The investigation of authentic environmental based digital educational games on the success of English vocabulary and retention

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of using digital educational games which has been developed as being inspired by the environment of the students under the supervision of the teacher as an additional material on the lessons which taught in classical methods, on the success of vocabulary learning in English lessons, the retention of these words and the students' views about the game and the lessons taught with the game. The sample of the study consists of a total of 98 students from sixth and seventh grade students studying at Esentepe Secondary School, a secondary school affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in Gerede, located in Bolu province. One branch from each sixth and seventh grades were determined as control and experimental groups. Both groups were pre-tested with an achievement test developed by the researcher before the study. The control group was taught English through classical methods. In addition to the classical methods, the experimental group played a digital educational RPG developed by the researcher which was inspired by the environment of the students. At the end of the application, both groups were post-tested with the achievement test. According to the post-test results, a total of 18 students were interviewed which were selected from the successful, intermediate and low-level groups in both experimental groups. One month after the end of the application, the retention test was applied to both groups. According to the post-test results, the success of the experimental group was significantly higher than the control group. Similarly, retention test scores were significantly higher in the experimental group than it was in the control group. As a result of the interviews, the answers of the students were gathered under the titles of having fun and learning during this application. Key Words: Dijital Educational Games, RPG, Teaching English, Vocabulary, Playing Games Under the Supervision of the Teacher, Views about the English Lesson, Success, Retention.