INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH VOLUME 9, ISSUE 02, FEBRUARY 2020 ISSN 2277-8616 1976 IJSTR©2020 www.ijstr.org Game On! Development And Evaluation Of Computer Games For ESL Classroom Karmila Rafiqah M. Rafiq, Fetylyana Nor Pazilah, Goh Ying Tong, Melor Md Yunus, Harwati Hashim Abstract: Technology has become a necessity in everyone’s lives and in the education field, technology plays an assisting role, whereby the teaching and learning sessions are usually accompanied by technology. Despite using technology in education, the English as a Second Language (ESL) learners still portray a decline in their English language competency due to lack of vocabularies, which inhibit their proficiency in speaking and writing. Hence, it is important to identify the most suitable tool in teaching ESL vocabularies to learners, starting at a young age. In this 21st-century era, games are becoming popular, especially among teenagers, which resulted in the term gamified-learning. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to design, develop and evaluate the effectiveness of using PowerPoint games in improving ESL learners’ vocabularies. An empirical study involving 37 Malaysian lower secondary school students was carried out, whereby a pre-test and post-test were given prior and after three interventions respectively. Then, a survey and document analysis were carried out to triangulate the data. The findings from the post-test showed a massive improvement in learners’ vocabularies. The results from the survey portrayed that learners have positive perceptions of gamified-learning. This shows that gamified-learning is effective and positively accepted among ESL learners. This paper implied that teachers should modify their teaching methods, to suit the current generation, which can be done by incorporating games into the lesson. Future research can focus more on the different genres of games suited to the different level of students. Index Terms: Education, English as a second language (ESL), gamified-learning, motivation, vocabulary, teaching and learning, technology-enhanced language learning ———————————————————— 1 INTRODUCTION The technological advancement in this era has aided many tasks [1]. The revolution has created many opportunities for technology to embed itself into various industries as it is practical and efficient [2], [3]. The education industry has proved its loyalty towards technology as many teaching and learning sessions are complemented with technology due to its assisting and motivating nature [4], [5], [6]. One of the tools well-known among younger learners is the gamified-learning, which could be beneficial in the education sector [7]. Technology has been widely used in education. Despite countless controversies on whether technology will bring negative or positive effects to the learners, it still made its debut in the education field with tremendous applause [8]. However, upon graduating, the learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) still have problems in their communicative competence as it is not up to the standard of employers [9]. One reason for this issue is that learners were not well-equipped with ESL vocabularies when they were in school [10]. The teaching of vocabulary is usually associated with the traditional method of teaching, but learning in the 21st-century era should be related to technologies because younger learners are more technology-savvy [11]. The incorporation of technologies will further motivate them to learn better. Therefore, this paper aimed to design, develop and evaluate the effectiveness of using PowerPoint games in improving ESL learners’ vocabularies. 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Vocabularies in Language Learning Vocabulary is one of the most important elements in language learning and having a wide vocabulary range is crucial because it will help in understanding the written and spoken language [12]. To ensure the students’ understanding on the words, it is important to have effective vocabulary instruction such as direct instruction, repeated exposure, contextualising words, and opportunities for word interaction and active engagement [13]. PowerPoint Presentation is a type of presentation software (PS) that allows operators to show coloured texts and images with simple animation and sound. It also helps to create audio, visual as well as audio-visual effects in the classrooms while teaching and can be exceedingly effective in attracting and sustaining students’ attention [8]. Games can also be created in PowerPoint, which can be efficient to teachers due to its nature as it does not need any internet connection. 2.2 Games in Education With the current advancement of technology, games are not only used as a form of entertainment but also for educational purposes [4]. Games in education changed the nature of learning, from teacher-centred to a more student-centred approach [14]. Gamification is a new term which brings the meaning of games in education [13] and it includes the game elements, which are embedded into non-games’ applications and are hypothesized to bring positivity in learners’ attitude and behaviour [15]. In the education field, it is more known as gamified-learning, whereby teachers modify the teaching aids and include games’ principles [13]. In order to ensure games are well created for educational purposes, the gamified- learning theory should be taken into account. Gamification which involves the integration of game elements in a non- game context has become a tremendously popular method that can improve classroom instruction at a relatively low cost [16]. The use of games in general and gamification, in particular, has been considered as one of the most prominent and effective instructional methods in language learning. Gamification is used to motivate students and increase their engagement as well as their motivation during the learning _____________________________________ • Karmila Rafiqah M. Rafiq is currently pursuing masters degree program in education (TESL) in the Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia. E-mail: karmilarafiqah@gmail.com • Fetylyana Nor Pazilah is currently pursuing masters degree program in education (TESL) in the Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia. • Goh Ying Tong is currently pursuing masters degree program in education (TESL) in the Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia. • Melor Md Yunus is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia. She is the corresponding author. E-mail: melor@ukm.edu.my • Harwati Hashim is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia.