THE EFFECT OF ACTIVE BOARD

GAME ON VOCABULARY RETRIEVAL

AMONG SCHOOL GRADERS

Nelson Alberto Mejia Tavarez1

nelsonmeji101@gmail.com

https://orcid.org/0009-0000-7721-2237

Clyde Jensen Gómez

c.jensen@udea.edu.co

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5910-2584

ABSTRACT

A good knowledge of vocabulary is crucial to successful language learning, so vocabulary learning

strategies have been gaining popularity in EFL classrooms. Research in vocabulary learning has been

extensively investigated the factors that affect receptive vocabulary, however the amount of research in

productive vocabulary is scarce. The study reported in this article aimed to explore and describe to

what extent a board game called “Active” affect 10th-grade EFL students' active vocabulary in a public

school in Bello. The game was designed as a memory-based strategy and target frequently nouns

relevant to students’ daily lives. Four lesson plans were applied to 32 students and the classes took place

in the classroom. This study used a qualitative method. Vocabulary performance was tested with pre-

test and, post-test and during-test after each lesson. The data collection included interviews and

RESUMEN

un colegio público de Bello. El juego se diseñó como una estrategia basada en la memoria y se dirigía

frecuentemente a sustantivos relevantes para la vida diaria de los estudiantes. Se aplicaron cuatro planes

de lección a 32 estudiantes y las clases tuvieron lugar en el aula. Este estudio utilizó un método

cualitativo. Se evaluó el rendimiento en vocabulario con pruebas previas, posteriores y durante cada

lección. La recogida de datos incluyó entrevistas y observaciones. La investigación reveló mejoras

significativas en la retención y recuperación de vocabulario. Además, el juego fomentó la motivación

y el compromiso, destacando el valor de la gamificación para mejorar el aprendizaje de idiomas.

Palabras clave: vocabulario activo, gamificación, educación EFL

being familiar with the meaning, appropriateness, collocations, spoken and written form, as well as

mastering both active and passive vocabulary related to the four skills of language (Nación,1990).

Teachers should recognize that vocabulary is divided into at least four different types and that will give

them the ability to better understand the progress of their students. Active vocabulary incorporates the

words that students implement in their speaking and writing productions. On the other hand, passive

vocabulary covers words that help them understand a conversation or during a reading comprehension

activity.

Recent studies underscore the importance of integrating both active and passive vocabularies into lesson

plans. However, in Colombian public schools, assessment activities focus more on passive vocabulary,

due to multiple circumstances related to time, teaching principles, preparation for SABER tests, lack of

motivated, and he highly recommends the use of gamification to engage learners in classes and ensure

that they can complete activities on their own. Games are common aspects not only in people's lives but

also in classrooms where teachers use them for their potential impact on motivation and learning. Many

scholars agree that learning occurs when the lesson sparks students' interest and motivation and that in

second-language education it is important to introduce gamification into classes because motivation has

been consistently linked to learning (Brown, 2007).

However, designing activities to encourage learners' active vocabulary and integrating gamification into

lessons is challenging and time-consuming for teachers in foreign language classes; especially in

Colombia and the local region (Bello, Antioquia), where students are left with decontextualized classes

and content that does not meet their interests, as well as teachers eagerly looking for activities to engage

designed by the researcher, intended to increase active vocabulary with the most useful and used nouns

that students need to have a simple conversation in English in their immediate context. The study will

be conducted in a public school in the city of Bello, where students belong to stratum two and receive

4 academic hours of English weekly with a communicative focus and where there is no specific textbook

to follow, and each teacher has autonomy to choose content from various sources.

Theoretical Framework

What is vocabulary?

Vocabulary is a very important language component in learning a language and is considered a central

part of language acquisition. Some linguists like David Wilkins stated that “Without grammar, very

little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed no matter if it is a native, second

sequence of letters organized in a specific form to transmit a definition.

