The Use and Perception of Grammar Games in the

Austrian Secondary EFL Classroom

Diplomarbeit

zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades

einer Magistra der Philosophie

an der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz

vorgelegt von

Nadja WAKONIG

am Institut für Anglistik

Begutachterin: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Elizabeth Erling

Graz, 2019

Eidesstattliche Erklärung

Ich erkläre ehrenwörtlich, dass ich die vorliegende Arbeit selbstständig und ohne fremde Hilfe

verfasst, andere als die angegebenen Quellen nicht benutzt und die den Quellen wörtlich oder

inhaltlich entnommenen Stellen als solche kenntlich gemacht habe. Die Arbeit wurde bisher in

gleicher oder ähnlicher Form keiner anderen inländischen oder ausländischen Prüfungsbehörde

vorgelegt und auch noch nicht veröffentlicht. Die vorliegende Fassung entspricht der

eingereichten elektronischen Version.

Graz, 20-5-2018 Nadja Wakonig

Acknowledgements

First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor Elizabeth Erling for her support throughout the

process of writing this thesis. Thank you for your time, your patience, the motivating deadlines

and your guidance.

Moreover, I would like to thank all the participants that contributed to this study—without you

it would not have been possible, thank you for your thoughts.

Many thanks to my parents—Mama and Papa without you it would have never been possible

for me to become a teacher. Thank you so much for giving me the chance to go to university,

for supporting me emotionally during all these years and for your encouragement during the

process of writing this thesis. I am glad to have you as parents, and I will be thankful forever.

Of course, I would like to thank the rest of my family as well, Opa, Peter, Andrea, thank you

for your open ears and support during my years of studying. I am very happy that you all are

part of my family.

Furthermore, I am grateful for my grandma’s support throughout the years. For all the times we

talked on the phone. For all the times you were much more worried than I was. For all the times

you said I will make it. For all the times you said you were proud of me. I wish you could be

here right now. I will always keep you in my heart.

Lastly, I would like to thank my sister Elena. Thank you for supporting me emotionally, not

only while writing this thesis but also during the whole period of studying. Thank you for being

there when sometimes everything was “too much” and cheering me up with your (sometimes

too) rational advice and many hugs. There is nothing better than having a sister like you—you

are the best!

Abstract

Games have always been part of our lives, but they have been proven to provide a variety of

benefits as well, when used in the EFL classroom: Research has shown that games provide an

authentic learning environment, can reduce students’ anxiety level and positively influence

students’ motivation and learning outcome. Although the relationship between grammar games

and positive effects on students have been investigated before, games are still an underused

resource in the Austrian EFL classroom. Therefore, an aim of this study is to investigate

whether games are used in the Austrian English classes, and to explore the students’ and

teachers’ opinions towards games as a classroom tool. Moreover, Ur (2012) suggests that

teachers still use outdated models to teach grammar. Hence, another aim of this study is to

investigate the students’ and teachers’ perception of grammar teaching with special focus on

motivation. Another aim of this research project is to investigate why students learn English

and how they feel during English class in general. The methodological approach selected for

this study is a quantitative approach, because a large number of participants were surveyed.

Overall, 120 questionnaires were handed out, 38 to teachers and 82 to students. The results of

the study showed that overall the majority of students and teachers held positive opinions

towards games and recognised the benefits of games in the classroom. However, the teachers’

perception of how often games are used in class, did not match the students’ perception.

Teachers claimed to use games once a week, whereas the majority of the students stated that

games are rarely used in class. Furthermore, students did not favour the way grammar is taught

and claimed to feel unmotivated and that no enjoyment was included. Nonetheless, students

reported that grammar games can improve their motivation towards grammar learning.

Moreover, the findings suggest that a majority of the students feels positive towards learning

English in general.

Kurzfassung

Spiele waren immer schon Teil unseres Lebens, aber es stellte sich auch heraus, dass Spiele

auch in österreichischen Sekundarschulen eine große Spanne an Vorzügen aufweisen: Spiele

schaffen eine authentische Lernumgebung, sie können Ängste von Schüler_innen reduzieren

und die Motivation und den Lernerfolg positiv beeinflussen. Obwohl ein Zusammenhang

zwischen den Vorteilen und ihr Effekt auf die Schüler_innen wissenschaftlich bewiesen wurde,

gelten Spiele als wenig genutzte Ressource in den österreichischen Sekundarschulen. Daher ist

ein Bestreben dieser Studie herauszufinden in welchem Ausmaß Spiele in den österreichischen

Sekundarschulen genutzt werden und wie Lehrer_innen und Schüler_innen generell zu diesem

Thema stehen. Weiters fand Ur (2012) heraus, dass viele Lehrer_innen veraltete Methoden

verwenden um Grammatik zu lehren. Daher zielt die Studie darauf ab, die Ansicht zum

Grammatikunterricht von Schüler_jnnen in Bezug auf Motivation zu erforschen. Des Weiteren

wird die generelle Einstellung zum Englisch lernen von Schülern_innen erforscht. Die Studie

basiert auf einer quantitativen Forschungsmethode. Insgesamt wurden 120 Fragebögen

ausgeteilt, an 38 Lehrer_innen und 82 Schüler_innen. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass der Großteil

von Schüler_innen und Lehrer_innen positiv gegenüber Spielen eingestellt ist und weiß, dass

Spiele viele Vorteile bringen. Allerdings, war die Ansicht wie oft Spiele im Unterricht

verwendet werden zwischen den zwei Gruppen unterschiedlich. Lehrer gaben an Spiele einmal

pro Woche zu verwenden, während Schüler_innen das Gefühl hatten, dass kaum Spiele gespielt

werden. Weiters, mochten Schüler_innen die Art wie Grammatik gelehrt wird nicht. Ein

Großteil gab an sich dabei nicht motiviert zu fühlen. Schüler_innen gaben allerdings auch an,

dass Grammatikspiele ihre Motivation steigern können. Außerdem, zeigten die Ergebnisse, dass

der Großteil der Schüler_innen sich im Allgemeinen sehr wohl im Englischunterricht fühlt

Abbreviations

CLT Communicative Language Teaching

EFL English as a Foreign Language

ESL English as a Second Language

L2 Second Language

PPP Presentation—Practice—Production Model

SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1

2. Literature Review ............................................................................................................... 3

2.1 Motivation .................................................................................................................. 3

2.1.1 Definition .................................................................................................................. 4

2.1.2 Motivational Theories ............................................................................................... 5

2.1.3 Motivation and Emotions .......................................................................................... 9

2.2 Grammar ................................................................................................................... 11

2.2.1 Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)............................................................ 11

2.2.2 Implicit or Explicit Teaching of Grammar .............................................................. 15

2.2.3 Reasons for Grammar Teaching .............................................................................. 17

2.2.4 Teaching Grammar through Games ........................................................................ 17

2.3 Games in the EFL Classroom ................................................................................... 18

2.3.1 What do we mean by Games? ................................................................................. 19

2.3.2 Types of Games ....................................................................................................... 19

2.3.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of Games .............................................................. 20

2.3.4 Motivation and Games ............................................................................................ 22

2.3.5 Students’ and Teachers’ Perception of (Grammar) Games—A Review of Recent

Studies .............................................................................................................................. 22

3. Methodology .................................................................................................................... 24

3.1 Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................ 25

3.2 Methodological Design .................................................................................................. 26

3.3 Study Design .................................................................................................................. 26

3.3.1 Study Design Students ............................................................................................ 27

3.3.2 Study Design Teachers ............................................................................................ 29

3.4 Ethics .............................................................................................................................. 31

3.5 Data Analysis ................................................................................................................. 31

4. Findings ............................................................................................................................ 34

4.1 Findings from the Students’ Questionnaire .............................................................. 34

4.1.1 Feelings about English ............................................................................................ 35

4.1.2 Grammar .................................................................................................................. 39

4.1.3 Games ...................................................................................................................... 42

4.1.4 Grammar Games ..................................................................................................... 48

4.2 Findings from the Teacher Questionnaire ................................................................ 53

4.2.1 Students and Games ................................................................................................ 54

4.2.2 Games ...................................................................................................................... 58

4.2.3 Grammar ............................................................................................................... 64

4.3 Students’ and Teachers Perceptions Compared ............................................................. 68

4.4 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 71

5. Discussion ........................................................................................................................ 72

5.1 Motivation ...................................................................................................................... 72

5.2 Grammar ................................................................................................................... 74

5.3 (Grammar) Games .................................................................................................... 76

5.3.1 The Use of (Grammar) Games in the Austrian EFL Classroom ............................. 76

5.3.2 Students’ and Teachers’ Believes about (Grammar) Games’ Benefits ................... 77

5.3.3 Teachers’ Reasons for and against the Use of Games ............................................ 79

5.4 Gender and Age ............................................................................................................. 81

6. Limitations ....................................................................................................................... 83

7. Recommendations for Future Language Teaching .......................................................... 84

8. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 85

9. List of Figures .................................................................................................................. 87

10. References .................................................................................................................... 89

11. Appendices ................................................................................................................... 92

1

1. Introduction

Games have always been part of young peoples’ lives —it started as an infant, when games

were played to improve motoric skills and strengthen cognitive abilities. As a child, games can

improve creativity, because who cannot think of one game in their early childhood that was

invented by themselves. When children become young adults, digital games become an

important part of their lives and competition becomes very prominent. In all those stages of a

young live, games have obtained an important role, hence, why should this not be the case for

school as well?

When I connect games to school, the first thing that comes to my mind is “Please don’t use too

many games in classroom, because students won’t learn anything.” that is what my former

mentor told me at the beginning of my internship in school. This statement made me aware that

games might not be as widely accepted by teachers as I had assumed before, although the

Austrian curriculum explicitly states to use games as a teaching resource, because they can

increase creativity (Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur [BMUKK], pp. 1–2).

Moreover, the curriculum demands the provision of a variety of different sources, of which

games can be part of as well, to ensure language learning is appealing to all learner types

(Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur, p. 2). Another important aspect the

curriculum discusses, is that teachers should use a communicative approach to teach English

(Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur, p. 2). Therefore, games should be used

in class as well, because as Gozcu and Caganaga (2016, p. 127) claim, games offer an authentic

context, which is one of the base principles of communicative language teaching (Richards,

2006, pp. 22–23).

When I think back to my own days as a student in school, I can only remember one game that

we played: “Simon says”. I remember how the whole class was eager to participate, laughed

and enjoyed the English lesson—that happened during the first month of learning English.

Sadly, that is the only memory I have, because we had not played any other games ever again.

However, games reoccurred during my studies in a course at university that focused solely on

teaching different skills through games and other communicative activities. This time, I became

aware of the various benefits of games in the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom

2

from the perspective of a teacher and learning things finally did not feel like “hard work”

anymore—it was fun and I had the feeling I felt more motivated in class.

However, due to several discussions with other colleagues and observations in English classes,

I came to my personal conclusion that games are still an underused source in the Austrian EFL

classrooms. Literature suggests that there a are a variety of benefits, such as, increased

motivation, a higher learning outcome and an increased self-confidence, attached to games

(Gozcu & Caganaga, 2016, p. 127). Moreover, similar studies to this one have already been

conducted in Serbia and Turkey, the outcomes of which showed that the perceptions of students

and teachers are generally very positive towards games (Stojkovic & Jerotijevic, 2011;

Yolageldili & Arikan, 2011). Nonetheless, no study concerning this field was found for the

Austrian language learners. Therefore, the main aim of this research project is to find out

teachers’ and students’ perception of (grammar) games and if games, in general, are still and

underused source in the Austrian classrooms.

Moreover, I am interested in the students’ perception of grammar teaching, because during

observations in school I realized that grammar is still taught solely explicitly and no teacher I

encountered, actually used the new approaches, such as, communicative language teaching

(CLT), which are taught at university. Ur (2012) found out that based on her observations, she

found out that a majority of teachers still use outdated grammar teaching approaches such as

the presentation—practice—production (PPP) model, instead of CLT, because they prefer to

teach grammar explicitly instead of implicitly, although literature indicates that teaching

grammar implicitly leads to better results (Ur, 2012, p. 84). This could be a reason why

literature suggests that grammar lesson are often considered as boring (Luu & Nguyed, 2010,

p. 70). Therefore, I want to investigate if students enjoy practicing grammar or not and if they

do not, how grammar games could influence their opinion.

Another minor aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between games and the age of

the students. Research mainly focuses on younger learners of primary schools and their

perceptions of games. However, no research was found dealing with secondary students, which

is the reason why the participants chosen for this study were between 15 and 18 years old. This

study should reveal if there is an age limit for playing games with students or if older students

still enjoy game-based learning.

3

The thesis is structured as follows: In chapter 2, the Literature Review, research investigating

the fundamental principles of motivation, grammar teaching and games will be presented.

Moreover, the relationship between grammar and games, and the relationship between

motivation and games will be explored in this chapter. Next, in chapter 3, the methodology of

the study will be introduced, including the study’s design and a description of the data analysis

process. After this, the quantitative findings of the study will be presented in chapter 4, and

subsequently, discussed in regard to the literature, in chapter 5. Lastly, in chapter 6, a summary

of the main outcomes of this study will be provided, possible limitations will be discussed and

recommendations for future EFL teaching and studies in this field will be made.

2. Literature Review

In this section the literature about motivation, grammar and games is discussed in order to

acquire the needed knowledge to understand the relationship between emotions, grammar and

games in the English language classroom. The first sub-section deals with motivation, its

strategies and how emotion play an enormous role in the EFL classroom. Next, I will define the

term “grammar”, discuss the historical development of the communicative language teaching

approach and, connect grammar theory to games, in order to introduce grammar games. Lastly,

I will explore what can be considered as a game, types of games and examine the advantages

and disadvantages of using them in class, to show why games are appealing to students.

2.1 Motivation

Motivation plays a central role in people’s lives. Especially, when learning a new language,

motivation has an impact on the learning behaviour of a student. In this chapter, motivation will

be defined and the most important motivational strategies for a language classroom will be

discussed. Lastly, the relationship between emotions and motivation will be shown. This is

crucial for the following study, in order to fully understand why motivation is so important for

students and teachers in classroom.

4

2.1.1 Definition

Motivation is encountered in many parts of a people’s lives—in sports, at work and especially,

in education. According to Williams et al. (2015) there are a variety of definitions and concepts

to explain the phenomena of motivation. For instance, Harmer (2001:51) defines motivation as

“some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something”,

which is a general interpretation of the concept. Dörnyei and Ryan (2015:72), on the other hand,

provide a more specific explanation for motivation in L2 learning: “motivation provides the

primary impetus to initiate L2 learning and later the driving force to sustain the long, often

tedious learning process.”

Moreover, according to Struder and Knecht (2016:4-5), the power and factors that drive

motivational behaviour are called motives and can be divided in three different categories:

biological, psychological and economic motives. Relevant motives for the English learning

classroom are mainly psychological motives and the associated motivational theories. They are

important to know for the teachers in order to create an appealing learning environment, and to

help teachers create engaging exercises, such as games, in order to increase the motivation of

the students.

I would consider motivation as the force behind every action of students, for instance, why they

do an exercise and even why they learn the language at all. As long as there is any kind of

motivation behind the students’ behaviour, for example, they want to learn English for their

future job, simply to be able to communicate with other people or just because they like the

language, students will try to accomplish their goal. If a student is not motivated for whatever

reason, it is the teacher’s duty to intervene and try to motivate them. This is why it is so

important to understand the different motivational theories, which will be discussed in the next

chapter, in order to offer further insight in how motivation works.

5

2.1.2 Motivational Theories

In this section, various motivational theories, which teachers should keep in mind, will be

discussed, in order to provide a general overview. The motivational theories are important,

because they can help teachers to create appropriate material for English learning, of which

games can be a part of, which matches the students’ needs and ensures that students become

motivated not only for one particular exercise, but also during the whole process of learning

English.

During the second half of the 20th century motivational theories have emerged and have been

influenced and formed by the cognitive view (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011, p. 12). As mentioned

before, there are three major motives and resulting different theories have developed. Those

motivational theories are needed in order to understand the basic concepts of interdependent

factors of motivated behaviour. If realised by teachers these can be seen as a tool to actively

steer the students’ motivation in the classroom. This chapter will focus on the most important

theories, which are relevant for the language classroom: (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011)

2.1.2.1 Expectancy Value Theory

The simplest form of the expectancy value theory is:

𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑦 × 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 = 𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

To explain this theoretical framework, two factors need to be elaborated. On the one hand, a

student’s motivation is based on his or her individual assessment of how likely it is that success

in a given task is achieved. Additionally, the reward given for succeeding also plays a role. On

the other hand, the personal value of the given task and the reward are a deciding factor as well

(Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011, pp. 13–14).

The more likely it is that a student reaches the goal and the higher the personal value of the

reward is, the greater is the individual motivation of a student. If one variable of this equation

is missing or non-proportional, for instance, if the goal appears to be too difficult for a student

to reach or if the reward is not interesting enough, the motivation will decrease (Dörnyei

& Ushioda, 2011, pp. 13–14). Therefore, this theory is crucial for every teacher, because it

allows them to influence the students’ motivation in class actively.

6

2.1.2.2 Goal Theory

In the past decades goals have replaced “needs” or “drives” as the stimulus for motivated

behaviour and action and during this time span research has mainly focused on three key areas:

goal setting, goal orientation and goal content and multiplicity (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011,

pp. 19–20).

Goal Setting Theory:

The goal setting theory is in some aspects similar to the expectancy value theory and is again

essential for every teacher to know in order to prepare tasks for students in an appropriate way,

to help students feel more motivated when learning a language. However, whereas in the latter

theory, the goal is not further defined, the former shows differentiation in goal setting. This

finds expression in three areas: specificity, difficulty and goal commitment (Dörnyei

& Ushioda, 2011, p. 20). The main findings of past research are the following:

1. The more difficult a goal, the greater the achievement.

2. The more specific or explicit a goal, the more precisely performance is regulated.

3. Goals that are both specific and difficult lead to the highest performance.

4. Commitment to goals is most critical when goals are specific and difficult.

5. High commitment to goals is attained when (a) the individual is convinced that the goal is

important; and (b) the individual is convinced that the goal is attainable.

(Locke, 1996, as in Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011, p.20)

Additionally, proximal and distal goals are of high importance for the L2 learning classroom.

The main distal, or future, goal in a L2 learning environment is to master the new target

language. However, research suggests that setting proximal, or immediate, goals has a major

impact on the students’ motivation. A proximal goal, for instance, is to pass an exam or to fulfil

a task to personal satisfaction. These “small milestones” can boost the individual motivation of

a student, because they can mark progress and provide encouraging feedback (Dörnyei

& Ushioda, 2011, p. 21).

Goal orientation theory:

The goal orientation theory was specifically designed for a school context. This theory consists

of two contrasting orientations. Firstly, mastery orientation, which focuses on learning the

7

content. Students who follow this orientation, belief that, “effort will lead to success and

emphasis is on one’s own improvement” (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011, pp. 21–22). Secondly,

performance orientation which focuses on obtaining good marks and exceeding other students.

Students who use this strategy see studying as a way to accomplish a goal and to obtain public

appreciation (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011, pp. 21–22).

Goal content and multiplicity:

Other than the goal setting and goal orientation theory, goal content and multiplicity theory

does not solely focuses on academic goals. This theory also takes into account social influences

and goals, such as, making friends, pleasing the teacher and avoid punishment (Dörnyei

& Ushioda, 2011, p. 22). This theory shows that it is also of high importance to consider social

motivation because it influences the academic motivation as well (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011,

p. 22). However, depending on whether the social goal is reached or not, the student can either

be motivated or demotivated.

