V ol u me 1 │I ssue 1 │2 0 2 1
[Link]
The Effect of Using [Link] in Increasing Vocabulary
Knowledge of 5th Grade EFL Students
Esra Çila *
a
Turkish Ministry of National Education, Turkey, [Link]
Suggested citation: Çil, E. (2021). The Effect of Using [Link] in Increasing Vocabulary Knowledge of 5th Grade EFL Students.
Language Education & Technology (LET Journal), 1(1), 21-28.
Article Info Abstract
The use of ICT tools to teach vocabulary is a commonly researched topic in language
teaching. Many popular web tools, such as Quizlet and Kahoot, are used as
experimental tools with learners to investigate to what extent they are effective in
enhancing learners’ vocabulary knowledge. The present research, however, focused on
Date submitted: 11.04.2021 a less known and researched web tool used for vocabulary practice with games namely,
[Link]. 2 groups of students in 5th grade in a state school in Turkey were placed
Date accepted: 03.05.2021
in experimental and control groups. The treatment lasted for 3 weeks and a pre-test and
Date published: 04.05.2021 post-test were used as data collection tools. Results of the comparisons between the
groups’ test results revealed significant differences between each group’s own test
results, yet insignificant difference between groups’ post-test results. Therefore, it
could be suggested that using [Link] was effective on its own in enhancing the
students' vocabulary knowledge.
Research Article
Keywords: Digital game-based language learning, ICT, foreign language learning,
[Link], vocabulary.
1. Introduction
Since the advent of technology from the beginning of the 21st century, technology and language
learning have become terms frequently encountering next to each other, therefore resulting in web-based
tools being used in English language classrooms. The concept of including web-based tools in these
classrooms is named as ‘CALL’, i.e. Computer Assisted Language Learning. Beatty (2013) defines
CALL as the process during which a language learner makes use of a computer, therefore improving his
or her language. Another related concept is DGBLL, i.e. Digital Game Based Language Learning, which
is a term that came out after CALL. Although it resembles CALL, it has been brought forth with the
addition of the concept of the game being greatly emphasized. DGBLL is defined as the design and use of
various types of digital games for language learning and second or foreign language teaching purposes
(Cornillie, et al. 2012).
*
Esra Çil. Turkish Ministry of National Education, Turkey.
e-mail adress: escil@[Link]
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Many research studies have been conducted related to DGBLL in recent years. These studies have
been conducted on two distinct subfields of DGBLL, which are COTS (commercial off-the-shelf)
adventure-entertainment games, and educational games, in other words, edutainment (Prensky, 2001;
Gerhardt, 2008; Squire & Klopfer, 2008; Thorne et al., 2009 as cited in Alyaz & Genç, 2016). Looking
back into the literature of DBGLL, it’s been revealed that the majority of the studies on this field have
been made on adventure-entertainment games (ibid). Examples of COTS games the use of which have
been researched are; World of Warcraft and Food Force (e.g. Sundqvist & Sylvén, 2012; Hitosugi et. al.,
2014). Since the majority of research is on COTS games, more research studies are needed to be
conducted on edutainment games.
Even though there are many research studies that have explored the use of some frequently used
web tools such as Quizlet and Kahoot (Wright, 2016; Medina et al. 2017), there is a lack of research on
specific web tools, like [Link]. Hence, the present study aims to measure the effectiveness of a
single educational game website; [Link] on the vocabulary knowledge of 5th grade English
preparatory class students. [Link] is an edutainment website in which there are multiple game
choices, all played interactively or individually, such as information matching, picture matching, quiz,
wheel of fortune, puzzles, etc. designed for vocabulary practice. On this website, teachers either create
their own games out of ready-made templates and add up content (words and images) in the games or
they make use of games created by other teachers. [Link] was previously designed as computer
software, but since 2016 the website of the software was designed and ever since the website has been
used more frequently than the software.
Therefore, in the following sections, previous empirical research on edutainment games and their
uses for the purposes of teaching English and especially practicing vocabulary will be mentioned. Then,
details about the procedure and findings of the study will be revealed.
2. Literature Review
As it is previously mentioned, empirical studies focusing on some popular educational web tools
and educational games have been conducted, especially measuring the effectiveness of these web tools in
improving language learners’ vocabulary knowledge. One of these studies aimed to reveal the
contributions of a digital game to the pre-service teachers’ vocabulary knowledge and language
competence and to provide the teachers with qualifications in terms of DGBLL (Alyaz & Genç, 2016). 60
second-year pre-service teachers studying German language teaching at a university in Turkey played the
game; Adventure German-A Mysterious Mission for eight weeks. Teachers had a vocabulary test, a
compensation strategy test, took diary notes, and were interviewed. The results of the tests revealed that
there was a significant difference between pre and post-tests in terms of their vocabulary knowledge.
