Luận văn thạc sĩ VNU ULIS employing kahoot game to improve first year students’ english grammar accuracy an experimental research at an engineering university in the north vietnam

1.VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** NGUYỄN THỊ THƠM EMPLOYING KAHOOT GAME TO IM

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1.VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

NGUYỄN THỊ THƠM

EMPLOYING KAHOOT GAME TO IMPROVE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS’ ENGLISH GRAMMAR ACCURACY:

AN EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH AT AN ENGINEERING

UNIVERSITY IN THE NORTH VIETNAM

SỬ DỤNG TRÒ CHƠI KAHOOT ĐỂ TĂNG CƯỜNG ĐỘ CHÍNH XÁC

NGỮ PHÁP TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT:

MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU THỰC NGHIỆM TẠI MỘT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC

KỸ THUẬT TẠI MIỀN BẮC VIỆT NAM

M.A Minor Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Hanoi - 2018

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VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

NGUYỄN THỊ THƠM

EMPLOYING KAHOOT GAME TO IMPROVE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS’ ENGLISH GRAMMAR ACCURACY:

AN EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH AT AN ENGINEERING

UNIVERSITY IN THE NORTH VIETNAM

SỬ DỤNG TRÒ CHƠI KAHOOT ĐỂ TĂNG CƯỜNG ĐỘ CHÍNH XÁC

NGỮ PHÁP TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT:

MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU THỰC NGHIỆM TẠI MỘT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC

KỸ THUẬT TẠI MIỀN BẮC VIỆT NAM

M.A Minor Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

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DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis is the result of my own research and the substance of this thesis has not, wholly or in part, been submitted for a degree to any other universities or institutions

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Tran Thi Duyen for her invaluable assistance, constructive criticism, and encouragement without which my thesis would not have been accomplished

Secondly, I am thankful to all the lecturers and staff of the Post-Graduate Department of University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University for their scientific knowledge, guidance and enthusiasm during my course

My sincere thanks also go to my friend - Mrs Nguyen Thi Thu Ha and her students for their substantial support for the data collection for this study

In addition, I would like to express my gratitude to my friend – Mrs Bui Hong Van who helped me to proofread and edit my writing

Last but not least, I owe my deep thanks to my family and friends who have helped and encouraged me while I was conducting the research

NGUYEN THI THOM

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ABSTRACT

Grammar learning plays an important role in second language acquisition

Games have been considered an effective tool for enhancing English teaching and learning process The paper aims to study the use of Kahoot game for enhancing the effectiveness of English teaching and learning process at one University in Hanoi and investigate students’ attitude of 1st-year students toward Kahoot game at this University In order to conduct the study, three data collection tools were employed: (1) tests, (2) questionnaires and (3) interviews The research results show that the employment of Kahoot game help improve the students’ grammar accuracy In addition, most of the students indicated positive attitudes towards the use of Kahoot game in English lessons and it seems that the integration of Kahoot game could help increase the students’ learning motivation It is hoped that the study can be a useful source of reference for teachers and practitioners who are looking for ways to improve their teaching of English language, especially English grammar, to support learners

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES x

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Grammar 4

1.1.1 Definition of grammar 4

1.1.2 The roles of grammar in ELT 6

1.1.2.1 For-grammar perspectives 6

1.1.2.2 Against-grammar perspectives 7

1.1.3 The methods of teaching grammar 8

1.1.3.1 Grammar-Translation Method 9

1.1.3.2 Direct method 9

1.1.3.3 Audio-lingual 10

1.1.3.4 Communicative Language Teaching 11

1.2 Games 12

1.2.1 Definition of games 12

1.2.2 Advantages of games 13

1.2.3 When to use games 14

1.2.4.Review of previous related studies 15

1.5 Summary of the chapter 16

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 18

2.1 The English teaching at Engineering University 18

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2.2 The current textbook Topnotch 2 (version 3) in use at Engineering

University and its grammar 19

2.3 Employing Kahoot games in teaching grammar 20

2.3.1 The background of Kahoot 20

2.3.2 Creation of quizzes in Kahoot 21

2.3.3 How to play Kahoot in the classroom 22

2.3.4 Effects of using Kahoot games to teach English Grammar 24

2.4 The setting of the study 27

2.5 The participants 28

2.6 Data collection instruments 28

2.6.1 Pre-test and post-test 28

2.6.1.1 Pre-test 28

2.6.1.2 Post-test 29

2.6.2 Survey questionnaire 30

2.6.3 Interview 30

2.7 Data collection procedure 31

2.8 Data analysis 31

2.9.Summary of the chapter 32

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 33

3.1 Test results 33

3.2 Questionnaire results 37

3.3 Interview Results 42

3.4 Discussion 45

PART 3: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 48

1 Major findings 48

2 Limitations 49

3 Implications 49

4 Suggestion for further research 50

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REFERENCES 51

APPENDIX 54

2 Aim of the study 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Method of the study 2

5 Significance of the study 2

6 Structure of the thesis 3

1.1 Grammar 4

1.1.2.1 For-grammar perspectives 6

1.1.2.2 Against-grammar perspectives 7

1.1.3.1 Grammar-Translation Method 9

1.1.3.2 Direct method 9

1.1.3.3 Audio-lingual 10

1.1.3.4 Communicative Language Teaching 11

1.2 Games 12

1.2.4.Review of previous related studies 15

1.5 Summary of the chapter 16

2.2 The current textbook Topnotch 2 (version 3) in use at Engineering University and its grammar 19

2.3 Employing Kahoot games in teaching grammar 20

2.3.1 The background of Kahoot 20

2.3.2 Creation of quizzes in Kahoot 20

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2.3.3 How to play Kahoot in the classroom 21

