ABSTRACT
The study was designed to investigate the effect of games on Junior Secondary School Students’ achievement and motivation in English language vocabulary. Five research questions and five null hypotheses guided the study. The study employed a pre-test posttest quasi-experimental design. A sample of 203 JSSII students, drawn by both purposive and simple random sampling techniques from two co-educational schools in Enugu Education Zone was used for the study. The two schools were assigned to treatment and control groups respectively. Two intact classes in each school – (one as experimental and the other as control group) were randomly selected. The experimental group was taught the topics- antonyms, synonyms, words associated with banking and words associated with animals using games which include fly swatter, Go fishing, Animal Riddle and Hot Seat while the control group was taught the same topics using the direct/explicit method of vocabulary instruction. Three instruments- Pre-VAT, Post-VAT and the Motivation for English Vocabulary learning Questionnaire(MELVQ) were developed, dully validated and the reliability established as 0.87 and 0.84 for the pre-VAT and the Post-VAT respectively and 0.87 for the MELVQ. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested at (P< 0.05) using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The result of the analysis showed that the students taught with games performed better than those taught with the conventional method, the students taught with games were also found to be more motivated than those taught without games. On gender, no significant difference was found in the achievement of male and female students taught with games but the male students taught with games were found to be more motivated than their female counterparts. Also, no interaction effect was found between method and gender. Consequently, it was recommended that the use of games as an instructional technique should be included in the special method curriculum of English language in teacher training institutions, workshops and seminars should be organized to train teachers in the use of games in teaching English. Also, curriculum planners and textbook writers are encouraged to give games a strategic place in the planning and design of the curriculum and textbooks.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study.
Language is at the heart of human activities. Any activity carried out by human employs the use of language. One of the most encompassing definition of language is Sapir’s (cited in Ngonebu,2008) which states that language is a purely human and nOon-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols. Language in any society serves diverse functions such as a tool for socialization, a means of cultural identity a means of preservation of culture and a whole lot of other functions. But the most important of these functions is the role of language as a medium of communication (Pelt, 2005), and this role is given such a central place as a result of the natural inclination of humans to pass information. This natural desire to share feelings, ideas and thoughts in a highly multilingual nation like Nigeria creates a dire need for a language of inter ethnic and cross cultural communication, a language of unification and a language of national and inter ethnic communication.
As a result of the role of English as a language of international communication and the multilingual nature of the Nigerian society, English language was voluntarily adopted for official and inter-ethnic communication in the country (Akabogu, 2006). English Language since then has come to serve various vital functions in the life of the nation. For instance, it is the language of education, commerce and industry, government, international communication, the media, of law and legal drafting, science and technology and the language of social interaction. Of all these functions however, it’s role as the language of education is paramount since education gives life and essence to all other spheres of human endeavour (Obanya, 2002) .This function is given greater vigour as a result of the position given to it by the National Policy on Education (2004) which makes English language mandatory in secondary and tertiary education in Nigeria. It is also the language of evaluation in schools as it is used for assessing students after primary school for the First School Leaving Certificates, Junior Secondary School Certificate Examinations, Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations (SSCE), Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and other professional examinations. The importance of English as a school subject can further be illustrated by the fact that a candidate must obtain a credit pass in it for admission into any Nigerian University to study any course (JAMB, 2005).
English language is a school subject and like every other school subject requires formal instruction. Instruction in English language involves instruction on the four basic language skills; listening, speaking, reading and writing. This is because acquiring a new language necessarily involves developing these four modalities in varying degrees and combinations (Tankersly, 2003). Tankersly also explains that these four skills include associated skills, such as knowledge of vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, syntax, meaning, and usage. Of all these sub skills however, vocabulary occupies a central position in any language learning endeavour.
There is no single acceptable definition of vocabulary but Lehr, Osborn and Hiester (2006) broadly define vocabulary as knowledge of words and word meanings. Vocabulary consists of words that a student can attach appropriate meaning to, or define. In learning a language, vocabulary plays an important role. In the areas of reading and the language arts, vocabulary instruction is critical to the improvement of comprehension and written expression. It is an element that links the four skills of language; that is listening, speaking, reading and writing together. Without a sizable vocabulary, one cannot communicate effectively. This is well captured in the words of Hunt and Beglar (2005:2), who opine that, “The heart of language comprehension and use is the lexicon”. Other authors like Lewis (2000:8), have gone even further in arguing that, “The single most important task facing language learners is acquiring a sufficient large vocabulary”. So, a vital step in learning English is learning its vocabulary. This is because of the close relationship that exists between vocabulary development and the other aspects of language. In the content areas, including Mathematics and the Sciences, vocabulary instruction is central to the development of new concepts and understanding of increasingly more sophisticated ideas. In short, vocabulary is directly related to knowledge acquisition.
