The use of games to improve speaking skills of high school students

Abstract

This research study determined the effectiveness of using games to motivate high school students to improve their English speaking skills. Besides, this investigation identified the most effective games to be applied within English lessons, as well as, compared the differences on students’ and English teacher’s perceptions of the games. For this purpose, 30 students from a private high school in Loja, Ecuador were considered as participants all of them were female pupils aged from 16 to 17 years old. In addition, both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to analyze the collected data through instruments such as students’ survey, English teacher’s survey, a checklist for teacher’s journal, students’ post-test and recording videos. Based on the results, it was possible to conclude that the use of games to improve speaking skills of students attending a private high school was satisfactory because most of the games were appealing to students and they encouraged active participation not only among classmates but also with the teacher. They also had the chance to use English in a confident way.