Moreover; it is seen that age had positive effects on vocabulary knowledge, older participants being more
successful than younger ones, though gender differences and gamer, non-gamer differences weren’t
significant.
In another study, the use of educational software designed for teaching vocabulary, DENIS, and
computer games in teaching vocabulary was explored (Kocaman & Cumaoğlu, 2014). The participants in
this study were 68 students in 6th grade at a state school in Turkey, comprising a single group. The data
collection tools were 2 pre-tests, a mid-test, and 2 post-tests used for vocabulary learning strategies and
an achievement test. During a time period of 9 weeks, first DENIS was implemented, then computer
games were played for 2 hours a week. Regarding the results of the achievement tests, it was seen that
DENIS and computer games were both useful in vocabulary learning, yet computer games leading more
success on tests.
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Regarding the comparison of paper flashcards (PF) vs. digital flashcards (DF), two studies have
focused on this issue. In the first one, Nikoopour & Kazemi (2014) compared the effect of digital and
non-digital flashcards on the vocabulary knowledge of 109 students in a university in Iran. The
instruments used were a language proficiency test, vocabulary pre-test, post-test, attitude questionnaire,
and interview. During a 10-week program, students studied a total of 700 words with three types of tools;
paper-based, online and mobile-based flashcards. The results of the tests revealed a significant difference
between the groups’ scores, especially between paper and online group, while mobile and online group
not differing so much. Moreover, the questionnaire analysis showed that students’ attitude was different
between mobile and online and mobile and paper. In the second study, Dizon & Tang (2017) compared
the two kinds of flashcards, PF and DF, in terms of their effect on learners’ receptive vocabulary (RV)
and productive vocabulary (PV). 52 students at two universities in Japan were separated into two groups
and while the 1st group used DF, Quizlet and Cram, the 2nd group used PF in a 12-week period for 15
minutes each week. The data was collected with the help of pre-test, post-tests, and surveys asking the
learners to review the methods presented to them. In the test results, the PF group scored much lower than
the DF group regarding both in RV and PV learning. In the results of the survey, the DF group had a
more positive attitude.
In contrast to the two studies above, Chien (2015) explored the effectiveness of 3 educational web
tools, Quizlet, Study Stack, and Flashcard Exchange, in vocabulary learning in an EFL context in Taiwan
was explored. 64 university students as participants who made their own flashcards based on the
vocabulary of the related unit, and studied them during a 3-month period. The data collection tools were
in-class observations, learners own flashcards, learning records, and a group interview, conducted with 20
of the students. Although mentioning some technical or user-based problems, students also stated that the
websites were helpful in increasing their motivation in learning English vocabulary. When comparing the
3 websites, Quizlet was the most preferred and Study Stack was the least preferred among them. Using
such web tools was concluded to be practical and efficient for vocabulary learning.
Barr (2016) explored the effectiveness of [Link] for vocabulary teaching between different
learner types; kinaesthetic/visual learners and users/non-users of the application. 32 first-year students in
a Japanese university studied flashcard sets on Quizlet for 15 minutes for 4 units in their textbooks. 4
vocabulary tests comprising of the vocabulary in these units and flashcards which were applied at the end
of each session were involved. The results of the tests revealed that Quizlet users scored more than non-
users. But, there was only a slight difference in scores between the kinaesthetic and visual learners, the
former having higher results. Therefore, it could be observed that the use of Quizlet is effective in
vocabulary learning, regardless of the differences in the learner styles.
Wright (2016) also explored the use of Quizlet to measure the easiness of preparing flashcards and
its contribution to learner autonomy in an EFL context in Japan. Moreover, the time interval it took for
students to prepare their own flashcards and the level of accuracy of these flashcards were explored. 106
university students in Japan studied 10 sets of ready-made flashcards during a 15-week period. In the 15th
lesson, they were asked to create their own flashcard sets related to the vocabulary they had studied,
during which the instructor set time to see how much it took them to create the sets. The results were that
it took minimum 3 minutes, maximum 19 minutes and the average was 7 minutes between all students
and the accuracy was 36.2%; the remaining 63.7% consisting of one or more mistakes. Hence, the
researcher concluded that preparing Quizlet flashcards is not so time-consuming, which will be good for
the students’ own learning processes, but they need to be more careful about the accuracy of their content.