2.3.4 Effects of using Kahoot games to teach English Grammar 22

2.6.1.1 Pre-test 24

2.6.1.2 Post-test 25

2.6.3 Interview 26

3.1 Test results 29

3.4 Discussion 40

1 Major findings 43

2 Limitations 44

3 Implications 44

4 Suggestion for further research 45

REFERENCES 46

APPENDIX 49

DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

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ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES x

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Grammar 4

1.2 Games 12

1.3 Employing Kahoot game in teaching grammarError! Bookmark not defined 1.3.1 The background of Kahoot Error! Bookmark not defined 1.3.2 Creation of quizzes in Kahoot Error! Bookmark not defined 1.3.3 How to play Kahoot in the classroom Error! Bookmark not defined 1.3.4 Effects of using Kahoot game to teach English Grammar Error! Bookmark not defined 1.4.Summary of the chapter 15

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 18

2.2 The current textbook Topnotch 2 (version 3) in use at Engineering University and its grammar 19

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2.5.3 Interview 30

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 33

3.1 Test results 33

3.4 Discussion 45

PART 3: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 48

1.Major findings 46

2.Limitations 47

3.Implications 47

4 Suggestion for further research 48

REFERENCES 51

APPENDICES 54

APPENDIX I 54

APPENDIXII 60

APPENDIX III 64

APPENDIX IV: 66

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 3.1: The pre-test results of the control and experimental group 34

Table 3.2: The post-test results of the control and experimental group 36

Table 3.3: Descriptive statistics for the pretest and post-test of the experimental and control groups (Max score = 100) 37

Table 3.4: Participants’ attitudes towards Kahoot (percentage) 38

Table 3.5: Means of five dimensions 41

Figure 2.1: Research procedure 32

Figure 3.1: Student’s attitudes towards the Kahoot game by mean 42

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PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

English has become an important mean of international communication and

an essential tool for international integration Therefore, the demand for learning English is increasing, especially in Vietnam where English is one of the main subjects at school, and among the compulsory subjects of the entrance exams to a number of universities At Engineering University, the teaching and learning of English play an important part in the educational program In particular, students will not be allowed to learn their major subjects if they do not meet the requirement in terms of English proficiency

To facilitate English learning, students and teachers are equipped with good learning condition and various technological devices such as fast and reliable internet access in the classroom, laptops for individual students and teachers, projectors, speakers, etc Given the importance of English to their study, most

of the students are trying their best to learn English However, many students claim that they feel bored with grammar lessons and do not spend time on learning them because the structures, tenses are difficult for them to remember In the search for an effective method to help students learn English grammar, the researcher found that Kahoot game has the potential to help students learn English grammar well; especially the game can help students consolidate and memorize the structures and their usage Taken into consideration the good teaching and learning facilities at Engineering University as well as the students’ learning needs, the researcher believes that employing Kahoot game could be a workable solution for the teaching of English grammar there Thus, the researcher decided to conduct a research on the issue The research is entitled “Employing Kahoot game to improve first-

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year students’ grammar accuracy: An experimental research at an Engineering

University in North Vietnam”

2 Aim of the study

The study aimed to investigate:

 the effects of Kahoot game on first year students’ English grammar accuracy

 students’ attitudes toward the use of Kahoot game in the English grammar class

4 Method of the study

This study will be an experimental research The researcher will use three types of data collection tools: Pre-test and post-test to measure the effects of Kahoot game on students’ grammar accuracy and survey questionnaires and interviews to investigate the attitude of the student toward the Kahoot game

To protect the confidentiality of the university and participants, a speudoname

is used this study instead of the real name of the university and participants are numbered from S#1 to S#25 for both control and experimental groups

5 Significance of the study

The study is significant in terms of the research results and the research design employed Since improving the effectiveness of English language teaching and learning has become one of the major concerns for English

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language teachers, researchers and policy makers, the findings of the study will contribute significantly to the field of English language teaching.The study can be used as a reference for teachers and practitioners who are searching for an effective way to teach English grammar In addition, the experimental research design employed in the study could also be used as a reference for teacher researchers who would like to carry out research in their own educational contexts

6 Structure of the thesis

The thesis is organized as follows:

PART I: INTRODUCTION - introduces the rationale; aims of the study;

research questions; methods of the study; significance of the study; and the thesis structure

PART II: DEVELOPMENT – the main part of the study, consists of three chapters: Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW– reviews and presents relevant theories and studies to the study Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY – describes the setting of the study, the participants, the research questions, methods, and instruments Chapter 3: RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION – presents an analysis of the data and discusses the findings of the study

PART III: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

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PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Grammar

1.1.1 Definition of grammar

Concerning the terms “grammar”, several researchers have attempted to define it Apparently, depending on one’s theoretical orientation, different people define grammar differently

