The effect of educational digital games used in Turkish course on course success and motivation

In the study, educational digital games created for Turkish lesson and the effect of students on academic achievement and motivation towards the lesson were examined. The study group consisted of 68 fifth grade students attending a secondary school affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in the district of Beyoğlu, Istanbul in the 2018-2019 academic year. One of the two classes which were equivalent in terms of academic success was randomly selected as experimental and control group. The experimental group consisted of 34 students and the control group consisted of 34 students. In the research, quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test control group was used. The students in the control group were taught Turkish lessons with mixed methods for 6 weeks, and the experimental group was supported with educational digital games designed for the Turkish lesson and Turkish lessons were taught according to the game-based learning program. Before and after the application, different data collection tools were used to determine the academic achievement and motivation (affective trait) of the students. These; and the 15-item Turkish lesson motivation scale developed by Erdem and Gözüküçük (2012). The Turkish Academic Achievement Test, which consists of 36 questions, was applied to experimental and control groups as pre-test and post-test and data were collected. SPSS 18 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) statistical program was used in the analysis of the data obtained. Independent t-test was used for inter-group analysis, while t-test (Paired Samples t-test) was used for related samples. As a result of the analysis, there is no statistically significant difference between the pre-test results of the experimental and control groups in terms of academic achievement and it can be said that the groups are equivalent. There was a statistically significant difference between experimental and control group posttest results. This difference was found to be in favor of the experimental group. Findings of the research; The educational digital games used in Turkish course had a positive effect on student achievement. When the pre-test and post-test scores of the motivation scale of the experimental group students for Turkish lesson were compared, it was found that there was a statistically significant difference. When the pre-test and post-test scores of the control group students' motivation scale for Turkish lesson were compared, no statistically significant difference was found between positive and negative. According to the research findings, educational digital games used in Turkish lesson; It has influenced the academic success and motivation of students and contributed to the creation of concrete learning environments by attracting students' interest in the course.