The degree of effectiveness of another flashcard web tool, Quizizz, was researched by Bal (2018).
60 pre-intermediate level students in a university in Turkey were divided into 2 groups, as experimental
and control group. After the end of a 4-week treatment period, an achievement test was applied to
compare both groups’ final success. In the results, the experimental group’s mean score was 84.66 and the
control group’s mean score was 81.58, revealing that the experimental group’s performance was slightly
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better than the other’s performance, though not too much. In conclusion, it can be stated that using web
tools may be effective in developing students’ vocabulary knowledge, yet the positive effects cannot be
observed to a great extent in a short time period.
Likewise, Medina and Hurtado (2017) explored the effectiveness of Kahoot on students’
motivation and vocabulary acquisition with 3 groups of students in a university in Ecuador, 2
experimental and 1 control group; each containing 35 students. The application was used for 10 weeks,
applying a 10 question game at the end of each week when a unit was covered. A pre-test was applied at
the 5th week and a post-test was applied at the end of the treatment; besides, learners wrote diaries for
self-assessment. The results of the tests revealed that learners’ mean vocabulary scores increased in the
final tests. Regarding the perception of the students, the majority of the students expressed a positive
attitude towards the use of the application. In conclusion, the researchers stated that applications like
Kahoot create efficient learning environments and increase students’ motivation.
Another study was about the use of two web tools; Duolingo and Kahoot on vocabulary building
(Guaqueta & Castro-Garces, 2018). The context was a high school located in a rural area in Colombia,
which is not a frequently encountered setting in ICT-related research. The participants were 20 students in
tenth grade and the instruments were a pre-test, a post-test, research journal entries, and a final survey.
For six months, each week Duolingo for lesson review, and Kahoot for performance assessment was used
subsequently. In the results, the mean score of the pre-test was 36.7 and the post-test was 73.45, so, it was
observed that students’ vocabulary knowledge has improved. Furthermore, as the result of the final
survey where they expressed their thoughts about the use of technology as a tool for language learning, all
students made positive remarks about it. In conclusion, integration of ICT tools in learning environments
has been proven to be efficient in both changing students’ perspectives and success towards better.
As can be seen above, studies mentioned here have focused on measuring the effectiveness of
either 1 or more than 1 web-tool, in vocabulary learning, as it is done in the present research. In addition,
the majority of the above-mentioned studies resulted in the group using the web-tool being more
successful than the group not using it, therefore leading to more success.
In the light of this, the research question this research aims to find an answer to is as follows:
1. How effective is the vocabulary practice website [Link] in increasing 5th grade
students’ vocabulary knowledge?
3. Methodology
3.1. Context & Participants
The present research is an empirical study in which quantitative data collection method was
applied. The study was conducted in a public secondary school in Turkey with 9-11 year-old 5th grade
students in an English preparatory class. Two classes of 27(A) and 27(B) students were chosen since the
researcher was also one of the English teachers of these classes. Students had 11 hours of English each
week; classified as 5 main English lessons, 2 reading lessons, 4 skills lessons (listening, speaking,
reading, and writing). Two classes with students having the same language levels, the same amount of
English instruction, and same socio-economic conditions were chosen as participants. The researcher had
5 hours with class A and 4 hours with class B. One class (A) was chosen as a control group and the other
(B) was chosen as an experimental group. It’s important to note that the treatment for group A was given
by another teacher because the researcher’s lesson category wasn’t suitable to teach the vocabulary
chosen in the present study, but treatment for group B was applied by the researcher.
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3.2. Procedure
The groups were given different treatments for three weeks; in the control group, the students did
the activities on their textbook and studied vocabulary during the course of lessons. In the experimental
group, students also used the same textbook. However, in addition to this, at the end of each week’s final
lesson students practiced vocabulary on [Link] for approximately 15-20 minutes. Both groups
were given the vocabulary lists with L1 equivalents before the post-tests.
3.2. Materials
As the data collection tool, a vocabulary knowledge test of 20 multiple-choice questions was used
as pre-test and post-test. The pre-test was applied right before the treatment and the post-test was applied
one week after the treatment, at the 4th week. The vocabulary topic taught during the treatments and
presented in the tests was games and hobbies, which was present as a unit in the textbook.
As for the material used for vocabulary teaching, for the control group the exercises in the
textbook were used such as; fill-in-the blanks, picture-words matching, and activities focusing on 4 skills.
For the experimental group, games of different types that the researcher designed on [Link] were
used. The types of games played on the website were as in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Games played on [Link] during the treatment period.
Although there were many more game options available on the website, the ones that were best fit
for the class environment were chosen and played.
4. Results
Due to the nature of the study being quantitative, the data analysis was done statistically. For the
data analysis, SPSS 22 was used to calculate paired sample t-test comparison between the groups' test
results. As can be observed in Table 1, the control group had higher means than the experimental group in
the pre-test; however, in the post-tests the experimental group had higher scores than the control group.
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Table 1.
The Pre-test and Post-test Results
N Mean [Link]
Experimental group pre-test 27 76,4815 13,57421
Experimental group post-test 27 94,8148 7,40082
Control group pre-test 27 81,2963 13,41588
Control group post-test 27 90,1852 13,96985c
Paired sample t-test results as revealed in Table 1 show that there are significant differences
(p<0.05) between both groups' pre-test and post-test scores. Hence, it means that the teaching techniques
used in both groups have been effective in their own context. However, when the two groups’ post-test
results are compared, the analysis reveals no significant difference (p>0.05) as shown in Table 2 and 3. In
other words, the treatment applied for the experimental group was not more effective than the control
group’s treatment. Therefore, to relate this result to the research question, the web tool used for this study
was not found to be as effective as it was supposed to be.
Table 2.
Paired Sample T-Test results
Paired Differences
Std. Std. Error
Mean Deviation Mean t df Sig. (2-tailed)
Pair 1 a_pretest -
-8,88889 10,31553 1,98523 -4,478 26 ,000
a_posttest
Pair 2 b_pretest -
-18,33333 11,18034 2,15166 -8,521 26 ,000
b_posttest
Table 3
Groups’ post-test results comparison
Paired Differences
Std. Error
Mean Std. Deviation Mean t df Sig. (2-tailed)
Pair 1 a_posttest -
-4,62963 14,99525 2,88584 -1,604 26 ,121
b_posttest
4. Discussion
In this research, the effectiveness of a web tool in enhancing the vocabulary knowledge of 5th
grade students was measured. Two classes with students having the same language levels, the same
amount of English instruction, and same socio-economic conditions were chosen as participants. One
group was taught vocabulary with textbook activities, and the other group was practiced vocabulary
through the web tool, [Link]. A pre-test before the treatment and post-test after the treatment was
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applied to analyze the differences between the groups’ scores. The result of the analysis revealed
significant differences between each groups tests before and after the treatment. However, the post-test
results between groups did not signal a significant difference.
The inexistence of significant difference between these results may have been caused by a lot of
factors. The first of them might be that the treatment only lasted for 3 weeks due to the time available for
the teaching of the unit’s vocabulary. Therefore, such a short time might have not yielded fruitful results
in identifying whether a teaching method was effective or not. The second reason might be that both
groups’ students were already highly motivated to learn English and they continued their self-studies
outside school by going to after-school or weekend English courses. The final factor could be that as can
be observed from the high pre-test results, the majority of the students were already familiar with some of
the vocabulary chosen to be taught to them. So, because of their high levels of acquaintance, the
possibility of both groups having also high results in the post-tests was predictable.
Comparing the results of this analysis with the research studies with similar designs, we can see
that also in Bal’s study (2018), in which the treatment period was also short, the mean scores between
groups did not yield a significant difference. However, in the other studies with similar designs, the ICT
tools or games used during the treatment were found to be effective since there were significant
differences between groups’ test results (Alyaz & Genç, 2016; Medina & Hurtado, 2017).
5. Conclusion, Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research
Through exploring the effectiveness of a web tool, [Link], this study aimed to fill a gap in
the literature since no research studies have been found on this web tool’s use in the field of ELT. To test
the effectiveness of it on vocabulary teaching, two groups, users and non-users of the tool, were tested
according to their vocabulary knowledge at the end of the treatments given to them. The results proved
the effectiveness of the web tool; however, the web tool did not prove to be more effective than the
traditional techniques used for vocabulary teaching.
The short length of the treatment time as well as the number of the groups might be suggested as
the limitations of the present study. With these limitations, it can be concluded that in such a short time a
comparison between two teaching materials or techniques will not provide the best results in terms of
their effectiveness. In addition to this, more vocabulary should be added, preferably vocabulary
previously unknown to students, to check observable and comparable changes in the level of
improvement of their vocabulary. Thus, these factors should be taken into consideration in the further
research focusing on this specific tool. Moreover, the impact of this web tool on other aspects of language
learning, such as improvement of other language skills or the use of it as an assessment tool could be of
possible research topics.
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