Pedagogical implications
3.7. Pedagogical implications
As far as the effectiveness of teaching brought by particular games is concerned the foreign language teachers should remember that the choice of game-based activity is crucial.
As it is shown every group of learners is unique, and teachers should use appropriate activities to teach them. The teachers should make sure that the learners are able to play a game chosen.
It is recommended to teacher to choose a game in which as many children as possible can take part. It is essential that teacher care if all learners are engaged sufficiently as active participants of the game.
The next hint concerns entertaining character of games. It is a good idea to conduct a survey after games and learnt about preferences of each group. Additionally, teachers can make use of it in favour of learners because it may help them in planning lessons. Not every game appeals to every learner, therefore, the teachers should have a sound repertoire of games at their disposal. It is recommended neither to play a game so long, nor to play the same game too frequently. Moreover, games make language classes more attractive and relaxing.
Another issue to keep in mind is that the relationship between the effectiveness of teaching and the level to which learners considered a given game entertaining. The teachers should combine preferences of groups and effectiveness of teaching. Young learners are very susceptible to atmosphere of lessons and become disappointed and discouraged very easily.
The teacher task is to create friendly conditions in which children’s characteristic features (energy, joy, readiness to play) can be best used.
The final issue to bear in mind is that each game used did not require any extensive preparations on the part of the teacher. It is natural that preparation of a game takes a bit more time since teaching children generally requires creativity and devotion. Nevertheless, the game used required rather standard preparations which means that they can be used on a daily basis for exploring a variety of colours, numbers, shapes of other lexical items which can be
taught at this basic level. Their effectiveness and entertaining character can, therefore, be taken advantage of in foreign language instruction.
CONCLUSIONS
Games as the activities for teaching elements of foreign language and especially vocabulary are already well explored so their potential is, in fact, well-known. It needs to be noticed that games are widespread and appreciated activity in young learners teaching.
Additionally, the scientific perspectives on teaching English vocabulary are complex and still developing. Notion of word and vocabulary, omnipresent in this paper, has numberless definitions. Theory of vocabulary acquisition is embedded in class teaching practices and teachers play a significant role while teaching English vocabulary to young learners.
However, it is still important to explore various possibilities and see personally how children react to a particular game, what they might like about it and what particular challenges might emerge on the way. Each group of learners is different which might also be noticeable on the effectiveness of games or the level to which learners actually liked a particular lesson.
In fact the results of the study obtained showed that children, did have various views on how entertaining the games were. However, the study had its own weaknesses, the data obtained did provide some insight into the effectiveness of games used and their enjoyable character but, of course it cannot be used as a fully reliable source of reference because of its limited character and particular weaknesses of the study. It can, though, be used as a background and an incentive for further exploration of this thematic area modifying the conditions of research which might generate more reliable results.
Appendices
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Observation sheet
1 Spider is coming
Rounds of the game/attempts Number of mistakes
2 Colourful sheet
Rounds of the game/attempts Number of mistakes
3 Board game
Rounds of the game/attempts Number of mistakes
Appendix 4
References
[1] Bland, Jenice (ed.) 2015. Teaching English to Young Learner: Critical Issues in Language Teaching with 3-12 years olds. London: Bloomsbury
[2] Byrne, Donn, 1986.Teaching Oral English. London and New York: Longman.
[3] Cameron, Lynne, 2001. Teaching Languages to Young Learners. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
[4] Carter, Ronald, 1998: [2012]. Vocabulary. Applied Linguistic Perspectives. Routledge Linguistics Classics.
[5] Chacon-Beltran, Ruben [et al.]. 2010. Insights into Non-native vocabulary teaching and learning. Spain: Multilingual Matters.
[6] Coady, James; Huckin, Thomas, 1997. Second language Vocabulary Acquisition for Rationale Pedagogy. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
[7] Corson, David, 1995, Using English Words. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
[8] Crystal, David, 1994. An encyclopedic dictionary of language and languages. London:
Penguin.