Nevertheless, those definitions are insufficient to explain a complex word such as vocabulary. It is

important when defining vocabulary to know its forms and types. Elfrieda and Michael (2005) have

stated that vocabulary is the knowledge of word meaning and it comes in two different forms: oral and

print. Oral vocabulary refers to words learners identify when they listen and speak while print

vocabulary involves the words that learners recognize when they read and write. In addition, the

vocabulary can be classified into two types: productive and receptive also called active or passive (the

last two words will be used to mention the type of vocabulary during the article). Active vocabulary is

used in speaking and writing. Meanwhile, passive vocabulary refers to words used in listening and

reading.

active, it is still challenging for teachers to develop vocabulary for students, and they are confused about

whether to teach that vocabulary separately or in a continuum. It is not easy to identify the connection

between the two types of vocabulary knowledge from different perspectives, stating that it is usually

easier to recall the meaning of a word passively than it is to learn and recall the form of a word to

produce it actively (Webb and Nation, 2017). Thus, teachers are constantly implementing strategies to

teach vocabulary effectively and they must make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, and more

effective. In line with Schmitt (2010), there are two types of strategies that can be used in vocabulary

learning: Explicit and implicit vocabulary. Explicit vocabulary is more focused on learning the language

where the learner is attentive to the information to learn, and the teacher plays the role of translator or

language provider. On the other hand, implicit vocabulary is a process where learners are more centered

sport” governed by rules, where people must compete against others. Competition and cooperation are

present whenever we mention the word game, Jones (1980, as cited in Ameer, 2016) stated that one or

two players could play in a game to compete or cooperate depending on the rules that have been set.

Others, like Gibbs (1981, as cited in Ameer, 2016), ensured that games are activities developed by

competitive or cooperative decision-makers. In addition, Rixon (1981) said that games include a

beginning and an end. From all these definitions, it can be concluded that a game is an activity with

rules centered on cooperation and cooperation which takes place in an enjoyable atmosphere. This

definition might be extrapolated to foreign and second language classrooms where teachers implement

games to reinforce or practice the objectives of the lessons and it is based on language and the aim to

enhance language skills. In language games, learners might use words, mime, gestures, and body

engage people, motivate action, promote learning, and solve problems” (p. 10), that means that teachers

can use elements taken from games in class, lately, the use of gamification has become very popular

due to the potential benefit of learning and the motivation of learners.

Teaching Vocabulary Using Games

Some decades ago, games were primarily used for physical activities, and steadily games started to be

introduced in the educational arena. In the EFL and ESL context games have been gaining more

prominence. Lately, they have become an important tool that allows teachers to introduce challenges

and entertainment to the classes. Using games in learning vocabulary has attracted a lot attention

from scholars and teachers, Donmus (2010) found that when games and education are combined there

is a good atmosphere for learning languages. In fact, learning vocabulary is crucial in language learning

second is when the game is conducted to provide entertainment. There are thousands of games to

be used in EFL and ESL classes and they can be chosen according to language skills (listening,

speaking, reading, writing).

Language is made up of words and if we want to use the language effectively it is imperative enough

stock of vocabulary, but it is we must keep in mind that vocabulary learning involved to know how to

spell words, how to pronounce them, their collocations in context and appropriateness as well (Nation,

1990). Therefore, vocabulary learning strategies play a crucial role in making learning easier, more

enjoyable, and more effective and a key point we want to address in this investigation is to enhance

comprehension and storage of vocabulary. To succeed in choosing vocabulary learning strategies

teachers should frame these strategies to recognize what type of activity will fit better on students.

connected to decision-making, social strategies with exercises where learners interact by asking and

answering questions, cognitive strategies like verbal and written repetition and memory or mnemonics

strategies when the previous knowledge is linked with the new word using association or imaging.