Overall, the expectancy value theory and the different forms of the goal theory provide a wide

set for teachers to ensure that their students become and stay motivated. It is very important that

teachers always keep them in mind when preparing exercises, because if not students might feel

overwhelmed because the “goal” might be too hard to reach or the value a task has might not

be high enough. However, in order to do so, teachers have to investigate their students’ distal

and proximal goals. This could be done by playing a variety of games. For some students it

might be hard to explicitly state what their goals are, but if, for instance, a rating game of

different goals is played students’ might become aware of their goals.

In the next sub-section, another crucial element of motivation, namely intrinsic and extrinsic

motivation, will be presented.

2.1.2.3 Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Motivation

In this sub-section, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation will be discussed. This is a crucial element

of learning, because it makes a difference for teachers whether their students are intrinsically

or extrinsically motivated. Therefore, this sub-section provides a general overview of this topic,

to ensure everyone is familiar with the impact these types of motivation can have on their

students’ learning behaviour.

8

A very prominent approach is the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Generally, “one is intrinsically motivated if one carries out an activity for enjoyment or

satisfaction it provides” and “one is extrinsically motivated if one does something in order to

achieve another goal that is not related to the activity itself.” (Williams, Mercer, & Ryan, 2015,

p. 106).

However, there are different types of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: Intrinsic motivation is

separated into three major types. Firstly, to learn, which means that a student engages in an

exercise “for the pleasure and satisfaction of understanding something new” (Dörnyei

& Ushioda, 2011, p. 23). Secondly, towards achievement, happens when a student feels

motivated to do an activity in order to excel oneself. Lastly, experience simulation, in order to

engage in an activity “to experience pleasant sensation” (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011, p. 23).

In contrast to intrinsic motivation, there are, according to (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011) four

different types of extrinsic motivation: Firstly, external regulation, where the motivation comes

completely from an external source, for instance, when the teacher praises a student. Next,

introjected regulation, which is very prominent in schools, deals with “externally imposed rules

that the student accepts as norms to be followed in order not to feel guilty” (Dörnyei & Ushioda,

2011, p. 24). Thirdly, identified regulation, people with this type of extrinsic motivation engage

in an exercise because they see it as highly valuable and useful. Lastly, the most sophisticated

form is integrated regulation, which involves “choiceful behaviour that is fully assimilated with

the individual’s other values, needs and identity” (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011, p. 24).

Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation can often be seen as counterparts, except when the intrinsic

match the extrinsic goal, needs and values. However, most people’s motivation is set between

control (extrinsic) and self-determination (intrinsic) (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011, p. 24). In the

next sub-section the L2 Motivational Self System will be discussed.

2.1.2.4 L2 Motivational Self System

In this sub-section, the L2 Motivational Self System, will be presented and discussed, in order

to provide an overview of the latest motivational theory that has emerged. This theory should

be considered by teachers as well, in order to understand their students’ motivational behaviour.

9

The most prominent theory today is Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System, which is a

combination of contextual, personal, and temporal dynamics and “considers motivation as a

part of self—realization” (Williams et al., 2015, p. 114). The L2 System is grounded on the

conception of possible selves, this refers to the variety of images people have of their future

selves. These may be either positive images, so called “hoped-for selves”, or negative ones, so

called “feared-selves”. The Self System is based on three self-guides: The ideal L2 self, which

stands for the person we want to become in future if we are able to use the L2. The ought-to L2

self, which emerges due to social responsibilities to other learners and, lastly, the L2 learning

experience, which deals with prior experiences, which can either be positive (success) or

negative (failure), and stands in interaction with the learning environment (Williams et al.,

2015, p. 115). The main stimulus of a learner’s motivation derives from the “perceived

discrepancies between one’s current sense of self in the L2 and one’s ideal L2 self” (Williams

et al., 2015, p. 115). That means if a student wants to become proficient in writing E-mails in

a future job—that’s his ideal self. However, the current-self shows lacks in some areas, like

vocabulary and text structure. The student will be more motivated to improve his skill to

become his future—self.

2.1.3 Motivation and Emotions

Emotions have always been crucial in our world and of course, in second language learning,

therefore, this sub-section will provide further insight in the way positive and negative emotions

can affect learners and their learning behaviour in the classroom.

William James (1902) characterized a world without any feelings or emotions as one where:

“[n]o portion of the universe would then have more importance than another; and the whole

character of its things and series of its events would be without significance, character,

expression, or perspective.” (James, 1902, as in Williams et al., 2015, p. 81)

Everybody who learns a new language experiences negative emotions, such as, embarrassment

and also positive emotions, like, enjoyment of learning. Especially, Young children in pre-

schools and primary schools experience predominantly positive emotions during learning a

language, because of their thrill to learn something new (Hall & Götz, 2013, p. 34). However,

this changes when children become older. Negative emotions become predominant and the

10

“enjoyment of learning strongly decreases, and negative emotions such as anxiety, anger and

boredom increase” (Hall & Götz, 2013, p. 34).

Nonetheless, studies have shown that there is a connection between positive emotions and

higher motivation. Hall and Götz (2013) suggest that enjoyment of learning and intrinsic

motivation both increase the “persistence of learning tasks, and contribute to a better learning

outcome” (Hall & Götz, 2013, p. 34). For example, when a student experiences positive

emotions during an activity he or she quickly moves from task—irrelevant thoughts, “This is

really fun!” to task-based thoughts, such as “How can I solve the next task?”. Whereas, when a

student experiences negative emotions during an activity his/her thoughts are likely to drift

from “I don’t understand what I have to do” to “What am I going to eat for lunch?” (Hall

& Götz, 2013, p. 30). This shows that positive emotions have a major impact on students’

motivation and learning outcome.

However, not only positive emotions have an impact on the students, also negative emotions

and anxiety influence the students as well. Oxford (2005) argues that language anxiety harms

the student’s performance in various ways. Language anxiety can either influence the student

indirectly, by worry and self-doubt, or directly by “reducing participation and creating overt

avoidance of the language.” (Oxford, 2005, p. 60). Moreover, harmful anxiety can reduce

motivation, can lead to a negative attitude towards the language and can even influence

students’ language performance. Additionally, various studies during the 1990’s have shown a

negative relation between language anxiety and grades, test performance, performance in

writing and speaking, self-confidence and self-esteem (Oxford, 2005, p. 61).

Still, some researchers argued that language anxiety has a positive influence on a minority of

students as well. For instance, it can lead to better grades and high language proficiency, but

only for a minority of students (Oxford, 2005, p. 61). Nonetheless, teachers should always try

to reduce students’ anxiety levels, because as mentioned above the benefits of positive emotions

outweigh the minor benefits negative emotions can have.

Oxford (2005) argues as well that language anxiety can either be triggered by particular

situations, or students’ can develop a permanent anxious character trade. In most cases,

language anxiety vanishes when the student becomes more proficient in a language. However,

if this is not the chase anxiety becomes “a trait rather than a state” (Oxford, 2005, p. 60), which

can influence the language performance negatively. Therefore, it is important for teachers to

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detect anxious behaviour of students, in order to prevent students from developing anxious

character traits.

Overall, the literature discussed showed that motivation is an important aspect to consider when

learning a language. Therefore, the theory of motivation, including the motivational theories

and motivations’ relationship with emotions, should always be considered when teachers are

creating new materials, in order to ensure that their students become and stay motivated during

the whole process of learning English. This is important, especially for this study, because it

will be investigated whether students feel more motivated when games are being used.

Moreover, this study investigates the students’ reason for learning English as well, which could

show teachers why students feel motivated or not. In the next section, various parts of grammar

theory will be presented.

2.2 Grammar

In this chapter, grammar and its meaning for the EFL classroom will be discussed. Firstly, the

communicative approach will be introduced and the ensuing critique of traditional, formal

grammar teaching. Moreover, implicit vs. explicit grammar teaching will be discussed. Further,

reasons why grammar should be taught will be discussed and the potential of using games to

teach grammar will be demonstrated.

Grammar is an important part of communication between people. If we quit using grammar

while speaking, there would be devastating consequences—it would be impossible to

understand each other. However, the teaching of grammar came under more criticism as foreign

language teaching attempted to move away from traditional practices.

2.2.1 Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

During the 1970s, the communicative approach in grammar teaching has emerged. This

approach is defined as the “aim of language learning as acquiring communicative ability that is

the ability to use and interpret meaning in real—life conversation” (Nassaji & Fotos, 2010,

p. 6). This means, the focus is not on grammatical rules and structures, where students mainly

do fill-in task in textbooks, anymore, but on meaning-focused language learning, which

demands that students use grammar in meaningful and real conversations. Therefore, this

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approach is important due to its use of authentic context, it can be brought in connection with

games and all the benefits of CLT and game teaching can be used at once. The CLT approach

emerged and evolved during the past 40 years in three phases. The three phases will be

described in the following subsections.

2.2.1.1 Phase 1: Traditional Approaches

Before communicative language teaching emerged traditional approaches, such as,

Audiolingualism and the Structural-Situational Approach were present in the EFL classroom

up to the late 1960s. Richards (2006) stated that those traditional approaches mainly focused

on grammatical competences to obtain language proficiency. This means that teachers and

researches back than believed that a language could only be mastered if grammar is mastered.

A common belief during that time was that “language learning meant building up a large

repertoire of sentences and grammatical patterns and learning to produce these accurately and

quickly in the appropriate situation.” (Richards, 2006, p. 6). Therefore, drill and repetitive

practice were the common tools teachers used to teach students a language. Additionally,

teachers put great emphasis on accurate pronunciation and the correct usage of grammar from

the very beginning on. Errors were seen as something “unnatural” that had to extinguished

immediately in order to avoid that those errors would become “a permanent part of the learner’s

speech” (Richards, 2006, p. 7). Moreover, the four famous skills were introduced during that

time, namely: reading, listening, speaking and writing. Those four skills were an important basis

for the CLT method.

2.2.1.2 Phase 2: Classic Communicative Language Teaching

During the 1970s, the traditional approaches became more and more rejected and “the centrality

of grammar in language teaching and learning was questioned” (Richards, 2006, p. 9), because

teachers and researchers claimed that learning a language required more than grammatical

competence. Of course, grammatical competence was needed in order to form correct

sentences, nevertheless, communication and using the learned language in certain

communicative situations, such as, giving advice and making requests or suggestions became

more important (Richards, 2006, p. 9). Therefore, mastering the communicative competence,

which included knowing what to say in a certain situation, became the new main goal in the

EFL classroom. This was when communicative language teaching was created and because of

this, teachers had to remodel syllabi and materials, because grammar was no longer in the centre

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of their teaching. Richards (2006) described the CLT syllabus to establish communicative

competence as the following:

1. As detailed a consideration as possible of the purposes for which the learner wishes to

acquire the target language; for example, using English for business purposes, in the hotel

industry, or for travel

2. Some idea of the setting in which they will want to use the target language; for example, in

an office, on an airplane, or in a store.

3. The communicative events in which the learners will participate: everyday situations,

vocational or professional situations, academic situations, and so on; for example, making

telephone calls, engaging in casual conversation, or taking part in a meeting.

4. The grammatical content t that will be needed.

5. The lexical content, or vocabulary, that will be needed.

(Richards, 2006, pp. 9–10)

As mentioned previously, the four competences were an important base of the CLT

approach. During the 1980’s those skills were further defined in a “skill-based syllabus”

and were broken down into micro-skills. Richards (2006), for example, listed the further

defined skills of “listening”:

Recognizing key words in conversations

Recognizing the topic of a conversation

Recognizing speakers’ attitude toward a topic

Recognizing time reference of an utterance

Following speech at different rates of speed

Identifying key information in a passage

(Richards, 2006, p. 11)

Moreover, a “functional syllabus” emerged, which included functions the learner should be able

to produce, such as “accepting apologies, introducing someone, and giving explanations.”

(Richards, 2006, p. 11). However, it was still important that vocabulary and grammar which are

needed to acquire those functions are being taught.

In addition to the new acquired syllabus, a new teaching methodology has also emerged when

CLT became prominent in the EFL classroom. The main principals for good CLT teaching were

the following:

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Make real communication the focus of language learning.

Provide opportunities for learners to experiment and try out what they know.

Be tolerant of learners’ errors as they indicate that the learner is building up his or her

communicative competence.

Provide opportunities for learners to develop both accuracy and fluency.

Link the different skills such as speaking, reading, and listening together, since they usually

occur so in the real world.

Let students induce or discover grammar rules.

(Richards, 2006, p. 13)

After the theory of CLT teaching was set, new classroom materials and techniques were

devised. The main focus was no longer on drilling and repetitive activities, but on interacting

meaningful during conversations. Still, the CLT approach had evolved during the last decades,

which will be discussed in the next sub-chapter.

2.2.1.3 Phase 3: Current Trends in CLT

Lastly, current trends in CLT teaching will be discussed. Since the 1990’s CLT had become an

established component in the EFL classroom. Communicative language teaching was

influenced by a number of pedagogical traditions and sources during that time. Therefore, the

rules were no longer as strict as before and a very general set of principles that depend on the

teaching context, had emerged (Richards, 2006, p. 22). Nevertheless, Richards (2006) had

summarised the most important core assumptions of CLT:

1. Effective classroom learning tasks and exercises provide opportunities for students to

negotiate meaning, expand their language resources, notice how language is used, and take

part in meaningful interpersonal exchange.

2. Meaningful communication results from students processing content that is relevant,

purposeful, interesting, and engaging.

3. Language learning is a gradual process that involves creative use of language, and trial and

error. Although errors are a normal product of learning, the ultimate goal of learning is to

be able to use the new language both accurately and fluently.

4. The role of the teacher in the language classroom is that of a facilitator.

5. The classroom is a community where learners learn through collaboration and sharing.

(Richards, 2006, pp. 22–23)

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Overall, there is no universally accepted syllabus or methodology of CLT, because a variety

of different CLT approaches have emerged, all adjusted to the specific learning environment

of the teacher and the learners.

Moreover, CLT plays a central role in the Austrian curriculum. The Austrian curriculum

provides an overview of what should be taught and worked on in the Austrian secondary

English classes. One major aspect is that English should be taught in a communicative way to

ensure that students build up communicative competence (Bundesministerium für Unterricht,

Kunst und Kultur, p. 2). Hence, CLT should be taken serious by teachers, not only because of

the variety of benefits discussed previously, but also because CLT is part of the Austrian

curriculum and teachers are obligated to fulfil the requirements of the curriculum. Moreover,

the Austrian curriculum explicitly states that creativity should be encouraged in the EFL

classroom and claims that games can be a resource to complete this goal (Bundesministerium

für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur, pp. 1–2). However, games must not only be used to improve

creativity, games can be a great resource for teaching grammar as well, because they do match

the criteria of communicative language teaching by offering an authentic context and offer

even more benefits, which will be explored later in this review.

To sum up, CLT has influenced teachers all over the world in their teaching during the last four

decades. Language teaching shifted from grammatical competence to communicative

competence and changed the way of teaching completely. Although a communicative approach

is expected in the Austrian curriculum, a majority of teachers still uses traditional approaches

in their grammar teaching. The way of teaching grammar will be discussed in the next chapter.

2.2.2 Implicit or Explicit Teaching of Grammar

Ur (2012) stated that a majority of the teachers nowadays teach grammar in an explicitly

through the presentation—practice—production (PPP) model, which basically means that

teachers present a grammar rule to their students and then practice this rule “through

conventional exercises based on strategies, such as, gap fills or matching.” (Ur, 2012, p. 84).

Afterwards, teachers expect their students to be able to use the grammar rule correctly and apply

it to their own spontaneous production. However, Ur (2012) claims as well that students often

fail to produce the correct grammatical structure. As a result, it was assumed by many

researchers that the explicit way of teaching grammar does not lead to success. Instead, they

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suggested to teach grammar implicitly, because the main goal for students is to produce

grammatical structures spontaneously in an acceptable manner. For instance, learners should

be exposed “extensively to acceptable forms within meaningful discourse, without explanations

or practice, in the expectation that they will absorb the grammar intuitively and unconsciously.”

(Ur, 2012, p. 85). Though, research found out that teaching grammar solely implicitly does not

obtain better results than explicit grammar teaching. Thus, even long abandoned teaching

techniques, such as, learning by heart remerged. Learning by heart is part of the grammar

teaching method Audiolingualism, which was abandoned during the 1970s, because it was seen

as “mechanical” and “unthinking (Ur, 2012, p. 86). Lately, a variety of writers have discovered

the positive effects of learning by heart. Ur (2012) claims that hearing, reading and repeating

small parts of a language to acquire grammatical structures are very valuable. Therefore, along

with other researchers, Ur (2012) suggests that the best results were obtained when implicit and

explicit grammar teaching is combined (Ur, 2012, p. 86).

By obtaining this new information, the concept of skill-based learning has emerged. Ur (2012)

describes the procedure of this new concept as the following:

First, there is declarative knowledge, where the teacher explains the target behaviour in words,

and the learner understands at the level of theoretical or verbalised representation. Second, this

knowledge is proceduralised through the provision of practice: the learner implements the

behaviour that has been explained to him/her and rehearses it through exercises in order to

become more skilled. Finally, the learner reaches the point at which the procedural knowledge

is automatized: he or she can carry out the behaviour rapidly and accurately without thinking

about it or referring back to the original explanation. (Ur, 2012, p. 88).

This might sound similar to the presentation—practice—production model explained before.

However, the PPP concept was very limited to mechanical exercises, such as, gap fill, multiple-

choice and matching tasks. When students completed such exercises, their primary focus was

on getting the grammar right, which was no problem because they were taught the rules before.

Thus, students often failed to apply those rules in a communicative task. Therefore, skill-based

learning was changed drastically. The main aim of the skill-based approach was to make

learners able to apply grammar correctly “when their attention is no longer devoted to it” (Ur,

2012, p. 89). Therefore, exercises were no longer designed mechanically, but meaningful and

demanded the learners’ attention to “the conveying of ideas with correspondingly less attention

available for focus on form” (Ur, 2012, p. 89). For instance, games make use of those features

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by offering authentic context, which shows that games are an excellent tool to teach grammar

implicitly. As a result, learners get used to using grammar to communicate, instead of filling

out gaps correctly. In the next section, reasons for grammar teaching will be presented.

2.2.3 Reasons for Grammar Teaching

Hinkel and Fotos (2008) suggest reasons from three different perspectives why grammar

teaching is essential to the EFL classroom.

Firstly, the acquisition theory states that L2 learners, mostly older that acquire the target

language naturally, for instance, they have moved to a country where the language is spoken,

“fail to achieve high levels of grammatical competences” (Hinkel & Fotos, 2008, pp. 18–20).

However, those learners can still improve their grammatical competence and reach this high

level when teachers use formal instructions. For instance, formal instructions cause a quicken

L2 acquisition and “is effective in developing explicit knowledge of grammatical features”

(Hinkel & Fotos, 2008, pp. 18–20).

Secondly, the learner’s perspective also gives strong evidence for the benefits of teaching

grammar, especially, because most students simply expect grammar to be taught and see

grammatical features as an essential part of a language. Of course that is not true for every

learner; however, many students see grammar as a toolkit for communication (Hinkel & Fotos,

2008, pp. 20–21).

Lastly, the pedagogical perspective gives further reasons for teaching grammar. During the last

century the concept of “notions” and “functions”. For instance, notions are “possibility and past

time”, whereas examples of functions are “request and apologies” (Hinkel & Fotos, 2008,

p. 21). Despite all positive aspects of this meaning—based syllabus, this concept is criticised

for not being “generative in the way grammar is” (Hinkel & Fotos, 2008, p. 21). However, this

does not mean that meaning-based syllabuses should not be used in class, rather a combination

of meaning-based and structural syllabuses is the key to grammar learning.

2.2.4 Teaching Grammar through Games

Many people might think that the learning outcome is lower when students play games instead

of doing conventional activities. However, games are an ideal possibility to practice not only

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correct speech but also communicative grammar (Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1993, pp. 132–133).

Additionally, the attention of the L2 learner is predominantly focused on the game and

communication. Subconsciously, the student focuses also on a few given grammatical

structures for practice (Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1993, pp. 132–133). Resulting, the learners can

practice grammar structures in a meaningful context.

However, there are some aspects teachers should pay attention to when using games for

grammar teaching. For instance, the learners should be familiar with all the vocabulary and

structures needed in the game. Furthermore, quick drills targeting the grammar structure before

introducing the game encourages students to use correct forms instead of pidgin—like forms

(Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1993, pp. 132–133). In addition, a lot of ESL teachers agree on games

being a brilliant way to teach young children grammar. Nevertheless, some people think that

“adult students are not receptive because they require something more than “fun and games”

(Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1993, pp. 132–133). However, grammar games can be very successful

if the difficulty level is adapted to age, proficiency and experience.

Another important aspect for game—designing teachers is the competition that appears when

playing games. This can either be a problem or highly motivation. Teachers have to decide for

themselves whether they will focus on the competitive aspect or not. If there are weaker students

in class who tend to lose all the time, because of lacking skills, teachers should design non-

competitive games in order to avoid “winners” and “losers” (Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1993,

p. 144). If this is not the case there is no problem in designing the activities as competitive as

possible, in order to boost the learners’ motivation to win to a maximum (Celce-Murcia

& Hilles, 1993, p. 144).

In the next section games in the EFL classroom will be discussed.

2.3 Games in the EFL Classroom

In this section, games and their role in the EFL classroom will be presented. First, the term

“game”, with regard to the second learning classroom will be defined. Next, different types of

games and their advantages and disadvantages will be discussed. Moreover, the link between

games and their motivational factor will be explained. Lastly, recent studies that are similar to

the study of this thesis will be presented.

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2.3.1 What do we mean by Games?

In this section, the meaning of the term “game” will be defined. Games are one of the most

important elements in ESL classrooms. Haldfield (1990, as in Deersi, 2002) defines games as

“an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun.”

However, in many non-English languages there is only one word for what in the English

language is called “play” and “game”. In German, for instance, there is only the term “Spiel”

and the Italian call it “gioco”. Interestingly, the term “play” in English “is related to the

experience of pleasure” (Pivec, Koubek, & Dondi, 2004, p. 30). Whereas, the term “game is

related to the notion of competition” (Pivec et al., 2004, p. 30).

Additionally, during the last century characteristics of games have been defined as:

“An informal act or activity”

“Developing according to freely chosen, but afterwards committing rules”

“The goal is the activity itself”

“The activity is accompanied by a feeling or tension and/or enjoyment”

(Leemkuil et al. 2000, as in Pivec et al., 2004, p. 30-31)

In a nutshell, teachers have to make sure that the characteristics of their created classroom -

games match the general characteristics of games, in order to be able to profit of all the later

discussed advantages. In this thesis, I will define the term game as an activity that includes

rules, a purpose and that should be appealing to the students to guarantee engagement. In the

next sub-section, different types of games will be presented.

2.3.2 Types of Games

According to Jan and Gaydos (2016) there are four types of games that have emerged. Firstly,

so called “motivation games” where having fun and becoming motivated is one main aim. It is

stated that motivation games “refer to games that engage students in the behaviour of learning

desirable content or information” (Jan & Gaydos, 2016, p. 7). When the main aim of teachers

is to motivate their students by playing a game to engage with a certain topic, teachers have to

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make sure to choose a game that includes challenges and stimulates the students’ fantasy and

curiosity. Moreover, Jan and Gaydos (2016) claimed that students were more motivated to

engage in a game when a competition was included.

The second type of games are “drill and practice games”. Here teachers have already taught

content, concepts and theory to their students (Jan & Gaydos, 2016, p. 7). The main aim of drill

and practice games is to practice and familiarize already learned content. They can either be in

a digital or non-digital format and are often used to make repetitive practice more interesting

for students. However, drill and practice games are not used to teach new content and concepts

to students and do not address higher-order thinking skills (Jan & Gaydos, 2016, p. 7).

Next, “content mastery games” will be introduced. They refer to games “that s that facilitate

the mastery of information, facts, concepts, or canonical knowledge” (Jan & Gaydos, 2016,

p. 7). They are used by teachers when they want their students to master complex ideas and

skills and they also “address challenging issues in learning, such as, misconception”. Therefore,

they can be an optimal tool for teachers when they want their students do deal with more

complicated topics.

The last type of game being discussed are “21st Century Competency Games”. Jan and Gaydos

(2016) claim that they are games that refer to fostering “higher-order thinking and social skills,

such as problem-solving, inquiry, argumentation, systems thinking, and collaboration” (Jan

& Gaydos, 2016, p. 7). This type of game is rarely used in school because it requires advanced

knowledge of a topic and the use of abstract skills. Still, if guided professionally by the teacher,

21st Century Competency Games can be used with advanced students to work on their problem

solving skills and argumentation skills.

Overall, the main types of games used in class are “motivation” and “drill and practice games”

because they can be used with beginner students and advanced students as well and they are

easier to prepare and embed in a lesson than the other two types. In the next section, advantages

and disadvantages of games will be presented.

2.3.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of Games

In an L2 classroom a meaningful authentic context is crucial for learning a language, but that

is not the only advantage games have. On the one hand, students’ anxiety level decreases,

21

because learners do not have to speak in front of the whole class and are not that exposed to

teacher’s criticism if mistakes are made (Gozcu & Caganaga, 2016, p. 127). This leads to a

higher level of self-confidence and a positive feeling. On the other hand, contradicting to

traditional/teacher-centred teaching, games are learner-centred activities. Students have to

participate actively and teachers adopt the role as a guide to lead student through the game by

explaining rules and answering questions (Gozcu & Caganaga, 2016, p. 128). Constantinescu

(2012, as in Gozu & Caganaga, 2016, p.128-129) suggests even more positive aspects of games:

Games build up learners’ English repertoire in a familiar and comfortable environment (even

for students who may have special needs), where they feel confident.

Games increase motivation and desire for self-improvement.

Challenge and competition are key factors for any game and students pay more attention to

completing the task.

Interdisciplinary approach: Students use knowledge from other classes, too. · Games develop

students’ ability to observe.

Games offer new and dynamic forms of teaching/ practicing which replace the traditional

worksheets.

Games are adaptable for different levels of knowledge.

(Constantinescu, 2012, as in Gozu & Caganaga, 2016, p.128-129)

This shows that games can help students to feel comfortable in their learning environment,

because, especially for shy learners, games create a safe place where making errors is okay and

students do not have to speak up in front of the whole class (Constantinescu (2012, as in Gozu

& Caganaga, 2016, p.128-129). Moreover, games increase the students’ self-esteem and their

motivation as well, despite their level of learning and when games are being used students can

become more engaged and focused on the activity that it would be the case with fill in tasks

(Constantinescu (2012, as in Gozu & Caganaga, 2016, p.128-129).

However, there are also some disadvantages. For instance, if there are discipline issues in a

class, the noise level could even further increase (Gozcu & Caganaga, 2016, p. 129).

Additionally, if games have been played too often, they might get boring for some students.

Some teenage learners may even think that games are not appropriate for their age, Lastly, the

learning effect might get lost if the rules are not explained well and the goal of the game is too

22

far away of its actual purpose (for instance, to revise a certain grammatical structure) (Gozcu

& Caganaga, 2016, p. 129).

2.3.4 Motivation and Games

As mentioned in section 2.2, motivation is an important factor to learn effectively. It does not

matter whether the learning material is traditional or an innovative new concept, the material

must be appealing to the students, because only when learners engage with an activity can

motivation be instilled, supported and maintained (Pivec et al., 2004, p. 34).

Therefore, games are perfectly suited for the EFL classroom. Besides the advantages mentioned

before, games are amusing, shy students can come out of their shells, because of small groups

and all language areas can be trained. Additionally, games can transform aspects of learning a

language that are boring for some students into fun activities, which leads to further engagement

and motivation (Luu & Nguyen, 2010, p. 70). For instance, grammar activities in textbooks are

often the same—mainly fill in task, which mostly require reading and writing skills and students

have to solve on their own. This might become boring for some students quickly. Games, on

the other hand, if used useful and correctly, provide a meaningful and context-orientated

learning environment, including a lot of variety. This means games “spur motivation and

students get very absorbed in the competitive aspects of the games” (Avedon & Sutton-Smith

1971, as in Luu & Nguyen, 2010, p.70).

As a result, “games stimulate students’ interest in classroom activities and students become

motivated and willing to learn” (Gozcu & Caganaga, 2016, p. 129).

2.3.5 Students’ and Teachers’ Perception of (Grammar) Games—A Review

of Recent Studies

In this sub-section, two recent studies that address the same topic as the study of this thesis,

namely the use and perception of grammar games. The first study deals with teachers’ believes

of the effectiveness of using grammar games. The second study deals with students’ and

teachers’ beliefs of the advantages and disadvantages games can have in an EFL classroom.

The first study, conducted by Yolageldili and Arikan in 2011 addresses the “Effectiveness of

Using Games in Teaching Grammar to Young Learners” and dealt with exploring “the

effectiveness of using games in teaching grammar to young learners from the viewpoints of

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Turkish EFL teachers working in primary schools.” (Yolageldili & Arikan, 2011, p. 219).

Fifteen teachers, age between 24 and 54, completed the questionnaire, which included 15 five

point Likert-scale questions. The questions focused on teachers’ attitudes towards grammar

games as a form of instruction, towards their pedagogical value, the effect of grammar games

on their students and lastly, they were asked how often games are used in class.

The results of this study showed that Turkish EFL teachers are aware of the various benefits

games have in English language learning and teaching. For instance, a great majority believed

that grammar games can reduce students’ anxiety. Moreover, 90% of the Turkish teachers

believed that “while playing a game, learners are not concerned about focussing on the

structures, but learn them unconsciously” (Yolageldili & Arikan, 2011, p. 226).

Yolageldili and Arikan (2011) claimed that “games are one of the best ways to direct young

learners’ energy into language learning because young learners like to be physically active;

moreover, they are imaginative and creative and they learn subconsciously”. Still, teachers need

to pay attention to factors, such as, deciding on the right game, the right time and be aware of

their role when they are playing grammar games with their students. Only if these conditions

are fulfilled, games can become pedagogically successful. Nonetheless, Yolageldili and Arikan

(2011) claimed that although teachers were aware of the pedagogical value of grammar games,

they still follow an explicit way of teaching grammar by explaining rules, because otherwise

they would feel uncomfortable. Unfortunately, Yolageldili and Arikan (2011) stated as well

that if grammar is taught only explicitly, students tend to feel more stressed and anxious,

because “they have to master unfamiliar and unknown grammatical structures and this affects

their learning”. Therefore, games can be seen as a great tool to counteract to such problems.

Another study by Stojkovic and Jerotijevic in 2011 dealt with finding “reasons for using or

avoiding games in an EFL classroom”, as well as with “discovering possible obstacles teachers

encounter when applying those activities” (Stojkovic & Jerotijevic, 2011, p. 940). The study

was conducted at two Serbian schools including a total of 197 participants, consisting of 19

teachers and 178 students. The students attended classes between the 5th and 8th grade, which

means their age varied between 10 and 15 years. The instruments used were two questionnaires,

one for teachers and one for students, whereas both included each 14 questions. The questions

for both groups dealt with reasons for and against using games in class. Moreover, teachers

were asked for possible obstacles that appear when using games in class.

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The results showed that the main reason for students to use games in class is that learning will

be more appealing to them. Moreover, a majority claimed that games are very helpful in

learning and they appreciate games because they are allowed to work as a group. Teachers,

however, claimed that games increase the motivation of their students and provide a meaningful

context for learning a language. Furthermore, they believed that their students would learn

grammar and new vocabulary easier. When students were asked for reasons against using games

in class they claimed to be uninterested in games and prefer learning over playing. Nonetheless,

the majority of the students who did no favour games, could actually not state a reason why this

was the case. When teachers were asked for reasons against using games in class their primary

answer was that they are afraid of losing control over their class. Additionally, some teachers

stated that they do not use games in class because of lack of time and some claimed that they

were not familiar with the method and felt therefore uncomfortable when using games as a

source of teaching. Overall, Stojkovic and Jerotijevic (2011) found out that the majority of

teachers is aware of the educational value of games and the benefits attached, but they still use

games rarely in class. Students, however, would like to play games more often in class. All in

all, Stojkovic and Jerotijevic (2011) found more reasons for the use of games in class than

against.

Overall, both studies showed that teachers and students felt positive towards games and are

aware of their benefits. In the next section, the methodology of the upcoming study will be

presented.

3. Methodology

This study investigates students’ and teachers’ perceptions of (grammar) games in the Austrian

Secondary EFL classroom. In this section, a detailed overview of the research design will be

presented. First, the purpose of the study and the research questions will be presented. Second,

the quantitative approach which was used for this study will be explained. Third, the study

design, including materials, participants and procedure will be presented. Next, Ethics will be

discussed and finally, the procedure of data analysis will be described.

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3.1 Purpose of the Study

As discussed in the previous chapter, games can be very beneficial for students in an EFL class.

They are able to reduce anxiety, boost the motivation and break the daily grind in classroom.

Moreover, grammar is often seen as monotonous and boring by many students (Luu & Nguyen,

2010, p. 70). In general there has been little research done in Austria covering the topic of

(grammar) games. Furthermore, due to personal observation as a student and observations and

talks with several teachers of different age categories during internships, it appeared that games

in general and, especially grammar games, are an underused source in Austrian schools.

Therefore, the main aim of this study is to find out students’ and teachers’ perceptions of

grammar games in the EFL classroom. This study should convey an impression of students’

general relationship towards English and grammar and how grammar games effect their

impression of their learning behaviour. Additionally, it should investigate the teachers’

perception of grammar games, for instance, why do they (not) use (grammar) games in

classroom, how they think their students react to such activities and if they would be interested

in further training.

The aim is to obtain an impression of why (grammar) games are such an underused source in

the EFL classroom in Austria although several previously discussed study show their beneficial

effect on students.

A student and a teacher questionnaire were developed in order to answer the following

questions:

RQ1: How do students perceive the use of grammar games in the EFL classroom?

How do grammar games affect student’s motivation, feelings and what is the students’

opinion on grammar games in general?

RQ2: How do teachers perceive the use of grammar games in the EFL classroom?

How do teachers perceive the use of grammar games with regards to motivation and

learning successes of their students? Moreover, what are their reasons for/ against using

grammar games in classroom?

26

3.2 Methodological Design

The methodology chosen for this study is a quantitative approach, which uses numerical data

for analysis. Muijis (2011) stated that quantitative research “is about explaining phenomena by

collection quantitative data, which are analysed by mathematically based methods.” Compared

to quantitative data, qualitative data provides a more in-depth insight and is less broad that

quantitative research is.

However, this does not mean that quantitative research is only limited to questions, such as,

“How many students learn English in Austria?”, questions that ask for someone’s perception or

feelings can still be analysed in a quantitative way, if the research instruments are designed

properly (Muijs, 2011, p. 2). This can be done by asking students to rate the asked statements

and “give the answers a number (e.g. 1 for ‘disagree strongly’, 4 for ‘agree strongly’)” (Muijs,

2011, p. 2).

(Muijs, 2011) stated as well that

Quantitative research is good at providing information in breadth, from a large number of units,

but when we want to explore a problem or concept in depth, quantitative methods can be too

shallow. To really get under the skin of a phenomena we will need to go for qualitative methods.

(Muijs, 2011, p. 7).

As a result, the quantitative approach was chosen for this study, because a large number of

participants was surveyed and the general students’ and teachers’ perception of (grammar)

games wanted to be investigated.

3.3 Study Design

This section presents a detailed description of the actual design of this study. The students’ as

well as the teacher’s study design will be separated in three different sections. Firstly, the

participants for each questionnaire will be described. Secondly, it will be discussed how the

instruments were designed and used and lastly, the procedure of each data acquisition will be

outlined.

27

3.3.1 Study Design Students

Participants

The participants of this questionnaire were 82 students from one AHS in Graz. They were from

five different classes, all between 5th and 6th grade. 42 of the participants were male, 39 female

and one diverse. The participants’ ages ranged from 14 to 18, with an average of 15 years. The

age group of the students for this study was selected purposefully, in order to find out whether

older students still appreciate games or if they feel too old for this kind of activities.

The size of the classes ranged from 13 to 19 students per class, whereas one class was a male

students only class. All students of those five classes participated in this study.

Instrument

The quantitative approach in form of a questionnaire was used in order to obtain the students’

perception of grammar, grammar games and their general motives behind learning English (see

Appendix B). The questionnaire contained 20 Likert-scale questions, which are a very common

form to ask participants about their perceptions of a particular issue. This type of questions are

often used to consider how much participants “agree or disagree, approve or disapprove, or

believe to be true or false.” (Allen, Seaman, & Christopher, 2007). Moreover, one open question

was asked at the end. The answers of the Likert—scale questions ranged from “trifft zu”

(strongly agree), “trifft eher zu” (agree), “Teils Teils” (neutral) to “trifft eher nicht zu”

(disagree) and “trifft nicht zu” (strongly disagree). The open question at the end of the

questionnaire asked students to express their opinion, wishes, thoughts and feelings about

grammar games in classroom on a voluntary basis.

The questionnaire was conducted in German, because it was the mother tongue of most students

and as language per se did not matter for this study in particular the risk of misunderstandings

due to language issues was minimalised. The questions in the questionnaire were grouped into

four topics, which were motivation, grammar, games and grammar games in the English

classroom.

Before the questionnaire was handed out in class, a grammar game was played. This was done

in order to ensure that each student has played a grammar game before. However, this might

have influenced students’ answers because if this was their first grammar game played, they

had no comparison to other games. Moreover, they had little time to form an opinion, if this

28

was the case. The game was a board game was taken from islcollective.com and slightly adapted

(see Appendix D). The object of the game was to practice past tense, regular and irregular verbs,

asking questions and answering them. This grammar topic was chosen because the actual

language level of the classes were unknown to the researcher. Therefore, the activity should

have been doable for every student, because the difficulty was chosen at an A1 Level, which

was under the students’ theoretical language level, which should have been between A2 and

B1. However, it turned out some students had difficulties using the correct tense and verb form.

Additionally, a letter of consent was created, including information about the study and the

researcher. The consent was given to every student and if it was signed the student agreed to

participate in this study.

Procedure

Before the study was conducted, approval from the headmaster and of every participating

teacher was obtained. Every student was given a letter of consent by their English teacher

beforehand, which they had to sign and hand back if they agreed to participate in this study.

After, I held scheduled with ever teacher, in order to find a date when the study could be

conducted. Before every lesson, I gave the activity templet, including the board game, solutions

and instructions to the teacher. The activity was undertaken by each teacher, dices and tokens

were given to every group and students played the grammar game in groups of three for

approximately 15 minutes, in order to give them an impression on how grammar could be

practiced through games.

Next, I handed out the questionnaire and instructed the students to answer the questions on their

own. The whole procedure took 10 minutes on average and the students were given a small

treat for their participation afterwards. This procedure was repeated for all five classes and all

of the data was obtained anonymously. The data was digitalised by entering responses into a

Microsoft Excel sheet for further processing.

