the use of games for vocabulary presentation and revision

Using Games to Promote Communicative Skills in Language Learning

This article considers the reasons why games serve as excellent communicative activities. The use of games can be a powerful language learning tool. On the surface, the aim of all language games is for students to "use the language"; however, during game play learners also use the target language to persuade and negotiate their way to desired results. This process involves the productive and receptive skills simultaneously. In this article the author also shares her experience of some interesting games and their application in the language classroom.

Introduction

• are learner centered.
• promote communicative competence.
• create a meaningful context for language use.
• increase learning motivation.
• reduce learning anxiety.
• integrate various linguistic skills.
• encourage creative and spontaneous use of language.
• construct a cooperative learning environment.
• foster participatory attitudes of the students.

Some Fun Games

I. mysterious landmarks.

• Competitors assemble a 20-piece jigsaw puzzle of a world famous landmark (such as the Eiffel Tower, Mt. Fuji the Great Wall, etc).
• Then they describe puzzle image in five sentences to complete the task.

II. What's the Number?

• Participants use the four basic operations (addition, subtraction, division and multiplication) to compute a simple mathematical equation provided orally by the instructor.
• They call out the correct answer as soon as possible.

III. Story Time

• Participants pick and listen to a tape randomly selected from a provided stack of tapes (the recording contains a spoken excerpt of a well-known children's story, such as the Snow White, the Ginger Bread Man, etc).
• After listening to the entire excerpt, competitors correctly identify the title of the story from a provided list.

IV. Art Master

• The instructor describes a picture orally.
• Competitors simultaneously recreate the picture on a sheet of paper, correctly including named objects in accurate positions.

V. What's Cooking?

• Participants read a recipe and make the dish.
• The amount of ingredients and assembly process must follow exactly the instructions laid out in the recipe.
• The participants eat the dish they have prepared, all together and as fast as possible, because whoever finishes the five tasks first wins the entire competition.

Observations

• Horwitz, E.K., Horwitz, M.B., and Cope, J.A. 1986. Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal 70 (2): 125-132.
• Nuyen, N.T.T. & Nga, K.T.T. 2003. The effectiveness of learning vocabulary through games. Asian EFL Journal 5. http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/dec_03_sub.Vn.html (accessed September 25, 2004 )
• Prasad, U. 2003. Achieving communicative competence in English. India's National Newspaper (29, July). http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/edu/2003/07/29/stories/2003072900010200.htm (accessed September 25, 2004 )
• Saricoban, A. and Metin, E. 2000. Songs, verse and games for teaching grammar. The Internet TESL Journal 6 (10). http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Saricoban-Songs.html (accessed September 27, 2004 )
• Uberman, A. 1998. The use of games: for vocabulary presentation and revision. English Teaching Forum 36 (1): 20. http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol36/no1/p20.htm (accessed September 27, 2004 )

ELT Learning Journeys

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Vocabulary revision games: Part 2

This post is the second in a series of blog posts about vocabulary revision. In this one, I’m going to list my five favourite games. For a handy list of principles that can guide you to choose the best activities to revise vocabulary, check out my previous post.

What makes a successful vocabulary revision game?

Let’s have a look at some engaging games that also tick all the boxes above:

Game no. 1: Word blurt

Have you ever seen an episode of the Jimmy Fallon show? Jimmy invites celebrities and he does not only have conversations with them but also plays lots of games, sings with them, etc. 

If I see a game, I immediately think about whether there is a way I can use it with my students. One of the best games from the show that you can also use for vocabulary revision is ‘Word blurt’. Here’s a snippet of Jimmy Fallon playing the game with Kristen Steward:

If you want to see the full video, you can find it here.

As you can see, this game is about associations. Students look at a word (in their Quizlet sets, on the board where the teacher writes them or in a breakout room, chosen by the third person in the group) and the players both have to say the first thing that comes to mind. Then, they talk about why they said that particular word. This game can lead to lots of interesting and funny conversations which can make the items much more memorable in the long run.