Memory strategies

Many vocabulary learning strategies are suitable for learners according to their styles, age, attitude,

gender, context, motivation, personality, and so on. However, in this investigation, we will highlight

memory strategies also called mnemonics. As Oxford (1990) stated, vocabulary memory strategies help

learners store specific information and retrieve it when required. Also, Heuer (1999) suggested that

when the new vocabulary is rehearsed with memory strategies it will be transferred to long-term

memory. This last theory is closely related to what a board game called active pretends to achieve with

Thus, it is an imperative need for teachers to help learners acquire more vocabulary, and learning

vocabulary through memory activities might contribute to that issue teachers should be aware of its

benefits and the variety of them: Image word form, connecting words with its synonyms and antonyms,

study the spelling of a word, say the new word aloud, use physical action when learning a word, group

words together, image word´s meaning, etc. Schmitt (1997) categorized memory strategies into six

subcategories: learning new words through pictures, connections between new words and relevant

words, linking the new words with irrelevant words, grouping, using the orthography or sound of the

word, and including physical action.

Once we mentioned the concept of vocabulary, the vocabulary strategies, the definition of a game and

its role in EFL and ESL learning context, and previous studies in vocabulary learning, it is pertinent to

vocabulary. First, it is a cooperative and competitive board game where learners might learn vocabulary

under an implicit strategy. In addition, according to Schmitt´s taxonomy Active might be considered a

memory or mnemonic strategy that consists of learning new words through pictures and the sound of

the word where players are exposed to visual and oral repetition of vocabulary while they are playing

and enjoying.

How Does Memory Work

The word memory entails different types of abilities which take place in different types of memory such

as working memory where responsible for temporarily string and manipulating information, semantic

memory where are stored general knowledge of fact of the world, or episode memory in charge of

remembering episodes of our life it is like travelling to the time mentally and pick the main events. This

considering physical and mental environment and people are constantly remembering and encoding

events at least for a while because encoded information is not a guarantee it will be remembered later.

The other Process is storage where the experiences create memory traces, but the Melton pointed that

those memory traces do not act like recording machine but the process of remembering involves

reconstruct the past events. And the final stage, stated by Melton, as the most important because human

can encode and store too much information but most of it is wasted and we only can access to a small

part of that information in our brains, so retrieval memory is defined as the ability to access information

when it is required. Melton directed special attention about the factors that determine what information

can be retrieved, and the main one is the type of hint or clue.

In graph 2 the main student´s concerns in terms of skills and subskills are seen in percentages. Most of

about learning the English language and was the beginning to look for a strategy that allows improving

the results showed that from a total of 32 students, only 10 students could reach above 60%. The other

10 students answered between the range of 20 and 30 nouns correctly and finally the rest were under

20 correct answers.

The results of this pre-test deserve a deep analysis, as cited in the theoretical framework vocabulary

knowledge includes the understanding of the forms, meanings, and the practical use of the word, so if

we observe the result most of the students did no remember the form of the word, it means the

orthographic perspective, they might need to associate the image with the spelling of the word and the

board game “Active” appeared as a suitable option. Regarding the semantic perspective, there is no

evidence of the student´s performance before the proposal of the game was implemented. It would be

necessary for future investigations to widen that perspective, and the students could practice vocabulary

Interview lesson # 2: “I understand some words in a text or a reading but at the moment to translate

from Spanish to English I cannot remember; it is like our brain needs some help to remember

vocabulary that we need immediately.”

From short to long-term memory

After each during-test was applied at the end of each lesson where 1 student per group was called to

take the test presented the following results. The performance of students started to improve lessons

after lessons showing that the codification process took place steadily. It means that the information

that was initially in the working memory started to be transferred to the long-term memory participants.

During the first test, 6 students selected reached more than 60%. At the end of lesson 2, the total of

students reached 60%.

