Does providing an advance organizer in online drill and practice games improve language learning outcomes
Like many other methodological innovations, Game Based Learning (GBL) has been applied to the area of language learning. Drill and practice games are most often used. However, little research has been done to explore whether providing an advance organizer in drill and practice games improves language learning outcome. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of an advance organizer on vocabulary word and grammar based word learning among Chinese junior students. A quasi experimental design was adopted to probe this study. Students in NO.11 junior school in China were recruited and divided into an experimental group and a control of 30 students each. Students in the experimental group were provided with an advance organizer; whereas, the students in the control group were not. Post test questionnaires were subsequently administered to the participants after playing the game. Independent sample t test analysis was applied to examine if the advance organizer is effective for vocabulary word and grammar based word learning. Findings indicate that an advance organizer did have significant positive impact on vocabulary word learning. On the other hand, it did a negative influence on learning grammar based words. These results imply that learning vocabulary by means of a drill and practice game can be enhanced by giving an advance organizer. In addition, teachers can also enhance their teaching method by using games and advance organizers.