Game no. 2: Information gap crosswords

Information gap crosswords are often featured in teachers’ resource books and are a great way to get students to work with vocabulary. Students get the same crosswords but they have different boxes filled in. They have to hide their crosswords from each other and ask questions to find the missing words. This is an example from one of my upper-intermediate groups:

Student 1: ‘What’s 16 across? Student 2: It’s an adjective which can describe a person, a place or even piece of clothing. For example I really don’t like going to -BEEP- parties because I don’t like dressing up. Student 1: Elegant? Student 2: It’s similar! It’s also a verb, which means ‘like’ or ‘would like’. For example, I can ask you: ‘Do you -BEEP- a beer?’ Student 1: Ah, fancy!

You can create your customized gapped crosswords on this website. 

All you have to do is type the words that you want to revise and select ‘Information gap puzzle’. Then just click on make puzzle at the bottom of the page and your game is ready to be printed or sent out!

Game no. 3: Categories

This game can be played in groups and in a one-to-one setup as well. The reason I like this game is because it’s very personalized, and it’s very different every time we play it. The rules are the following:

Students are given the vocabulary items (on pieces of paper or in a digital format, which I will talk about later) and they have to arrange them into categories based on their meanings. I usually give them 3 rules

• one category has to be minimum 2, maximum 5 words (of course, feel free to change these numbers)
• the categorization can’t be based on the part of speech (e.g. verbs) or the spelling (they all start with the letter b) – it needs to be meaning-based
• You need to explain why you put certain words in a category (either to your teacher or to the other students in your group)

Here’s an example from a lesson when we were reviewing vocabulary related to the environment:

Here comes the hardest part: we (teachers) need to take a step back! 🙂 Of course, if students are struggling with some expressions because they don’t remember them, you can jump in. However, you can also use this opportunity to train your students to be better at working out the meaning (from the root, how the word sounds, etc) and even to use monolingual dictionaries. 

If you want to give this game a spin, you can then ask one or more team members to go to another team (or move them between the breakout rooms). When they go to the new team, the students who stayed there have to explain their rules for creating the categories. The newcomers have the task to criticize it! They ask questions and try to look for mistakes. This way, students can practise debating and explaining words, too. 

If you teach online, you can use GoogleJamboard or Flippity for this game (in Flippity, look for ‘Manipulatives). All you have to do is prepare the words and share the link with your students. On Jamboard, as you can see above, students can also use different colours for the categories. You will have to duplicate the slide and have one for each team. If you are too lazy to do that (or want to train your students to select the vocabulary items that are most relevant to them ;)), you can get them to create word lists for other teams, too.

Game no. 4: Tell me about yourself

This game is very simple and actually requires no preparation whatsoever. Students look at the vocab item (I usually just get them to open one of their Quizlet sets and shuffle the words in ‘Flashcards’ mode) and say a sentence about themselves. The others (or the teacher, in a one-to-one setup) have to decide whether this statement is true or false. Before they do so, I always get them to check whether the sentence is grammatically correct and if the vocabulary item is used correctly. 

For example, here is a vocab item that I revised with one of my students last week:

So my sentence was: I find it very easy to strike a balance between work and life, I always prioritize my well-being and family over work.

–» This is false, it’s actually pretty hard for me. It’s a good sentence because it’s a compound one (which I usually urge my students to do, too, depending on the level) and it can open a conversation, too. It’s also a good way to establish that in a one-to-one setup the student should also be asking questions, in order to become a better communicator.

Game no. 5: Noughts and crosses 

Noughts and crosses is the simplest game ever and it doesn’t require any preparation. All you need is a chart and a word in each cell. Of course, this could be created by your students, too. Here’s an example with animals:

When you are playing the game, students work in two teams or in breakout rooms in pairs (or threes if you want to include a person who checks the sentences and monitors the game – which I highly recommend if you are teaching teenagers). One student chooses a word and has to create a sentence. Of course, in order to be able to choose a word, you have to know the meaning, you can’t really bluff here.

Make sure that students know that the sentence has to be a compound one and of course grammatically correct. If they come up with a correct sentence, they can draw their sign (a nought or a cross – use a marker or the annotation tool for this). 

When I’m teaching one-to-one, I am the opponent, but to make it fair, I have to come up with a sentence that is true about the student. If it isn’t true, I don’t get to draw my sign.

