Abstract:
Ethiopian first-year university students need to be proficient enough in English language in
general and in English vocabulary in particular to succeed in their English medium courses.
Therefore, they need to have multiple exposures to learning English vocabulary. One of the
ways of increasing their exposure is by teaching them vocabulary through games. Games are
believed to enhance the students‘ linguistic competence which in turn can enable them to
succeed in their university studies. This study intends to solve these problems. Therefore, this
study aimed to investigate the effect of vocabulary games on vocabulary learning motivation,
engagement, retention and perception of first-year EFL students with a focus on students of
Natural Science at Jimma University in Ethiopia. The study was conducted during the first
semester of 2021, in which 100 participants, 50 in the treatment group and 50 in the control
group, were enrolled using non-probability sampling. Quasi-experimental design
(qualitative-supplemented quantitative method) was used to collect data for the study.
Quantitative data were collected through pre- and post-treatment questionnaires to measure
the effect of games on vocabulary learning motivation, engagement, retention and perception.
Quantitative data were also gathered through the vocabulary proficiency test to determine
the comparability of the treatment and the control groups, and through the immediate and
delayed post-tests to identify the difference between both groups in terms of their vocabulary
learning retention. Qualitative data were collected through the treatment group‘s oral
debriefing and reflective journals to identify the perception of the group on game-based
vocabulary learning. Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively (using mean and
standard deviation) and inferentially (using independent samples t-test and ANCOVA) while
the qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. They revealed that games have a
positive effect on students‘ vocabulary learning motivation, engagement, retention and
perception. As a result, it was concluded that game-based vocabulary learning is a feasible
and practical teaching method that puts the communicative language teaching approach into
action. Such a student-centered teaching method helps improve the students‘ communicative
competence in the target language. It is thus recommended that vocabulary games be used in
teaching vocabulary to freshman students. Further studies should also be conducted on the
effects of game-based vocabulary instruction in different contexts.