The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (as cited in Harmer, 1987, p.1) defines grammar as “the study and practice of the rules by which words change their forms and are combined into sentences.” There are two basic elements in this definition: the rules of grammar; and the study and practice of the rule Here grammar constitutes a subset of rules relating to word formation (morphology) and sentence formation (syntax) While Huddleston (1984) shares a similar view when seeing grammar as consisting of morphology and syntax According to him, morphology deals with forms of words while syntax deals with the ordering of the words to form sentences As can be inferred from two definitions above, grammar is conventionally seen

as the study of morphology and syntax of sentences

Cobbett (1984) regards grammar as “constituting rules and principles that help a person to make use of words or manipulate and combine words to give meaning in a proper manner It concerns with form and structure of words and their relationships in sentences” In addition, Fromkin and Rodman (1998) defined “ The sounds and sound patterns, the basic units of meaning such as words and the rules to combine them to form new sentences constitute the grammar of a language”(p.14) There are several similarities between the two above-cited definitions The first thing is that according to these authors,

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grammar is assumed to be a guide through which words are put together to make correct sentences Secondly, grammar is composed of rules not only relating to word formation (morphology) and sentence formation (syntax) but also concerned with the meaning of the sentence (semantics) and the sound system (phonology) within a language However, one drawback that all four definitions above (in both the first and categories) have in common is that grammar has been concerned almost exclusively with the analysis at the level

of the sentence I am in favor of Widdowson (1990) with the claim that

“grammar is not just a collection of sentence patterns signifying nonsense”

(p.81)

Besides, for Thornbury (1999), grammar does not just rule on how to combine words at the sentence level, but it also takes into account the role of context in which a sentence is made He says that “when we process language we are not only trying to make sense of the words and the grammar, we are also trying to infer the speaker’s (or writer’s) intention” (p 6) Moreover, Hughes and McCarthy (1998) view grammar as discourse, not as the sentence and coined the term discourse grammar They argued that “grammatical statements that

do not take account of such contextual features are inadequate and unable to support grammar teaching effectively.” (p.265)

For the purpose of the study, I use the definition of Richards, Platt, and Platt (1992) in their Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics:

Grammar is a description of the structure of a language and the way in which linguistic units such as words and phrases are combined to produce sentences

in the language It usually takes into account the meanings and functions these sentences have in the overall system of the language It may or may not include the description of the sound of a language (p.161)

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In this definition, grammar is viewed as descriptive, which refers to the structure of a language as it is actually used by speakers and writers

Moreover, this definition shows both linguistic and social features of grammar as it refers to not only rules to make correct sentences but also meanings and functions of such sentences in the language, which is necessary for the teaching and learning of foreign language

1.1.2 The roles of grammar in ELT

Along the history of second language teaching, the role of grammar has been

an issue of controversy According to Richards (2002), it is “perhaps the most controversial issue in language teaching” (p.145) Thornbury (1999) asserts that “in fact, no other issue has so preoccupied theorists and practitioners as the grammar debate, and the history of language teaching is essentially the history of the claims and counterclaims for and against the teaching of grammar” (p.14) The debate has brought about an extreme split of attitudes, namely, those who hold that grammar should receive a central attention in language teaching and those who hold that grammar should not

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After reviewing ideas on the role of grammar teaching, Nunan (1991) came to

a conclusion that "grammar exists to enable us to 'mean', and without grammar it is impossible to communicate beyond a very rudimentary level.”

Furthermore, Wilkins (as cited in Nunan, 1991, p 152), one of the architects

of communicative approach to language teaching, also points out that

“acquiring the grammatical system of the target language is of central importance, because an inadequate knowledge of grammar would severely constrain linguistic creativity and limit the capacity for communication”

The list of supporters of grammar is still going on Long and Richards (1987) assert that grammar plays a central role in the four language skills and vocabulary to establish communicative tasks Brown (2007) points out that

“grammatical competence occupies a prominent position as a major component of communicative competence” (p 348)

For Palmer (1984), the central part of a language is its grammar, and this should be of “vital interest to many scholars in the field of language teaching and learning emphasize the role grammar plays in language learning For instance, Savignon (1991), one of the leading advocates of communicative language teaching, emphasizes that “communication cannot take place in the absence of structure, or grammar” (p 268) In agreement with Sauvignon, in their communicative intelligent educated person If it has not been of such interest, then the fault must be in the failure to recognize its importance within this essentially human activity”(p 9)

1.1.2.2 Against-grammar perspectives

Due to the fact that many language learners know the grammar rules of a language well, but they cannot communicate effectively in that language (Hinkel & Fotos, 2002), several scholars do not believe that grammar teaching will have any impact on communicative purposes and therefore

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neglect it Prabhu (1987), for example, believes that the development of competence requires the creation of conditions in which learner engage in an effort to cope with communication, not a systematization of planned grammatical input

The strongest advocate of this view is Krashen (1983, 1987), who is famous for his learning and acquisition hypothesis and his Monitor theory Based on his learning and acquisition hypothesis, Krashen argues that from learning the learners obtain conscious knowledge of grammar which is not responsible for actual L2 performance On the other hand, the acquisition is the underlying process which is responsible for the actual performance and this can only happen unconsciously through natural exposure to comprehensible inputs

What’s more, according to his Monitor theory, consciously-learned grammar can only function as monitoring and monitoring overuse will only disturb the flow of production Consequently, this grow-up holds that formal and conscious study of grammar should be strongly rejected if the objective of learning the language is productive competence However, Krashen has received many strong criticisms from other researchers as his acquisition theory seems to be merely based on his own observation without supporting evidence