I hope you liked these games and try them in one of your lessons. As you can see, none of them requires much, if any preparation, and they all tick the boxes of what makes a vocabulary revision task successful.

Happy revising! 🙂 

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The Use of Games for Vocabulary Representation and Revision to Young Learners – Mgr. Kateřina Špalková

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Mgr. Kateřina Špalková

Bachelor's thesis, the use of games for vocabulary representation and revision to young learners, thesis defence.

• Supervisor: Mgr. Ivana Hrozková, Ph.D.

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Iso 690-compliant citation record:, full text of thesis, contents of on-line thesis archive, other ways of accessing the text, masaryk university.

Bachelor programme / field: Specialization in Education / Lower Secondary School Teacher Training in English Language and Literature

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Using Games as a Tool in Teaching Vocabulary to Young Learners

Over the last few decades, teaching English become a phenomenon in Saudi Arabia, especially to young learners. English is taught as a main subject in kindergarten and elementary schools. Like any other children, Saudis accept new foreign languages easily, but they get bored very fast if the teacher is teaching them using the old conventional methods and techniques. The aim of this paper is to prove that games are effective tools when devised to explain vocabularies and they make it easier to remember their meanings. This paper deals with a literature review of teaching English vocabulary to young learners using games. Then it discusses the importance of using games in teaching vocabulary and in what way using them is helpful. After that it investigates the practical implications of using games to teach vocabulary that includes the implementation of vocabulary games and some examples of games that could be used to teach vocabulary to children. And finally it examines challenges teachers face when teaching vocabulary using games to young learners.

Related Papers

i-manager’s Journal on English Language Teaching

euis rahayu

One of the difficult parts of learning the language for English learner language is the acquisition of vocabulary because they have not changed their learning habits, such as writing words on paper, trying to learn by heart or learning passively through the teacher's explanations. Using educational games for teaching vocabulary has been very popular for several decades. The aim of this paper is to prove that games are effective tools when devised to explain vocabularies and they make it easier to remember their meanings. This paper deals with a literature review of teaching English vocabulary for EFL using games. Then it discusses the importance of using games in teaching vocabulary and in what way using them is helpful. After that it investigates the practical implications of using games to teach vocabulary that includes the implementation of vocabulary games and some examples of games that could be used to teach vocabulary to English Foreign Learners. And finally it examines challenges teachers face when teaching vocabulary using games to EFL. Different studies revealed that games are beneficial in vocabulary learning because they enhance students' ability to memorize words, encourage student's interaction, improve their communicative skills and enhance students' motivation. Games also can help the teachers to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful.

The Effect of Using Educational Games as a Tool in Teaching English Vocabulary to Arab Young Children: A Quasi-Experimental Study in a Kindergarten School in Saudi Arabia

Alaa M . Saleh , Abeer Althaqafi

Vocabulary is an essential element of English language learning. There are many strategies, which teachers can use in teaching vocabulary, especially to young learners. One of these strategies is using educational games to teach vocabulary more effectively. The aim of this quasi-experimental study is to investigate the effect of using educational games on the vocabulary learning of young children. The research was conducted at a kindergarten in Saudi Arabia, in which the participants were 40 Arab young learners. They were between 5 and 6 years old, and all of them were nonnative speakers. Participants were divided into two groups, control, and experimental group. The experimental and control group comprised of twenty students each. The experimental group was taught using games in which the children were involved. On the other hand, the control group was taught using a more "traditional" method by repetition. A vocabulary-based test, presenting as a pretest, post-test, and delayed post-test, was assigned to both groups. The study revealed that applying educational games as a learning technique with young learners, increased learner engagement, improved knowledge absorption and retention, and gave learners the opportunity to see real word application. Accordingly, this study recommends using educational games in teaching vocabulary more creatively with young learners.

