Collaborative guessing game for EFL learning with kinesthetic recognition

Abstract

Guessing games combined with innovative educational technology have hardly ever been adapted to English as a foreign language (EFL) learning. This study aims to claim that collaborative guessing games with physical movement have full potential to facilitate English learning of adolescent EFL learners. To this end, based on the cognitive theory of multimedia learning (CTML) proposed by Mayer (2006), the authors have extended the CTML model with collaboration mechanisms and proposed the collaborative CTML. In this study, a collaborative kinesthetic guessing game system (CKGG) was developed for the purpose of implementing English learning with guessing games and physical movement. When playing the games, learners in the experimental group were further divided into Player and Helper to give them opportunities to learn collaboratively while learners in the control group were asked to go through the whole game on their own. Helper was allowed to give textual hints and authentic pictorial hints to Player and Player was asked to answer the questions using physical movements and pronouncing the target English. Furthermore, this study prepared learners with two learning stages: one is Stage 1 where learners used teacher-designed materials for their learning, and another one is Stage 2 where learners used learner-designed materials for their learning. The experimental results show that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in terms of learning achievement.