Games as a didactic strategy to promote motivation on learning vocabulary in EFL.

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out in an educational context at the Unidad Educativa Virgen del Cisne with the aim of describing the use of games as a didactic strategy to promote motivation in learning vocabulary in seventh grade students. Therefore, qualitative research was used, for the data collection a questionnaire with six questions was developed. The questions’ structure was open-ended, which then, were applied with the focus group where students argued their answers by giving reasons in each one of their answers After collecting the data and analysis, it was found that games are effective as a didactic strategy. The influence of games on learning vocabulary has to be considered at the moment of teaching because it makes the students feel motivated to learn and they enjoy this kind of activity. In addition, there are some games that motivate students on the learning of vocabulary such as guessing games, matching games and board games.