In conclusion, grammar plays a very important role in language teaching, even though there was a time when grammar was severely rejected, but as Richards (2002) says, in recent years grammar teaching has regained its rightful place in the language teaching and “grammar is too important to be ignored” (p 145) Therefore, the debate is now not on whether grammar competence is important but rather on how to teach grammar

1.1 34 The methods of teaching grammar

Along the history of language teaching methodology, different teaching methods have perceived grammar differently, especially its role and its

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teaching methods In this study, the researcher intends to present the teaching

of grammar in four major teaching methods, namely the Translation method, Direct Method, Audio-lingual Method, and Communicative Language Teaching approach

Grammar-1.1 34 1 Grammar-Translation Method

The Grammar-Translation Method derived from traditional approaches to the teaching of Latin and Greek in the nineteenth century This method used grammar as the starting point for instruction The class under this method began with explicit grammar rules presentation, followed by practices involving translation into and out of the student’s mother tongue (grammar is taught deductively) Students’ native language is the language of instructions and mistakes and errors must be avoided at any cost The syllabus used was the structural syllabus Richards and Rogers (2002) Briefly, in this method grammar is considered essential in foreign language teaching and there is an attempt to teach it in an organized and systematic way The best point of this method is that it helps learners produce grammatically correct sentences and

is easily used in large-sized classes; however, learners taught with this method find it difficult to communicate in real life and tend to be passive recipients of knowledge

1.1 34 2 Direct method

The Direct method emerged to challenge the way the Grammar-Translation Method focused exclusively on written language The basic premise of the Direct Method was that one should attempt to learn a second language in much the same way children learn their first language The method emphasized oral interaction, spontaneous use of language, no translation between first and second languages, and therefore rejected explicit grammar

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teaching Grammar is taught inductively in the target language by asking and answering questions between teachers and students in small and intensive classes Richards and Rogers(2002) An advantage of the Direct method is that learning in the target language enables students to think in the target language Besides, it may be advantageous for a teacher using this method not

to know his students’ native language However, the complete avoidance of students’ native language may lead to the misunderstanding of rules and frustration from students

1.1 34 3 Audio-lingual

Evolving from the work of structural linguists and behavioral psychologists, the Audio-lingual approach proposes that language performance consists of a set of habits in the use of language structures and patterns Grammar is taught inductively with little or no grammatical explanations Dialogues and drills form the basis of audio-lingual classroom practice After a dialogue has been presented and memorized, specific grammatical patterns in the dialogue are selected and become the focus of various kinds of drills and pattern-practice exercises The focus of instruction rarely moves beyond the sentence level Celce-Murcia(1991) It is important to prevent the learner from making errors because errors lead to the formation of bad habits When errors occur, they should be corrected immediately by the teacher The strong point of this method is that students can develop listening and speaking proficiency at the same time they learn new structures; however, the explicit use of the target language often leads to time-consuming and students might get bored with mechanical repetition or become well-trained parrots

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1.1 34 4 Communicative Language Teaching

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), which views language as an instrument of communication, has been the dominant language teaching methodology since the mid-1970s There exist two versions of CLT: weak version and the strong version The weak version of CLT argues that an explicit focus on forms has an important –but not primary- role to play in second language learning and aims at using grammar and vocabulary to achieve communicative goals Whereas, the strong version of CLT rejects grammar teaching when they argue that attention to forms is not necessary;

learner can acquire an implicit understanding of grammar by using the language in a system of meaningful tasks Concerning the teaching of grammar, Celce-Murcia (1988, p.27) introduces four stages of a grammar lesson in the light of CLT: Presentation, Focused practice, Communicative practice, and Teacher feedback and correction In the presentation stage, a grammar structure is introduced inductively or deductively In the focused practice, the learners manipulate the structure in question so as to gain control

of the form for communication The next stage is communicative practice in which learners practice the target structure by engaging in communicative activities such as information gap, role-play, discussion… Although teacher feedback and correction is the final stage, it must take place throughout the lesson as Celce-Murcia (1988, p.28) states that “during the second part of the lesson, correction should be predominantly straightforward and immediate

During the third part, however, communication should not be interrupted

Instead, teachers should take not of errors and deal with them after the communicative exercises.”

Despite the wide-ranging discussion on different modifications, until now CLT is considered as the most popular and favored approach to English

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language teaching In CLT, Kahoot game should be employed in the three last

of the four stages in the introduction of CLT After the presentation of the grammar lesson, students can play Kahoot game to practice the rules of grammar immediately follow the teacher’s instruction, they also can communicate with each other to discuss in each team mode However, the teacher does not need to give feedback to students or correct their errors thanks to the automatic correction of Kahoot

1.2 Games

1.2.1 Definition of games

According to Byrne (1995) gives the definition of games as a form of play governed by rules They should be enjoyed and fun They are not just a diversion, a break from routine activities, but a way of getting the learner to use the language in the course of the game Similarly, Hadfield (1990) defines games as "an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun." Another definition comes from Saricoban & Metin (2000) saying that games are organized according to rules and they are enjoyable

The main focus of using a game in class is to help students learn and have fun However, to use games in classrooms, it is equally important that before playing the rules of the games are clearly explained and well understood by the students There should be only a few, well-explained rules

Demonstrations also can be very helpful because it can help students understand the game and help them follow the rules In contrast, they will misunderstand the purpose of the game and they may not get the benefits they should from the game

