Applying topic based game shows in english 12 textbook for students’ better language skills and related knowledge

CHAPTER - INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale In a cutting-edge science and technology era, along with the globalization process, English plays a particularly important role in international trade, business, education, entertainment activities and in almost aspects of daily life It becomes a bridge among countries and is considered useful means of communication to further relationships and create more mutual understanding among all the peoples around the world Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik (1985) found “English is generally acknowledged to be the world’s most important language” Speaking is one of the most valued skills in learning a foreign language When you want to find out about the general knowledge of a person in a foreign language you usually ask DO YOU SPEAK (language)? I can’t remember ever hearing from someone if I could listen to English, on the other hand Most learners therefore expect to speak the language fast when they join a course or hire a teacher As teachers, however, we know that, being a productive skill, speaking will have to come after listening in the process of the students’ linguistic development The same goes for writing: it needs to follow reading Receptive skills (listening and reading) precede productive skills (speaking and writing) This is an absolute law that emulates the acquisition of the native language Topic-based language learning means that the emphasis of the lessons in language learning is on a subject, a topic or a theme, and the contents of the book are arranged around this topic It also means that the lesson will include doing work on a topic in class Topic based teaching is not the only way to organize teaching, but it is useful, helpful, practical and exciting way to teach either all of the time or some of the time In general, language schools and teachers cannot afford to apply this methodology exactly as it’s prescribed, as, for marketing reasons and to keep their businesses, they need to satisfy the strong expectation the students (clients) have about being able to speak the language quickly Therefore teachers need to, at least, create a few speaking opportunities in classrooms Fair enough, this will not cause any serious disruption in the learners’ acquisition process It would be important, however, to manage these expectations aptly, making it clear to the students that their ability to speak English will grow proportionally to the amount of linguistic input they get exposed to The more they listen and read, the quicker and more fluently they will be able to speak the target language In summary, I believe learner motivation increases when students are learning about something, rather than just studying language Topic based learning is particularly appealing in this respect because teachers can use almost any content materials that they feel their students will enjoy 1.2 Aims and Objectives The paper aims at investigating features of the topic based games in English 12 textbook and their usefulnesses in teaching English as the second language in order to have a good insight into the given basic topics and from which to develop students’ language skills and acedemic knowledge To reach the aim, the objectives of the writing are as follows: - To describe the importance and features of game shows in English learning and language knowledge acquisition - To find out the games that are suitable for the topics given in the textbooks so that students have more opportunities to experience and enrich the topic knowledge and language skills - To identify common difficulties the students encounter in experiencing topic based games for English language improvement and acedemic knowledge enrichment The research question The paper aims at finding the answers to the following research questions: - How does the competitive Game Show related to the topic given in English 12 textbook affect students’ tutoring engagement and desire to win? - What can learners get from those interesting game shows? - What difficulties learners have in experiencing the game show processes? 1.3 1.4 Significance of the study - Theoretically, this writing can help the language researchers and learners - understand more the use of topic based games in learning English language The result of the study could partly lay the foundation for the next creations relating to other topic based activities relating to teaching orientations made by language teaching performers Practically, the result of the study could be used in the teaching and learning of English language at high schools As for teachers, this study will be a good reference of the use and importance of learning game shows, especially in teaching language process As for students, they will have greater insights into the topics with a greater deal of vocabulary and related knowledge in the situations suggested Moreover, the paper’s goal is also designed to help students improve academic competence; develop speaking skill and imagination through concrete situations designed The methodology To provide theoretical foundation for the innovative approach on learning game shows based on the topics in English 12 Textbook This section focuses on research in areas: Theoritical basis on topic based language learning and description of learning game shows based on the topic dealt with in English 12 Textbook 1.5 CHAPTER II - CONTENT 2.1 The theoretical basis 2.1.1 Topic Based activities Having covered how to deal with the students’ frustration of not being able to produce English as fast as they would like to, we should move on to how a teacher can create speaking opportunities for their students at any level There is basically a kind of speaking activities: Topic-Based activities It refers to the kind of activities that usually involve giving the students a topic and expecting them to talk about it or discuss it The latter involves a task: students use the language as a means to an end, trying to solve a problem or complete a task Both kinds of activities are valid and enjoyed to a greater or lesser extent by different kinds of students As a general rule, topic-based activities are for intermediate to upper levels of linguistic proficiency But this is not an absolute law There are many benefits of topic-based language learning First, it is easier to relate the lesson to the experiences and interests of the pupils