[9] Dobson, Julia M. 1997. Effective Techniques for English Conversation Groups, Washington: English Language Programs Division.
[10] Ellington, Henry, Gordon, Monica, and Fowlie, Joannine, 1998. Using Games and Simulations in the Classroom. London: Routledge.
[11] Finch, Geoffrey, 2000, Linguistic Terms and Concepts. Basingstoke: Macmillan Press.
[12] Folse, Keith, S. 2004. Vocabulary myths. Applying Second Language Research to Classroom Teaching. Mitchigan: Mitchigan ELT.
[13] Frawley, William, 2003. International Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[14] Greenall. S. 1990, Language games and activities. Hulton educational publications Ltd, Britain.
[15] Halliwell, Susan, 1992. Teaching English in the Primary Classroom. Harlow. Longman.
[16] Halliwell, Susan, 1993. Teaching English in the Primary Classroom. London: Longman.
[17] [16] Harmer, Jeremy, 2007. The Practice of English Language Teaching. Pearson Education. The 4th edition.
[18] Harmer, Jeremy, 2007. How to teach English. Pearson Education. The second edition.
Pearson.
[19] Harris, Tony; Jaén, María Moreno (eds), 2010. Corpus linguistics in language teaching.
Bern: Peter Lang Ag, International Academic Publishers
[20] Hong, Lin, 2002. “Using games in teaching English to young children” in ELT Journal, Vol. 8, No. 8.
[21] Hulstijn, Jan. H. 2000. “The use of computer technology in experimental studies of second language acquisition: a survey of some techniques and some ongoing studies”.
Language Learning and Technology. No 3, 32-43.
[22] Jeffcoate, Robert, 1992. Starting English Teaching. London: Routledge.
[23] Karmiloff-Smith, Anette , 1986. Stage/structure vs. phase/process in modelling linguistic and cognitive development. Tel Aviv: Ablex Publishing Corporation
[24] Koluch, Remigiusz, 2003. “Gry w nauce języka obcego- zalety i wady”. In Języki obce w szkole, No. 1.
[25] Lee, W. R. 1991. Language teaching: Games and Contests. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[26] Lewis, Gordon and Bedson, Gunther. 1999. Games for Children. Oxford: OUP.
[27] Markunas, Antoni, 1993. Wybrane Zagadnienia dydaktyki Języka Kierunkowego na Neofilologii. Poznań. Wydawnictwa Naukowe UAM.
[28] Masheder, Mildred, 1989. Let´s play together. London: Green Print
[29] Ments, M. 1993. The Effective Use of a Role-Play: A Handbook for Teachers and Trainers. London: Kogan Page.
[30] Mróz, Aneta, 2005. „Gry i zabawy w procesie nauczania języków obcych”. in Języki obce w szkole. No. 1.
[31] Nation I. S. P. 2001. Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge.
Cambridge University Press.
[32] Nation, I. S. P., 1990. Teaching and Learning Vocabulary. Boston: Heinle and Heinle Publishers.
[33] O’Grady, William, 2004. Contemporary Linguistics Analysis. Prentice Hall
[34] O’Grady, William, 2004 . How children learn language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[35] Okoń, Wincenty, 1997. Zabawa a rzeczywistość. Warszawa: WSiP.
[36] Poole, Stuart C. 1999. An introduction to linguistics. London: Palgrave Macmillan [37] Rupley, W.H., Logan, J.W., & Nichols, W.D. 1998/1999. “Vocabulary instruction in a
balanced reading program”. The Reading Teacher. No 52(4).
[38] Schmitt, Norbert, 2005. Vocabulary in Language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[39] Schmitt, Norbert; Meare, Paul, 1997. Researching vocabulary through a word
knowledge framework. Word association and verbal suffixes. USA: Studies in Second Language Acquisition.
[40] Siek-Piskozub Teresa, 1995. Gry, Zabawy i Symulacje w Procesie Glottodydaktycznym, Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM.
