The effect of the game technique on the achievement in teaching English at elementary school level

Department of Primary School EducationAfyonkarahisar Kocatepe UniversityInstitute of Social SciencesJanuary 2007The present study investigates the effect of the game technique compared to thatof the traditional method on the achievement in teaching English at elementary schoollevel. In order to determine the effectiveness, pretest - posttest comparison design ofquasi-experimental method was used. The research was carried out in AfyonkarahisarKazım Özer Elementary School during the fall semester in 2006. 60 subjects, 30 femaleand 30 male, among the fifth grade students were fairly distributed to the control or theexperimental group while taking the variables as follows into account: gender, age, IQlevel, familial socio-economical and cultural status. Then, the units, namely givingdirections, classroom language and shopping, were covered in the experimental groupusing the game technique whereas the traditional method was applied in teaching thecontrol group. At the end of the teaching process, a posttest was administered to thesubjects from both of the groups. The data gathered were then analysed and interpretedvia SPSS.A comparison of the posttest scores of both groups indicates that the mean scoreof the students in the experimental group, on which the game techniqe was applied, washigher than that of the students in the control group. However, no correlation found wassignificant between sex and the achievement level according to the scores. Thesefindings assert that using the game technique in teaching English at elementary schoollevel yields a more effective learning compared to the traditional method, addressingthe course book authors, curriculum developers and the teachers of English.