The effects of using quizalize to give corrective feedback in teaching english grammar ma

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY—HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE THE EFFECTS OF USING QUIZALIZE TO GIVE CORRECTIVE FE

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY—HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE

THE EFFECTS OF USING QUIZALIZE

TO GIVE CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK

IN TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature

By

TA THI XUAN THANH

Supervised by

TRAN THI MINH PHUONG, Ph.D

HO CHI MINH CITY, JULY 2022

ABSTRACT

The rapid development of technology has resulted in its presence in many classrooms Over time, it has proven to be useful and convenient, especially in saving labor A simple search will show hundreds, or even thousands, of language learning websites with eye-catching interface and engaging activities that teachers can make use of in the classrooms Although there are go-to websites that are used by most teachers, it is also interesting to be bold once in a while and give the new ones a try Quizalize is one such website that provides really helpful and thorough analysis of learners’ work that teachers can use for feedback For that reason, this current research sets out to examine Quizalize’s effects on learners when used to give feedback in grammar lesson to see whether it can leave a good impression on learners and improve their grammatical competence The study was conducted with teenagers as participants, seeing that these young learners are the best candidates for trying out a new technological tool Data was collected through a set of pre-test and post-test, questionnaire and group interview Research analysis revealed that the participants’ test results improved significantly after using Quizalize for feedback Although some concerns were raised about the simple design and limited activities of the website, the overall attitude was still positive and most learners supported the use of Quizalize in future lessons

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study 2

1.3 Scope and limitation of the study 3

1.4 Significance of the study 3

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Using corrective feedback in teaching grammar 4

2.2 Using Quizalize in language teaching 8

2.2.1 Using technology in language teaching 8

2.2.2 Using Quizalize in language teaching 10

2.2.2.1 What is Quizalize? 10

2.2.2.2 Functions of Quizalize 10

2.3 Role of the study 13

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 15

3.1 Research design 15

3.2 Research site and participants 16

3.3 Research instruments 20

3.3.1 Pre-tests and post-tests 20

3.3.2 Questionnaire and group interview 22

3.4 Data collecting procedure 23

3.5 Data analysis scheme 26

3.5.1 Analyzing pre-test and post-test data 26

3.5.2 Analyzing questionnaire and group interview data 28

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND FINDINGS 29

4.1 Results related to learners’ change in grammatical competence after using Quizalize 29

4.2 Findings related to learners’ attitudes towards receiving feedback through Quizalize 32

4.2.1 Learners’ attitudes towards Quizalize 32

4.2.2 Learners’ attitudes towards their performance 38

CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 45

5.1 Discussion 45

5.2 Recommendations 46

5.3 Limitations 47

5.4 Conclusion 48

REFERENCES 49

APPENDICES 53

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.1 Types of corrective feedback and their characteristics (adapted from

Lyster & Ranta, as cited in Sauro, 2009) 6

Table 3.1 Research Process for Experimental group and Control group 16

Table 3.2 Participants’ characteristics 18

Table 3.3 Learners’ technological experience and habits 19

Table 3.4 Format of the pre-test and post-test 21

Table 4.1 Pre-test and post-test scores of the two groups 29

Table 4.2 Mean comparison between the pre-test results of the two groups 29

Table 4.3 Mean comparisons between the pre-test and post-test results within each groups 30

Table 4.4 Mean comparisons between the post-test results of the two groups 31

Table 4.5 Learners attitude towards Quizalize (questionnaire) 33

Table 4.6 Learners attitude towards Quizalize (group interview) 34

Table 4.7 Learners’ attitude towards their performance (questionnaire) 39

Table 4.8 Learners attitude towards their performance (group interview) 40

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1 Quizalize’s main result analysis 11 Figure 3.1 Research procedure 24

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, background information on the study is presented This includes the context of this research as well as the researcher’s personal motivation which led to this study and what it aims to achieve

1.1 Background to the study

Learning can happen under many circumstances, not exclusively when we are taught something In learning languages, we learn when we are introduced new things, when we are given instructions and explanations that can help us understand and reproduce in the future However, no one can learn just from reading rules, learners need to go through a lot of practicing and polishing to make them truly fluent As learners practice what they learned, making mistakes is inevitable However, with their limited ability, learners cannot judge their own performance with certainty or justice (Ibrahim, MacPhail, Chadwick, & Jeffcott, 2014) What they need is convenient and appropriate feedback to help them realize their own mistakes so that they can make adjustments later

