Enhancing Undergraduate Students' Business English Vocabulary Knowledge through Digital Game-Based Learning
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Abstract
This research aims to explore the effects of Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL) on the development of undergraduate students’ vocabulary knowledge in a Business English Course and to examine students’ opinions of this teaching approach. The participants are 60 first-year Thai students majoring in Modern Trade Business Management in the Faculty of Business Administration at a private university in Thailand. The researcher divided the participants into two groups: an experimental group and a control group. This study employed a mixed-methods approach by collecting quantitative data from a pretest, a posttest and a questionnaire. Qualitative data were collected by a semi-structured interview, a questionnaire, and student journals. The results showed vocabulary knowledge of the experimental group with a pretest mean score of 11.03 and a posttest mean score of 14.12, which reflected a statistically significant difference of this study (t = 5.361, p = 0.000). However, the control group’s scores showed no significant difference in this study. The qualitative findings also revealed that the experimental group had positive opinions of digital game-based learning because it increased engagement, and entertainment. This study highlights the benefits of DGBL in developing students’ business English vocabulary knowledge by reviewing their vocabulary as a self-study tool outside of the classroom. It is useful for English teachers to employ this approach in English classes for teaching in higher education.
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References
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