The application of game-based learning for Chinese vocabulary skill of grade 8 Thai students

Abstract

The mixed methods study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of using game-based learning for improving grade 8 Thai students’ learning achievement in Chinese vocabulary skill and to investigate grade 8 Thai students’ opinion towards the use of games in Chinese classes. The experiment was conducted in one of Bangkok bilingual schools with 20 students for over four weeks. The quantitative data was collected by the researcher through learning achievement tests, including pretest and posttest. The qualitative data was collected from the semi-structured interview and classroom observation. The results of the learning achievement were analyzed by Wilcoxon signed rank test, which showed that all the students had improved their scores in posttest as compared to pretest. The mean difference of 6.70 between posttest (13.45) and pretest (6.75) proved that the use of game-based learning improved the scores of students. In addition, the data collected from the interview and the classroom observation showed that the students had positive attitudes and opinion in using games to learn Chinese vocabulary. The findings revealed that the students were engaged in and satisfied to use games in Chinese vocabulary classes. Besides, it had also increased their interest in Chinese learning. Therefore, this study recommended using game-based learning to learn Chinese vocabulary and enhance students’ opinion in Chinese classes