Teachers’ duty is to know what and where learners need help with so that they can provide feedback appropriately, thus the need for regular assessment Both types of assessment, either summative or formative, are both beneficial, and we can base on our purpose to choose which one to use Summative assessment usually comes at some important point or at the end of the course in the form of a midterm

or final test This plays the role of a formal assessment which gives teachers proof

on how well learners understand what they learned We also have formative assessment which can take place in every lesson Teachers can use different strategies to check for learners’ understanding or simply analyze their work Based

on their performance during practicing, teachers can offer useful feedback to promote student learning (Irons, 2008)

In order to be most effective, feedback should be constructive, and not judgmental (Chappuis & Stiggins, 2002) Black and Wiliam (2010) suggest that the point of giving feedback to learners should be to help them improve their work in particular areas without comparing it to other peers In cases where teachers cannot provide individual feedback to learners, comments can be given to the whole class while the anonymity of the mistake-maker is still maintained

In modern classrooms, technological tools have been widely applied due to the benefits that they offer to both teachers and students (Sarıca & Çavuş, 2009) For learners, they can get results and comments instantly as they practice, which can save teachers a lot of time for individual assistance At the same time, it encourages learner autonomy as it puts more control into learner’s hands For teachers, these online tools can synthesize and produce an analysis of learners’ performance in real time which they can use as reference for feedback

As an online learning website, Quizalize also provides an interactive environment for teachers and learners Among its functions, the report feedback especially stands out because it provides thorough analysis of not only the learners’ performance but also their progress throughout the course Using this data, teachers can help each individual learner better and more effectively

1.2 Aims of the study

This study aims to assess the effects of using Quizalize to give corrective feedback, especially in teaching grammar, to EFL learners by:

 determining how using Quizalize to give corrective feedback can enhance learners’ grammatical competence; and

 investigating learners’ attitudes towards receiving corrective feedback

through Quizalize

In order to achieve the research aims, this study is guided by two research questions:

1 How does using Quizalize to give corrective feedback improve EFL learners’ grammatical competence?

2 What are learners’ attitudes towards receiving feedback through Quizalize?

1.3 Scope and limitation of the study

The participants in this study were 37 EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners in two separate classes Thus, the results cannot be generalized to represent for a large population However, the results and conclusions drawn from this research can provide a glimpse into a specific application of technology in teaching grammar Other researchers can use this as reference for further academic practices

as well

The researcher also acknowledges the fact that the pre-test and post-test results can be affected by many extraneous factors Students’ prior knowledge, their own effort during the researching period or even luck can affect the validity of the study These are the elements that the researcher has no control over and accept as is

1.4 Significance of the study

By conducting this study, the researcher can examine the effects of technological applications on both learner performance and learning experience While learners can benefit from an alternative method of providing feedback compared to what is normally done, teachers can use the results as reference for future classroom practice

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

Chapter 2 will review the key issues concerning the matter being discussed, evaluating major findings and points of views as well as addressing the research gap which the researcher aims to fill

2.1 Using corrective feedback in teaching grammar

Grammar is one of the key concepts in English teaching and learning As defined by Canale and Swain (1980), grammar is a set of rules that describe a language’s structure and how words and phrases can be combined to make sentences in that language Many will agree that the purpose of language is to facilitate communication, and in order to communicate effectively, grammatical competence is essential To improve that, learners need external input which can come from the explicit teaching session of grammatical rules (O’Neill & Russell, 2019) However, learning through input alone may be difficult for forms that are rare or hard to notice (Suaro, 2009) In such cases, corrective feedback can be used

to help learners realize the contrast between their own language output and the target production

Corrective feedback can go by different names, e.g error correction or negative evidence (Karim & Nassaji, 2013) In language learning, corrective feedback refers to the instructor’s reactions to a learner’s mistake, either verbal or nonverbal, implicit or explicit The use of corrective feedback in second language acquisition (SLA) has long been established Constructive feedback can serve as a crucial tool to the process of teaching and learning (Al-Hattami, 2019) In fact, frequent practice and timely feedback can enhance learners’ motivation, seeing that the more they spend time on a subject, the more invested and engaged they become (Marriott, 2009) A study by Russell and Spada (2006) indicates that corrective feedback has a substantial effect and suggests that the benefits are durable Receiving quality and formative feedback can also allow learners to rate their

performance and realize the gaps, thus encouraging development (Ibabe & Jauregizar, 2010)

According to Ellis (2009), feedback plays an important part in most kinds of second language learning theories In behaviorist and cognitive theories, it contributes to the process of language learning Whereas in both structural and communicative approaches, feedback presents learners of what is linguistically accurate while nurturing learner motivation Different language practitioners may give corrective feedback different roles, e.g Norris and Ortega (2000) describe feedback as one type of L2 instruction, while Mackey and Goo (2007) consider corrective feedback as a variable that helps interaction become more effective Nevertheless, the effectiveness of corrective feedback is undeniable

Firstly, corrective feedback prompts learners to notice that something is not right, which is considered the first step of building language (Schmidt, 2001) After that, learners will start to reassess their language to find out what is wrong For example, using a very common type of corrective feedback like recast, a teacher will restate what the learner has just said, but with the mistake corrected Teacher might also apply a change in intonation or stress on the corrected part to emphasize Upon this, learner will automatically compare their utterance and the teacher’s and realize the difference, thus noticing their mistake

Furthermore, certain kinds of corrective feedback can also help to stimulate L2 processing (Sauro, 2009) For instance, implicit types of feedback, those that do not provide the correct form directly, will require learners to carry out their own processing During this process, learners will have to go over what they have learned and what they might have forgot in order to make judgments, and eventually reach a decision that they believe is the correct one After the confirmation from the teacher, learners can further fossilize or dismiss what they had previously believed accordingly (Chaudron, 1988) This is a higher level than

simply noticing and remembering, thus paving way for deeper and more enduring understanding of language

However, there are multiple kinds of corrective feedback to choose from, and the results vary as well As listed by Lyster and Ranta (1997), corrective feedback includes explicit error correction, metalinguistic feedback, elicitations, repetitions, recasts, translations, and clarification requests While all these methods prompt learners to correct an error, they differ in the amount of information given to learners Panova and Lyster (2002) later argue that these differences will result in different levels of processing on the learners’ part

Table 1.1 Types of corrective feedback and their characteristics (adapted from

Lyster & Ranta, as cited in Sauro, 2009)

Corrective

feedback type Definition Example

Elicited output

Level of processing Explicit error

correction

Directly show learners the mistake

It should be

‘ate’, not ‘eat’

None / Repetition

None

Recast Give learners the

correct reformulation of the utterance

I ate noodles yesterday

Repetition None

Repetitions Repeat the whole

utterance or just the mistake, often with a stress

I eat (?) noodles yesterday?

Reformulation Low

Metalinguistic

feedback

Give a hint that there was a mistake in the utterance, may or may not indicate the type of error

There’s a mistake / You should use past tense

Reformulation Medium

Elicitations Ask learners to

reformulate, may give more

information if needed

Can you try again? / How can you say that in past tense?

Reformulation High

As shown in Table 1.1, feedback types like explicit error correction or recast

do not require any processing from learners Since instructors already helped to identify the mistake, learners just have to repeat the correct reformulation For repetitions or translation, instructors would often repeat the utterance or the translation with a stress on the mistake Therefore, learners already know what the mistake is and only need to reformulate that part of the utterance Feedback types like metalinguistic feedback or elicitations require higher level of processing because even though learners are told what is wrong with the utterance, they have to work on their own to identify what part to change and how to change it correctly Finally, receiving clarification requests is the most challenging for learners Learners have to rely on their communicative competence to realize that the instructor is implying that there is something wrong with the utterance, which they then analyze by themselves in order to identify and correct the mistake Although it may seem like feedback methods that require higher levels of processing are better,

none of these methods is the definite choice for all cases Each type all has its own advantage that makes it suitable for certain types of learners and situations, and it lies in the teachers’ hands to choose the appropriate one to use

2.2 Using Quizalize in language teaching

2.2.1 Using technology in language teaching

Over the years, along with the its development, people have integrated technology in all aspects of lives Language teaching and learning has also gained benefits from this wonderful creation Contrary to many years ago when it was first introduced and tried out, the use of digital devices like computers or smart phones nowadays is so common that many people cannot imagine going about their lives without them When students come inside classrooms, they often expect to see all kinds of digital devices (e.g., computers, projectors, tablets, speakers, smart boards) installed to help with their learning

The rapid development of online learning has also promoted for the wide use

of technology in language teaching and learning Although online learning and online assessment have been successful for many years in developed countries (Phan & Dang, 2017), online education in developing countries, particularly Vietnam, is still at an early stage (Fitriyah & Jannah, 2021) Despite that, in recent years, there has been a surge in online education all due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 Social distancing regulations paved way for the nation-wide shift from offline to online education and opened up a chance for technology

to take on a bigger role in language learning in Vietnam

The biggest advantage is the fact that technology is so convenient and beneficial Compared to a traditional classroom with whiteboard and chalks, technology creates a more engaging environment for learning by offering all kinds

of visual aids It is also a great time-saver that helps to reduce teachers’ workload a great deal Aside from that, research has shown that the use of technology in the

EFL classroom can boost students’ language acquisition, thus encourage them to further pursue their learning (Azmi, 2017) A study by Passey et al (2003) also supports the idea that technology has positive impacts on pupils’ attitudes and engagement with their school work, as well as their behavior in class Moreover, Azmi (2017) suggests that if used correctly, technology can bring multiple benefits

to the classroom, including the enhancement in learning motivation, interaction, learner autonomy and learning outcomes

Applying technology into teaching and learning gives learners more control, allowing self-assessment to take place (Dror, 2008) With the availability of online tools that give precise and immediate feedback, learners can practice whenever they like and get results instantaneously Aside from making learning convenient, it influences their learning process by giving them a chance to be more autonomous (Louis, 2006) As learners do exercises and get results instantly, they are actually assessing their own performance Conscious learners can take advantage of this and improve themselves accordingly Furthermore, by performing self-assessment before presenting new content, teachers can obtain valuable information concerning learners’ prior knowledge of the matter (Challis, 2005)

These online learning platforms can also work automatically Teachers’ workload can be reduced significantly thanks to automated feedback functions Rather than waiting for their teachers, learners can receive suggestions or hints appropriately and instantly Although many might argue that learners need to possess a certain level of language proficiency in order to fully take advantage of such suggestions (Dikli, 2010; Cavaleri & Dianati, 2016), most learners perceive automated feedback as a positive tool As O’Neill and Russell (2019) suggest, learner satisfaction depends on their teacher’s attitudes during the feedback process and therefore can be improved Based on these previous studies, the automatic feedback function that comes with online learning tools is best utilized when accompanied with an actual teacher’s help In this way, teachers can save time from

giving feedback individually and only need to focus on providing learners with further help where needed Getting direct help from teachers also alleviate the feeling of lacking human interaction that learners might experience with online learning (Hoang & Kunnan, 2016)

2.2.2 Using Quizalize in language teaching

Quizalize works just like any other platforms that provide online Student Response System (SRS), it gives teachers instant results of students’ answers which they can then use to assess students’ comprehension and further facilitate classroom practice In order to achieve the best analysis, teachers can make use of a variety of question types that Quizalize provides, including multiple-choice questions, questions that require matching or categorizing, free text answers, and many more All questions can be accompanied with audio, picture or video to achieve the best visualization

Registration is not required when using Quizalize, learners just need to enter the class code on the website to access and start doing the quiz All of their answers are automatically recorded and analyzed to help teachers monitor learners’ progress For the next times using Quizalize, learners just need to select their own names from the list when they enter the website so as for the data to be recorded accordingly

2.2.2.2 Functions of Quizalize

What makes Quizalize stand out the most is the in-depth data analysis that it provides Figure 1 displays the main result analysis where teacher can navigate among different types of data analysis to provide feedback more effectively

Figure 1.1 Quizalize’s main result analysis Who needs help

For the analysis of learners’ performance, teachers do not just receive a list

of questions that their students answered right or wrong To be specific, based on the percentage of learners’ correct answers, Quizalize sort each of them into different degrees of mastery for each area of skill: ―Strong‖, ―Nearly there‖ and

―Need help‖ It also shows the speed at which learners answered each question, how many attempts they made, and whether there was an improvement if they made more than one attempt Taking advantage of these data, teachers can prioritize their help more effectively by focusing on weaker students first Quizalize also provides

a Results Table to show all learners’ answers for all the questions in the quiz together, in which teachers can choose different modes to view, e.g alphabetically, lowest first, or highest first This function offers a general view on the class’s performance as a whole as well as highlights learners answering patterns for reference

