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Taaltreffers (“Word Score”) is an online serious game intended to increase the vocabulary of pupils in primary schools in the 10-12 age range. The game and the additional materials are designed with the model of Verhallen and Verhallen, in which words are presented in four stages: activating previous knowledge, explaining new words, consolidating new words and testing if the words are part of the daily vocabulary. The game has been piloted at ten schools and the evaluation shows that the vocabulary of the students has increased significantly after playing the game.
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Serious gaming: a serious attempt to increase children’s vocabulary !
Petra Fisser & Joke VoogtIFIP Workshop
Nashville, 6 March 2011
Taaltreffers
Taaltreffers Word Score
Online serious game with supporting educational materials
Intended to increase the vocabulary of pupils in primary schools in grades
4-6 (age 9/10-12) in a playful way
The students encounter about 400 words, all related to soccer
Journalism
Health & safety
Administration
…
For the entire game with the 400 words and the accompanying lessons
teachers and students need about 15 hours
Taaltreffers, the game
“Can you help Twente to win the championship?”
>> Play Word Score
Taaltreffers, the game
Taaltreffers, the game
crowd
Taaltreffers, the game
“Crowd” meansA) Many people togetherB) Separating home and out supportersC) Notification that tickets are sold out
Video or picture related to the word
Words that you already have
Words that have to be found
Taaltreffers, the game
Taaltreffers, the game
Very famous FC Twente player!!
(talking about a meeting that will take place in room 459)
Taaltreffers & FC Twente
Development of Taaltreffers initiated by the Foundation
“FC Twente, Scoring in the Community”
FC Twente is one of the Dutch professional soccer clubs, has its home
in the city of Enschede and became the national soccer champion in
2010
Scoring in the Community: a belief that FC Twente should be engaged
in society, especially in the direct surroundings of the stadium to
enhance solidarity between all “neighbors”
Taaltreffers
Response to vocabulary deficiencies in some of the areas around
the stadium where people with a lower socio-economic status live
FC Twente & University of Twente
The foundation invited the University of Twente to determine the
educational value of the game and to study the implementation
issues that are related to using the game in practice
Serious game
Taaltreffers is a serious game
a clearly identifiable learning outcome
but also essential: the game-element
Research shows that the motivational effect is very important
The extent to which a serious game motivates students to learn is
determined by
attractive context and interface
sufficient interaction and competition
a certain level of control over learning
immediate visual feedback
the “fun factor
Serious game
This implies that students should be able to make their own
decisions in the game and their actions should affect the final results
But even though the motivational part of gaming might be a reason
to introduce serious games in education…
…studies in relation to the learning effects of serous games are
limited!
Design of the game
To ensure an effect, the design of the game should be well-founded
Taaltreffers and the additional materials are designed with an
educational model for learning new vocabulary (Verhallen &
Verhallen, 1994)
activating previous knowledge (in class)
giving meaning to new words (in class)
consolidating the new words (in game)
testing if the new words have become part of the daily
vocabulary (in game)
The game itself is build by a professional company (IJsfontein)
Taaltreffers, a first study
A first pilot of the game for children in grades 4-6
Goal: small-scale test of the use of Taaltreffers in the classroom
4 schools in Twente
4 teachers, 77 students
Interviews with the teachers and observations in the classroom
to study the implementation
Questionnaire to measure the attitude of the children (partly
based on the YCCI, Knezek et al., 1996)
Taaltreffers, a first study
Results pre-pilot:
Teachers positive about Taaltreffers
Knowledge and skills teachers “Verhallen” not sufficient
Children can play the game without help
Children are enthusiastic
Boys especially motivated by the context (FC Twente and soccer)
Girls like the games and finding new words
Taaltreffers, the second study
A larger study of the game for children in grades 4-6
Goal: extended test of the use of Taaltreffers in the classroom and
measuring learning effects
10 schools in Twente, 13 classes, 14 teachers, 263 students
Research questions
What effect does Taaltreffers have on the development of vocabulary
of the students?
What effect does Taaltreffers have on the attitude towards language,
school and computers?
What is the attitude of students towards Taaltreffers?
What are the experiences of the teachers with Taaltreffers?
