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Competition and students’ perceptions in a game-based language learning environment

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Abstract

Although educational games have become quite popular in recent research, only a limited number of studies have focused on the effectiveness of these games. While numerous claims have been made about the effectiveness of games, the studies that examine educational effectiveness often contain flaws resulting in unclear conclusions. One possible solution for these shortcomings is to focus on separate game elements rather than on games as a whole. A second solution is to take into account students’ perceptions of instruction as they are likely to affect students’ interpretations and learning outcomes. This study investigated whether the addition of the gaming element ‘competition’ to a computer-based language learning environment is related to students’ motivation, perceptions and learning outcomes. Additionally, this study probed into the effect of instruction, i.e., the instruction of a gaming or learning environment, on students’ perceptions of the environment, their motivation and learning outcomes. 83 students participated in this study, all working in a game-based learning environment for learning business English conversation skills. The results demonstrate that competition is not significantly related to students’ learning gains and only partly related to students’ motivation. Moreover, the majority of students perceived the environment as a learning environment, even when they were instructed to be playing in a gaming environment. To conclude this paper, the practical and theoretical implications for the fields of instructional design and educational games research are discussed.

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Notes

  1. One student was an older working student and combined work and study.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Instructional Psychology and Technology (CIP&T), KU Leuven, Dekenstraat 2, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Sylke Vandercruysse, Mieke Vandewaetere & Geraldine Clarebout

  2. Interactive Technologies, ITEC – iMinds – KU Leuven – Kulak, E. Sabbelaan 53, 8500, Kortrijk, Belgium

    Sylke Vandercruysse, Mieke Vandewaetere & Frederik Cornillie

  3. Faculty of Medicine, Center for Medical Education, Herestraat 49, box 400, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Geraldine Clarebout

Authors
  1. Sylke Vandercruysse
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  2. Mieke Vandewaetere
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  3. Frederik Cornillie
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  4. Geraldine Clarebout
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sylke Vandercruysse.

Appendices

Appendix 1

See Fig. 6.

Fig. 6
figure 6

Organisation of the learning materials, based on the 4C/ID model (van Merriënboer et al. 2006)

Full size image

Appendix 2

Learning goals—what are students expected to learn in the environment?

  1. 1.

    Task class “Introducing a new colleague to another colleague”

    1. 1.1.

      Speech acts for social communication:

      1. •

        catching someone's attention

      2. •

        welcoming

      3. •

        introducing someone else

    1. 1.2.

      Grammar:

      1. •

        modal verbs (might/may/would like for introducing)

      2. •

        past tenses (talking about experience)

      3. •

        future tenses (talking about responsibilities)

  1. 2.

    Task class “Extending your professional network by collecting business cards”

    1. 2.1.

      Speech acts for social communication:

      1. •

        breaking the ice

      2. •

        small talk

      3. •

        introducing yourself

      4. •

        asking for information

      5. •

        asking for confirmation

      6. •

        asking for clarification

      7. •

        expressing your opinion

      8. •

        interrupting

      9. •

        saying goodbye

    1. 2.2.

      Grammar:

      1. •

        modal verbs (may I / might I for asking for information)

      2. •

        tag questions (for asking for confirmation)

      3. •

        comparatives (for small talk, expressing opinions)

Appendix 3

Example items of the pre- and post-test. (1) fill-in-the-blank question; (2) rating-scale question.

Both school-like tests comprised 13 items, with two different question types that were used: open questions (fill-in-the-gap), and Likert-scale questions (the students needed to estimate how well a given answer fitted the situation (formal vs. informal language).

Open question (fill-in-the-gap)

A friend of you recently became an employee of a political party and recently got a promotion in that party. You are very happy for her and propose to celebrate this by having a dinner, together with your partners. Your partner however, does not know quite well what your friend is doing for a living. During the dinner, you explain her job to your partner. How do you express yourself in English?

“Lisa will ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… shaping the Liberals’ vision on the basis of contacts with the party’s activists.”

Likert-scale question

You are in a pub with friends and buy them a drink for your birthday. One friend however stands a little bit further and is talking to someone else. You stand up, put one step forward and want to draw your friend’s attention.

How suitable is this answer in English?

“Hey Mark, could you excuse me for a second?”

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Vandercruysse, S., Vandewaetere, M., Cornillie, F. et al. Competition and students’ perceptions in a game-based language learning environment. Education Tech Research Dev 61, 927–950 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-013-9314-5

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