183

Mejora de la capacidad de expresión oral de L2 para jóvenes aprendices a través de juegos
basados en contenido

Mejora de la capacidad de expresión oral de L2 para
jóvenes aprendices a través de juegos basados en

contenido
Enhancing L2 Young Learners’ Speaking Skill through

Content-Based Games
Melhoria da habilidade de falar L2 para jovens alunos por

meio de jogos baseados em conteúdo
Cristina Alexandra Juca Castro

Universidad de Cuenca
E-mail: cristhina.juca@ucacue.edu.ec

Susana Ximena Orellana Mora
Universidad de Cuenca

E-mail: ximena.orellanam@ucuenca.edu.ec

Resumen

El presente proyecto de investigación estuvo enfocado en responder
las siguientes preguntas: (1) ¿En qué grado el uso de juegos basados
en contenido dentro de la clase de inglés ayuda a los estudiantes de
sexto grado de la Unidad Educativa Particular “Rosa de Jesús Cordero”
(Catalinas) a mejorar su destreza de expresión oral de una segunda lengua?
(2) ¿Qué subdestreza tendría el mayor impacto al desarrollar la destreza
de expresión oral de un contenido de clase de una segunda lengua? Los
participantes del estudio fueron sesenta y ocho estudiantes divididos
en dos grupos de treinta y cuatro estudiantes cada uno al comienzo del
año escolar. Los estudiantes de cada grupo no tenían un nivel de inglés
homogéneo. Se aplicó la estrategia de aprendizaje de juegos basada en
el contenido dentro del aula para motivar a los estudiantes a mejorar

Revista Pucara, N.º 31 (183-215), 2020

184

su destreza de expresión oral en inglés. Se aplicaron instrumentos de
prueba previa y posterior en el proyecto tanto al grupo de intervención
como al grupo de control. Además, se planificaron y desarrollaron 10
juegos conectados con el contenido de planificación curricular durante la
participación. El enfoque cuantitativo se desarrolló en esta investigación.
Los resultados revelaron que la estrategia de aprendizaje de contenidos
a través de juegos tuvo un impacto significativo en los estudiantes del
grupo de tratamiento en la subdestreza mensaje.

Palabras clave: Enfoque cuantitativo, juegos basados en contenido,
destreza de expresión oral, subdestreza.

Abstract

This research project was focused on answering the following questions:
(1) To what degree does the use of content-based games inside the
English class help sixth-grade students from Unidad Educativa Particular
“Rosa de Jesús Cordero” (Catalinas) to enhance their L2 speaking skills?
(2) Which subskill would have the greatest impact by developing oral
communication in an L2 class content? There were sixty-eight students
as participants, who were divided into two groups of thirty-four students
each at the beginning of the school year. The students of each group
did not have a homogenous English level. Content-based games learning
strategy was applied inside the classroom to encourage the students to
improve their L2 speaking skills. A pre test and post test were applied to
the treatment and the control group to measure the participants’ speaking
skills before and after the intervention. Additionally, ten games were
planned and applied based on the curriculum content. The quantitative
approach was developed in this research. Findings revealed that the use
of content-based games learning strategies had a significant impact on
the students on the subskill message for the treatment group.

Keywords: Quantitative approach, Content-based games, speaking skill,
subskill.

185

Mejora de la capacidad de expresión oral de L2 para jóvenes aprendices a través de juegos
basados en contenido