Sudip Neupane

Miftah asafari

Zatusy Naim

Prof. Dr. Onur KÖKSAL , Eda Demirel

Having the essential role of games in vocabulary teaching in mind, the study focused on the effectiveness of games. Thus, the present study aimed to find out whether there is a difference between the 4th grades and the 7th grades in terms of teaching vocabulary through games. A comparative research design was applied within the study. Pre-tests, post-tests, course-books, workbooks, games and worksheets were used as instruments. The experimental groups were taught through games and the control groups were taught through current-curriculum methods. After the implementation process, the pre and post-tests' scores were calculated. According to the results, vocabulary instruction through games was found to be more efficient than the current-curriculum methods for the 4th grades, no significant difference was found within the groups of the 7th grades, and using games to teach vocabulary in the 4th grades was found to be more effective compared to using games to teach vocabulary in the 7th grades. Studying the previous research, it has been seen that there is no comparison between primary and secondary school students' vocabulary learning levels through games. Therefore, the results of the study are expected to shed light on this lack in the field.

International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research

Ranmeet Kaur

Teaching students to understand vocabulary in the English language is important, and yet challenging. Students are not eager to learn vocabulary due to its complexity and would perceive that vocabulary lessons as dull and unexciting. With the purpose of injecting the element of play and learning in a vocabulary classroom, this study investigated the effectiveness of using language games in teaching vocabulary in a secondary school in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia. Language games were chosen as they could expose students to a more fun and interactive way of learning vocabulary as element of fun in a learning environment would be appealing to students regardless of their varying learning styles and language proficiency. This study was conducted in a government secondary school in Shah Alam, Malaysia involving 33 Form 1 ESL students from a mixedproficiency class where data was collected quantitatively using Pre-test and Post-test questions and open ended and close ended questionnaires....

Developing and applying a foreign language vocabulary learning and practice game: The effect of VocaWord

Uğur Recep Çetinavcı

The present study reports on the findings related to the effect of playing a vocabulary learning and practicing game in elementary English classes at university level, and the attitudes and beliefs of the subjects about playing games with the purpose of learning the foreign language. The subjects were 70 first year university students from two different departments at the faculty of education. A vocabulary quiz that was prepared in accordance with the curriculum and the course book was applied as pre and post test. The results revealed that the experimental group subjects have doubled the vocabulary improvement rate of the control group subjects. The findings demonstrated that there was a slight difference between the performance of the female and male students in favour of the female subjects. The findings revealed positive thoughts and beliefs related to the game they played during their course, and using games in language classes. We have concluded that there is a need for more language games that might concentrate on the different aspects of learning a foreign language, and that the educational philosophies, methodologies, and techniques as well as the language curriculums should be rearranged and modified to meet the needs and interests of the new age learners.

Jurnal Dedikasi Pendidikan

siti safura

This study was aimed at improving vocabulary mastery through games. It is to see whether game can improve students’ vocabulary mastery and to know the effectiveness of using game in teaching class. The participants of this study were 10 students and one English lecturer at University of Muhammadiyah Aceh. The data were obtained from questionnaires that distributed to students and interview one lecturer to add more information. In analyzing the data, this study applied the qualitative descriptive method. The result of this study reveals that the implementation of game in teaching learning process is effective in which it encourages students’ motivation and involvement during the learning process. Indeed, it becomes the relevant way for lecturer to improve students’ vocabulary mastery.

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14 Great Review Games to Engage Your Classroom

Classroom engagement is key to a successful learning environment.

“Student engagement is the product of motivation and active learning. It is a product rather than a sum because it will not occur if either element is missing.” ― Elizabeth F. Barkley, Student Engagement Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty

It's important for students to be active participants in the classroom, though we know how difficult it can be. One way to create energetic engagement, while also keeping students on task and helping them prepare for lessons or tests, is to use review games.

We've put together 14 different types of review games to keep your students engaged and learning!

Word Cloud Game

Word cloud games are an amazing way to have general review sessions with your students without putting any pressure on them to speak in front of the entire class. Word clouds also work great for teachers to get a general feel for areas where students might be struggling to understand.

Using our Word Cloud Game slide deck, you can create several prompts overviewing different areas the students need to study. For example, ask what the most difficult thing to understand was in a specific section. Or what they'd like to have explained again/in more depth.

Our word clouds allow students to make a response and also vote for one or multiple responses by the rest of the class. This will give you, and the students, a visual representation of what they'd like to learn more about or get more clarity on.

