The Impact of Games on the Acquisition of Grammatical Structures

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to find out the beneficial effectsof games on the correct use of grammar structures, as well as to see what attitude the students had towards the grammarpractice used during the study. The study was carried out in the EEC (Experimental English Classes)at the AUA (American University of Armenia). Two groups were selected for the study. The focus group received the treatment with the use of games, whereas the comparison group practicedthe grammar structures with the traditional exercises.The experimentwas conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the treatment, which was donethrough quasi-experimental research. The study comprises the quantitative data. The quantitative data was collected through pre-and post-tests and the questionnaire.The datacollected from the pre-and post-tests were analyzed by implementing the Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon tests, in order to compare the test results of both groups.The results revealed that there was no difference between the performances of both the focus andthe comparison group students. Thus,it can de determined that both games and exercises help the students to improve theuse of grammar structures similarly. The analyses of the questionnaire showed that the majority of the focus group students believedthat game-based learning was very enjoyable and they were highly motivated to have those kinds of activities.However, the comparison group students also had positive attitudes towards the grammar practice/ exercises used in their classes, and the percentage did not differ greatly compared with the focus group responses.