What they need help with

In this section, all the questions are arranged from hardest to easiest by displaying questions with most wrong answers first Each question comes with the number learners who get the wrong or right answers What makes it different from the previous section is the anonymous interface None of the learners’ names are shown here so it is useful for whole class feedback If the teacher prefers to show the names, switching back and forth is just one click away

It is worth mentioning that this function just provides a display for teacher to

go over all the questions and answers again, and to emphasize on the important ones

if needed The specific feedback for individual question has already been given to learners as they finished each question before that

practice Because all learners learn and progress at different pace, this function helps the exercises become more individualized It caters the activities closer to learners’ actual need and eliminate any redundant time when fast finishers have to wait for the slower ones

Improvements

As the name suggests, this function shows how much learners have improved

It can show improvement over multiple attempts at the same quiz or comparison between different quizzes When used throughout the whole course, teachers can picture the overall progress of each learner and identify the slower ones

Subtopics

When creating quizzes, teachers can group questions into smaller groups, or subtopics This function is most useful when there is a quiz with different grammar points Quizalize will show how each learner perform for each subtopic and provide

a list of learners who need help It also offers the ability to create a new quiz comprising all the questions belonging to a certain subtopic which teachers can assign to learners to give them further practice

2.3 Role of the study

Technology application in modern classrooms is not new Many course books are now equipped with iTools, or digital resources to assist in-class activities Teachers are also employing various online tools to gain insights into learners’ progress (Tookoian, 2017) While a lot of attention has been put on giants of the field like Kahoot or Quizlet, lesser known apps with potential like Quizalize also deserve a chance

Aside from the tool itself and instructor’s feedback, whether the tool is effective or not also depends of learners’ attitude towards such tool In order for feedback to be effective, learners need to be able to recognize and appreciate the

feedback, then judge and respond accordingly (Carless & Bound, 2018) In other

words, learners’ opinions of Quizalize can affect their experience with the tool,

hence affect their study

With all that in mind, this research sets out to examine Quizalize’s effects on

learners, aiming to find out whether it has a positive effect on learner competence

quasi-The research also collected data concerning learners’ attitudes about Quizalize through a questionnaire It was an easy way for participants to express their likings

as well as for the researcher to get a gist of all the participants’ preference In addition, a session of group interview was organized for further discussion The researcher took advantage of this session as a chance to clarify the information from the questionnaire and to encourage learners to explain further for their choices

As for the Control group, they also took the same pre-test and post-test as the Experimental group to produce data for comparison However, since they did not go through their learning periods with Quizalize, no questionnaire or interview session was necessary The different research processes for the two groups is shown in Table 3.1:

Table 3.1 Research Process for Experimental group and Control group

Group Pre-test Teaching process Post-test Questionnaire

and group interview Experimental

group

Grammar test

Learners do exercises and receive feedback through Quizalize

Grammar test

Yes

Control

group

Grammar test

Learners do exercises

on their books and receive feedback normally, without the help of technology

Grammar test

No

3.2 Research site and participants

Owing to the familiarity with the course book as well as the teaching environment, this study was conducted at a language center in Ho Chi Minh city where the researcher is currently working All participants are teenagers aged 12-16 Choosing teenagers as participants for this research had certain advantages Firstly, teenagers belong to the age group that can adapt most easily to new things At this age, they have already familiarized themselves with a lot of digital devices and other technology, meaning they will take no time to adapt to this new teaching tool and gain the most benefit from it As a result, the researcher can save quite a big amount of time helping and guiding learners to use this new tool and use that time and energy instead to adjust the teaching techniques to provide better feedback Secondly, these fierce youngsters are not afraid to voice their opinions During the researching period, they can help to give ideas and suggestions of what they prefer

There were 37 participants in this study, belonging to two English classes of the same level These were also the classes which the researcher was in charge of

Therefore, in this study, the researcher had dual roles as a teacher-researcher The understanding of learners’ preference can be of great help during the researching stage, which is a great benefit Meanwhile, possible drawbacks may come from the researcher’s personal relationship with the participants

This current study was a quasi-experiment and the sampling method was convenient sampling Although random sampling was not ensured, it should be noted that the students were put into these two classes randomly by the institution Additionally, the institution’s policy requires each student to complete the previous course with reasonable score in order to move up New students are also required to take an assessment test to evaluate their language competence These measurements help ensure that learners in the same class are of roughly the same level In the current case, these students belong to level B1, or the third level of English in the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) Commonly, it is referred to

as ―intermediate‖ level

Before starting the research, all the learners from the two groups were asked to provide related personal information to offer the researcher an overview of their characteristics The details are given in Table 3.2

Table 3.2 Participants’ characteristics

Variables

Groups Experimental group Control group

= 1.43 in Control group The mean age is 13.6 for Experimental group and 13.9 in Control group As they belong to the new generation, the majority of these learners started learning English at a very young age of 4-5 years old, giving them 6-10 years’ experience of learning English With such a long background of learning English, they have experienced many styles and methods of teaching English This helped them form a general idea of what they like or dislike about what goes on during the lesson, which they could provide as suggestions for the teacher while trying out this new tool

Beside participants’ characteristics, because this study concerns the application of an Internet tool, learners’ technological experience was also taken

into consideration Table 3.3 demonstrates their past experience with computers and

habits of using the Internet

Table 3.3 Participants' technological experience and habits

Variables

Groups Experimental group

Control group

1 Do you have your own

electronic device to access

online materials (e.g

computer, smart phone)

2 Is the Internet connection

stable at your home?

3 How much time do you

spend online every day?

Less than 1 hour 4 20% 3 17.6% 1-3 hours 11 55% 12 70.6% 3-5 hours 4 20% 2 11.8%

5 hours and more 1 5% 0 0%

4 Have you used any

get hold of an electronic device when needed The Internet situation is also different among learners Learners with a Wi-Fi connection express no trouble connecting and learning online, while learners who use mobile data (e.g 3G or 4G) occasionally experience slow or interrupted Internet connection It is not surprising that all the learners in both experimental and control group have a habit of using the Internet daily, mostly for 1-3 hours

As mentioned before, these young learners have a lot of experience with different teaching methods and tools All learners from both groups said that they had used English learning websites in class before This happens due to the fact that the Covid-19 pandemic preceding this study made online learning compulsory for these learners During that period, they all used Zoom as the learning platform and other websites like Kahoot, Quizziz or Blooket for extra practice and games Our language center also requires learners to do online practice as homework, which resulted in more Internet experience for many of them, while some others were too lazy and admitted to never have done any In fact, most learners admitted that besides these school-related works, they hardly use their own time online for any further language practice For them, computers and online time are mainly for entertainment or discovering other things rather than school subjects

3.3 Research instruments

This study gathered data through many sources: a set of tests (pre-tests and post-tests) to answer the first research question and a combination of questionnaire and group interview to answer the second research question

3.3.1 Pre-tests and post-tests

The pre-test and post-test were used to gather quantitative data required to answer the first research question To determine whether receiving corrective feedback through Quizalize affects EFL learners’ grammatical competence, the researcher collected learners’ scores in the grammar tests before and after the

experiment period from both experimental and control groups These tests were designed to the commence of the research to make sure that they were of equal difficulty and that there was no bias on the researcher’s side While the researcher could emphasize and reinforce important grammatical points during the experiment period to help the participants, she was not allowed to alter the post-test’s content to suit to their ability Therefore, participants’ scores for the two tests were a reliable source for analysis

pre-The pre-test and post-test shared the same amount of questions for each grammar point that was discussed throughout the 12 weeks of the course Grammatical points, which range from tenses (present and past tenses) to smaller grammatical points like articles, model verbs or comparison, have all been taught to learners in previous courses That is why in this course, learners mainly review and explore deeper These tests are the exact practice tests that come as supplementary materials for the course book The specific proportion of the tests is shown in Table 3.4, and the actual tests can be found in Appendix A