Deal or No Deal

While you might need to plan a bit ahead for this particular game, the engagement you'll get from your kiddos will be well worth it!

Pick 20 or 30 game 'events', or bonuses and penalties, which relate to your content. For example, adding points, subtracting points, bonus turn, lose a turn, etc. Write each event on the back of a post-it note and display them, numbered, on the board.

Divide the class in half and ask questions back and forth between each team. If the team answers the questions correctly in the allotted amount of time, they get to decide to get 1 point or to make a deal.

Students will take turns picking a card and reading it aloud. The team then decides together if the event is a 'deal' or 'no deal'. If it's a deal, the student keeps the card and gets the reward or penalty. If it's no deal, the student gets 1 point, like usual. The goal is to have the most points at the end of the game!

Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger hunts are such a fun way to get students up and moving around the classroom, while also learning! We especially love scavenger hunts for math reviews .

To create your own scavenger hunt, make numbered posters with 2 pieces of information on it: At the top, include the answer to a math question on another poster. At the bottom, place a new question, without the answer.

Create an answer sheet for yourself that includes all the station questions and answers.

Once you've created your posters, place them around the room. Divide your class into groups and place some at each station. Give the groups a set amount of time to complete each problem. After that time is over, give about 30 seconds for them to find the station with the answer for their previous question.

Students should continue until they're back at their original question!

These scavenger hunts can be as simple and short or complex and long as you want. And while math is a favorite topic for us, you can use the format for a wide range of subjects!

Word Ladder

Word Ladders are the perfect activity to go over vocabulary lists for older children or work on phonics for younger children. And, this review activity is super easy to plan and takes very little preparation.

To create the best word ladder review game, start with a word at the bottom of the ladder. Write that word in huge letters on a piece of chart paper or poster board. Then, write a new vocabulary word above it, changing only 1 letter of the first word. So, if your first word was 'cat', your second word could be 'cot'.

The goal is to make it all the way to the top of the ladder!

For a more complex word ladder , set a word at the top and bottom, with the goal being to find just the right combination to get from one word to the next.

You can create ladders for any content area, and they're perfect for a quick review at the end of a unit or before a test.

Word Jumble

If you want to review vocabulary, word jumbles are a great way to add a little fun to the process. While you are more than welcome to create your own word jumble, we highly recommend using a word scrambler .

Want to make your word jumbles even more accessible and create more interaction with your students? Use our Class Quiz slide deck and add in the jumbled words or phrases and have your student’s type in their answers on their phones.

While you can decide how many answers are shown in class (we don't recommend showing more than 5!), with our Pro Plan , you can save the data and see which students got the answers correct.

Jeopardy is another one of those review games that may take a while, but is definitely worth the effort. Like the classic game show, pick 6 categories on things you're studying in the current lesson. For each category, create 5 questions going from easy to hard and worth different amounts of points - Starting at 100 and going to 500.

Play with the whole class or in teams. Students will choose a category and point value, then you'll read the question. The first person to buzz in gets to answer. If they're correct, they get the points! If they're wrong, they lose those same amount of points.

Bingo is a review game with such versatility, we won't be surprised if it becomes one of your favorites. Bingo can be used for math, vocabulary, or (for younger students) learning sight words .

To create your bingo review game, start by creating a list of 25 math solutions, terms, or words you want to review, along with their answers or definitions. Write each term in a different box on a bingo card of 9 or 16 blocks (3x3 or 4x4). Or make the whole process easier and use a bingo card generator !

Then, using your answer sheet, give the math problem, vocabulary word definition, or show a picture of the sight word. Whichever student fills a row first, wins!

The classic game headbands isn't just for games' night anymore! It's also a fun, giggle-inducing way to review for a class!

To start, write a review term on a post-it note and have students wear them as headbands. Each student must stick the note to their forehead without looking at it. Their goal is to figure out what the term on their forehead is.

For example, if one person has the word "Nectar" written on his sticky note, teammates would give them hints, such as a sugar-rich liquid that attracts pollinating animals, or something that a hummingbird drinks, until they guess the answer. If they can't guess in 20-30 seconds, they are out! The game is over when only one team has players left or when all terms have been guessed.

