Abstract

With the development of economy and technology, English has become the most popular language used in today’s commercial world. The evident importance of learning English brings about the English fever. The ever increasing number of English learners and the high demand of English teaching urged us to discover more effective ways in language teaching, and combining teaching with playing may be one such way. 

Many scholars have done some research on the use of games in language teaching and have found that there are lots of positive effects on students’ learning. Based on the previous researches, in this paper, the author chooses the guessing game from the nine kinds of games classified by Hadfield as the research subject. By conducting the case study in Xixi Middle School, the author hopes to investigate the application of guessing games in English teaching in junior high schools. The analysis of the questionnaire done by 120 grade seven students and the transcription of the interview as well as the collected fifty courseware designs helps to specify the research questions. The efficiency of the application of guessing games in language teaching has been proved again, but some problems in using are also revealed. 

This paper aims to investigate the application of guessing games in English language teaching in junior high school through a case study. By analyzing the effects and the problems, the author hopes to find out the behind reasons and expect the future studies could provide some suggestions to help avoid the similar problems. 

Key words: guessing games; English teaching; application 

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1.-Introduction-1

1.1-Background-1

1.2-Research purpose and significance-1

2.-Literature review-3

2.1-Game-3

2.1.1-Definition of game-3

2.1.2-Classification of games-3

2.1.3-Impact of using games in language teaching-4

2.1.3.1 The positive effects-4

2.1.3.2 The negative effects ..6

2.2-Guessing games-6

2.2.1-Definition and features of guessing games-6

2.2.2-Types of guessing games-7

2.2.3-The use of guessing games-7

2.2.3.1-Steps-8

2.2.3.2-Principles-8

2.2.3.3-Points for attention-9

3.-Research methodology-10

3.1-Research questions-10

3.2-Participants-10

3.3-Instruments-10

3.4-Procedures and data collection-11

4.-Results-13

4.1-Analysis of the first research question-13

4.2-Analysis of the second research question-14

4.3-Analysis of the interview-15

4.3.1-Analysis of question one-15

4.3.2-Analysis of question two-15

4.3.3-Analysis of question three-15

4.3.4-Analysis of question four-15

5.-Discussion-17

6.-Conclusion-18

6.1-Major findings-18

6.2-Limitations and future expectations-18

6.2.1-Limitations-18

6.2.2-Future expectations-19

6.3-Summary-19