When playing games, competition is very important because it can stimulate and encourage students to take part in the activity naturally, they desire to beat the other teams Therefore, games motivate learners to acquire knowledge

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1.2.2 Advantages of games

Though games are often associated with fun, we should not lose sight of their pedagogical values, particularly in second language teaching Richard-Amato (1996) said Games are effective because they provide motivation, lower students' stress, and give them the opportunity for real communication

When playing games, students are trying to win or to beat other teams for themselves or on the behalf of their team in a natural way Therefore,they are

so competitive while playing because they want to have a turn to play, to score points and to win.The students will definitely participate in the activities

in the class,then the teacher is able to introduce students to new ideas, grammar, and knowledge and so on For instance, students are so competitive that they want to finish first and win in the dictation game It can be clearly seen that games can attract students' attention and participation, so they can motivate students to want to learn more Therefore, it is conclusion that they can transform a boring class into a challenging one

There is a high level of stress in the classroom because students have to face unfamiliar or unknown grammatical structures, words, texts and so forth

Therefore, students often feel uncomfortable and insecure in class, which inevitably affects their ability to learn As a result, games can help lower their anxiety, make them feel comfortable, and want to learn more

Since students play games, they relax and have fun, thus they are playing games and want to communicate efficiently They even do not worry about making mistakes and do not try to correct themselves in every single sentence.Therefore, students are free from worry and stress, they can improve their fluency and natural speaking styles

Lee (1995) states several advantages when games are used in the classroom, including “a welcome break from the usual routine of the language class”,

“motivating and challenging”, “effort of learning”, and “language practice in

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various skills”.Lee (1995) states several advantages when games are used in the classroom, including “a welcome break from the usual routine of the language class”, “motivating and challenging”, “effort of learning”, and

“language practice in various skills”

While Kahoot game are also proved its effectiveness through two studies like Jemima and el (2017) concluded that “Kahoot game in English language classroom helps to cultivate positive attitudes, increase motivation level of participants, stimulate better perceptions and expectation of learners towards future English classrooms, healthy competition, fun, and enjoyable learning environment”, and Wang (2015) claimed that: “Kahoot game enhanced the interaction between the teacher and students, as well as boost the students motivation, engagement, and learning”

In short, with so many advantages games are of course an effective tool in language classrooms, as well as, Kahoot game has positive impacts on teaching and learning English in two above study

1.2.3 When to use games

It is necessary for those who want to use games as a learning aid to be concerned about how to use them Hadfield (1990) suggests that "games should be regarded as an integral part of the language syllabus, not an amusing activity for Friday afternoon for the end of the term." Games can contribute to students' skills if they are incorporated into the classroom, particularly if they are used to reinforce or introduce a grammatical rule or structure

Carrier (1980) says that games can be used to open or close a lesson in a stimulating way, to punctuate a lesson, to relieve tension after a test or at any time that teachers feel appropriate Byrne (1980) advises not to play a game at the beginning of the conversation period and save the game for the use in the

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middle or toward the end of the session when the students would welcome a change of pace He also reminds that teachers should stop playing a game before students are ready to quit In other words, teachers never have a game played for so long that it begins to bore the participants Similarly, games shouldn’t be played too often since this will cause it to lose its novelty

Undoubtedly, games are very effective in language teaching and learning with

a lot of advantages such as giving the fun, reinforcing motivation, improving proficiency and corporation, etc The difficult task for teachers is how to choose the suitable type of game, the appropriate time to play it as well as the opportunity of its use

1.2.4.Review of previous related studies

The roles of games and its effectiveness in English language teaching have been the subject of many studies First, Gülin & Arda (2011) conducted a survey research on the application of games in teaching grammar Using data collected from EFL learners at the age of six, this study pointed out that games can direct young learners into language learning It is because they are imaginative and creative, learn subconsciously and like to be physically active Instead of exploring general games like the above study, Tengku &

Rahmah (2012) examined the effectiveness of board games in teaching and learning grammar Analyzing data from 115 students in the UiTM Pahang, this research project asserted that board games can be a useful teaching tool to

be used in grammar lessons because there are many positive outcomes such as

it motivated students to study grammar, helped to improve grammar and helped students to remember grammar rules The result of this study is confirmed by the experimental research caried out by Hoang & Pham (2017)

on the relationship between board games and the retention of EFL students in

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learning English grammar It proved that board games is beneficial to learners’ grammar retention

The development of technology so far has led to the application in teaching and learning English Hamid, Fateme & Maryam (2014) studied the relationship between online games and vocabulary learning of Iranian EFL students Using experimental research, this study proved that online games help students learn English vocabulary more effectively like remembering words quicker and longer Regarding the use of Kahoot game, Jemima and el (2017) investigated students’ perceptions of Kahoot in learning English

Employing action research design to collect data from nine participants of a primary school in a rural area in Southern Malaysia, this study showed that Kahoot game in English language classroom helps to cultivate positive attitudes, increase motivation level of participants, stimulate better perceptions and expectation of learners towards future English classrooms, healthy competition, fun, and enjoyable learning environment and actively communicating learners by mastering the required targeted language

In short, the studies above show that games seem to be an effective tool in teaching English to learners of different age However, few research has been carried out to investigate the impact of using Kahoot on students’ grammar retention in the context of Higher Education in Vietnam Thus, the present study was conducted with the aim to see whether Kahoot game has positive effects on first year students’ grammar accuracy at Engineering University

