MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY THESIS DUONG THI THANH HUYEN EFL STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS GAMIFIED LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND THEIR LEARNING ENGAGEMENT AT VIET ANH PRIMAR[.]
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY -THESIS DUONG THI THANH HUYEN EFL STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS GAMIFIED LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND THEIR LEARNING ENGAGEMENT AT VIET ANH PRIMARY SCHOOL IN VUNG TAU CITY Ba Ria – Vung Tau 2022 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY -THESIS EFL STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS GAMIFIED LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND THEIR LEARNING ENGAGEMENT AT VIET ANH PRIMARY SCHOOL IN VUNG TAU CITY Submitted to the Postgraduate Institute in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL Course code: 8140111 By Duong Thi Thanh Huyen Supervised by Tran Quoc Thao, Ph.D Ba Ria – Vung Tau 2022 i The thesis entitled EFL STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS GAMIFIED LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND THEIR LEARNING ENGAGEMENT AT VIET ANH PRIMARY SCHOOL IN VUNG TAU CITY was successfully defended and approved on September 18th at Ba Ria Vung Tau University (BVU) Academic supervisor: Dr TRAN QUOC THAO ii BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE Ba Ria Vung Tau, December 2021 MASTER’S THESIS REPORT Student name: DUONG THI THANH HUYEN Date of birth: 08/03/1990 Sex: Female Place of birth: Quang Binh Province Major: English Language Student code: 18114193 I- Thesis title: EFL STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS GAMIFIED LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND THEIR LEARNING ENGAGEMENT AT VIET ANH PRIMARY SCHOOL IN VUNG TAU CITY II-Objectives and contents: This study explores the EFL students' attitudes towards gamified learning activities and their learning engagement in gamified learning activities at the context of Viet Anh Primary School in Vung Tau The research objectives are as follows: To find out the EFL students' attitudes towards gamified English learning activities at Viet Anh Primary School To identify EFL students' level of learning engagement in gamified English learning activities at Viet Anh Primary School To examine the relationship between EFL students' attitudes towards gamified English learning activities and their learning engagement in gamified English learning activities This study was carried out at Viet Anh Primary School in Vung Tau City Viet Anh Primary School is a private school which belongs to Viet My school system whose head office is in Ho Chi Minh City One of the practical English teaching methods is gamification has been implemented recently in Viet Anh Primary iii School's English classrooms The 4th grade and 5th grade students' attitudes and level of engagement toward the gamified English teaching activities are examined to evaluate the effectiveness of the methods in the environment of the studied school Two methods of gathering data are executed in the research: Questionnaire and semi-structured interview The subjects to use these data collection methods to are 84 students from 4th grade and 5th grade III- Starting date: (as stated in the Decision issued by the University) IV- Completing date: V- Academic supervisor: (full name,title) TRAN QUOC THAO, Ph.D iv CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: Efl students’ attitudes towards gamified learning activities and their learning engagement at Viet Anh primary school in Vung Tau City In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s programs issued by Higher Degree Committee of Postgraduate Institute, Ba Ria Vung Tau University Ba Ria Vung Tau province, June 2022 DUONG THI THANH HUYEN v RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, Duong Thi Thanh Huyen, being a candidate for the degree of TESOL accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan, and reproduction for theses Ba Ria Vung Tau, June 2022 Signature …………………… Duong Thi Thanh Huyen vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere thanks to those who have made great contributions to my thesis completion First and foremost, I would like to express my profound gratitude to Dr Tran Quoc Thao, my supervisor, for his valuable comments and suggestions during the whole research process His dynamism, enthusiasm, vision as well as his patience have deeply inspired me Without his support and guidance, this thesis would never have been completed Secondly, I am very grateful to the school board staff including the principal and the vice principals as well as my leader at Viet Anh Primary School in Vung Tau who gave me the golden opportunity to my research here Any attempt at any level can’t be satisfactorily completed without the support and guidance of my friends and colleagues Especially, Mr Henry Boon has helped me a lot and given me encouragement and motivation to enroll this M.A course I also would like to thank the research participants and their parents who have contributed to this study At last but not in least, my deepest and sincerest gratitude goes to my family members, including my parents, my husband and my son for their countless support, greatest sympathy, and unconditional love Without their support I couldn’t have succeeded in completing my thesis vii Abstract Gamification’s benefits have been extensively acknowledged in a massive body of work, both philosophically and experimentally However the research on gamification is popular, but the research on gamification that applied to and considered the views of young learners as primary ESL learners have not yet been clarified Thus, the present study covers the research gap by conducting mixed-method research to explore the EFL students’ attitudes towards and their engagement in gamified learning activities in the context of Viet Anh Primary School in Vung Tau This study includes 84 boys and girls students from grade and grade at Viet Anh Primary School in Vung Tau City A mixed-method research design was implemented, and data was collected through students’ questionnaires and semi-structured interviews The findings of this study divulged that 4th and 5th-grade students at Viet Anh Primary School had positive attitudes toward gamified English learning activities in the EFL classroom Furthermore, they expressed positive and active engagement in gamified English learning activities Also, the results revealed a positive relationship between EFL students’ attitudes and their learning engagement in gamified English learning activities In other words, an increase in students’ attitudes could increase their engagement with gamified English learning activities (200 words) Keywords: attitudes, engagement, gamification, young learners viii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study 1.2 Statement of the problems 1.3 Aims and objectives of the study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Significance of the study 1.7 Definition of the key term 1.8 Organization of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 11 2.1 Gamification 10 2.1.1 Definition of gamification 11 2.1.2 Elements of gamification 14 2.1.3 Gamification applications 16 2.1.4 The significance of gamification in teaching English as a foreign language 17 2.1.5 The challenges of learning and teaching by gamification method for EFL students 20 2.2 Attitudes towards gamified English learning activities 20 2.2.1 Definitions of attitudes towards gamified English learning activities 20 2.2.2 The components of attitudes 20 2.3 Student engagements 23 2.3.1 Definition of student engagements 22 2.3.2 The importance of student engagement in learning English as a foreign language 23 2.3.3 The relationship between student engagements and attitudes and gamification in teaching and learning 26 2.4 Previous research 26 2.5 Conceptual framework 31 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 33 3.1 Research design 32 3.2 Research site 32 3.3 Sample and sampling procedures 36 ...MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY -THESIS EFL STUDENTS? ?? ATTITUDES TOWARDS GAMIFIED LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND THEIR LEARNING ENGAGEMENT AT VIET ANH PRIMARY SCHOOL. .. students'' attitudes towards gamified English learning activities at Viet Anh Primary School To identify EFL students'' level of learning engagement in gamified English learning activities at Viet Anh Primary. .. entitled: Efl students? ?? attitudes towards gamified learning activities and their learning engagement at Viet Anh primary school in Vung Tau City In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in