Second, the children can associate words, functions, structures and situations with certain topic while we know association can help both understanding and memory Third, it will bring learners and their needs more into focus Fourth, it allows teacher to give a personal or local touch to materials depend on the particular class at the particular time Fifth, the amount of time that the teachers spend can be as long as they like depend on how much time is available and how much material they have An example of a topic-based activity would be a debate: Gay Marriage: are you for or against? The students would express their own views on the issue Teacher could guide the discussion by presenting typical and polite phrases to introduce disagreement, explain turn-taking rules, show them how to modalize one’s point of view, etc Language and conversation skills would be taught together There are steps to set about topic-based learning In planning time, teachers should decide at the long term planning stage which topics they are going to work and how long they plan to spend on each topic In collecting material, once teachers have some idea of possible topics, they should start looking for materials at once In the functions and situations, once teachers have their topic and collections of connected materials, they should work out which situations and functions of the language they want to concentrate on When in doubt, it is better to choose the situation before the function In methods and activities, topic-based work opens up all shorts possibilities Teachers can choose free activity to lead to much more creative thinking for example For assessment, the task-based learning gives teachers and the pupils a good opportunity to assess what they have been doing and it is well worth starting in a very casual way 2.1.2 Game shows adaptation in the topic based textbook Like it or not, television is an integral part of the 21st century Along with unnecessary information, you would definitely find lots of interesting films, news and amazing game shows on TV While teaching teens most teachers ponder upon searching for creative techniques to arouse motivation in the classroom In this respect, game shows can serve a perfect tool For over 24 years, the Game Shows has been providing fun, interactive, educational game shows for a wide variety of events The game shows can enhance the learning process and be a creative way to reinforce knowledge or enhance training There are two primary reasons that inspired us to hypothesize that the Game Show would promote students’ engagement in tutoring but at the same time, it would also promote students’ desire to win the game First, although the competitive Game Show provides competitivelycontingent reward that is potentially harmful for tutor learning (Vansteenkiste and Deci 2003), it might promote students’ intrinsic motivation Students with this perception might still be intrinsically motivated to win the games Second, students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation would also be reflected in the strategy to win the competition Some students might choose to make their own team stronger by tutoring difficult problems, which would positively facilitate tutor learning, whereas some might choose to obtain an easy win by strategically selecting lower rated opponents, which might be detrimental for tutor learning Games are Fun with a Purpose Games create a cognitive engagement between the learner and the topic in a flowing, smiling environment Games celebrate your topic and reward individual and group achievement Games bring fun and energy into a buoyant learning zone, but with the focus on learning Games Provide Feedback to the Learner Learners want and need feedback on their performance Games give them immediate feedback on the quality of their input — their successes and their errors With the appropriate corrective feedback, this can become an invaluable learning opportunity Games Provide Feedback to the Teacher/Trainer Games provide a practice field where learners interact with the topic, demonstrating their knowledge and ability to apply the information By observing this real-time demonstration, the trainer can adjust the subsequent level of lecture, readings and interventions, accordingly Games are Experiential Today's learner needs to and to try things on her own Games provide an environment that transforms the passive student into an active part of the learning process where she can connect her own dots and experience her own ideas Games also remind both player and teacher that energy in the classroom is a good thing Games Motivate Learners Games engage players and then motivate them to interact with the topic This interaction drives players to demonstrate their understanding of the topic in a friendly contest where successes are memorable moments of shared triumph and celebration and where mistakes mean only that the learner is being stretched to his or her own limits Games Improve Team Work Games are real-time activities that bring players into teams, demonstrate the rules and roles of working together as a team, and underscore the value of team collaboration Games give your learners a chance to know their peers as they share the same real-time experiences, allowing for strong networking and bonding Games Provide a Less Threatening Learning Environment Because the game format is playful, the inherent challenge of the material, even new or difficult material, is less threatening During game play seemingly difficult questions and scenarios are "just part of the game." And, teachers can use the window following classroom responses to build a bridge between the topic and the learner Games Bring Real-World Relevance Games allow you to present real-world information in the form of questions, scenarios, role-plays, and so forth In this way, players learn not only the "what," but the "why," of the topic from a real-world perspective Players also observe their own behavior and that of others during game play Post game debriefings give insights into those behaviors in thoughtful examples observed during game play Games Accelerate Learning Games allow you to compress your topic and demonstrated learning into shorter periods of time, accelerating the speed of learning The visual presentation, oral interactions, and active participation of game play appeals to all of the learning styles (visual, auditory and kinesthetic), involves both the rational and experiential mind that helps players remember what they