Abstract
Learning English grammar is considered an essential part in junior high level in Taiwan. However, learning grammar is tedious, and students may lose interest quickly. Nevertheless, learning will be more effective when students are learned with a meaningful purpose. Recently, the Ministry of Education in Taiwan has put great emphasis on promoting students’ environmental awareness, which is also an important global issue. Learning about important environmental issues might enhance students’ interest and give them a purpose to learn English grammar. Furthermore, research found that games can be effective in enhancing motivation in learning, grammar retention and environmental awareness (e.g. Arslan, Moseley & Cigdemoglu, 2011; Paris & Yussof, 2012; Phuong & Nguyen, 2017). Therefore, this study aimed to explore the effects of the combination of English grammar, environmental issues and a board game in a five-day English summer camp. The participants were 60 seventh and eighth graders. A board game was developed integrating English grammar and three environmental topics: global warming, pollution and sustainability. The students were giving grammar lessons using the topics and played the board game. They were given a pre-test and a post-test with questions on English grammar and knowledge about the three topics. A survey was also given at the end. The results showed a significant improvement on both English grammar and the knowledge of the three environmental topics. Although in the survey some students said some questions in the board game were difficult, most students expressed that the camp and the board game were helpful.
Author Information
Lim-Ha Chan, Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages, Taiwan
Paper Information
Conference: ACLL2019
Stream: Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)
This paper is part of the ACLL2019 Conference Proceedings (View)
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