This finding is very relevant for this study considering that the main objective is to explore and describe

to what extent “Active” board game affects students´ vocabulary and the students showed a significant

improvement lesson after lesson as was explained above, this ratified what Heur (1999) has suggested

about the importance of memory strategies helping students to transfer vocabulary that they observed

and hear playing “Active” game to long term memory what is called the codification process.

Successful retrieving by clues and free

Lastly, on the fifth day of study students took a final oral test but this time the whole universe of the

study was involved (32 students). The test was divided into two parts, firstly, students were asked to

say the corresponding word in English of the 57 nouns practiced during the whole study they had to

retrieve the information free without any clue, the results were highly satisfactory, absolutely all the

students´ vocabulary. To discuss the results and the main objective it is essential to mention that “Active

board game is within the vocabulary learning strategies suggested by Gu and Johnson (1996),

particularly memory strategy and classified as an encoding strategy where students associate the image

with the word including the orthography and pronunciation. During the lessons, students were exposed

to play “Active” repeatedly and each during-test plus the observations showed that they were improving

significantly lesson after lesson, to understand this phenomenon was necessary to investigate more

about the way memory works.

So, students firstly, were exposed to seeing the images and listening to the sound and the words, and

their sensorial memory was activated, then when they started to play, the association of the images with

the sounds and orthography was stored in their short-term memory that occurs when people need

transferred to the long-term memory, this step occurs when the information can remember during more

time, in the external observation was recorded the following Observation Lesson # 2: “When I asked at

In the final step, the students did it very well and satisfactorily retrieved the vocabulary, the information

was stored in the episodic memory and the proof of this is the result obtained in the final test where

70% of them could retrieve the information without any retrieval clue and 90% used the image that

represents the word as a retrieval clue (Ameer, 2016).

The following figure # 1 illustrates according to the investigation and the theory investigated how

students could effectively store the information of the nouns expose in “Active” game.

Figure 1

results and in this time, they learn the words in English with an objective in mind, it is to compete and

cooperate during the game”.

This finding it is related undirectedly with the main objective of the study which pretends to explore

and describe the effect of “Active” game on students’ vocabulary because there are many studies which

suggest the benefits of gamification on learning and motivation. One of the characteristics of games is

that they involve cooperation and competition (Gibbs, 1981, as cited in Ameer, 2016) and during the

lesson plan when learners were playing “Active” was registered by the external observer that: “students

cooperate among them to improve pronunciation and explain the rules perhaps if a member forget it,

and they were enjoying the game, there was a strong sense of competitiveness and they seemed to be

that “Active” helps with the consolidation of vocabulary on leaner’s memory, having room to the three

stages investigated by the phycologist Melton (1963) coding, storage and retrieval where final students

can use the information when they want to express it, in that case using images as a retrieval clue. Also,

the atmosphere described by leaners and the observation ratified that gamification has a great influence

on learning as well as motivation as long as the game is well explained, appropriate for their age and

takes the suitable time. Nevertheless, there have been researched a small hand of studies concerned

vocabulary learning and gamification in EFL, and through “Active” board game might be investigated

further effects on related skills such: Spelling, grammar, pronunciation, intonation, and so forth.

In addition, when the learners took the survey, they agreed on vocabulary as the main concern at the

time of learning English language, so they will learn easier if they have strategies to learn more

Another aspect that was explored in this study was the learners’ vocabulary range, particularly active

vocabulary about nouns needed to talk about daily routines. The results taken from the pre-test showed

that most learners failed at the time of retrieving vocabulary, only ten students reached above 60% of

the words tested. More research also needs to be done to test the passive vocabulary on students or the

semantic perspective, to analyze if they really understand the word in context. This conclusion is the

answer to one of the research questions about knowing how much vocabulary about daily routine

students could retrieve in a writing exercise.

Finally, when the investigator had investigated about students concerns and preferences´ to learn

English, and knew their performance on retrieving vocabulary, it was created “Active” board game as

a strategy to improve vocabulary retrieval on students. It was thought about a vocabulary strategy

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