have learned CHAPTER – DESCRIPTION OF COMMON GAME SHOWS APPLIED TO THE BASED TOPICS IN ENGLISH 12 TEXTBOOK An educational game show can help students pay attention, learn more and improve scores Students are motivated to pay attention through the game show format because it is flashy, interactive and feels more like play than work Yet it keeps the focus on your subject matter 3.1 Participants There were a total of 39 students about evenly placed in each of four teams Of those 39 students, it is often observed that the attrition is more or less impacted by low achieved students who generally have low motivation in completing a classroom experiment This bias often affects the results of the study as well— higher post (or delayed) test scores in one condition might be simply due to the exclusion of lower motivated students who dropped from the study This could be troublesome in our analysis, because the number of students who took the delayed test was different between the two conditions In our study, however, there were no notable condition differences on scores among those 19 students who did not take the delayed-test, suggesting that we can safely eliminate the potential threat of the motivation bias as a cause of the condition difference in delayed-test scores (if any) The expected rating after a win or loss is also shown on the screen Students can challenge any students on the waiting list, or they can wait for someone to issue a challenge to them When receiving a challenge, students will see the challenger’s profile and expected rating after the game The student being challenged must immediately accept or reject another students’ request for a game 3.2 Game Show Participation How did students participate in the Game Show? Was a particular strategy for participation helpful or detrimental for tutor learning? To answer these questions, we first quantified students’ participation in the Game Show Table shows descriptive statistics of the Game Show participation Since we only analyze Game Show students, the data analysis in this section was conducted with 44 students in the Game Show condition who took both pre- and post-test to gain more statistical power 3.3 The Topic Based Game Shows 3.3.1 “The Tonight show” Game Show (For all levels to revise vocabulary) ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’ is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon It has been broadcast since 2014 ‘Password’ is one of the parts of this game show In fact, it is really similar to the game Alias so while explaining they cannot use the words with the same root Separate your class into two teams, give one student a word and ask them to describe it to the team The latter must attempt to guess the word within 10 seconds The team that gets more points, becomes the winner It is a nice way for revising vocabulary 3.3.2 “Wheel of Fortune” Game Show (For elementary and upper levels to practise vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation) 10 ‘Wheel of Fortune’ is an American television game show founded by Merv Griffin in 1975 The rules of the game are simple: prepare a list of words, expressions, collocations that you want to revise with your teens, give some hints and ask them to spin the wheel for a dollar amount and then guess the letters If the letter is in the expression, they keep that dollar amount, multiplied by how many times that letter appears If one of the teams is ready to guess the whole expression, they can try You can use an online wheel creator Here your students can watch some of the episodes of the game show if they need more clarification 3.3.3 “Who wants to be a millionaire?” (For all levels to revise grammar and vocabulary) This game show has been widely spread in many countries since 1999 It can be easily adapted to the ESL classroom Prepare a test with the target grammar or vocabulary with 14 multiple-choice questions, starting from the easiest questions and ending with the most difficult ones Besides the contestant, you will also need a group of students who want to be the audience and contestant’s friend Set a time limit for each question (20-30 seconds) and start the game Either one of your students or you can be the host Safety nets along the way guarantee sums that can’t be lost once a contestant reaches certain thresholds The player can quit any time, but he/she can lose with one wrong answer if he/she doesn’t say “I quit and take my money I don’t want to answer the question” 3.3.4 “Family Feud” Game Show (For elementary and upper levels to revise grammar and vocabulary) 11 “Family Feud” is an American game show created by Mark Goodson where two families compete to name the most popular responses to survey questions in order to win prizes It was first broadcast in 1976 It can be played as a team game in the classroom Write down a question that may have several answers on the board (for example, Phrasal verbs with look, pass, take, etc; collocations with come, go, get, keep; in which cases is -ing ending used?) One team starts and tries to name one of the common answers to the question If the answer is present, they get points Teams then take turns to give one answer The one who gets more points becomes the winner 3.3.5 “Password” Game Show “Password” is especially useful as a vocabulary revision game that will break your students out of rote definition memorization 12 Preparation Process: • Two teams • A vocabulary list With beginner and intermediate classes, you may want a • • list of words you’ve already introduced Index cards A timer This game show activity is very similar to the party game Taboo The goal is for students to describe vocabulary words to one another without using the word itself Give one student a word on an index card and have them attempt to describe the word on it to their team If the team guesses the word within 10 seconds (or whatever time frame you choose), they get a point Alternate between teams, rotating who gets the index card “Password” is a very flexible game that works for a variety of class sizes Just adjust the number of teams and team sizes if necessary 3.3.6 “The Newlywed Game” On TV, “The Newlywed Game” was the show that gave couples points for how well they knew each other In the classroom, you can take this game show’s structure for a much tamer, but very effective, icebreaker and conversation skills 13 exercise for students You can call it “Get to Know Me” or create another similar title Preparation Process: • Two teams: Red and Blue (or whatever team