ERIC Number: EJ1258066
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0742-7778
EISSN: EISSN-2056-9017
Rock or Lock? Gamifying an Online Course Management System for Pronunciation Instruction: Focus on English /r/ and /l/
Michael Barcomb; Walcir Cardoso
CALICO Journal, v37 n2 p127-147 2020
This one-group quasi-experimental study aimed to determine the effectiveness of using a gamified course management system with points, badges (and consequently competition) to facilitate the development of English phonology in a foreign language context in Japan. To implement this idea, we focused on the acquisition of English segments /r/ and /l/ in production (as in /r/ock and /l/ock respectively). During the study, participants were asked to engage in gamified pronunciation activities over a period of two weeks, using a popular learning site ("Moodle"). The data collection instruments included pre- and posttests to examine the production development of /r/ and /l/ (using controlled aural elicitation tasks), a written follow-up questionnaire, and user logs to investigate users' perceptions of the pedagogy utilized. The results indicate that participants benefited from the proposed gamified system for L2 pronunciation instruction, as they improved their production of the target English /r/ and /l/ segments. In addition, responses from the interviews and user logs revealed that participants perceived using the site as enjoyable, anxiety-reducing, and pedagogically useful.
Descriptors: Management Systems, English (Second Language), Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, Pronunciation Instruction, Teaching Methods, Computer Assisted Instruction, Recordkeeping, Comparative Analysis, Phonology, Pretests Posttests, Foreign Countries, Phonemes, Anxiety, Metalinguistics, Junior High School Students, Game Based Learning, Student Attitudes
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Japan
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A