Trivia Competition

We love a good trivia game here at Slides With Friends, so you shouldn't be surprised to see a trivia game on our list of review games.

Our favorite slide deck for a trivia review is our Trivia Competition game.

What makes our trivia slide deck so amazing is it can be used for almost any subject. You have complete control over how it's customized - How long it is, what slides are included, and what questions are asked.

$10,000 Pyramid

If you're comfortable with a little chaos in your classroom, this is probably the review game for you.

To start, create a pyramid with space for 1 word on top, 2 in the middle, and 3 on the bottom. Add words, concepts, or phrases to these 6 blank spots, making a version for each round. Then, pair off your students and have them sit back to back. Have the first student start describing the first word at the base of the pyramid, giving hints to their partner until every word is guessed in bottom to top order.

The first team to get all 6 words or phrases wins! Then have the teams switch partners, with the student that had been giving clues now being the one to receive them.

Word Association Game

Another great way to have students learn their vocabulary words, while also getting their hearts pumping, is to play a word association game.

Give your students a list of vocabulary words and have them stand up. When you say a word, the first student to shout out a word associated with it gets a point. If they can't think of one, they sit down. The game is over when only one person is left standing or when all the words have been used.

You could also play this game with a twist - instead of the first person to shout out an associated word getting a point, the last person to do so loses a point.

What's Your Opinion?

For this game, you'll need some review questions that can be answered with opinions, such as "Who is your favorite president?" or "What is your favorite color?"

To start, have students form a circle. Then, choose one student to start by asking them the first question. The student that they ask can answer the question or pass it off to someone else by saying "I don't know." If they answer the question, the person to their left goes next. But if they say "I don't know," the person to their right gets to choose whether to answer the question or pass it off.

If someone answers three questions in a row, they get a point! The first person to reach five points wins.

You can also play this game with teams of two or more, with each team taking turns asking and answering questions.

This is a classic game that can be played with almost any subject.

To start, choose a list of review terms or concepts. For each term, come up with a list of words that cannot be used to describe it. For example, if the term is "apple," the taboo words might be "fruit," "red," "round," or "food."

Then, put students into pairs and have them sit across from each other. One student will be the clue-giver and the other will try to guess the term. The clue-giver can say anything they want to describe the term, except for the taboo words.

If the guesser hears a taboo word, they can call it out and the clue-giver loses their turn. The first team to guess the term gets a point, and the first team to reach five points wins!

You could also play this game with teams of two or more, with each team taking turns being the clue-givers.

Family Feud

Another review game students can play in teams, or 'families', is family fued! Like the popular TV show, this game pits two teams against each other in a race to answer questions.

Divide the class into two teams. One member of each team must battle against one another to answer a review question. If they get it correct, their team earns a point. Have the remainder of the crew write the answers to the questions in their notebooks while they are playing with others.  The game is over when all questions have been asked. The team with the most points at the end wins!

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Review of Literature on Teaching English Vocabularies Through Games to Young Language Learners

• Amirhossein Naderiheshi Monash University

In the last two decades, learning English has become a popular activity in Iran (Sadeghi & Richards, 2015). There has been a remarkable increase in the number of private language schools in the country. In Iran, interest in English has risen due to the status of the language as a lingua franca and its necessity for technical, scientific, and economic developments. Meanwhile, vocabulary is deemed as one of the most crucial aspects of learning a language. Currently, vocabularies are taught through traditional methods; therefore, young learners lose their interest over time. This paper aims to substantiate that games are profoundly effective in teaching vocabularies and affect young learners’ motivation and engagement with the language. This paper presents a review of literature on teaching English vocabularies through games to young English language learners in Iran. It discusses the practical instructions of games and how games could be taught more effectively. It describes the suitability and implication of games and how they should be selected and implemented by teachers. Three games are introduced for teaching vocabularies and followed by a discussion on the inherent challenges of teaching vocabularies through games.

Author Biography

Amirhossein naderiheshi, monash university.