Table 3.4 Format of the pre-test and post-test

Test requirement Grammar area Number of questions

1 Complete the sentences with

the correct forms of the verb

Future tenses 4 First conditional 1

3.3.2 Questionnaire and group interview

At the end of the experiment period, the experimental group was given a questionnaire to express their attitudes towards receiving feedback through Quizalize in grammar lessons Using a questionnaire was convenient since most people are familiar with it Moreover, other methods like interviews or focus groups both take more time than filling out questionnaires, which might make the participants uncomfortable Additionally, even at this age, not all teenagers are eloquent and comfortable enough to voice their thoughts so they might not be able

to express their attitudes towards the matter This problem can be resolved with the use of a well-designed questionnaire In order to collect the qualitative data, all participants answered the questions by rating a list of statements from 1 to 5 in a Likert scale (with 1: strongly disagree, 2: disagree, 3: neutral, 4: agree, 5: strongly agree)

After completing the questionnaire, the researcher also conducted a group interview to obtain additional thoughts from participants The reason for choosing

to organize a group interview rather than individual interview is due to the time constraint as well as these young learners’ characteristics Firstly, the study was conducted within the learning hours of the course, which meant learners could not stay back to have proper interview sessions Therefore, a group interview was adopted to make sure the researcher can get opinions from as many participants as possible without interfering with their own time outside learning hours It is also worth mentioning that the group interview was conducted on the last day of the course after the post-test as well as their official final test for the course in order not

to affect their learning period Secondly, as mentioned before, not all teenagers are comfortable and eloquent enough to express their opinions That is why a group interview was chosen Because the post-test and questionnaire was conducted on the previous date, the teacher had time to go over the questionnaire results to get the gist and take note of possible issues The group interview was then carried out on

the last day of the course, after learners had taken their official final test With the questionnaire results at hand, the teacher was able to ask the participants to further elaborate their choices Shy learners who were not in the habit of sharing opinions were encouraged to express their agreement with any of their friends’ points or the teachers’ suggestions Hearing their peers open up was also a stimulator for some of them to share more and clarify their questionnaire choices In general, the classroom environment where everyone gets along well was ideal for this sharing session

To avoid any unnecessary misunderstanding and make it easier for learners to express themselves, all the content of the questionnaire as well as the group interview was written and discussed in Vietnamese After obtaining all the satisfying data, the researcher was able to reach a conclusion for the second research question

3.4 Data collecting procedure

The research period took 12 weeks to complete, which was also the duration

of the English course that the two groups were attending The experimental period lasted from week 2 to week 10 Before that was the preparation stage where necessary information was collected, especially the pre-test data After the experimental period was time for the post-test, questionnaire and group interview The specific research procedure is illustrated in Figure 3.1 below

Figure 3.1 Research procedure

On the first week, the researcher explained the procedure and purpose of the study to all the participants in the experimental class and asked for their consent to proceed with the research All of the learners in the experimental group had no objection to trying out a new tool for this new class, and most were eager to help

To better understand the participants’ characteristics, the researcher asked for learners from both groups to fill out some information concerning their basic information, background of learning English, technological experience and habits of Internet using All of these have been presented and discussed in previous chapters

On this first week, all learners also completed a quick 15-minute grammar test

 Characteristics information

 Pre-test

Experimental group Control group

Using Quizalize to do exercises and give feedback

Using books to do exercises and give feedback traditionally

which also served as the pre-test for this current study It consisted of grammatical questions on the grammatical points that learners were going to learn throughout the course The results showcased the students’ initial grammatical competence and indicated where they were with these grammar points

From week 2 to week 10, for each grammar lesson, all the learners in the control class followed the norm where they worked on the exercises in their own books and received feedback from the teacher without the help of any technological tools As for the experimental group, participants completed their workload on Quizalize, an online platform Teacher got results of all the learners’ performance in real-time and provided immediate corrective feedback with the help of the analysis given by the website

Week 11 of the course has no grammar lesson Rather, this week is used as the final review so that learners can take their final test on the last week, week 12 Taking advantage of this course outline, the researcher conducted the final review

as usual for both groups and then had them both complete the post-test to help them review further as well as to obtain data for analysis As mentioned earlier, this post-test was designed to be of the same difficulty level as the pre-test For the control group, their part ended here right after the post-test whereas participants from the experimental group were asked to complete a questionnaire to express their opinions over their experience with this technological approach The questionnaire was designed to collect all the data in quantitative form, with the questions requiring answers using a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5 (from Strongly Disagree

to Strongly Agree) The purpose of this design was to save time obtaining data, seeing that learners did not have much time left on that particular day In addition, the data collecting method by using questionnaires was convenient for all learners, especially those who are not very comfortable with expressing their opinions