1.5 Summary of the chapter

In this chapter, the researcher has presented a number of issues related to the research questions These include the definitions of grammar, the roles of grammar in language teaching, two approaches to grammar teaching, four approaches to grammar instruction as well as the teaching of grammar in

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some teaching methods In addition, Games theoretical (definition of games,advantages of games, time to use games in class) is also introduced carefully above This literature review serves as the theoretical framework for the researcher to build up two sets of tests, questionnaires, and interview, then

to analyze the data collected as well as to answer two research questions for employing Kahoot game to teach grammar at Engineering University The next chapter will provide the readers with the information about the context

and methodology of the study

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

This study will be an experimental research The researcher will use three types of tool collections: Pre- and post-tests to measure the effects of Kahoot games on students' grammar accuracy, survey questionnaire and interview to investigate the attitude of students toward the game Data will be collected and analyzed statistically through students' test results, survey questionnaires and interview The aim of the study was carried out to answer two questions:

2.5.1 What are the effects of Kahoot game on first-year students’ English grammar accuracy?

2.5.2 What are students’ attitudes toward the use of Kahoot game in the English grammar lessons?

2.1 The English teaching at Engineering University

Engineering University was established on September 8th, 2006 with the Vietnamese Prime Minister's Approval The mission it pursues is to build a model of an innovative University which meets international standards and has modern philosophy There is a balance between training and practical life and national labor demand, contributing to boosting Vietnam Information Technology to catch up with developed countries in the world

The difference of The Engineering University is to focus on training industrial engineers It means that training is embedded in IT enterprises, practices, research, implementations and innovative technology.In accordance with modern methodology, the teaching programs have always been updated and upheld technological and international standards, especially with an emphasis

on foreign languages, manufacturing process, and group dynamics and other personal skills Needless to say, English plays an important role among a variety of/ various subjects at Engineering University

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After passing the University entrance exam, it is compulsory for students at Engineering University to participate in an English placement test The test helps categorize students’ level of English at the time they enter the university and divide them into suitable English classes Five levels of students are divided equally with the textbooks Topnotch 1, 2, 3 (Elementary, Pre-intermediate, Intermediate) and Summit 1, 2 (Upper-intermediate, Advance)

by Joan M Saslow and Allen Ascher that have been used to teach English skills at Engineering University.The lowest-English-level students using the textbook Topnotch 1, and the highest levels are taught with Summit 2 Each course includes 70 English lessons (equivalent to 140 class hours) and lasts 8 weeks After each course, students sit for an English test and if their accumulated grades meet the requirements, they can move to study the next English course

2.2 The current textbook Topnotch 2 (version 3) in use at Engineering University and its grammar

In 2006, the six-level textbooks Top Notch by Saslow and Ascher (2006) published by Longman Publisher.The books Topnotch 1, 2, 3 are chosen to be the most authentic and updated material that the Faculty of English has bought to meet the demand of teaching and learning English at EngineeringUniversity to some extent These textbooks help students communicate in English with a diverse array of speakers around the world who have a wide range of native and non-native accents An emphasis on cultural fluency enables students to navigate the social, travel, and business situations that they will encounter in their lives

In these textbooks, besides 4 skills listening, speaking, reading and writing, they also supplemented vocabulary and grammar which is chosen to be studied in this thesis The chosen textbook in the present study is level of

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English Top Notch 2 (Pre-intermediate) and the grammar content is taught in this book because the level of students is not too low or too high Therefore, the level 2 is considered to be suitable for this experimental research

In addition, the Top Notch 2 Student's Book version 3rd and Workbook Pack are also used to provide students with multiple exposures to English language use, numerous opportunities to practice, and systematic and intensive recycling Goals and achievement-based lessons with can-do statements enable students to confirm their progress in every class session

2.3 Employing Kahoot games in teaching grammar

2.3.1 The background of Kahoot

Kahoot is a game-based student response system being a result of the Lecture Quiz research project initiated in 2006 at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology

The first version of Lecture Quiz was developed on the Java platform both for the teacher client (Java SE) and the student clients (JavaME) With the development of smartphones, we replaced JavaME with an HTML4 web-interface for the student clients (Wang et al., 2007)

In fall 2012, the start-up company Mobitroll developed a commercial version

of Lecture Quiz from the ground up, which was named Kahoot Kahoot was developed as a cloud-based service HTML5 to integrate easily with social media, enabling easier maintenance and upgrade, and offering support for most digital devices

Kahoot is a game-based student response system being a result of the Lecture Quiz research project initiated in 2006 at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology The initial idea for Kahoot was to create a platform where the teacher and the students in a classroom could interact through a competitive knowledge game using the existing infrastructure The motivation

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was to engage students through transforming the classroom into a game show, where the teacher would be the game show host, and all the students could compete by earning points through answering correctly on various questions related to the current subject being taught At the end of a game session, a winner would be announced Thee quizzes can be created by the teacher, and there is no limitation on the number of simultaneous players

The first version of Lecture Quiz was developed on the Java platform both for the teacher client (Java SE) and the student clients (JavaME) With the introduction of smartphones, we replaced JavaME with an HTML4 web-interface for the student clients (Wang et al., 2007) It was hard to get teachers

to use the Lecture Quiz prototype due to the requirement of installing Java as well as installing of a Java graphics library and the Lecture Quiz software

