Using Games to Promote Students’ Motivation towards Learning English

Abstract

This study aims to find out the role of games in promoting students’

attitudes towards learning English from the teachers’ perspective. The

researchers used a 30-item questionnaire which was given to 20 male and

female UNARWA teachers who teach English for the Palestinian young

children aged 6-10 years old (grades 1-4) in the schools of Jenin Refugee

Camp, Ya’bad, Araba, and Rommana where the whole authority belongs to

United Nations Educational, Relief and Work Agency (UNERWA) during the

second semester of the academic year 2010-2011.

The researchers used means, t- test and one way ANOVA to analyze

the collected data. The researchers found out that most of the teachers of

English in the above-mentioned schools agree that games have influence

on the students’ attitudes towards learning English and that the use of them

in the class is not just for fun but it also serves many educational purposes

such as creative thinking, critical thinking, problem solving, role playing and

collaborative work among others.

In the light of these findings, the researchers suggested using games as

energizers and short warm-up activities not only to sustain attractiveness to

learning, but also to bring real life to learning