The symbiotic relationship between reading comprehension in particular and vocabulary development has however long been recognized. For instance, Carver (2003) argues that the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension is so strong that they can produce perfect correlations. Vocabulary is much more associated with reading than any other language skill. This is mainly because while words are regarded as tools for comprehending text, it is equally clear that reading with comprehension also assists in developing one’s vocabulary. And in addition to affecting reading performance, vocabulary knowledge affects a student’s ability to participate fully in both social and academic classroom routines and most importantly in the world outside the classroom. Therefore, all students can benefit from vocabulary instruction especially if the instruction is tailored to meet individual strengths and needs. In the context of this study, vocabulary is defined as the amount of words which a person can understand and use correctly and meaningfully in communicative situations. Vocabulary instruction is used to refer to the teaching aimed at the development of students’ understanding of word meanings.
In the teaching and learning of vocabulary in the classrooms today, the main method used is the direct/intentional/ explicit method. Explicit vocabulary instruction is characterized by the teachers’ identification of the words to be learnt, copying out its meaning, making few sentences with the words. These are copied to the board and the students are expected to copy and memorise words. This method according to Nation (2001) is saddled with many limitations such as its being teacher-centered, constrained by time and school syllabus and its inability to provide a variety of activities for vocabulary instruction. The continuous use of this method over the years has shown no improvement in performance in English Language or in general proficiency in the language and its vocabulary in particular. This is evident in the WAEC Chief Examiners’ report on English language, which has persistently reported poor performance in English language as shown in reports on performance in English language from 2004 to 2010 as summarized in the WAEC Chief Examiners’ report for 2010. The report further identified candidates’ inability to read and comprehend questions correctly, poor understanding and usage of English and lack of understanding of the demands of the question as the cause of students’ low grades. This inability to comprehend questions correctly may be as a result of a very limited vocabulary power by the students such that certain terms, expressions and texts are not well understood and as a result of this lack of understanding, the questions are not properly answered. Also, other researchers such as Basturk and Yavuz (2010) and Olunloye (2010) in describing the causes of poor performance have listed lack of motivation on the part of the student towards English language and its vocabulary as one of the causes of poor achievement.
Motivation is defined by Chauhan (1998) as the process that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. It involves the biological, emotional, social and cognitive forces that activate behavior. In everyday usage, the term motivation is frequently used to describe why a person does something. As with every activity in life, motivation is one of the essential factors in language learning. Ngonebu (2008) posits that learners who are not sufficiently motivated do not perform well in language learning tasks because the propelling force is absent. Also Otagburuagu (2002) explains that motivation which provides the impetus to create and sustain intentions and goal-seeking acts, is important in the teaching-learning context; this is because it determines the extent of learners’ active involvement in and attitude to learning which in turn affect achievement.
A number of linguists have stressed the importance of motivation to language learning. For instance, Dornyei (2003:13) posits that, “No matter what the underlying drive to study a second language, what cannot be disputed is the fact that motivation is an important variable when examining successful second language acquisition”. It therefore follows that motivated learners will have a better chance of learning vocabulary successfully while unmotivated ones may have a lesser chance of success. This strong relationship established between achievement and motivation in language learning suggests that the poor achievement in English language may be as a result of lack of motivation in learning English Language and its vocabulary. There is need therefore to investigate into methods which are capable of raising the learners’ motivation towards learning English language and its vocabulary.
In solving the students’ problem of poor achievement and low motivation in vocabulary, there is need to investigate into ways of making the teaching and learning of vocabulary less abstract, as is evident in the traditional methods which are teacher centered, boring and ineffective (Amuseghan, 2007). This can be done by creating practical ways in which students not only learn new words but see and learn words in relaxed and playful atmosphere. Where students are free to learn their own pace and above all are given opportunity to encounter words in actual use in real sentences and also practice using it themselves. In view of this, several approaches such as encouraging students to read wide and keep personal word logs and even the introduction of computers for vocabulary instruction have been suggested by other researchers such as Lehr, Osborn and Hiester (2006) and the National reading Panel (2000). But little or no improvement has been seen in achievement and motivation based on the adoption of these and other related suggestions as reported by Amusegan (2007). Very little work has however been done on how achievement in English language can be improved by tapping from the social interests, needs and activities around the learner which engage and interest the learner, modifying the needs to have educational goals and relating it to vocabulary instruction. One of such areas of focus which has received limited research attention in Nigeria is the use of games in teaching English vocabulary.
