Enhancing Vocabulary Mastery through Digital Games

Abstract

Today, most primary ESL students are experiencing difficulties trying to learn the vocabulary because of the traditional rote learning practice, which in most cases leads to low motivation and poor retention. The paper dwells on the ways to use digital escape rooms (developed with Genially) in order to enhance vocabulary acquisition among primary ESL students. Qualitative design was embraced where quantitative observations in two target classrooms were conducted; purposive sampling was employed, where ten participants were chosen in two Malaysian primary schools. Students of both lower and upper primary ESL classes were introduced to vocabulary-based digital escape rooms that were expected to encourage active learning with gamified activities and collaborative problem-solving. The findings were that both groups demonstrated great involvement of students and motivation. It was shown that the majority of the participants showed the improvement of focus, active participation, and application of newly learned vocabulary in effective situations. Remarkably, the learners experienced the interactive and immersive property of the escape rooms and indicated that it positively contributed to improving their vocabulary and confidence. The results indicate that Google-based digital escape rooms built in a Genially framework will help higher learning engagement, autonomy as well as language acquisition among pupils in primary schools.