Department of Education

Aghlara, L., & Tamjid, N. H. (2011). The effect of digital games on Iranian children's vocabulary retention in foreign language acquisition. Procedia-social and Behavioural Sciences, 29, 552-560. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.11.275

Ajibade, Y., & Ndububa, K. (2008). Effects of word games, culturally relevant songs, and stories on students’ motivation in a Nigerian English language class. TESL Canada Journal, 26(1), 27–48. https://doi.org/10.18806/tesl.v26i1.128

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International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

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ISSN: 2222-6990

The Use of Language Game in Enhancing Students’ Speaking Skills

Dalvinder kaur, azlina abdul aziz.

• Pages 687-706
• Received: 10 Oct, 2020
• Revised: 16 Nov, 2020
• Published Online: 24 Dec, 2020

http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v10-i12/8369

Open access

This paper consist of systematic review on published past related studies on the use of language games in enhancing students’ speaking skills from the year 2010 to 2019. The main objective of this systematic review is to present synthetic evidence found in past related studies on influence of language games in improving English as Second Language learners’ speaking skills to researcher and reading educators so that the further implementation and development research in this area can be conducted. This systematic study attempt to find answer for two questions research i.e how effective is language games in improving students’ speaking skills and what are the students’ experience when playing the game. The results of these study illustrates the importance and positive impact of language games in enhancing students speaking skills. Recommendations and limitations are further discussed.

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In-Text Citation: (Kaur & Aziz, 2020) To Cite this Article: Kaur, D., & Aziz, A. A. (2020). The Use of Language Game in Enhancing Students’ Speaking Skills. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 10(12), 687-706.

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The Use of Games for Vocabulary Presentation & Revision

Phonics games.

Phonics can help students build their vocabulary by recognizing common-sounding or similarly spelled words. A game called Phonics Baseball can spice up the study of phonics for the young student and also the student learning English as a second language, who is likely to be at least a little familiar with the game of baseball. Draw a baseball diamond on the board and use magnets for the "runners." Divide the room into two teams. "Pitch" a phonetically spelled word. Team 1 is at bat; if the first batter spells the word correctly, Team 1's runner goes to first base. If the batter spells the word incorrectly, he's out. If the batter from Team 2 spells the word correctly, Team 1 gets another out. Runs are scored as each runner reaches home plate. Ten runs wins the game, and games can be played as a series.

Parts of speech games

Parts of speech are introduced early on in building a vocabulary. In a game called Stick-it, students race to identify parts of speech in sentences written on the blackboard. Each student is given eight Post-its -- one student gets red, the other student gets yellow. On each Post-it is one of the eight parts of speech: noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, pronoun, interjection, conjunction. Each sentence has a particular part of speech underlined, and when the teacher signals for the race to begin, the student who sticks the most Post-its correctly wins a small prize.

Spelling games

Spelling skills are crucial to building vocabulary, as some words simply cannot be recognized phonetically. Spelling should be emphasized in vocabulary training, particularly since it has been devalued by such phenomena as texting, which encourages misspelling for the sake of speed. The old game of Hangman can be adapted to a classroom spelling contest. Two stick figures, each with two legs, two feet, two arms, two hands, a head and a torso (10 total parts for each) are drawn on the board. The class is divided into two teams and players take turns trying to spell a word. If they succeed they get to erase a body part. The first team to make its stick person disappear wins.

Analogies games

Analogies are a bit more complicated than phonics, spelling or parts of speech, and students can be apprehensive about studying them, but they can be a vital part of building or revising one's vocabulary. In a game called Race to Compare, students are divided into two teams and line up facing the blackboard. A line divides the board into two columns. In column A, the teacher writes the first part of an analogy (for example: "Bird:fly") and in column B writes half of the other part, leaving a blank ("kangaroo:____") At a signal students race to the board and write in the word (they must spell it correctly) that completes the analogy. The first student to write in the correct word earns a point for his team.

Traditional games

Familiar and popular games such as "Jeopardy," "Wheel of Fortune," "Password" and "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" can all be adapted to the classroom to present vocabulary lessons. In "Jeopardy," for example, each category could be a different aspect of vocabulary building (Parts of Speech, Analogies, etc.). A variation on the game of Bingo has students given a bingo card with a word written in each square. The teacher reads a definition and the students mark an "x" through the square with the word that fits the definition. The game ends when one student fills a row and cries "Bingo!"

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