names you or your students • choose) A list of basic biographical questions • Two chairs labeled Red and Blue • Index cards or mini chalkboard/whiteboards Two members from each team sit in chairs facing each other Ask the Red team member a question about the Blue team member Some possible questions are: • What sport does he or she play? • How many siblings does he or she have? • What is his or her favorite season? The Red player writes down a guess and the Blue player writes down the answer They reveal what they’ve written at the same time If Red’s guess matches Blue’s answer, Red gets a point Repeat, posing the question to Blue this time Then get two new team members in the chairs and continue The team with the most points once everybody has played wins Not only does this game require your students to listen and respond to questions in their target language, it also creates connections between classmates 14 3.3.7 “Jeopardy” Game Show This game show activity works best for intermediate and advanced classes, with lessons that cover more than just grammar and vocabulary If you want to review geography, literature or history concepts before a test, for example, “Jeopardy” is a useful tool Preparation Process: • Three teams • A list of trivia questions and answers (25 or more, depending on class size) • PowerPoint or another dynamic presentation platform Fortunately for teachers, there are numerous “Jeopardy”-style game templates available online, such as Instant Jeopardy Review and Jeopardy Rocks Design a “Jeopardy” board with questions arranged in columns by topic, increasing the difficulty of the question with the number of corresponding points You keep the questions The class should only see the categories and point values Once you’ve created your board, split your class into three teams These teams take turns choosing squares on the board and answering questions To keep the game moving, give each team one question per turn, even if they were correct When all the squares are out, the team with the most points wins Unless you are explicitly teaching your students to formulate questions, it can be useful to ignore “Jeopardy’s” famous “what is” question/answer structure In 15 this case, you can make things simpler by asking questions in the usual question format, and having answers be statements 3.3.8 “Tic-Tac-Dough” Game Show “Tic-Tac-Dough” is another trivia game with a simpler structure than “Jeopardy.” Based on the short-running American game show from the 50s, this activity could be adapted for either language basics or more advanced concept review Preparation Process: • Two teams • A blackboard • A list of questions and answers Draw a tic-tac-toe board with nine squares Each square will have a corresponding question Teams will alternate choosing squares and answering the questions from you They can only put their mark—X or O—in the square if they answer correctly As in tic-tac-toe, the team’s goal is to complete a line of three squares You can always be flexible with the setup and rules of these game shows, to create an activity that works best for your particular classroom No matter the form 16 your game show ultimately takes, the activity will energize your classroom, increase comprehension and encourage interaction and student bonding As can be seen, creativeness and willingness can help us to make the most of game shows Definitely, the game shows introduced in the article are not the only ones that can be applied and adapted in your ESL classrooms However, those were the ones I have really found useful from my own experience Game Show students showed greater engagement in English learning as indicated by a higher probability of responding to the designed questions more often and deeply The observations about shorter time on task for the Game Show students were expected, because Game Show students spent their whole time on the Game Show on the total amount of study duration Our data suggest that there is no overall negative evidence that the proposed competitive Game Show is detrimental for tutor learning Rather, the data imply that the Game Show has both positive (as students would be more engaged in tutoring) and negative (as students would have shorter time on tutoring) aspects for tutor learning The data showed that being a strategic winner (that is, having a high extrinsic, competitively-oriented motivation) is not necessarily undesirable in our learning environment The issue is rather at the misalignment between the performance goal and learning goal as well as the lack of alternating the competition and tutoring especially after a loss of competition 17 CONCLUSION We found that introducing the competitive Game Show to the learning environment increased students’ engagement in tutoring and desire to win the competition, but in order to connect engagement and motivation to tutor learning, the goals of the Game Show must be better aligned with the learning goal As a major technological contribution of the current study, we have demonstrated that SimStudent can be used as a teachable agent with which students can learn procedural skills by teaching We also demonstrated that using a teachable agent allows researchers to collect detailed process data that, when combined with outcome data, can help us understand better cognitive theories of learning by teaching We also identified issues of the current Game Show design and proposed design improvements based on the process data and learning outcome data 18 The topic based game shows provide a promising platform for experimenting with approaches like teachable agents and learning companions Such studies can be run in real schools and these approaches have the potential to provide effective interventions The transformative theory of learning by teaching has yet to be thoroughly investigated, but we find great potential and opportunity in future work in this area 19 ... English 12 Textbook This section focuses on research in areas: Theoritical basis on topic based language learning and description of learning game shows based on the topic dealt with in English 12 Textbook. .. experience and enrich the topic knowledge and language skills - To identify common difficulties the students encounter in experiencing topic based games for English language improvement and acedemic knowledge. .. enjoy 1.2 Aims and Objectives The paper aims at investigating features of the topic based games in English 12 textbook and their usefulnesses in teaching English as the second language in order to