[41] Sinclair, J.M.G. Fox, et al. 1990. Collins Cobuild English Grammar. London: Collins.
[42] Scott, Wendy, A. and Ytrberg, Lisbeth, H. 2001. Teaching English to Children. London:
Longman.
[43] Sugar, Steve, 1998. Games That Teach. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Pfeiffer.
[44] Takac Pavicic, Visnja, 2008. Vocabulary Learning Strategies and Foreign Language Acquisition. Dublin, Multilingual Matters LTD.
[45] Thornbury, Scott, 2002. How to teach vocabulary. Harlow: Longman.
[46] Tood, Loreto, 1984 [1995]. Modern Englishes: pidgins and creoles. B. Blackwell.
[47] Toth, M. 1995. Children's games. Oxford: Heinemann Publishers.
[48] Ur, Penny, 2005. A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and theory. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
[49] Wray, David, 2002. Classroom interaction and social learning: From theory to practice.
London: Routledge Falmer.
[50] Zimmerman, C. B. 1997. Historical trends in second language vocabulary instruction, In J. Coady & T. Huckin (eds.) Second language vocabulary acquisition, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
[50] www2: Juul Jesper, Classic Game Definition, Half-real, 2005, in: Whitehead Jim, Classic Game Definition, January 2006,
http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/classes/cmps080k/Winter06/lectures/classic-game-defn-01092006.pdf
[51] www3: Juul, Jesper. The Game, the Player, the World: Looking for a Heart of Gameness. University of Copenhagen. 2003.
http://www.jesperjuul.net/text/gameplayerworld/
[52] www1a: <http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/qf/transition_tt/earlydev.pdf> „Your Child:
Bringing Up Baby”. Newsweek Special Issue, October 16, 2000, in: Early Brain Development and Child Care: Discoveries about the growth and development of the young child’s brain have important implications for child care. Healthy Child Care America, 3(1), January 1999,
[53] www1b: <http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/qf/transition_tt/earlydev.pdf> „Your Child:
Bringing Up Baby”. Newsweek Special Issue, October 16, 2000, in: Early Development and Learning from the Perspective of Addressing Barriers: Developmental Milestones
& Ways Caregivers Can Promote Healthy Development, 2001: 24.
( Received 05 June 2016; accepted 26 July 2016 )
STRESZCZENIE
Niniejsza praca magisterska dotyczy nauczania słownictwa poprzez gry i zabawy w grupie uczniów młodszych. Głównym celem pracy było zbadanie skuteczności gier w nauce słownictwa angielskiego. W pierwszym rozdziale teoretycznym pracy omówiono pojęcie słownictwa. W oparciu o fachową literaturę przedstawiono poglądy badaczy na temat rozumienia pojęcia słownictwa i słowa.
Poruszona została też rola języka pierwszego oraz wpływ badań nad korpusami na rozwój nauk związanych z nauczaniem słownictwa. W drugim rozdziale teoretycznym została zaprezentowana definicja gry oraz przedstawiono kilka możliwych rozróżnień gier w zależności od ich funkcji, struktury, ćwiczonych umiejętności oraz poziomu opanowania języka pierwszego przez uczniów.
Omówiono też czynniki wpływające na wybór gier i sposób wprowadzania ich podczas lekcji.
Przedstawiono też możliwe zagrożenia wynikające ze stosowania gier. Po analizie bardzo bogatej literatury dotyczącej tematu gier potwierdzono, że gry są nieodzownym elementem lekcji języka angielskiego w grupach uczniów młodszych. W rozdziale badawczym przedstawiono i omówiono trzy różne gry oraz zbadano ich skuteczność w wybranych grupach.
Praca kończy się wnioskami na temat części teoretycznej i praktycznej.
Słowa kluczowe: gry, nauczaniu języka angielskiego, uczniowie młodsi, słownictwo, definicja słownictwa, definicja słowa, funkcje gier, podział gier