Taaltreffers, the second study
Instruments
Vocabulary test for 249 students
Focused on the words in Taaltreffers
Designed by language and test experts
Tested by children from the first study
Post-test reliability Cronbach’s α = 0.87
Attitude questionnaire
partly based on Knezek, Miyashita & Sakomoto (1996) and additional
items developed during the pilot study
questions about the attitude toward language, school and computers
post-test reliabilities Cronbach’s α = 0,66; 0,73 and 0,82
Taaltreffers, the second study
Instruments (continued)
Questionnaire focused on the attitude toward Taaltreffers
(post test reliability Cronbach’s α = 0.64)
The vocabulary test and the attitude questionnaires were integrated
into an online questionnaire that the students could take
independently
In addition, participating teachers (n = 14) were interviewed about
their views on and experiences with Taaltreffers
Taaltreffers, the second study
Results pilot: the students
Paired t-test to analyze the differences between pre- and post test
the vocabulary of the students has increased!
difference between the pre-and post-test is significant
(F=16,355; df=248; p=0.0001)
No difference between boys and girls
M SD Effect size
Pre-test 26.63 7,6 0.77
Post test 32.37 7,4
Taaltreffers, the second study
In one of the schools it was possible to apply a quasi-experimental
design to determine the impact of Taaltreffers on student vocabulary
Two groups of grade 5 students: one group had used Taaltreffers
(experimental group) and the other group not (control group)
Covariance analysis with post test scores as dependent variable and
group (experimental vs control) as independent variable, and the
pre-test scores as a covariate showed a significant difference
(F (2, 40) = 14. 290, p < .05, η2 = 0.49)
N gain SD Effect size
Control group 20 3.04 4.756 0.45
Experimental group 22 5.30 5.282
Taaltreffers, the second study
Results pilot: the students
No significant differences between the attitudes of students in
pre and post-test scores on language, school and the computer
as a learning tool
Results from a four-point Likert scale show that students agreed
that it was fun to use Taaltreffers for learning vocabulary
(M = 3.14, SD = 0.44).
Taaltreffers, the second study
Results pilot: the teachers
Game & additional materials: level and usability good
Support from the project team good
Sometimes bandwidth lacking
Taaltreffers connects with the educational vision
Learning words in a context
Connecting with the perception of children
Learning by playing
More attention to vocabulary
Independent studying
Taaltreffers, the second study
Results pilot: the teachers
Lessons: 25 minutes/week, working in the game: 35 minutes/week
Opinions about playing at home
Pro: involvement parents
Con: students differ too much in progress;
educational materials (lesson plans) do not fit anymore
The game fits in other language-related activities, but is still an addition
to existing methods, not a replacement
(words only related to soccer)
Wish: the words of Taaltreffers should be more related to the official
language methods and the national language test
First conclusions
Taaltreffers has a positive effect on the vocabulary of the students
Students and the teachers are enthusiastic about the game
It is not only fun to work with, but it also fits the educational
language goals
But.. because the game is very attractive to play it seems that some
teachers pass over the first two stages and go directly with their
students to the game
Expectation: with a more elaborated training for the teachers on the
model of Verhallen and Verhallen (1994) an even better results for
the students
Taaltreffers, a continuing story
Based on the results: decision to elaborate and improve Taaltreffers
elaborating the number of words in the game
(from 400 words in total to 1800 words ->
600 words in 10 different themes per grade level)
implementing the game at 50 different schools in
the region of FC Twente
find four other Dutch professional soccer clubs who are willing to
adopt the project
Involvement of parents
Taaltreffers, a continuing story
To ensure a success in the next version of Taaltreffers
the teachers should get a more elaborated training on the
instructional model of Verhallen and Verhallen (1994)
the teachers should also be able to monitor the progress of their
students better in order to see which students need extra
attention
The schools that were involved in the first version of Taaltreffers are
eager to be involved again in the next version
Taaltreffers, a continuing story
The schools indicated that they would be even more interested if the
game was more related to the language methods (and words) that
they are using at the schools
This request is taken very seriously and added to the requirement
list of Taaltreffers 2: for an educational innovation to be successful, it
should meet the demands of the end user!
Taaltreffers, a continuing research story
Learning outcomes (outcomes)
Teacher diagnostic support (log files)
Involvement of parents
The community function of soccer clubs
Taaltreffers, more information?
Please contact us!
Petra Fisser, [email protected]
Joke Voogt, [email protected]