Another challenge was the cumbersome interface to create and edit quizzes

Apart from these technical issues, the Lecture Quiz platform produced promising results when being used in lectures in terms of improved student motivation, improved student engagement, and increased perceived learning (Wang et al., 2008; Wu et al., 2011)

In fall 2012, the start-up company Mobitroll developed a commercial version

of Lecture Quiz from the ground up, which was named Kahoot Kahoot was developed as a cloud-based service providing HTML5 web-interfaces removing the need to install software, making it much easier to integrate with social media, enabling easier maintenance and upgrade, and offering support for most digital devices

2.3.2 Creation of quizzes in Kahoot

The Kahoot platform includes a web-based creator tool that let you create a quiz, a discussion or a survey through a simple step-by-step guided process A

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question has a time limit for students to answer the question (from 5 to 120 second)

The quiz creator also re-organize the sequence of the questions, make it private or public, and add meta-information about the quiz such as language, primary audience, description, difficulty level, and tags

Moreover,Kahoot is the ability to share quizzes with other teachers either directly within the tool or through Facebook, Twitter, Google+, email Users

do not have to create their own quizzes to use Kahoot, as they can search and browse through a large number of public quizzes created by others and modify suitablely with their own quiz

The Kahoot platform includes a web-based creator tool that let you create a quiz, a discussion or a survey through a simple step-by-step guided process A question in a quiz can have two to four answers where one or more can be correct, it has a time limit for students to answer the question (from 5 to 120 second), a choice whether the students can earn points or not on the question

The creation tool also let the quiz creator re-organize the sequence of the questions, make it private or public, and add meta-information about the quiz such as language, primary audience, description, difficulty level, and tags

Another important feature of Kahoot is the ability to share quizzes with other teachers either directly within the tool or through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ or email Users do not have to create their own quizzes to use Kahoot, as they can search and browse through a large number of public quizzes created by others The functionality of duplicating existing quizzes makes it easy to use a public quiz as a starting point for their own modified quiz

2.3.3 How to play Kahoot in the classroom

Firstly, in order to use Kahoot in a classroom, the teacher has to launch Kahoot in a web-browser on her or his laptop which must be connected to a

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projector.It is important that all the students are able to clearly see what is being displayed on the teacher's laptop

Secondly,the students are asked to open the kahoot it in a web browser on their own devices.The students are not needed to have an account to play Kahoot and they must enter a game pin followed by a nickname to join the game

While playing the quiz, the question along with the answers is shown on the large screen, and the students click/press the same color and symbol as the answer they believe is the correct one On the screen, a timer will count down

to zero as well as the number of students that have answered is shown

When the time to give answers is up, a distribution of the students' answers is shown on the large screen At the same time, the students get individual feedback on how they have answered on their devices A scoreboard of the top 5 students with points and nicknames is shown between questions Every student can also follow her or his own score and ranking on own device

Last but not least,the students have to answer correctly as well as fast to get a high score.To create suspension and the atmosphere of a game show, music and sound effects are used in Kahoot

To use Kahoot in a classroom, the teacher has to launch Kahoot in a browser on her or his laptop (or another digital device) which must be connected to a large screen It is important that all the students are able to clearly see what is being displayed on the teacher's laptop On the launch screen, the students are asked to open the URL kahoot it in a web browser on their own devices The students are not required to have an account to play Kahoot To enter the game, they must enter a game pin (a number) followed

web-by a nickname When playing the quiz, the question along with the answers is shown on the large screen, and the students click/press the same color and

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symbol as the answer they believe is the correct one On the screen, a timer will count down to zero as well as the number of students that have answered

is shown

When the time to give answers is up, a distribution of the students' answers is shown on the large screen At the same time, the students get individual feedback on how they have answered on their devices The distribution of the students' answers gives the teacher feedback on the students understanding of the question and open for a good opportunity to elaborate on the question and the answers A scoreboard of the top 5 students with points and nicknames is shown between questions Every student can also follow her or his own score and ranking on own device To get a high score, the students have to answer correctly as well as fast Music and sound effects are used in Kahoot to create suspension and the atmosphere of a game show

2.3.4 Effects of using Kahoot games to teach English Grammar

When applying Kahoot game on teaching grammar to students, there can be five positive effects namely increase of motivation and engagement in the classroom, synchronous self-assess students and feedback teacher, exciting atmosphere in the team mode, automatical calculation points of correction and time and excellent tool of revision

Firstly, the overall consensus was that it absolutely increases motivation and engagement in the classroom.When the students are urged to take part in the game, they can not sit quietly and be abstracted during the music of the game ring and other students are excited to compete in the game to become the winner

Secondly, Students find Kahoot very interesting as it is a way for them to assess their level of understanding in a Q&A session after doing a kahoot.That way, students can immediately ask any answers and teacher will

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clarify wonders.On the flipside, it’s also a great way to give feedback to teachers If lots of students answer a question wrong, then the teacher might not have explained it thoroughly enough

Thirdly, another reason both students and teachers love using Kahoot is that it creates such a great atmosphere.The grammar explanations can be considered very dry and almost abstract.It’s not everyone’s favorite topic and Kahoot makes it more relaxed Especially, in the Kahoot team mode, the teacher divides students into different teams and they can move around to discuss the best answer.It seems a great way to make them feel excited