29

3.3.2 Study Design Teachers

Participants

To find participants for this questionnaire personalised E-mails to 81 different teachers from

five different schools were sent. 38 of them completed the questionnaire. All teachers work at

an AHS and they are all teaching English with several different second and third subjects, such

as, History, German, Italian and Geography. 10 of the participants were male and 28 female,

which is approximately 75%. The age differed from 23 to 64, with an average of 45 years. The

age distribution can be seen in the chart below:

Figure 1- Age of the Participants

Furthermore, age groups were formed, in order to analyse, if there is age influences teachers’

perceptions. How many teachers were in an age group can be seen in the Figure 2 below:

Age Group/ years Number of Teachers within this Group

20-30 8

31-40 8

41-50 6

51-60 15

61-70 1

Figure 2—Age Groups

30

Instrument

Again the quantitative approach in form of a questionnaire was used to obtain English teachers’

perception of (grammar) games and grammar in general (see Appendix C). It was created online

with Google Forms, because the link to the questionnaire could be send via E-mail to a variety

of teachers. The questionnaire contained 20 questions in total—four questions to obtain more

detailed information about the participants, 15 Likert—scale questions and an open question at

the end. The answer possibilities for the Likert—scale questions were “Trifft zu” (strongly

agree), “trifft eher zu” (agree), “Teils Teils” (neutral), “trifft eher nicht zu” (disagree) and “trifft

nicht zu” (strongly disagree). The open question at the end of the questionnaire was chosen to

obtain more detailed information about the teachers’ thoughts and feelings about grammar

games. However, this question was to answer on voluntary basis and therefore not every teacher

answered it.

The questionnaire was written in German, in order to avoid language based misunderstandings,

because it was assumed that for most teachers German would be their mother language.

Additionally, the language was chosen in order match the language of the student’s

questionnaire, because some questions were the same in both surveys and therefore, the answers

are more comparable. The questionnaire was separated in three overall topics, namely “games

and student’s beliefs”, “teachers’ perception of games” and “grammar teaching and games”.

Procedure

The questionnaire was designed with the online survey tool “Google Forms”. After, a

personalised E-mail to 81 teachers was sent, of whom 38 agreed to participate in this study. The

E-mail included the link to the questionnaire and at the beginning of the questionnaire the

participants were asked for consent. The data was collected anonymously, the only personal

traits asked, besides their opinion and feelings, were their age, sex, school type and second or

third subject. After finishing answering the questions, each teacher had to submit their

questionnaire. Google Forms created a frequency distribution for every question, which was

downloaded into Microsoft Excel for further analysation.

31

3.4 Ethics

Seeking permission to conduct the study, five teachers were asked in person, if they and their

students would like to participate. Moreover, the headmaster of this particular school was asked

for consent orally. Two weeks before conducting the study, letter of consents were given to

each teacher for their students. The consent was given to the parents of the students to sign

because the surveyed students were underage. The signed consent forms were given to the

researcher afterwards.

The consent form (see Appendix A) included a detailed description of the procedure and

explicitly stated that the data would not be given to third parties and will be used for scientific

purpose only. Moreover, it was stated that all data would be treated anonymously in the

questionnaire and, later in the thesis.

After the questionnaire was completed, students were given a small treat, in form of sweets.

This was done to thank them for their time and participation. However, it did not influence the

students’ choice of answers, because they were not told beforehand that they would be obtaining

a treat afterwards.

To find participants for the teachers’ questionnaire E- mails to English teachers of randomly

chosen AHS schools were sent out. Overall, 81 teachers were contacted with a personalised E-

mail, whereas 38 of them responded and participated in this study. In the E-mail the purpose of

this study was explained. The teachers were informed within the online questionnaire that all

data would be published anonymously and that they give their consent to this by finishing the

questionnaire.

3.5 Data Analysis

In this section the process of how the data was prepared and analysed will be presented. After

the data of the students’ questionnaire was collected, the numerical answers of the hard copies

were typed in a Microsoft Excel spread sheet. The numbers were checked twice, in order to

avoid errors. The teachers’ questionnaire was conducted online in Google forms, which

provided an option to transfer the collected data in an Excel spreadsheet. Two separated Excel

sheets were used for the analysis, one for the students’ questionnaire and one for the teachers.

32

In Excel, the answer distribution for each question was calculated and plotted in a pie diagram,

to illustrate the outcome. An example can be seen below in Figure 3:

Figure 3—Example "Pie Chart"

After, the data was transferred to SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Science) for further

analysis, because, in contrast to Microsoft Excel, SPSS has pre-made formulas which ease the

process of analysis. First, the nature of the data was analysed. It included nominal data, such

as, gender and age, and ordinal data, which included Likert-scale questions. Next, answers that

included characters, for example, gender (male, female) were transformed into numerical data,

where 1 equalled male and 2 equalled female. Following, questions that had an overall theme

were grouped together. For the teachers’ data, 5 age groups were created, for example, teachers

between 20 and 30 were pooled as group 1. This was done in order to find out if there was a

certain tendency in answering questions for a certain age group. The age variable was not

analysed for students because the age group was set before with a range between 14 and 18.

After all the data was coded, the analysis was conducted. First, descriptive statistics was done

for every overall theme and questions separately. It was done in order to investigate the number

of the participants, minima, maxima, mean and standard variation. Additionally, the frequency

distribution for every overall theme was calculated and plotted in a bar chart. This gives an

overall impression on how students and teachers answered on average for every grouped theme.

For instance, as can be seen in the example below, 10 students answered with an overall mean

of 1.5 (between strongly agree and agree) to all questions within this theme, which shows that

they are overall feeling positive about English. The number was calculated for every student

29; 35%

23; 28%

21; 26%

5; 6%4; 5%

Ich lerne Englisch, weil mir die Sprache gut gefällt

Trifft zu

Trifft eher zu

Teils Teils

Trifft eher nicht zu

Trifft nicht zu

33

separately by adding up each answer (1-5, from strongly agree to strongly disagree) of the

questions that were asked within a theme and dividing them then by the number of questions

asked within a theme.

Figure 4—Example "Frequency Distribution"

Next, the Ttest was conducted for every theme and question to investigate, if there was a

significant difference between the mean of two groups. For example, it was used to analyse, if

there was a significant difference between the mean of answers of male and female participants.

Furthermore, the teachers’ data was separated by age groups and again a descriptive analysis

and the Ttest were conducted for every theme and question, in order to analyse the mean of

every question for every age group and if there was a difference in answering for male and

female participants within the age groups. If the Ttest showed a significance smaller than 0.05

it was considered as significant.

This methodology was considered as the best methodology possible for the purpose of this

study. In the next section, findings of the analysis will be presented in detail.

34

4. Findings

In this section, the findings of both the teacher and students’ questionnaire will be presented.

First, the data from the students’ questionnaires will be discussed according to the topics that

were determined beforehand, when the questionnaire was designed. After, the findings of the

teacher’s questionnaire will be presented. Lastly, findings of both questionnaires will be

compared with another

4.1 Findings from the Students’ Questionnaire

In this section, the findings of the students’ questionnaire will be presented. They will be

separated into four themes that were determined beforehand. First, the data from the overall

theme will be presented and after, findings from individual questions within this theme will be

shown. The themes will be presented in the following order: Feelings about English, Grammar,

Games and Grammar Games. To analyse the data Microsoft Excel was used to present the

answer distribution with regards to the Likert—scale for every question, which will be shown

in a pie chart. After, SPSS was used in order to obtain the mean, minima and maxima and the

standard deviation of the overall theme and every question within this theme. Furthermore, a

TTest was conducted to examine whether there is a difference in responses from male and

female participants.

Overall, there were 82 participants from five different classes that completed the questionnaire.

The age of the participants ranged from 14 to 18, with an average of 15 years. 42 (51%) of the

participants were male, 39 (48%) were female and 1 (1%) was of diverse gender. Due to only

one participant stating a diverse gender, only male and female genders will be considered in

Ttest when the relationship between answering and gender will be explored.

35

Figure 5—Distribution of Gender

4.1.1 Feelings about English

This section deals with students’ overall feelings and opinions towards English and why they

are studying English. First, I present an overall response to all questions in this theme to show

the general picture and then I discuss each question individually. The questions included within

the Feelings about English theme were:

1. I study English because I like the language (Ich lerne Englisch, weil mir die Sprache

gefällt.)

2. I study English in order to pursue a different goal (job, travelling, and studies). (Ich

lerne Englisch, um ein anderes Ziel (Beruf, Reisen, Studium) zu verfolgen.)

3. I study English, because I have to. (Ich lerne Englisch, weil ich es muss.)

4. I feel more stressed out in English class than in other subjects in school. (Ich fühle mich

im Englischunterricht gestresster als in anderen Fächern.)

For some answers in this theme “strongly agree” (1 on the Likert scale) meant students were

positive towards English. However, for some questions it was the other way around; here

“strongly agree” meant that students felt negative towards English. Therefore, the answer

options of question four were transformed in this case, which means that a 1 on the Likert –

scale questions now means “strongly disagree” (“trifft nicht zu”) and 5 means “strongly agree”

(“trifft zu”), in order to analyse all questions as a group. Therefore, an average of 2.3 on the

42; 51%39; 48%

1; 1%

Distribution of Gender

male

female

diverse

36

Likert scale means that the student’s general feeling towards English is primarily positive.

Interestingly, the minimum and maximum responses were by 1 and 4, resulting that no one of

the students ticked 5, “strongly disagree” (“trifft nicht zu”) as an answer, which emphasis that

no one in the group felt especially negative towards studying English (x̅ = 2.3, s = 0.6).

Figure 6- Distribution of Answers "Feeling about English"

Within response to the question about whether students study English because they like the

language, more than half agreed (63%), with 35% (n=29) strongly agreeing (fig. 7). Only 10%

of the students disagreed with this statement. Overall, this shows positive tendencies of the

students towards the English language. Additionally, it shows that a majority of the students

are intrinsically motivated, because they study English driven by an inner force.

37

Figure 7- Ich lerne Englisch weil mir die Sprache gefällt.

Moreover, students were asked if they studied English in order to pursue a different goal, such

as, a job, travelling and future studies, to find out if their motivation is driven by a distal goal,

as discussed in section 2.1. As described in figure 8, approximately 50% of the students study

English in order to be able to communicate in English in their job, during travels and during

their studies. This shows that half of them are intrinsically motivated, whereas the rest (46%)

needs to be further motivated extrinsically by their teacher.

Figure 8—Ich lerne Englisch, um ein anderes Ziel (Beruf, Reisen, Studium) zu verfolgen.

When asked whether students study English because they have to, 55% agreed, with 35%

strongly agreeing (fig. 9). 28% reported that they were undecided whether this was the case or

not. Moreover, 18% claimed that English being a mandatory subject was not their reason to

29; 35%

23; 28%

21; 26%

5; 6%4; 5%

Ich lerne Englisch, weil mir die Sprache gut gefällt

Trifft zu

Trifft eher zu

Teils Teils

Trifft eher nicht zu

Trifft nicht zu

26; 32%

18; 22%

23; 28%

7; 8%

8; 10%

Ich lerne Englisch, um ein anderes Ziel (Beruf, Reisen, Studium) zu verfolgen

Trifft zu

Trifft eher zu

Teils Teils

Trifft eher nicht zu

Trifft nicht zu

38

learn the language. Additionally, there was a significant difference between the answers of male

and female participants. Male students were more likely answer “agree” (x̅m =2.1), whereas

female participants were more neutral in their answers (x̅f =2.8, s=1.4, p<0.5).

Figure 9—Ich lerne Englisch, weil ich es muss.

When students were asked whether they feel more stressed in English class than in other

subjects in school 74% (n=60), which are approximately three-quarters of the participants

disagreed, with 48% (n=39) strongly disagreeing. This shows that the participants overall feel

comfortable in English class. (x̅ = 4.0, s = 1.2). Although this might seem positive already, still

13% of the students feel stressed during English class, which should be taken seriously, because

learning English should not be stressful to anyone (fig. 10). A significant gender difference of

answering has been found. Whereas female students strongly disagreed on average that they

find English class more stressful (x̅f =4.5), male students were less strong in their answer by

disagreeing on average (x̅m =3.6, s=1.3, p<0.5),.

29; 35%

16; 20%

14; 17%

10; 12%

11; 13%2; 3%

Ich lerne Englisch, weil ich es muss

Trifft zu

Trifft eher zu

Teils Teils

Trifft eher nicht zu

Trifft nicht zu

Ausgelassen

39

Figure 10—Ich bin im Englischunterricht gestresster als in anderen Fächern.

All in all, the students feel comfortable in English class, which is already a sign that their

teachers are doing many things right., positive emotions lead to higher motivation and therefore

to greater success in studying a language. Furthermore, a majority of the students is intrinsically

motivated to learn English, because of liking the language in general and wanting to be able to

communicate during a holiday or in a later job. Still, not all students feel comfortable in English

class and enjoy learning English, which should be taken in consideration by teachers, because

learning is for everyone and not just the majority and therefore, there is still room for

improvement. In the next section students’ perception of grammar will be discussed.

4.1.2 Grammar

In this section findings of students’ perception of grammar will be presented. Questions were

asked to find out how students feel when they have to solve grammar tasks, if they liked

practicing grammar and how motivated they were. The questions grouped together were:

1. I feel insecure when I have to solve grammar tasks (Ich fühle mich unsicher, wenn ich

Grammatik Aufgaben lösen muss.)

2. I am struggling with applying grammar rules in English class. (Es fällt mir schwer

Grammatikregeln im Englischunterricht anzuwenden.)

3. I feel very motivated to contribute to grammar topics in English class. (Ich bin sehr

motiviert im Englisch Unterricht bei Grammatikthemen mitzuarbeiten.)

4. It is fun to practice grammar. (Ich habe Spaß daran Grammatik zu üben.)

5; 6%6; 7%

11; 13%

21; 26%

39; 48%

Ich bin im Englischunterricht gestresster als in anderen Fächern

Trifft zu

Trifft eher zu

Teils Teils

Trifft eher nicht zu

Trifft nicht zu

40

The answer option of question three and four were again transformed, whereas 1 means strongly

disagree and 5 strongly agree, to summarize the overall findings of this theme. On average the

students were rather neutral about their feelings about grammar (x̅ = 3.4, s = 0.8). However,

when the data was separated by gender, female students (x̅f =3.6) felt better towards grammar

than male students did (x̅m =3.1, s=0.7, p<0.5). Overall, the results suggest that grammar is still

not very popular among students learning English.

Figure 11—Distribution of Answers "Grammar"

In response to the question about whether the students felt insecure when they had to solve

grammar tasks in class, 63% (n=52) disagreed (fig. 12). However 12% (n=10) of the

participants felt insecure when they had to do a grammar exercise (x̅ = 3.4, s = 1.2). The Ttest

showed that female students felt more secure in this area (x̅f =4.2, s=1.4, p<0.5), whereas male

students claimed that whether they felt partially insecure or secure is depending on the grammar

topic (x̅m =3.4).

The results for whether students had difficulties applying grammatical rules in class were

similar, with 69% (n=57) of the participants having no problem with applying grammatical

rules in a task, and 11% (n=9) agreeing that they have difficulties when they have to apply

grammar rules. Furthermore, female students (x̅f =4.3) felt like they had less difficulties with

applying grammatical rules whereas male students were again undecided (x̅m =3.6, s=1.0,

41

p<0.5). These findings suggest that female students feel more secure when it comes to solving

grammar tasks and applying grammatical rules.

Figure 12—Security about Grammar

When students were asked whether they feel motivated to contribute to grammatical topics the

largest number of students felt rather neutral (44%, n=36). A third (33%, n=26) agreed that they

feel highly motivated, whereas a quarter (25% n=20) felt not motivated at all, when they have

to contribute to grammatical topics (fig. 13).

The results for whether students have fun when practicing grammar were more negative. Nearly

half of the students (45%, n=37) agreed on not having fun practicing grammar. Only 6% (n=5)

of the students claimed that they had fun while doing grammar practice. This finding suggests

that grammar lesson are often considered boring by students when taught in a traditional way

(Luu & Nguyen, 2010, p. 70) .

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Trifft zu Trifft eher zu Teils Teils Trifft eher nichtzu

Trifft nicht zu

Security about Grammar

Es fällt mir schwer Grammatikregeln anzuwenden

Ich fühle mich unsicher beim Lösen von Grammatikaufgaben

42

Figure 13—Motivation and Grammar

This recommends to drastically change the way grammar is practice in class, especially because

motivation and positive emotions, such as fun while doing something, are both important for

language learning. In the next section findings of students’ perception of games will be

presented.

4.1.3 Games

In this section students’ perception of games will be analysed. Questions that dealt with this

topic were grouped together in order to obtain a general tendency whether students feel they

enjoy games in class or not. The following questions were asked:

1. I feel like I am too old for games (Ich fühle mich zu alt für Spiele im Unterricht.).

2. In my opinion it is a waste of time to play games in class (Ich finde Spiele im Unterricht

zu spielen sind Zeitverschwendung.).

3. I feel more motivated when we play games in class (Ich habe das Gefühl motivierter zu

sein, wenn wir Spiele im Unterricht spielen).

4. Playing games in class can increase my mood when I am not feeling well (Spiele im

Unterricht können meine Laune heben, wenn ich mich nicht gut fühle.).

5. I would like to play games more often in class (Ich würde gerne öfters Spiele im

Unterricht spielen.).

6. When we play games in class, it distracts me from future test. (Wenn wir spiele im

Unterricht spielen lenkt es mich von anstehenden Tests/ Schularbeiten ab.).

05

10152025303540

Trifft zu Trifft eher zu Teils Teils Trifft eher nichtzu

Trifft nicht zu

Motivation and Grammar

Ich bin sehr motiviert bei Grammatikthemen mitzuarbeiten

Ich habe Spaß daran Grammatik zu üben

43

7. I feel like learing more when we play games in class (Ich habe das Gefühl, dass ich mehr

lerne, wenn wir Spiele im Unterricht spielen.).

In order to analyse those questions together, question 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 were transformed.

This means that for those questions 5 means strongly agree and 1 means strongly disagree. The

mean of all grouped questions was by 3.7, which matches an “agree” on the Likert—scale with

a standard variation of 0.7. This shows that the overall perception of the participant is positive

towards games in class, which can be seen in the distribution of answers in Figure 14 below.

Moreover, a very low number of students did not enjoy the game played in class and games in

general. This suggests that games should be used more often in class, not only to practice

grammar, but also in every other field possible of English in school.

Figure 14—Distribution of Answers "Games"

In addition to the overall “games” theme, students were asked how often they play games in

class. Possible answers were: “every day” (1), “once a week” (2), “once a month” (3) and

“never” (4). 60% (n=49) of the students claimed that they never play games in class and 35%

(n=29) stated that they would play games in class at least once a month. Only 5% (n=4) claimed

that they were exposed to games once a week. None of the participants stated that they play

44

games on a daily basis (x̅=3.5, s=1.1). The Ttest suggests that female students (x̅f=3.8, s=0.4,

p=0.05) tended to answer “never”, whereas male students (x̅m=3.4, s=0.6, p=0.05) claimed more

often that they play games once a month. This shows that games are a rarely used resource in

the Austrian EFL secondary classroom, or at least students perceive that they are hardly exposed

to games.

When asked whether they feel too old to play games or not, 82% (n=67) of the students

disagreed, with 50% (n=41) strongly disagreeing (fig. 15). Only 5% (n=4) of the participants

stated that they feel too old for games in classroom. This shows that games in classroom can be

played with older students as well and that age should not be a reason for not playing games in

class.

Figure 15—Ich fühle mich zu alt für Spiele.

Furthermore, students were asked whether they think that playing games in class is a waste of

time. Again, nearly all of the students (89%, n=73) disagreed that playing games in class is a

waste of time (fig. 16). 70% (n=57) even strongly agreed with this statement (x̅ = 4.5, s= 0.9).

Additionally, only 2% (n=2) of the participants claimed that they would not like to play games

in class and do something different instead. This suggests that students would appreciate

playing games in class more often. Moreover, the teacher would adopt the role of a guide and

could really focus on leading students.

3; 4% 1; 1%

10; 12%

26; 32%

41; 50%

1; 1%

Ich fühle mich zu alt für Spiele im Unterricht

Trifft zu

Trifft eher zu

Teils Teils

Trifft eher nicht zu

Trifft nicht zu

Ausgelassen

45

Figure 16—Ich finde Spiele im Unterricht zu spielen ist Zeitverschwendung

When asked if students feel more motivated in English class when games are being played. A

majority of 59% (n=48) agreed on feeling more motivated when games are used by teachers.

Nearly a quarter (21% n=17) strongly agreed that their motivation increases when games are

being played (fig. 17). In contrast, only 5% of all asked participants strongly disagreed on an

increase of motivation (x̅= 2.5, s=1.2). As the majority of the students feels more motivated

during English class, they are experiencing positive emotions, less anxieties and are therefore,

this can contribute to a better learning.

Figure 17— Ich habe das Gefühl motivierter zu sein, wenn wir Spiele im Unterricht spielen.

2; 2% 0; 0%7; 9%

16; 19%

57; 70%

Ich finde Spiele im Unterricht zu spielen ist Zeitverschwendung

Trifft zu

Trifft eher zu

Teils Teils

Trifft eher nicht zu

Trifft nicht zu

17; 21%

31; 38%

21; 25%

4; 5%

9; 11%

Ich habe das Gefühl motivierter zu sein, wenn wir Spiele im Unterricht spielen

Trifft zu

Trifft eher zu

Teils Teils

Trifft eher nicht zu

Trifft nicht zu

46

Moreover, students were asked if games can brighten their mood when they do not feel good.

A majority of 56% (n=46) agreed that games can make them feel better and 30% (n=25) felt

neutral about it (fig. 18). However, 14% (n=11) thought that games had no effect on their mood

(x̅= 2.4, s=1.2). This suggests that games can have a positive impact on the students’ mood,

which can reduce anxieties and create a better learning environment in general and should

therefore be considered as a useful tool in the EFL classroom. Additionally, two students stated

that they would be even more motivated if they would get a reward, for instance as the winner

of the game, which could be considered as well.

Figure 18— Spiele im Unterricht können meine Laune heben, wenn ich mich nichz gut fühle.

Furthermore, students were asked if they would like to play games more often in class. A large

majority of 81% (n=66) would like to increase the use of games in class, with 55% (n=45)

strongly agreeing (fig. 19). One must also consider that 7% (n=6) did not agree and would not

like to play games more often (x̅=1.7, s=1.0). One student stated at the open question in the end

that she would like to play games more often because it distracts her from things going on in

her private life and she is able to memorise grammar better. Therefore, these findings suggest

that both male and female students would appreciate playing games more often in class.

23; 28%

23; 28%

25; 30%

4; 5%7; 9%

Spiele im Unterricht können meine Laune heben, wenn ich mich nicht gut fühle

Trifft zu

Trifft eher zu

Teils Teils

Trifft eher nicht zu

Trifft nicht zu

47

Figure 19— Ich würde gerne öfters Spiele im Unterricht spielen.

Next, students were asked if games can distract them from future tests: 45% (n=36) of the

students claimed that games had no such effect on them, whereas 31 % (n=25) strongly

disagreed that there is a connection between distraction and games (fig. 20). 23% (n= 19) were

neutral and 33% of the students agreed that games can distract them from future exams (x̅=3.2,

s=1.5). One student claimed that she would appreciate playing games before or after an exam

in order to reduce stress. Here the data suggests that there is no clear majority; however, the

largest group of students tends to think games do not distract them from other exams.

Figure 20— Wenn wir Spiele im Unterricht spielen lenkt es mich von anstehenden Test/Schularbeiten ab.

45; 55%

21; 26%

10; 12%

4; 5%2; 2%

Ich würde gerne öfters Spiele im Unterricht spielen

Trifft zu

Trifft eher zu

Teils Teils

Trifft eher nicht zu

Trifft nicht zu

14; 17%

13; 16%

19; 23%

11; 13%

25; 31%

Wenn wir spiele im Unterricht spielen lenkt es mich von anstehenden Tests/ Schularbeiten ab

Trifft zu

Trifft eher zu

Teils Teils

Trifft eher nicht zu

Trifft nicht zu

48

Lastly, students were asked if they feel like they learn more when games are played in class. In

this case, a majority of the students (44%, n=36) were neutral in their answers (fig. 21). A third

of the participants (33%, n=27) agreed on games having a positive influence on their learning

output. However, a quarter of the students claimed that there was no such effect when games

are being played (x̅=2.84, s= 1.1). Still, three students claimed at the open question that they

would like to play games more often and that they would learn more, and especially without

pressure. However, the students surveyed were not exposed to games often (see figure 19). This

might be a reason why the majority of them had a rather neutral opinion and suggests that if

they were exposed to games more often they could form a stronger opinion on this topic.

Figure 21—Ich habe das Gefühl, dass ich mehr lerne, wenn wir Spiele im Unterricht spielen.

4.1.4 Grammar Games

In this section students findings of students’ perception of grammar games are presented. First,

the general outcome will be discussed. After, findings of each question will be examined

separately. Therefore, questions dealing with this theme were grouped together and analysed.

The questions asked were:

1. I would like to practice grammar with games more often (Ich würde gerne öfters

Grammatik mit Hilfe von Spielen üben bzw. Erlernen).

2. It feels like learing grammar is easier when we do it through games (Ich habe das Gefühl

Grammatik leichter zu lernen, wenn sie mir spielerisch beigebracht wird).

13; 16%

14; 17%

36; 44%

11; 13%

8; 10%

Ich habe das Gefühl, dass ich mehr lerne, wenn wir Spiele im Unterricht spielen

Trifft zu

Trifft eher zu

Teils Teils

Trifft eher nicht zu

Trifft nicht zu

49

3. It feels like when we practice grammar through games, I can practice other skills

(reading, writing, listening) without pressure as well (Ich habe das Gefühl, dass ich mit

Grammatikspielen auch meine anderen Englischfertigkeiten (lesen, sprechen,

schreiben) ohne Druck üben kann).

4. When we play grammar games, it feels like I can practice grammar without pressure.

(Wenn wir Grammatikspiele im Unterricht spielen, habe ich das Gefühl, ohne Druck

Grammatik üben zu können).

The mean of the data was by 2.3 with a standard variation of 1.0, which means that overall the

students felt positive towards grammar games. Only five participants out of 82 disagreed that

they would like to play grammar games more often and that grammar games have advantages

when used to practice grammar. This suggests that a majority of the students would like to

practice grammar more often through games and that they think grammar games bear a variety

of advantages. Next, each question will be discussed separately to obtain a more in depth view

on students’ perception.

Figure 22—Distribution of Answers "Grammar Games"

50

Firstly, students were asked if they would like to play grammar games more often to practice

grammar (fig. 23). A majority of 66% (n=54) of the students agreed that they would like to play

grammar games more often. 21% (n=17) were undecided and 13% (n=11) were not in favour

of playing grammar games. This could be the case, because as mentioned earlier the majority

of the students is not exposed to games often and therefore, they do not really know what it is

like to play games. The average answer was “agree” on the Likert—scale (x̅= 2.2, s=1.1), which

suggests that students enjoy grammar games and would like their teachers to use them more

often in class. Additionally, there was no significant difference between male and female found.

Still, nearly a quarter of the participants needs to be further input to decide whether they would

like to play grammar games more often or not.

Figure 23—Ich würde gerne öfters Grammatik mit Hilfe von Spielen üben bzw. erlernen.

Moreover, students were asked if they think that they are learning grammar easier when

grammar games are used instead of classic fill in exercises (fig. 24). Half of the students (50%,

n=42) agreed that they would learn better when grammar games are played, a quarter (27%,

n=22) were neutral and 22% (n=18) claimed that grammar games do not help them learning

easier (x̅=2.5, s=1.1). Additionally, a significant difference between male and female was

found. Male students agreed on average that learning grammar is easier for them when games

are being played (x̅m=2.1, s=1.7, p<0.05), whereas female students were neutral on average

(x̅f=3.0, s=1.3, p<0.05).

28; 34%

26; 32%

17; 21%

6; 7%5; 6%

Ich würde gerne öfters Grammatik mit Hilfe von Spielen üben bzw. erlernen

Trifft zu

Trifft eher zu

Teils Teils

Trifft eher nicht zu

Trifft nicht zu

51

All in all, this suggests that students find grammar games helpful. One student claimed that

grammar games would be a good way to practice grammar, because it is easier to learn new

structures and he stated that it would simply be more fund to practice grammar in that way. This

could be an important aspect of (grammar) games, because as mentioned before in chapter 4.1.2,

students who participated in this study were rather undecided or negative about the “fun” aspect

of grammar. Therefore, students can experience positive emotions through games, while

practicing grammar and when positive emotions are experienced the students’ performance is

better as well.

Figure 24—Ich habe das Gefühl die Grammatik leichter zu lernen, wenn sie mir spielerisch beigebracht wird.

Furthermore, students were asked if they had the impression that they could practice other skills,

such as, reading, writing and listening, as well when grammar games are being played. As can

be seen in figure 22 below, a majority of 61% (n=50) agreed, whereas 27% (n=23) strongly

agreed that this was true (fig. 25). Only 11% (n=9) had the impression that grammar games

cannot help them practice other skills as well and 28% (n=23) were undecided (x̅=2.3, s=1.3).

This suggests that playing games does not only help students practice the targeted skill, but also

enables them to practice a variety of other skills as well, which should be taken in consideration

by teachers.

21; 25%

21; 26%22; 27%

9; 11%

9; 11%

Ich habe das Gefühl die Grammatik leichter zu lernen, wenn sie mir spielerisch beigebracht wird

Trifft zu

Trifft eher zu

Teils Teils

Trifft eher nicht zu

Trifft nicht zu

52

Figure 25—Ich habe das Gefühl, dass ich mit Grammatikspielen auch meine anderen Englischfertigkeiten (Lesen, Sprechen,

Schreiben) ohne Druck üben kann.

Lastly, students were asked if they experienced that they could practice grammar without

pressure when grammar games are used. Almost three quarters of the participants (72%, n=59)

agreed that grammar games have a beneficial effect on them (fig. 26). One students claimed

that he would enjoy grammar games because they would make the environment of the English

class less strict and they would be a great variation of daily routine. However, 10% (n=8) of the

students did not have the impression that grammar games reduce pressure in the English class

(x̅=2.1, s=1.1). Still, this suggests that grammar games can be an excellent tool for some

students to reduce stress and pressure.

Figure 26—Wenn wir Grammatikspuele im Unterricht spielen, habe ich das Gefühl, ohne Druck Grammatik üben zu können.

22; 27%

28; 34%

23; 28%

3; 4%6; 7%

Ich habe das Gefühl, dass ich mit Grammatikspielen auch meine anderen Englischfertigkeiten (Lesen,

Sprechen, Schreiben) ohne Druck üben kann

Trifft zu

Trifft eher zu

Teils Teils

Trifft eher nicht zu

Trifft nicht zu

27; 33%

32; 39%

15; 18%

3; 4%5; 6%

Wenn wir Grammatikspiele im Unterricht spielen, habe ich das Gefühl, ohne Druck Grammatik üben zu

können

Trifft zu

Trifft eher zu

Teils Teils

Trifft eher nicht zu

Trifft nicht zu

53

In sum, the participants were generally very positive about learning English and the language

in general. However, most participants do not enjoy learning grammar, which is congruent with

the literature discussed in chapter 2. Findings suggest that students would like to play

(grammar) games more often and that a majority has the impression that (grammar) games have

a variety of benefits, such as reducing anxieties and making studying English more fun. Thus,

in teaching grammar, games could really improve the students’ attitudes. In the next section

findings of the teachers’ questionnaire will be presented.

4.2 Findings from the Teacher Questionnaire

In this section, findings of the teachers’ questionnaire will be presented and discussed. They

will be separated into three themes that have emerged during the analysis. The themes will be

presented in the following order: “Students and Games”, “Games” and “Grammar”. I first

present the findings of each theme in general and after, each question of every theme will be

discussed to provide further insight. The data was first analysed with Microsoft Excel to obtain

an overview of the general distribution of answers. Then the analyser programme SPSS was

used to analyse the mean, standard variation and significance. Moreover, by applying the Ttest,

it will be analysed if there is a relationship between answers and the gender of the participants

and if there is a tendency of answering for a certain age group. The age groups ranged from 20-

30, 31-40, 41-50, 51- 60 to 61-70.

Overall, there were 36 participants contributing to this study. All teachers were working at an

AHS in Austria. Moreover, 10 (27%) of the participants were male and 28 (73%) of them were

female. The age differed from 23 to 64, with an average of 45 years. The age distribution can

be seen in the chart below:

54

Figure 27—Distribution of Age Teachers

4.2.1 Students and Games

In this section teachers’ perception of students’ opinion about games will be presented. The

questions asked and grouped together were:

1. In my opinion students seem more motivated when games are played in class (Ich habe

das Gefühl, dass Schüler_innen motivierter sind, wenn Spiele im Unterricht verwendet

werden.).

2. In my opinion students seem to learn more when games are played in class (compared

to traditional methods) (Ich habe das Gefühl, dass Schüler_innen mehr lernen, wenn

Spiele im Unterricht verwendet werden (im Vergleich zu traditionellen

Unterrichtsmethoden))

3. In my opinion students seem to be able to study without pressure and more freely when

games are being used. (Ich habe das Gefühl, dass Schüler_innen befreiter und mit

weniger Druck lernen können, wenn Spiele verwendet werden.)

4. In my opinion students seem to learn better/ easier in class when games are being played.

(Ich habe das Gefühl, dass Schüler_innen durch Spiele im Unterricht besser/leichter

lernen.)

55

The overall mean of the grouped answers was 2.3 which relates to “agree” on the Likert—scale,

with a standard variation of 0.9. There was no significant difference between genders or age

groups. Moreover, there were only five teachers who disagreed that there were overall no

beneficial sides of games in classroom. To obtain more detailed insight into their perspectives,

each questions will be discussed and analysed in the next step.

Figure 28—Distribution of Answers "Students and Games"

Firstly, teachers were asked if they think that students were more motivated when games are

played in class. Three-quarters (76%, n=29) of the teachers agreed that students are more

motivated when games are played in class, with 37% (n=14) strongly agreeing (fig. 29). 13%

(n=5) were undecided and 11% (n=4) thought that games had no effect on students’ motivation.

None of the teachers strongly disagreed with the question. The mean response to this question

was 2.0, which correlates to “agree” on the Likert-scale, with a standard deviation of 1.0.

Concerning age, every group tended to answer “agree”, except teachers between 41 and 50 year,

who tended to be neutral. This suggests that the majority of the teachers thinks that games have

a beneficial effect on students’ motivation.

56

Figure 29—Ich habe das Gefühl, dass Schüler_innen motivierter sind, wenn Spiele im Unterricht verwendet werden.

Next, teachers were asked if they think that students would learn more when games are used in

class, compared to traditional methods (fig. 30). Nearly half of the teachers (45%, n=17) thought

that students would learn more when games are used in class. However, 32% (n=12) were

neutral about this topic and 9 (23%) teachers thought that games had no effect on the learning

output of the students (x̅=2.7, s=1.1). Teachers between 31-40 and 51-60 “agreed” on average,

whereas the rest of the participants were neutral towards the question. Compared to students,

teachers were more positive about the increased learning output when games were used.

Figure 30—Ich habe das Gefühl, dass Schüler_innen mehr lernen, wenn Spiele im Unterricht verwendet werden.

14; 37%

15; 39%

5; 13%

4; 11% 0; 0%

Ich habe das Gefühl, dass Schüler_innen motivierter

sind, wenn Spiele im Unterricht verwendet werden

Trifft zu

Trifft eher zu

Teils Teil

Trifft eher nicht zu

Trifft nicht zu

6; 16%

11; 29%

12; 32%

7; 18%

2; 5%

Ich habe das Gefühl, dass Schüler_innen mehr lernen, wenn Spiele im Unterricht verwendet werden

Trifft zu

Trifft eher zu

Teils Teil

Trifft eher nicht zu

Trifft nicht zu

57

Moreover, teachers were asked if they think that students would learn with less pressure and

more freely when games are used in class. A majority of 79% (n=30) agreed that students would

learn with less pressure and more freely, with 47% (n=18) strongly agreeing (fig. 31).

Additionally, 4 participants (11%) disagreed that games had no such effect on students and 10%

(n=4) of the surveyed teachers were neutral. The mean was by 1.9, with a standard variation of

1.1, which overall matches an “agree” on the Likert scale. The answer distribution when age

was considered showed significant differences in SPSS. Teachers between 20-30 and 51-60

years “agreed” on average, whereas teachers between 31-40 and 61-70 “strongly agreed”. The

age group between 41 and 50 were neutral towards the posed question. This suggests that

overall the teachers believe that games can reduce pressure of the students and that they

therefore learn more freely.

Figure 31—Ich habe das Gefühl, dass Schüler_innen befreiter und mit weniger Druck lernen können, wenn Spiele verwendet

werden.

Lastly, teachers were asked if they had experienced that students were learning more and better

if games were used in class. 16% (n=6) strongly agreed that the learning output is higher when

games are used in class, 37% (n=14) agreed, 26% (n=10) were neutral, 18% (n=7) disagreed

and one participant (3%) strongly disagreed. Overall, the mean was 2.6, which matches

“neutral” on the Likert scale, when rounded (s=1.1). Moreover, a significant difference between

ages was found. Teachers between 20-30 and 41-50 were neutral in their answering on average,

whereas teachers between 31-40, 51-60 and 61-70 were more positive about the increased

learning output of students and “agreed” on average.

18; 47%

12; 32%

4; 10%

3; 8%1; 3%

Ich habe das Gefühl, dass Schüler_innen befreiter und mit weniger Druck lernen können, wenn Spiele

verwendet werden

Trifft zu

Trifft eher zu

Teils Teil

Trifft eher nicht zu

Trifft nicht zu

58

Figure 32—Ich habe das Gefühl, dass Schüler_innen dzrch Spiele im Unterricht besser/leichter lernen.

4.2.2 Games

In this section, teachers’ perception of games will be presented. Therefore, all questions dealing

with this topic were grouped together to an overall theme. This theme, called “games” will

provide an overall overview of the teachers’ perception of games, for instance, why they use

them or do not use them in class. After the general overview each question will discussed

separately to provide a more in depth view on teachers’ opinion about games. The questions

posed were:

1. I don’t use games in class because the preparation takes too long/ it’s too much effort

(Ich verwende keine Spiele im Unterricht, da die Vorbereitung zu aufwendig ist/ zu

lange dauert).

2. I don’t use games in class because parents could think that their children don’t learn

anything and complain. (Ich verwende keine Spiele im Unterricht, da viele Eltern Druck

machen, weil sie denken ihre Kinder lernen dabei nichts).

3. I don’t use games in class because students can appear to be very noisy to others (Ich

verwende keine Spiele im Unterricht, da die Klasse auf andere sehr laut und unruhig

wirken könnte).

4. I use games in class because I’d like to offer a variety of different task to my students.

(Ich verwende Spiele im Unterricht, um Schüler_innen eine möglichst große Spanne

an Lernmöglichkeiten anzubieten).

5. In my opinion playing games in class is a waste of time. (Ich finde Spiele im Unterricht

zu spielen ist Zeitverschwendung).

6; 16%

14; 37%10; 26%

7; 18%

1; 3%

Ich habe das Gefühl, dass Schüler_innen durch Spiele im Unterricht besser/leichter lernen

Trifft zu

Trifft eher zu

Teils Teils

Trifft eher nicht zu

Trifft nicht zu

59

6. In my opinion, games offer an authentic context for students to practice English (Ich

finde Spiele im Unterricht bieten Schüler_innen einen authentischen Kontext um die

englische Sprach üben zu können).

The answer options of question 4 and 6 were transformed, which means that for both questions

1 matches “strongly disagree” and 5 matches “strongly agree”. This is the other way around

compared to the other questions of this theme. However, in order to analyse all questions as a

group, to obtain an overall overview of teachers’ perception of games this was necessary.

Overall teachers were very positive about games. They agreed on games having a variety of

benefits. On average, they answered with a 4.2 on the Likert scale, which matches an “agree”

(s=0.7). Additionally, the answer distribution between male and female participants and the

different age groups, which can be seen below, was analysed. There was no significant

difference found.

Figure 33—Answer Distribution "Games"

60

Firstly, reasons why teachers do not use games were explored. Three questions, each asked a

different reason why teachers might not use games, were stated. First, teachers were asked if

they do not use games because the preparation is too much work (fig. 34). A majority of 74%

(n=28) agreed, with 55% strongly disagreeing that this is not a reason why they do not use

games in class. Still, 21% (n=8) agreed that it is too much effort for them to prepare games

compared to the benefits of games. On average, teachers disagreed with a 4.0 on the Likert scale

(s=1.4). There was no significant difference between male and female found. However, teachers

between 20 and 30 tended to be more neutral about this question, whereas teachers between 31-

60 years disagreed that time on average and claimed effort was not a reason why they do not

use games in class and teachers between 61 and 70 even strongly disagreed.

Next teachers were asked if they do not use games because parents could think that their

children do not learn anything and complain. Here even more teachers strongly disagreed 89%,

n=34), which means that for nearly all teachers surveyed, parents did not influence their choice

on games. Only 2 (6%) teachers agreed that the possible pressure of parents hinders them in

using games in class.

Lastly, teachers were asked if they do not use games because their students could appear nosier

to others, which could suggest that the teacher has lost control of the group. Three third (73%,

n=28) disagreed that the noise level influenced their choice to use games or not, whereas, half

of them (55%, n=21) strongly disagreed. Moreover, 16% (n=6) were neutral towards this

question and 11% (n= 4) agreed that they do not use games in class because of the noisiness of

the students. On average teachers answered “disagree” with a 4.2 on the Likert scale (s=1.1).

There was slight difference in answering for the different age groups. Overall, teachers between

20-30 and 41-60 disagreed, whereas teachers between 31-40 and 61-70 were stronger in their

answers by strongly disagreeing.

Besides the Likert scale questions, some teachers stated why they do not use games in class at

the open question in the end. One teacher claimed that she does not use games because of having

not enough time and the size of the group is too big in the average AHS class. Moreover, one

teacher stated that it took too much time to find or create appropriate games for class and that

it is depending on the group dynamics of the class. He claimed that playing games depends on

how well students get along with another in one class as well, because if the group does not get

along well, games do not make sense, because students would fight too much with each other.

61

Finally, one teacher claimed that she has no experience in teaching grammar through games

and states that if she was able to play those games on her own during a seminar, she would be

more likely to use games in class.

In sum, this suggests why some teachers do not use games in the EFL classroom. However, to

draw a significant conclusion further research needs to be done, focusing exclusively on this

topic. Still, this outcome offers a little insight of what teachers are influenced by when deciding

an activity for their students in the English class.

Figure 34—Reasons why Teachers do not use Games

Furthermore, teachers were asked if they use games because they want to offer a great variety

of different tasks to their students. A majority of 84% (n=32) agreed, whereas 47% (n=18)

strongly agreed that material variety is a reason why they use games in class. 8% (n=3) of the

participants were neutral and also 8% (n=3) disagreed that this was a reason for using games

(fig. 35). None of the participants strongly disagreed with this question. On average the

participants answered 1.9, which overall matches an “agree” on the Likert scale with a standard

variation of 0.9. Concerning age, teachers agreed on average, only teachers between 61 and 70

strongly agreed. This suggests that teachers can offer a variety of different activities when

games are used in class, which is why they are used by a majority of teachers.

3 52

7

21

1 1 0 2

34

1 36 7

21

0

10

20

30

40

Trifft zu Trifft eher zu Teils Teil Trifft eher nicht zu Trifft nicht zu

Reasons why Teachers do not use Games

Ich verwende keine Spiele im Unterricht, da die Vorbereitung zu aufwendig ist/ zu lange dauert.

Ich verwende keine Spiele im Unterricht, da viele Eltern Druck machen, weil sie denken ihre Kinderlernen dabei nichts.

Ich verwende keine Spiele im Unterricht, da die Klasse auf andere sehr laut und unruhig wirken könnte.

62

Figure 35—Ich verwende Spiele im Unterricht, um Schüler_innen eine möglichst große Spanne an Lernmöglichkeiten

anzubieten.

Next, teachers were asked if they thought that playing games in class is a waste of time. A

majority of 76% (22) claimed that playing games in class is not a waste of time (fig. 36). 14%

(n=4) were neutral and 7% (n=2) agreed that games should not be played in classroom (x̅=4.3,

s=1.0). When gender was taken in consideration, female teachers tend to “disagree” with an

average answer of 4.2 (s=0.2), whereas male teachers were even stronger in their opinion by

“strongly disagreeing on average (4.7, s=0.2). Furthermore, teachers between 20-30 and 41-60

disagreed on average, whereas teachers between 31-40 and 60-70 even strongly disagreed.

Moreover, one teacher stated in the open question in the end of the questionnaire that she thinks

that “although many teachers believe that games are a waste of time, I think that especially,

through games, grammatical structures can be used intuitively and naturally by the students,

whereas in contrast, when only classical fill-in tasks are used, language is often only analysed

and the grammatical features often cannot be used outside this context.”. This overall suggests

that teachers do not think that playing games in class is a waste of time.

14; 37%

18; 47%

3; 8%3; 8% 0; 0%

Ich verwende Spiele im Unterricht, um Schüler_innen eine möglichst große Spanne an Lernmöglichkeiten

anzubieten

Trifft zu

Trifft eher zu

Teils Teil

Trifft eher nicht zu

Trifft nicht zu

63

Figure 36—Ich finde Spiele im Unetrricht zu spielen ist Zeitverschwendung.

Lastly, teachers were asked if they think that games offer an authentic context to practice the

English language (fig. 37). 55% (n=21) agreed that games provide authentic context, 21% (n=8)

were neutral and 24% (n=8) disagreed that games have this quality (x̅=2.5, s=1.3). There was

no difference between male and female participants. Age wise, teachers between 20-30, 41-50

and 61-70 agreed on average, whereas teachers between 31-40 and 51-60 tended to be rather

neutral about this topic. Overall, this suggests that teachers think that games provide an

authentic context and overall a variety of benefits.

Figure 37—Ich finde Spiele im Unterricht bieten Schüler_innen einen authentischen Kontext um die englische Sprache üben

zu können.

1; 4% 1; 3%

4; 14%

1; 3%

22; 76%

Ich finde Spiele im Unterricht zu spielen ist Zeitverschwendung

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10; 26%

11; 29%

8; 21%

8; 21%

1; 3%

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üben können

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Besides the overall “game” theme teachers were asked as well how often they use games in

class. Only one teacher (3%) claimed that he never plays games in class, 45% (n=17) stated that

they use games at least once a month, 10% (n=4) play games in every lesson and 42% (n=16)

responded that they play games once a week.

In sum, the majority teachers surveyed believed that games offer a variety of benefits and are

therefore, not a waste of time. All in all, the teachers’ perception of games in this study does

not match with the actual usage of games. In the next section, teachers’ beliefs about grammar

will be discussed.

4.2.3 Grammar

In this section, teachers’ perception of grammar and their use of grammar activities will be

discussed and analysed. First, each question of the questionnaire covering this topic will be

grouped together to the overall theme “grammar” to obtain a general overview of teacher’s

believes. Overall, teachers were rather neutral about their usage of grammar and whether they

think students enjoy learning grammar. Question 3 was transformed again to make the answers

of this question comparable to the rest. Therefore, 1 means “strongly disagree”, whereas 5

matches “strongly agree” on the Likert scale. The following questions were asked:

1. I like to use games to practice grammar in class (Ich greife gerne auf Spiele zurück um

Grammatik im Unterricht zu üben).

2. I prefer to use exercises in the school book/ exercise book to practice grammar. (Ich

verwende lieber die Übungen im Schulbuch bzw. aus Übrungsbüchern um Grammatik

zu üben).

3. It feels like my stundets enjoy practicing grammar (Ich habe das Gefühl, dass meine

Schüler_innen Spaß am Grammatik üben haben)

The average answer of those grouped questions matched “neutral” on the Likert scale with

mean of 3.0 and a standard variation of 0.8. This distribution can be seen below in figure 38,

which resembles a bell curve, with the maximum by 3.3. However, there was no significant

difference between the age groups and male and female teachers found. Therefore, no general

tendency of teachers’ use of grammar and their opinion of student’s grammar perception can

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be drawn. In the next section, each questions will be discussed and analysed individually to

obtain a more detailed view on each question.

Figure 38—Answer Distribution "Grammar"

First, teachers were asked if they liked to use games to practice grammar in class. A majority

of 59% (n=22) agreed, 27% (n=10) of them strongly that they like to use games to practice

grammar (fig. 39). 14% (n=5) were neutral, and 27% (n=10) did not use games to practice

grammar in class. On average, teachers answered with a 2.5 (s=1.3), which is between “agree”

and “neutral”. Overall, there was no significant difference between male and female teachers

found. Additionally, teachers aged between 20 and 40 tend to agree that they like to use

grammar games in class, whereas teachers between 41 and 60 were neutral on average. In sum,

this suggests that more than half of the surveyed teachers agreed that they like to use games to

practice grammar in class. However, it suggests that teachers actually use games in class, but

this assumption does not match with the students’ perception.

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Figure 39—Ich greife gerne auf Spiele zurück um Grammatik im Unterricht zu üben.

Moreover, teachers were asked if they would prefer to use exercises in the school book and

exercise book to practice grammar. A majority of 55% (n=17) agreed that they prefer to use

exercises of school books/ exercise books over games to practice grammar (fig. 40). However,

a quarter (26%, n=10) were neutral and 29% (n=11) disagreed to prefer exercises of school and

exercise books. Teachers answered with a 2.7 on average, with a standard variation of 1.2.

Furthermore, teachers between 20 and 50 were neutral towards this question, teachers between

51 and 60 agreed on average and teachers between 61 and 70 disagreed. Additionally, a

significant difference in answering for male and female teachers that were between 51 and 60

years was found. Male teachers tented to be neutral (x̅m=3.2, s=1.1, p<0.5) and female teachers

tended to agree that they prefer school book exercises (x̅f=2.0, s=0,9, p<0.5). However, in

general there was no significant difference between male and female teachers found. In sum,

this suggests that a majority of the teachers prefer school book grammar exercises over grammar

games in class. Especially, female teachers between 51 and 60 years favour school book

exercises.

10; 27%

12; 32%

5; 14%

8; 22%

2; 5%

Ich greife gerne auf Spiele zurück um Grammatik im Unterricht zu üben

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Figure 40—Ich verwende lieber die Übungen im Schulbuch bzw aus Übungsbüchern um Grammatik zu üben.

Lastly, teachers were asked if they think that their students enjoy practicing grammar. 38%

(n=15) of the surveyed teachers agreed that their students have fun while practicing grammar.

Moreover, almost half of the participants (49%, n=10) had the feeling that they cannot asses

their students’ mood during grammar practice and 29% (n=11) thought that their students did

not enjoy practicing grammar (x̅=2.7, s=0.9). On average, teachers between 20 and 60 were

neutral towards this topic, only teachers between 61 and 70 agreed that their students enjoy

practicing grammar.

Additionally, teachers were asked if they were interested in further training dealing with the

topic of grammar games. A great majority of 79% (n=30) agreed that they would like to have

further training. 13% (n=5) claimed that they were not interested in further training (fig. 41).

The average was by 2.0, which matches a degree on the Likert scale (s=1.2). Moreover, every

age group agreed on average, except for teachers between 51 and 60, they were neutral. This

suggests that overall teachers would favour further training dealing with “grammar games”,

which should be taken in consideration, because if those trainings would be offered, more

teachers might use (grammar) games in class, which can bring a variety of benefits.

8; 21%

9; 24%

10; 26%

9; 24%

2; 5%

Ich verwende lieber die Übungen im Schulbuch bzw. aus Übungsbüchern um Grammatik zu üben

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Figure 41—Ich wäre daran interessiert Fortbildungen zum Thema "Grammatikspiele für den Unterricht" zu besuchen

In sum, the teachers surveyed are very positive in general towards (grammar) games. Teachers

believe that games offer a variety of benefits for their students. For instance, they think that

games can improve students learning output and reduce anxieties and pressure. Moreover, the

findings suggest that a majority of the teachers actually use games in class and that they do not

think that playing games in the EFL classroom is a waste of time. Additionally, the outcome

suggests that teachers favour games to practice grammar and to offer a great variety of

exercises. Still, 50% of the surveyed teachers claimed to prefer textbook exercises. However,

nearly all of the teachers would enjoy further training in creating “grammar games”.

4.3 Students’ and Teachers Perceptions Compared

Students and Games

In this sub—section, teachers opinion about their students’ perception of games will be

compared to the students’ actual perceptions to find out whether the overall outcome matches

or if there are differences between the perceptions of the two groups.

When asked whether teachers think that their students would feel more motivated when games

are used in class, three-quarter of the teachers agreed, whereas 11% claimed that games had no

such effect (fig.42). This outcome matches with the students’ opinions about motivation and

games. A majority of the students thought as well that games can increase their motivation in

class. Therefore, it suggests that games should be used more often in class, because both

students and teachers think that they can increase the students’ motivation.

16; 42%

14; 37%

3; 8%

2; 5%3; 8%

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Next, teachers were asked whether they think that the learning output of their students is higher,

when games are used in class. Half of the teachers stated that they agree with this statement.

Still, a third were undecided and 20% of them claimed that games did not increase the learning

output. Compared to teachers, students were less positive about the increasing learning output

of games. Here only a quarter of the students agreed with the statement, which is half as much

compared to the teachers' outcome. However, a great majority of 44% were neutral about the

effects of games on the learning output. This suggests that teachers should act here and offer

their students a variety of games in order for them to shift their opinion in a, hopefully, more

positive direction.

Moreover, the question was posed whether games can reduce the pressure on the students

during the English lesson. A majority of 80% agreed on games having this beneficial effect,

whereas 11% disagreed. This coincides with the students’ perception of games; Three quarter

of the students surveyed before also agreed that games can lead to a reduction of pressure, which

can help them to learn, for instance, grammar easier.

Furthermore, it was asked whether teachers think that their students could acquire grammatical

structures easier when games are used. Half of the teachers claimed that this was true. However,

a quarter was undecided whether games had such a beneficial effect on students or not. This

could be because games are often used to practice already acquired grammar rather than being

used to introduce a new grammar topic. Students were even more neutral (44%) about this topic

compared to teachers. A reason for this might be that the surveyed students were not exposed

to games very often.

Additionally, both, students and teachers, were asked how often games are being played in

class. Interestingly the findings different here respectively. 45% of the teachers claimed that

they would use games in class at least once a month. 42% of them even stated to use games at

least once a week. Only one teachers (3%) claimed that games are never used in class and, on

the contrary, 4 teachers stated to use games in every lesson. Compared to the students answers

this differs significantly. 60% of them claimed that they never play games in class. 35% stated

that games were used at least once a month as a source by their teachers. None of them claimed

that games are used in every lesson and 4 students stated that games are used once a week. This

shows that in this case the students and teachers perceptions do not match at all.

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Figure 42—Wie oft werden Spiele im Unterricht gespielt?

Next, both groups were asked if they think that playing games in class would be a waste of

time. A majority of 90% of the students disagreed and claimed that games would be no waste

of time. 79% of the teachers disagreed with games being a waste of time as well, but 15% were

still undecided. They might change their opinion towards games if they would know how many

of their students would actually like to play games in class.

Lastly, it was surveyed whether teachers think that their students enjoy learning grammar or

not. 38% of the teachers agreed that they had the feeling their students would enjoy learning

grammar (fig. 43). Half of them thought that they could not asses their students’ enjoyment and

therefore stayed neutral and 29% claimed that their students would not appreciate learning

grammar. Compared to teachers, a greater majority of 49% of the students claimed that they

would not enjoy practicing grammar. This differs significant of the teachers’ assessment,

because a greater majority of the teachers actually thought that their students’ would enjoy

practicing grammar. However, a majority of the teachers stated to use games on a regular bases,

whereas the surveyed students claimed that games were hardly ever used in class, which could

explain the difference.

0

4

29

49

17

4

16

1

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

every day

once a week

once a month

never

Wie oft werden Spiele im Unterricht gespielt?

Teachers Students

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Figure 43— Ich habe Spaß daran Grammatik zu üben

4.4 Conclusion

One aim of this study was to investigate students’ and teachers’ perception of grammar games.

Overall, students were positive towards games, only a few of the participants thought that games

should not be played in class. However, a majority of them does not enjoy learning grammar,

which suggests that teachers should change the way they teach and practice grammar.

Moreover, the majority of the students felt generally good about learning English and

experienced positive feelings in English class. Still, a minority felt anxious in class, which

should be taken in consideration by their teachers, because the main aim for teachers should be

that all of their students enjoy learning English. Here, grammar games could help teachers to

accomplish this goal, because games can reduce anxiety and help to create a more pleasing

learning environment.

Teachers were very positive towards (grammar) games as well. They believe that games offer

a variety of benefits. Still, some reasons why a minority of teachers does not use grammar

games in class appeared, for instance, the extra amount of time game preparation needs was

one reason, why some teachers preferred the textbook exercises over game playing. However,

a majority of teachers were eager to go into further training when it comes to using games in

class. When teachers were asked how they think their students feel towards grammar, teachers

were more positive than students. This shows that the teachers’ and students’ perception does

not match in this case. Still, the findings of the questionnaires show that overall teachers’ and

students’ perception matches when it comes to the benefits of games in classroom.

5

14

26

23

14

3

12

17

5

1

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

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Ich habe Spaß daran Grammatik zu üben

Teachers' Believe Students

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Interestingly, the students’ perception of how often grammar games were used in class differed

significantly from the teachers claims. The students’ perception matches with the assumed state

of game usage in class. Therefore, the outcome of the teachers’ questionnaire regarding this

questions is rather surprising.

Overall, both, teachers and students felt positive towards games. However, why games still

appear to be an underused source in the Austrian EFL classroom needs to be further examined.

Nevertheless, the wish to play games more often is there on both sides, which can already be

seen as basis for the future. In the next session, the findings will be discussed.

5. Discussion

In this section, findings that have been presented in the previous chapter will be set in

correlation with literature that was discussed in chapter 2. Overall, the results will be discussed

with regard to motivation, grammar, grammar games, gender and age.

5.1 Motivation

One part of this study was to find out students’ feelings towards English in general and

investigate their reasons for learning English as a second language. Overall, three-quarter of the

students felt very positive towards English. Although this might seem to be good already, still

13% of the students claimed to feel stressed during the English lesson. This should be taken in

consideration by their teachers, because learning English and feeling good while doing it is not

only important for the majority of the students, it should be reality for all of them. This findings

show that there still is room for improvement because no one should feel anxious in class,

especially, because as Oxford (2005) argued anxiety and negative emotions can reduce

motivation of a learner, can lead to a negative attitude towards the language and can even

influence students’ language performance. In order to combat language anxiety, teachers should

actively ask their students why they feel this way to find out if there is a certain trigger or if the

language anxiety has already become a character trait (Oxford, 2005, p. 60). In both cases,

students and teachers should work together to create a learning environment where

predominantly positive emotions are present to ensure that all students enjoy learning English.

Additionally, teachers should check if their exercises and activities fit the level and expectation

of the students. Students’ motivation is based on their individual assessment of how likely it is

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to complete a given task and on the reward given for succeeding as well (Dörnyei & Ushioda,

2011, pp. 13–14). Therefore, if the task is too hard or the reward is not valuable enough,

students motivation will decrease and negative emotions can occur, which can lead again to a

weaker language performance. However, if teachers adapt their material in an appropriate way,

it can boost the students’ motivation and can lead to a better learning outcome (Hall & Götz,

2013, p. 34)..

Moreover, students were asked for reasons why they learn English. A major reason for students

learning English was because they like the language in general and they see a future use in

speaking English, for instance during holidays or a job. Students with this language learning

background are normally intrinsically motivated. Intrinsically motivated means that “one

carries out an activity for enjoyment or satisfaction it provides” (Williams et al., 2015, p. 106).

Nevertheless, half of the students claimed that they would only learn English because they have

to, as English being part of the curriculum in school. These students are mainly not intrinsically

motivated, they are extrinsically motivated, which means that “one does something in order to

achieve another goal that is not related to the activity itself.” (Williams et al., 2015, p. 106).

Another goal, for instance, could be to finish school. For teachers it might be crucial to know

whether their students are extrinsically or intrinsically motivated. If their students are already

intrinsically motivated, they will be more eager and motivated to collaborate in a given activity.

If their students are, however, extrinsically motivated, teachers can find ways to further

motivate their students and show them more reasons why leaning English is important, to make

sure a greater majority enjoys learning English and therefore they become more motivated,

because a variety of studies has shown that there is a connection between higher motivation and

positive emotions (Hall & Götz, 2013, p. 34).

To conclude, this study has explored that overall, the majority of the students feels positive

towards English. Still, teachers should create a positive learning environment for all students.

Additionally, the results revealed as well that a great part of the students is already intrinsically

motivated. Still teachers need to try to motivate the rest of the students as well.

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5.2 Grammar

Another aspect of this study was to investigate students’ and teachers’ perceptions of grammar.

Students were asked if they like to contribute to grammatical topics in general. The majority of

45% of the students were neutral about their motivation towards grammar. A third felt positive,

whereas a quarter claimed to be highly unmotivated when grammar topics are discussed. This

might be the case because, as Ur (2012) and Yolageldili and Arikan (2011) claimed, a majority

of the teachers nowadays still teaches grammar only explicitly. However, as discussed

previously in section 2.2, teaching grammar only explicitly does neither lead to a higher

learning performance, nor do drill and repetitive exercises motivate students, because doing the

same all over again can become boring quickly. Interestingly, teachers believes about their

students’ motivation towards grammar was way more positive than the students’ actual feelings.

40% of the teachers had the feeling that there students were actually motivated to contribute to

grammatical topics. This difference shows that the opinions are mismatched, teachers should

therefore talk to their students to ensure that students benefit from the way grammar is taught

as much as possible. Moreover, further training in grammar teaching should be offered to ensure

that old, abandoned grammar teaching approaches leave the classroom and teachers feel

comfortable enough to try out new concepts, such as, communicative language teaching, which

differs, as mentioned in chapter 2.2, in various ways from the traditional way of teaching

grammar explicitly. Additionally, the Austrian curriculum suggests that the main goal of

teaching English in Secondary classes is to teach the language in a communicative way to

ensure that the learners are able to communicate orally and in written from (Bundesministerium

für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur). This shows that the current way of teaching grammar

explicitly does not match with the Austrian curriculum and emphasise the importance of

communicative language teaching as a grammar teaching approach in the Austrian EFL

classroom.

Moreover, students were asked if they had fun while practicing grammar. 45% of the students

agreed on NOT having fun during grammar practice, whereas only 6% actually claimed to have

fun. This finding suggests that grammar lesson are often considered boring by students.(Luu

& Nguyen, 2010, p. 70) . As mentioned earlier, this might be the case because still a majority

of teachers uses the presentation—practice—production (PPP) model (Ur, 2012, p. 84). Within

this model, grammar is taught explicitly by presenting rules to the students, which they have to

practice afterwards over and over again. Therefore, students often believe that grammar

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learning is no fun at all. This recommends to drastically change the way grammar is practiced

in class, especially, because motivation and positive emotions, such as fun while doing

something, are both important for language learning. This could be done by including

communicative language teaching elements in teaching and by creating more meaningful

activities for the students.

When asked if students had difficulties in applying grammatical rules and whether they feel

insecure about solving grammar task in general, a majority of the students claimed that no such

problems occurred. Interestingly, this findings contradict with the literature. Ur (2012) claimed

that students often fail to apply grammatical rules if they are taught explicitly and that research

assumes that grammar should be taught implicitly. However, this might be the case, because

when those questions were posed students might have thought of their classic gap-fill exercise

where they simply had to apply the rule they had learned, which normally works for simple

grammar exercises. This might not be the case if students had to apply grammar in a

communicative situation and would see this situation as their “grammar practice” instead of fill

in exercises, but as mentioned before, CLT teaching often does not take place in the modern

EFL classroom.

When teachers were asked about their sources they use to teach grammar, half of them claimed

that they would mainly use textbook exercises. This might be another reason why practicing

grammar is unpopular among students. Although textbooks have changed a lot in the last two

decades, grammar exercises are often built up in the same way and often resemble gap filling

exercises that do not provide authentic language context. As it is assumed that a majority of the

teachers uses the textbook as source exclusively, a possible solution to combat the bad record

of grammar teaching, could be to use a variety of sources to practice grammar. Students could

experience a variety of different approaches and could find ways to actually enjoy practicing

grammar. An example of an alternative source are grammar games. When asked, 60% of the

teachers claimed to use grammar games sometimes to practice grammar. Games can be an

excellent source to practice grammar because they offer a variety of benefits. For instance,

Constantinescu (2012, as in Gozu & Caganaga, 2016, p.128-129) claims that games can

“Games build up learners’ English repertoire in a familiar and comfortable environment (even

for students who may have special needs), where they feel confident” and games can “increase

motivation and desire for self-improvement”. As mentioned before, the majority of the students

does not favour grammar out of boringness and a lack of motivation, here games could combat

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these issues. However, how (grammar) games are perceived in general by teachers and students

will be discussed in the next sub-chapter.

5.3 (Grammar) Games

The main aim of this study is to find out students’ and teachers’ perception of grammar games

in the Austrian EFL classroom. The first research question was posed, in order to find out how

grammar games affect student’s motivation, feelings and tendencies towards grammar in

general. The second research question wants to investigate how teachers perceive the use of

grammar games with regards to motivation and learning successes of their students and their

reasons for or against using grammar games in class. Moreover, this study investigated the use

of games in the Austrian classroom in general.

5.3.1 The Use of (Grammar) Games in the Austrian EFL Classroom

Are grammar games still an underused source in the Austrian EFL classroom?—This was one

of the mains aim this research projects investigated.

Unfortunately, no literature that addressed the use of (grammar) games in Austria was found.

However, due to personal observations and discussions with other teachers, it was assumed that

(grammar) games are a rarely used source in the Austrian EFL classroom. Therefore, this study

investigated how often (grammar) games are used for language learning, by asking both,

teachers and students about their perception. The study found out that the perception of game

use in class differs significantly within the groups. 45% of the teachers claimed to use games at

least once a month and 42% even stated to use games once a week. Only one teacher claimed

that he or she never uses games in class. In contrast, majority of 60% of the students stated that

games are never played, whereas 35% claimed that games are used at least once a month. The

outcome of the teachers’ questionnaire does not match with the assumed outcome, because it

was assumed that games are a rarely used source in the EFL classroom. Although, teachers

might think that they already use enough and the right sort of games, the students’ results shows

that this might not be the case. Therefore, this outcome suggests that teachers should revise

their game based learning material, because right now students do not seem to recognise that

games are even used in class.

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5.3.2 Students’ and Teachers’ Believes about (Grammar) Games’ Benefits

As literature suggests games offer a variety of benefits. Not only, can games have a positive

impact on students’ motivation, but also, games are able to reduce anxiety and lead to a level

of higher self-confidence (Gozcu & Caganaga, 2016, p. 127). Therefore, a major aim of this

study was to investigate the benefits games can have, according to students and teachers.

The study revealed that one major benefit of games is the motivating factor they have for

students. 59% of the students claimed to feel more motivated when games are used. This result

should be taken in consideration by teachers, because literature has shown that increased

motivation and enjoyment are linked to a positive impact on the learning outcome of students

(Hall & Götz, 2013, p. 30). Moreover, not only the learning outcome can improve, but also

students can become intrinsically motivated by engaging in an activity “to experience pleasant

sensation” (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011, p. 23). Nonetheless, a quarter felt undecided about the

effect games have on their motivation. This might be the case because not every students has

been exposed to (grammar) games on a regular basis. To understand why 16% did not find

playing games motivating, further research needs to be done. When teachers were asked about

their believes, 76% reported that they imagine their students more motivated when using a game

based teaching approach. This outcome is very similar to the teachers’ opinions in Stojkovic

and Jerotijevic (2011) study; they found out that the main benefit of games for teachers was

that they appear to motivate their students. An analogical result was found as well in

Yolageldili’s and Arikan’s (2011) study, there 87% of the teachers claimed that they “believe

that games are highly motivating and entertaining” (Yolageldili and Arikan, 2011, p. 226). This

suggests that the majority of teachers is aware of the motivating effect games can have on

students.

Moreover, the findings showed that games can reduce stress and related to that, anxiety for

some students. The main factors that caused the reduction of stress, were: games can increase

the students’ mood, they can distract them from future tests and games can reduce pressure. For

instance, a quarter claimed that games have a distracting effect on them, when there is a lot of

work to do. This might not appear a lot, especially because the majority of 44% believed games

had no such effect on them, but still games reduced stress of a minority of students, which

results that they feel more positive during the English lesson. 56% of the students even reported

that playing games can brighten their mood when feeling bad. This is an important finding

because as Oxford (2005) claimed, various studies have found a negative relation between

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language anxiety and grades, test performance, performance in writing and speaking, self-

confidence and self-esteem (Oxford, 2005, p. 61).

Additionally, the study revealed as well that games can lead to a reduction of pressure, when

students, for example, practice grammar. A reason for this could be that a majority of teachers

uses the presentation—practice—production model on a regular basis. A side effect of this

model is that errors were seen as something “unnatural” that had to extinguished immediately

in order to avoid that those errors would become “a permanent part of the learner’s speech”

(Richards, 2006, p. 7). If this is the case, it seems logically from the perspective of a teacher

that games reduce students’ pressure, because when games are played an authentic language

environment is provided and therefore, errors are part of it and totally normal. Although, games

might not reduce pressure and anxiety for all students, it should be seen as very beneficial that

game based learning can have that positive effect at least on some students.

As a result, playing games has the potential of reducing stress and anxiety in the classroom for

some students. That alone should be a reason for teachers to include games in their teaching

from time to time, because they should always aim for a positive learning environment.

When students and teachers were asked about the increased learning outcome students should

have when playing games, the majority of the students were undecided if this was the case.

Literature has suggested earlier that games can lead indirectly to an increased learning outcome.

(Hall & Götz, 2013, p. 34) However, the results show that a quarter of the students does not

agree with what researchers claim. A reason for this could be that students might only see test

results as learning outcome, and not exercises, such as, games. In contrast, half of the teachers

believed that their students’ learning outcome would increase if games are being played in class.

This contradiction might be the case because teachers have the term “learning outcome” defined

differently than, as mentioned above, students had.

This study suggests that another major benefit of grammar games is that students are able to

practice other skills, such as reading, writing, listening and speaking, besides grammar and

vocabulary, as well. 61% of the students reported that games had such an effect on them,

whereas 11% had the impression that games lack of that quality. Moreover, the result revealed

that half of the students have the impression that learning grammar is easier for them when

learned through a game. In both cases, around 30% of the students were undecided whether

games had those beneficial effects or not. Again, this might be the case because some students

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might not being exposed to games as often as others. However, similar results were found by

Stojkovic and Jerotijevic (2011). They found out that the third highest ranked benefit games

have, according to students, is that games can support their learning (Stojkovic and Jerotijevic,

2011, p. 942).

All in all, this study has revealed a variety of benefits of (grammar) games. Not only, do games

reduce students’ anxieties, but also increases their motivation and for a minority of students

even their learning outcome. However, not only students are aware of the benefits games offer,

teachers appreciate games as well and are even more positive towards them than students are.

Overall, this suggests that both, students and teachers are aware of the value games can have in

the EFL classroom. In the next sub-section teachers’ reasons for and against game based

learning will be discussed.

5.3.3 Teachers’ Reasons for and against the Use of Games

Another aim of this study is to investigate reasons why or why not teachers use games in their

teaching. The results showed that the main reasons for teachers avoiding games is the amount

of time game preparation takes. Moreover, teachers claimed that the high noise level and the

mess that might happen in the classroom hinders them from using games. Compared to

Stojkovic and Jerotijevic’s study in 2011, the main reasons for teachers to avoid games in their

teaching were as well a lack of time (40%) and the mess games make in a classroom (62%).

Moreover, they claimed that not being familiar with the method and not being able to follow

students work also hinders them from using games (Stojkovic & Jerotijevic, 2011, p. 944). The

study of Yolageldili and Arikan (2011) showed that again, the main reason for teachers avoiding

games is the lack of time (40%). Moreover, teachers claimed that when teaching grammar

trough games they feel uncomfortable because they cannot explain the grammar rules explicitly.

Additionally, nearly 90% reported that they avoid game based teaching because of the lack of

material that is offered (Yolageldili & Arikan, 2011, p. 225).

To combat this issue, further training in this area might be a solution. If teachers were trained

further in teaching with games, they would become more comfortable in their role as facilitator

and could avoid chaos in class. Stojkovic and Jerotijevic (2011) suggest that “teachers should

organize their classes more effectively and find a few minutes to introduce games in ELT.”

(Stojkovic & Jerotijevic, 2011, p. 944). In general, if teachers would create an learning

environment where every student is aware of its role and respects the rules that are attached to

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playing games in class, for instance, talk in the target language, play fair and respect the other

players, using games in class would become less chaotic and teachers might see the benefits

games can bring to the classroom. Nevertheless, the college of education should offer further

training in game based teaching because, when asked, 79% of the teachers would like to obtain

further knowledge in this area.

A possible solution for the time problem could be an Austrian wide online platform for games.

Here teachers could upload and share their prepared games and sort them according to topic

and level. Although there are already a variety of such platforms, for instance,

www.busyteacher.org, it is often hard to find appropriate learning material for the current topic,

because such websites do not match the Austrian curriculum. However, the lack of a platform

to share lesson plans and material is not only a problem for English teachers but for teachers of

other subjects as well.

Moreover, this study investigated reasons for the use of games in class, besides the benefits that

had been mentioned in the previous sub-chapter. 84% of the teachers claimed to use games

because they want to offer a great variety of different exercises to their students. However, this

result stands in contradiction to the result of teachers preferring textbooks earlier, at least when

teaching grammar is the topics. Earlier, teachers claimed that they would prefer textbooks to

teach and practice grammar, which does not indicate the use of different sources. However, a

reason for this could be that teachers actually do not prefer to use games for grammar teaching,

but they do appreciate their value in other parts of their teaching. For instance, Stojkovic and

Jerotijevic (2011) found out that teachers like to use games as a warm up activity and to improve

vocabulary learning.

Additionally, a great majority reported they would favour games, because they present language

in an authentic context. This means that teachers think that when games are being played, their

students talk to another in a way that is similar to a talk real world. This is often not the case

with traditional teaching materials, because they often focus solely on one field, such as

grammar or vocabulary and often gap fills or matching exercises seem to be chosen randomly.

Moreover, an authentic context is also highly important when it comes to grammar teaching.

As mentioned earlier, Richards (2012) reported that a meaningful context is an important base

of communicative language teaching. Another principle of CLT is to “make real

communication the focus of language learning.” (Richards, 2006, p. 13). By using games, as

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part of communicative language teaching, the requirements of the Austrian curriculum would

be fulfilled as well, because the overall goal of learning English in school is communication in

a variety of situations (Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur, p. 2). Moreover,

games would ensure that the learning would no longer be teacher-centred, but the students

would be in the centre of attention, because the teacher would adopt his role as a facilitator and

teach their students grammar implicitly. (Richards, 2006, pp. 22–23).Hence, games can help

teachers to provide students with grammar games that do not lack of an authentic

communicative situation and they might abandon teaching grammar explicitly as well.

Furthermore, Stojkovic and Jerotijevic (2011) determined some more reasons why teachers

favour games. For instance, teachers use games because of their motivation potential, their

learner-cantered nature and again because they “present language in a meaningful context”

(Stojkovic & Jerotijevic, 2011, p. 943). However, not only Stojkovic and Jerotijevic (2011)

claimed that games offer meaningful context, also literature suggested the same. For instance,

Gozcu and Caganaga (2016) reported as well that games do not only lead to an increased self—

confidence, but offers also authentic meaningful context. This shows that in this case both,

studies and research, agree on games being an excellent source to offer students an authentic

language context

To conclude, both reasons for and against the use of games in the classroom were found.

Nevertheless, if a teacher is really eager to use games in class and is convinced of the benefits

games offer, the obstacles found, such as, the lack of time and discipline issues, can be

overcome. Moreover, this study revealed that teachers use games because they want to present

different exercises and approaches to the students and games offer a meaningful and authentic

context to the learner. In the next sub-section, the findings will be discussed again with regard

to gender and age of the participants.

5.4 Gender and Age

Another aspect the study investigated was, if there is a relationship between students’ and

teachers’ age and gender and their choice of answers. Therefore, this subsection discusses

whether gender and age influenced the participants’ way of answering significantly.

The Ttest attempted to investigate whether there is a significance in answering if gender is taken

in consideration. Overall, the findings revealed that there had been significant differences for

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male and female, when general feelings about English and the use of games were taken in

consideration. The results showed that female students felt more positive towards learning

English than male participants did. However, when their feelings towards (grammar) games

were tested, the outcome showed that male participants were significantly more pleased by

learning through games than females were. I assume that this might be the case because males

tend to be more competitive in general, and often favour games, especially computer games

more than girls do. Moreover, there was no significant difference for their feelings towards

grammar found, both groups felt positive towards applying grammatical rules. Additionally,

male and female students claimed to be not in favour of how grammar is practiced in their

classes.

When teachers’ gender differences were investigated, male teachers were more positive in their

believes about their students perception of games. This shows that male teachers believed more

often than female teachers that their students would favour games. Moreover, there was no

significant difference between male and female teachers found when their own opinion about

games was investigated. Both groups were overall positive towards using games in the EFL

classroom. Lastly, teachers’ perception of grammar was explored and it was found out that male

teachers were slightly more positive towards their students’ opinion of grammar and their use

of grammar games. Female teachers were overall neutral in their answering.

Not only gender was taken in consideration, but also teachers’ way of answering in certain age

groups was investigated. Five different age groups were established, grouped as the following:

20-31, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60 and 61-70. However, only minor differences were found between

the groups. For instance, when asked about their believes concerning their students’ opinion

towards games, the only age group being not positive, but neutral, were teachers between 41

and 50. Unfortunately, this was the only significant difference found. When asked about

grammar and games all age groups answered on average in the same way.

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6. Limitations

Though all efforts were made to ensure the study’s validity and reliability, limitations should

still be taken in consideration. Firstly, the number of students that participated in this study,

which is 82, does not stand in relation with the total number of secondary students in Styria,

which are approximately 13.000 (Bundesministerium fr Bildung et al., p. 13). Moreover, the

participants do not represent a wide range of schools, because the participants were chosen from

one school in Graz out of five different classes. However, similar studies, for instance, Stojkovic

and Jerotijevic’s study in 2011, had been found and their range and results strengthen the

reliability of this study. The outcome of this study was comparable to the results of this research

project. Both studies found out that students overall perceptions of games is very positive.

In addition, the ratio between the number of English teachers surveyed and the total number of

teachers in Styria and Carinthia, was, compared to the students’ ratio, better (38: 4266)

(Bundesministerium fr Bildung et al., p. 46). Further, the local range of the participants needs

to be taken in consideration as well. Although the study wanted to investigate the teachers’

perception of games in Austria, only teachers of five different schools in Carinthia and Styria

were surveyed. Nonetheless, comparable studies, for example, Yolageldili’s and Arikan’s

(2011) study about the effectiveness of using grammar games, revealed similar results and

strengthen, therefore, the validity of this study.

Moreover, it has to be taken in consideration as well that all instruments that were created for

this study, were created in German and later translated into English. Therefore, minor changes

of the meaning might occur in the findings, however the original question are presented in

Appendix B and C and in the findings section as well. The reason why German was chosen for

both questionnaires was that the mother tongue of teachers and students is German. If the

questionnaires would have been in English, it might have led to misunderstandings and

misinterpretation of the question.

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7. Recommendations for Future Language Teaching

Several recommendation for future language teaching can be drawn from this study. Firstly,

the study revealed that overall, both, students and teachers recognise the benefits of games in

the EFL classroom. The study showed that students’ anxiety level decreases and their level of

motivation and enjoyment increases, when teachers choose to use games in class. Teachers need

to be aware of those benefits and use games actively in class. Still, some teachers might not use

games because preparation is very time consuming. Maybe some teachers are not aware that

there are games for nearly every field of English on various online platforms, such as

busyteacher.org. Nonetheless, it would be easier if the government would provide a website,

specifically designed for the Austrian curriculum, to upload teaching material. This could

reduce the time spent for extra preparations outside the textbook.

Additionally, the use of grammar games was investigated by this study. However, the findings

had led to a contradiction between students’ and teachers’ perception. Whereas students

claimed that games were hardly ever played in class and that would really like to play them

more often, teachers reported that they use games at least once a week. Why there is a

contradiction between the perceptions of both groups needs to be further explored.

Furthermore, some teachers might think that games are only appealing to younger students and

that for older students games might appear too childish. However, the findings revealed that

students between 15 and 18 still appreciate the use of games in class and that they would like

play them more often. Therefore, games should obtain a fixed role in the Austrian classrooms.

However, to reach this goal, further training for teachers should be provided, because the results

showed that a majority of teachers would be eager to engage in a workshop dealing with game,

especially to become more proficient in this field.

Moreover, the way grammar is taught in Austria should be changed by teachers, because

literature has shown, teaching grammar only explicitly can lower the students’ learning

outcome. The study showed that students’ perception of grammar teaching in Austria is rather

negative, with regard to enjoyment and motivation. Hence, grammar games should be used by

teachers more often, because the study has revealed that a majority of the students enjoys

learning grammar through games and their motivation increases. Generally speaking, teachers

should provide a variety of different exercises and approaches in general, because a minority of

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the students claimed to not favour games at all. Why this is the case needs to be further explored

by a future study.

8. Conclusion

To conclude, the results of this study revealed that the students’ and the teachers’ perception

towards grammar games are very positive towards grammar games in the Austrian EFL

classroom. Even though there are some limitations to this study, the outcome still provides

insight in the teachers and students use and perception of games. It was found out that students

still see games as an underused source in Austria and would like them being included more

often in their English lessons. In contradiction, teachers claimed that they would use games on

average once a week, which does not match with the students’ perception.

Moreover, the study revealed a variety of benefits related to games. Games can reduce the

students’ anxiety level in class by increasing the level of enjoyment and for instance, allowing

shy students to speak in small groups instead of the whole class. Errors are not seen as

something terrible, but as something natural, which can lead to a better learning environment.

This does match the literature’s suggestion of advantages related to games, which showed as

well that game based learning can increase the students’ motivation, more engagement with the

exercise and a creation of a better learning environment (Gozcu & Caganaga, 2016, p. 127).

Additionally, the study showed that playing games has not age limit and older students still

enjoy game based learning.

However, the way grammar is taught in Austria needs to be revised. The study showed that the

majority of the students has no problem to apply grammar rules in certain situations, but they

do not feel motivated during exercises at all. The reason for this was already suggested by

research, Ur (2012) claimed that most teachers use an explicit grammar teaching approach,

although teaching grammar implicitly leads to better results (Ur, 2012, p. 84). Teaching

grammar can be taught implicitly by using the communicative language teaching approach,

which offers an authentic communicative situation for the student (Richards, 2006, pp. 22–23).

Here grammar games can be a suitable resource for CLT, because they offer not only an

authentic context but both, students and teachers claimed that grammar games can increase the

students’ motivation. Moreover, students recognized that when grammar games are played,

they feel a reduction in pressure and they learn grammar easier than with traditional methods.

86

Moreover, games can enhance the learning outcome, because different skills, such as grammar,

writing and speaking, can be practiced at once.

On a personal level, writing this thesis has widened my horizon in many respects. Not only did

I realize how many benefits are actually related to games, but that they can change the way

students perceive grammar learning as well. The major outcome of this study for me was the

students’ perception of grammar games. As a future teacher I am always interested in the way

my students think about certain topics in the EFL classroom to optimise and adapt my way of

teaching. This study has shown that a majority of students really appreciates playing games in

class. Moreover, they feel more motivated, what is very important to me, because due to my

own experience in school, I always preferred subjects and lessons where I enjoyed myself and

learning did not feel like “learning”. The results showed that older students still enjoy playing

games, which I assumed before because even in university classes most of my colleagues were

eager to participate in a game.

However, the fact that students do not enjoy the way grammar is currently taught at school at

all surprised me, because I have hoped that this had changed already since I left school,

especially because we had learned a variety of approaches that were different to the PPP model

at university. Nonetheless, I was very relieved that the study revealed that games can actually

change the way grammar is perceived by the students.

For the future, I hope that more teachers will not only recognise the benefits of games, but also

see them as a valid resource and use them in classroom. I hope that all the teachers that do not

favour games because they had never been aware of their benefits will change their mind like

my former mentor did—“I’d have never thought that games can have such a positive effect on

my students’ motivation, and they are learning grammar at the same time!” Lastly, this study

has widened my horizon and I feel even more strengthened to use (grammar) games in my

future teaching more often.

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9. List of Figures

Figure 1- Age of the Participants ............................................................................................. 29

Figure 2—Age Groups ............................................................................................................. 29

Figure 3—Example "Pie Chart" ............................................................................................... 32

Figure 4—Example "Frequency Distribution" ......................................................................... 33

Figure 5—Distribution of Gender ............................................................................................ 35

Figure 6- Distribution of Answers "Feeling about English" .................................................... 36

Figure 7- Ich lerne Englisch weil mir die Sprache gefällt. ...................................................... 37

Figure 8—Ich lerne Englisch, um ein anderes Ziel (Beruf, Reisen, Studium) zu verfolgen. .. 37

Figure 9—Ich lerne Englisch, weil ich es muss. ...................................................................... 38

Figure 10—Ich bin im Englischunterricht gestresster als in anderen Fächern......................... 39

Figure 11—Distribution of Answers "Grammar" .................................................................... 40

Figure 12—Security about Grammar ....................................................................................... 41

Figure 13—Motivation and Grammar ...................................................................................... 42

Figure 14—Distribution of Answers "Games" ........................................................................ 43

Figure 15—Ich fühle mich zu alt für Spiele. ............................................................................ 44

Figure 16—Ich finde Spiele im Unterricht zu spielen ist Zeitverschwendung ........................ 45

Figure 17— Ich habe das Gefühl motivierter zu sein, wenn wir Spiele im Unterricht spielen.

.................................................................................................................................................. 45

Figure 18— Spiele im Unterricht können meine Laune heben, wenn ich mich nichz gut fühle.

.................................................................................................................................................. 46

Figure 19— Ich würde gerne öfters Spiele im Unterricht spielen. .......................................... 47

Figure 20— Wenn wir Spiele im Unterricht spielen lenkt es mich von anstehenden

Test/Schularbeiten ab. .............................................................................................................. 47

Figure 21—Ich habe das Gefühl, dass ich mehr lerne, wenn wir Spiele im Unterricht spielen.

.................................................................................................................................................. 48

Figure 22—Distribution of Answers "Grammar Games" ........................................................ 49

Figure 23—Ich würde gerne öfters Grammatik mit Hilfe von Spielen üben bzw. erlernen. ... 50

Figure 24—Ich habe das Gefühl die Grammatik leichter zu lernen, wenn sie mir spielerisch

beigebracht wird. ...................................................................................................................... 51

Figure 25—Ich habe das Gefühl, dass ich mit Grammatikspielen auch meine anderen

Englischfertigkeiten (Lesen, Sprechen, Schreiben) ohne Druck üben kann. ........................... 52

Figure 26—Wenn wir Grammatikspuele im Unterricht spielen, habe ich das Gefühl, ohne

Druck Grammatik üben zu können. ......................................................................................... 52

Figure 27—Distribution of Age Teachers ................................................................................ 54

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Figure 28—Distribution of Answers "Students and Games" ................................................... 55

Figure 29—Ich habe das Gefühl, dass Schüler_innen motivierter sind, wenn Spiele im

Unterricht verwendet werden. .................................................................................................. 56

Figure 30—Ich habe das Gefühl, dass Schüler_innen mehr lernen, wenn Spiele im Unterricht

verwendet werden. ................................................................................................................... 56

Figure 31—Ich habe das Gefühl, dass Schüler_innen befreiter und mit weniger Druck lernen

können, wenn Spiele verwendet werden. ................................................................................. 57

Figure 32—Ich habe das Gefühl, dass Schüler_innen dzrch Spiele im Unterricht

besser/leichter lernen. ............................................................................................................... 58

Figure 33—Answer Distribution "Games" .............................................................................. 59

Figure 34—Reasons why Teachers do not use Games ............................................................ 61

Figure 35—Ich verwende Spiele im Unterricht, um Schüler_innen eine möglichst große

Spanne an Lernmöglichkeiten anzubieten. ............................................................................... 62

Figure 36—Ich finde Spiele im Unetrricht zu spielen ist Zeitverschwendung. ....................... 63

Figure 37—Ich finde Spiele im Unterricht bieten Schüler_innen einen authentischen Kontext

um die englische Sprache üben zu können. .............................................................................. 63

Figure 38—Answer Distribution "Grammar" .......................................................................... 65

Figure 39—Ich greife gerne auf Spiele zurück um Grammatik im Unterricht zu üben. .......... 66

Figure 40—Ich verwende lieber die Übungen im Schulbuch bzw aus Übungsbüchern um

Grammatik zu üben. ................................................................................................................. 67

Figure 41—Ich wäre daran interessiert Fortbildungen zum Thema "Grammatikspiele für den

Unterricht" zu besuchen ........................................................................................................... 68

Figure 42—Wie oft werden Spiele im Unterricht gespielt? ..................................................... 70

Figure 43— Ich habe Spaß daran Grammatik zu üben ............................................................ 71

89

10. References

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Analyses. Retrieved from http://asq.org/quality-progress/2007/07/statistics/likert-scales-

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Brauchart, Thomas Dorner, Michael Lückl, . . . Marion Waba. Zahlenspiegel 2017.

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g

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for teachers. Bingley: Emerald.

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updated.). Harlow: Longman.

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(Deesri, 2002; Dörnyei & Ryan, 2015; Ghimire; Hardi, 2012; Harmer, 2001; Philip; Studer &

Knecht, 2016; Ur, 1998)

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11. Appendices

Appendix A: Letter of Consent

Appendix B: Student Questionnaire

Appendix C: Teacher Questionnaire

Appendix D: Board Game

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Appendix A: Letter of Consent

Übereinstimmungserklärung

Sehr geehrte Eltern! Sehr geehrte Erziehungsberechtigte!

Ich bitte Sie um Ihr Einverständnis zur Durchführung einer Studie für meine Diplomarbeit an

der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz zum Thema The Use and Perception of Grammar

Games in the Austrian Secondary EFL Classroom. Das Ziel meiner Arbeit ist es,

herauszufinden, wie Schüler_innen auf den Einsatz von Grammatikspielen im

Englischunterricht reagieren. Zusätzlich möchte ich die Beweggründe erforschen, wieso

manche Lehrpersonen Spiele in den Unterricht miteinbauen und andere nicht. Die Ergebnisse

der Studie sollen zur Optimierung des Unterrichts im Englischunterricht beitragen, wovon auch

Ihr Sohn/Ihre Tochter in Zukunft profitieren kann.

Zur Realisierung dieses Projekts ist die Durchführung eines Grammatikspiels mit

anschließenden Fragebogen im Ausmaß von max. einer Schulstunde in der Klasse Ihres

Sohnes/ Ihrer Tochter geplant, der anschließend ausgewertet und analysiert wird. Die Daten

werden selbstverständlich nicht an Dritte weitergegeben, sondern ausschließlich für

wissenschaftliche Zwecke verwendet. Alle Daten bleiben sowohl im Fragebogen, als auch in

der Diplomarbeit anonym.

Ich hoffe sehr auf Ihre Unterstützung bei der Durchführung meiner Forschungsarbeit und

bedanke mich schon im Voraus bei Ihnen sehr herzlich! Ich bitte Sie die nachstehende

Zustimmungserklärung zu unterschreiben und über Ihren Sohn/Ihre Tochter an

_________________________ zu übermitteln. Sollten Sie weitere Fragen zu dieser Studie

haben, können Sie mich gerne jederzeit kontaktieren.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Nadja Wakonig

Mit meiner Unterschrift, stimme ich zu, dass in der Klasse meines Sohnes/meiner Tochter, in

einer Englischstunde Daten nach den oben genannten Bedingungen erhoben werden dürfen.

Name des Schülers/ der Schülerin Datum, Unterschrift des Erziehungsberechtigen

Nadja Wakonig

Tel.: 0660/6247101

E-Mail: nadja.wakonig@gmail.com

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Appendix C: Students Questionnaire

Fragebogen

Studie zum Thema: The Use and Perception of Grammar Games in the Austrian Secondary

EFL Classroom

Durchgeführt von: Nadja Wakonig

Bitte beantworte die folgenden Fragen zum Thema „(Grammatik)—Spiele im

Englischunterricht.

Kreuze die zutreffende Antwort an.

A) □ männlich □ weiblich

B) Alter ___

1 Ich lerne Englisch, weil mir die Sprache gut gefällt.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

2 Ich lerne Englisch, um ein anderes Ziel (Beruf, Reisen, Studium) zu verfolgen.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

3 Ich lerne Englisch, weil ich es muss.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

95

4 Ich bin im Englischunterricht gestresster als in anderen Fächern.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

5 Ich fühle mich unsicher, wenn ich Grammatik Aufgaben lösen muss.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

6 Es fällt mir schwer Grammatikregeln im Englischunterricht anzuwenden.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

7 Ich bin sehr motiviert im Englisch Unterricht bei Grammatikthemen mitzuarbeiten.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

8 Wie oft werden Spiele im Englisch Unterricht gespielt?

□ Jeden Tag □ Einmal die Woche □ Einmal im Monat □ Nie

9 Ich fühle mich zu alt für Spiele im Unterricht.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

10 Ich finde Spiele im Unterricht zu spielen ist Zeitverschwendung.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

11 Ich habe das Gefühl motivierter zu sein, wenn wir Spiele im Unterricht spielen.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

12 Spiele im Unterricht können meine Laune heben, wenn ich mich nicht gut fühle.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

96

13 Ich würde gerne öfters Spiele im Unterricht spielen.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

14 Wenn wir spiele im Unterricht spielen lenkt es mich von anstehenden Tests/ Schularbeiten

ab.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

15 Ich habe das Gefühl, dass ich mehr lerne, wenn wir Spiele im Unterricht spielen.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

16 Ich habe Spaß daran Grammatik zu üben.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

17 Ich würde gerne öfters Grammatik mit Hilfe von Spielen üben bzw. erlernen.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

18 Ich habe das Gefühl die Grammatik leichter zu lernen, wenn sie mir spielerisch beigebracht

wird.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

19 Ich habe das Gefühl, dass ich mit Grammatikspielen auch meine anderen

Englischfertigkeiten (Lesen, Sprechen, Schreiben) ohne Druck üben kann.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

20 Wenn wir Grammatikspiele im Unterricht spielen, habe ich das Gefühl, ohne Druck

Grammatik üben zu können.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

97

Was ich sonst noch zu (Grammatik-)Spielen im Unterricht sagen möchte (z.B. Was mir

gefällt/ nicht gefällt, Wünsche, Verbesserungsvorschläge …):

Vielen Dank für deine Teilnahme!

98

Appendix C: Teacher Questionnaire

Fragebogen

Studie zum Thema: The Use and Perception of Grammar Games in the Austrian Secondary

EFL Classroom

Durchgeführt von: Nadja Wakonig

Bitte beantworten Sie folgenden Fragen zum Thema „(Grammatik)—Spiele im

Englischunterricht.

Kreuzen Sie bitte die zutreffende Antwort an.

A) □ männlich □ weiblich

B) Alter ___

C) Zweit/Drittfach ________________________________________

D) Schultyp ______________

1 Wie oft verwenden Sie Spiele im Unterricht?

□ In jeder Stunde □ Einmal die Woche □ Einmal im Monat □ Fast nie

2 Ich habe das Gefühl, dass Schüler_innen motivierter sind wenn Spiele im Unterricht verwendet

werden.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

3 Ich habe das Gefühl, dass Schüler_innen mehr lernen wenn Spiele im Unterricht verwendet

werden (im Vergleich zu traditionellen Unterrichtsmethoden)

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

99

4 Ich habe das Gefühl, dass Schüler_innen befreiter und mit weniger Druck lernen können wenn

Spiele verwendet werden.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

5 Ich verwende keine Spiele im Unterricht, da die Vorbereitung zu aufwendig ist/ zu lange dauert.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

6 Ich verwende keine Spiele im Unterricht, da viele Eltern Druck machen, weil sie denken ihre

Kinder lernen nichts dabei.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

7 Ich verwende keine Spiele im Unterricht, da die Klasse auf andere sehr laut und unruhig wirken

könnte.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

8 Ich habe das Gefühl, dass Schüler_innen durch Spiele im Unterricht besser/leichter lernen.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

9 Ich verwende Spiele im Unterricht, um Schüler_innen eine möglichst große Spanne an

Lernmöglichkeiten anzubieten.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

10 Ich finde Spiele im Unterricht zu spielen sind Zeitverschwendung.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

100

11 Ich finde Spiele im Unterricht bieten Schüler_innen einen authentischen Kontext um die englische

Sprache üben können.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

12 Ich verwende lieber die Übungen im Schulbuch bzw. aus Übungsbüchern um Grammatik zu üben.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

13 Ich greife gerne auf Spiele zurück um Grammatik im Unterricht zu üben

.□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

14 Ich habe das Gefühl, dass meine Schüler_innen Spaß am Grammatik üben haben.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

15 Ich wäre daran interessiert Fortbildungen zum Thema „Grammatikspiele für den Unterricht“ zu

besuchen.

□ Trifft zu □ Trifft eher zu □ Teil-teils □ Trifft eher nicht zu □ Trifft nicht zu

Was ich sonst noch gerne zu (Grammatik)-Spielen und deren Motivation sagen möchte….

Vielen Dank für Ihre Teilnahme!

101

Appendix D: Board Game