Fourthly, there is no energy of teacher to calculate the results of the players and the results are fair with detail points of correction and fast After each question, the top 5 students with points and nicknames is shown on the teacher’s screen, other students can also follow her or his own score and ranking on own device Thanks to Kahoot game, the teacher is able to save their time correct the results at home and find the earliest winner

Lastly, Kahoot is a great tool to assess students’ prior knowledge and revision At the beginning of a new unit, the teacher tends to make a kahoot

on the topic That way, during the first lesson, the teacher will get a feeling of how much is already known by students, as it gets all my students motivated and excited, which pores over into the next activity At the revision module, the students have to revise and consolidate their knowledge about previous lessons, the mixture of complex structures are welcomed interestingly through Kahoot game

In conclusion, five pros impacts of Kahoot game on the English grammar lessons are shared by previous kahoot users Even Kahoot game could have more advantages with other learners as well as other classrooms and other skills

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When applying Kahoot game on teaching grammar to students, there can be five positive effects namely increase of motivation and engagement in the classroom, synchronous self-assess students and feedback teacher, exciting atmosphere in the team mode, automatical calculation points of correction and time and excellent tool of revision

Firstly, the overall consensus was that it absolutely increases motivation and engagement in the classroom Because the students are urged to take part in the game, they can not sit quietly and be abstracted during the music of the game ring and other students are excited to compete in the game to become the winner

Secondly, Students find Kahoot very interesting as it is a way for them to assess their level of understanding in a Q&A session after doing a kahoot

self-That way, students can immediately ask any misunderstandings and teacher will clarify wonders or go over a specific subject again if necessary On the flipside, it’s also a great way to give feedback to teachers If lots of students answer a question wrong, then the teacher might not have explained it thoroughly enough

Thirdly, another reason both students and teachers love using Kahoot is that it creates such a great atmosphere The grammar explanations can be considered very dry and almost abstract It’s not everyone’s favorite topic and Kahoot makes it more fun Especially, in the team mode, the teacher divides students into different teams and asked them to use one computer per group to participate in the Kahoot The students can move around to discuss the best answer while playing a kahoot seemed likes a great way to make them feel excited

Fourthly, there is no energy of teacher to calculate the results of the players and the results are fair with detail points of correction and fast After each

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question, the top 5 students with points and nicknames is shown on the teacher’s screen, other students can also follow her or his own score and ranking on own device Thanks to Kahoot game, the teacher is able to save their time correct the results at home and find the earliest winner

Lastly, Kahoot is a great tool to assess students’ prior knowledge and revision At the beginning of a new unit, the teacher tends to make a kahoot

on the topic That way, during the first lesson, the teacher will get a feeling of how much is already known by students, as it gets all my students motivated and excited, which pores over into the next activity At the revision module, the students have to revise and consolidate their knowledge about previous lessons, the mixture of complex structures are welcomed interestingly through Kahoot game

In the scope of this study, the researcher only discovers five pros impacts of Kahoot game on the English grammar lessons with first-year students in EngineeringUniversity In short, Kahoot game could have more advantages with other learners as well as other classrooms and other skills

2.4 The setting of the study

As mentioned above, the teaching and learning of English play an important part in the educational program at Engineering University The students realized the importance of English to their study, most of them are trying their best to learn English However, many students claim that they feel bored with grammar lessons and do not spend time on learning them because the structures and tenses are difficult for them to remember In researcher’s observation, the Engineering students are smart and quick to learn everything through media devices, hence Kahoot game is employed to be a solution for English grammar teaching in a class for an experimental research.Two classes

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are chosen to conduct the study: one class for traditional teaching method and one class for applying Kahoot game to teach English grammar

2.5 The participants

Participants for the present study were 50 first-year English students at EngineeringUniversity They are from 18 to 20 years old 35 of participants are male and 15 of them are female They have at least 7 to 12 years to study English After studying a course at first level in English Top Notch 1 (Elementary), they accumulate knowledge and skills to start to learn higher level (Pre-intermediate) in English Top Notch 2 They are divided randomly into two classes at the same level and teacher The participants were assigned into two groups namely the experimental group (EG) and the controlled group (CG) The only difference between the two groups during the intervention is that online games were applied to teach grammar to the experimental group but not in the control group The teaching of English grammar to the control group was with the same content but using blackboard and handouts of grammar exercises

2.6 Data collection instruments

2.6.1 Pre-test and post-test 2.6.1.1 Pre-test

In order to equate the control and the experimental groups, the researcher conducted pre-test, (AppendixI) which was administered before the allocation

of students to the experimental and the control groups at the same time on the same day The test was administered under the surveillance of the researcher and teacher at Engineering University to make sure that no student could copy the answer from the others

The purpose of the pre-test was to see whether there was a statistically significant difference between the language performance of the study group and the control group before they went into the intervention period To this

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Tiêu đề	Employing Kahoot Game to Improve First Year Students’ English Grammar Accuracy: An Experimental Research at An Engineering University in the North Vietnam
Tác giả	Nguyễn Thị Thơm
Người hướng dẫn	Trần Thị Duyên, Ph.D
Trường học	Vietnam National University-Hanoi University of Languages & International Studies
Chuyên ngành	English Teaching Methodology
Thể loại	M.A. Minor Thesis
Năm xuất bản	2018
Thành phố	Hanoi

Định dạng
Số trang	80
Dung lượng	1,54 MB