Resumo

Este projeto de pesquisa teve como objetivo responder às seguintes
questões: (1) Em que medida o uso de jogos baseados em conteúdo na aula
de Inglês auxilia alunos da sexta série da Unidade de Ensino Particular
“Rosa de Jesús Cordero “(Catalinas) para melhorar suas habilidades
de conversação em uma segunda língua? (2) Qual subcapacidade teria
o maior impacto no desenvolvimento das habilidades de expressão
oral de um conteúdo de aula de segundo idioma? Os participantes do
estudo foram sessenta e oito alunos divididos em dois grupos de trinta e
quatro alunos cada no início do ano letivo. Os alunos de cada grupo não
possuíam um nível homogêneo de inglês. A estratégia de aprendizagem
baseada em conteúdo foi aplicada em sala de aula para motivar os alunos
a melhorar suas habilidades de fala em inglês. Os instrumentos pré e pós-
teste foram aplicados no projeto tanto para o grupo intervenção quanto
para o grupo controle. Além disso, 10 jogos vinculados ao conteúdo do
planejamento curricular foram planejados e desenvolvidos durante a
participação. A abordagem quantitativa foi desenvolvida nesta pesquisa.
Os resultados revelaram que a estratégia de aprendizagem do conteúdo
por meio de jogos teve impacto significativo nos alunos do grupo de
tratamento na subcapacidade de mensagem.

Palavras-chave: Abordagem quantitativa, Jogos baseados em conteúdo,
habilidades de expressão oral, subcapacidade.

Recibido: 22/09/2020 Aceptado: 04/11/2020

Revista Pucara, N.º 31 (183-215), 2020

186

1. Introduction

“Language learning is a hard work. Effort is required at every moment
and must be maintained over a long period of time” (Moayad, 2011, p.
3). English is considered in Ecuador one of the subjects that has to be
improved in the different Educational Institutions. In Ecuador, public
institutions are economically managed by the government. On the other
hand, private institutions have their own economic income. According
to the Ministry of Education (2019), students from different grades must
have a specific English level. The Ministry of Education’s aim is to
give the Educational Institutions guidelines which help authorities from
the different establishments have a clear idea of the English objectives
that need to be achieved in Ecuador. The English levels that are needed
achieved are based on the Common European Framework (CEF) in which
different levels are presented: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, and C2. The Natural
Approach is one of the branches that is taken into account in our context
because the Ministry of Education wants the learners to know how to
interact with others in our social context in a natural way (Ministerio
de Educación del Ecuador, 2019). English as a second language is one
of the most important subjects at Catalinas Elementary School which
is a private institution. The school provides students the opportunity to
advance their English skills by having ten class hours per week, in this
way, teachers are required to use their time to help students improve
their English level by planning activities according to their age and level.
However, inside a class, there is a group of students that their English
level is lower, and another group that has a good English level and they
like to participate all the time.

This research aims to analyze the use of content-based games in the
English class to improve the students’ speaking skills since they need
to be more motivated to produce the target language. Performing an
L2 language could be difficult if the effort is not involved. Since that
“…the person who has not good communication skills will suffer badly
in this era of competition and comparison to the person who has good

187

Mejora de la capacidad de expresión oral de L2 para jóvenes aprendices a través de juegos
basados en contenido

communication skills…” (Khan & Ali, 2010, p.2). According to Rijal and
Arifah (2017), the speaking ability is a part of the productive skills which
is “…more complicated because the teacher must use the suitable strategy
to make the class very effective” (p.1). Also, Urrutia and Vega (2010)
state that students should be motivated to practice L2 oral communication
inside classrooms to demonstrate their ability when they need to do it.
Motivation is a significant aspect when a person learns a new language,
so Dornyei (2001) argues that “…motivation is related to one of the most
basic aspects of the human mind, and it has a very important role in
determining success or failure in any learning situation” (p.11). Teachers
are the key to the learning process because they are in charge of students
who have the necessity of expressing their feelings or thoughts, but who
do not have enough confidence (Kasker, 2009). One of the problems that
students face in producing speaking skills is because “…they are worried
about making mistakes, receiving criticism or losing face in front of the
rest of the class” (Fitri & Gurning, 2013, p.2). In this way, teachers have
to assume an important part in the teaching-learning process, since the
students’ motivation by learning a new language must be reflected in the
effort that teachers apply to the process. The motivation that the students
acquire would depend on the teachers’ achievement by applying new
strategies that help them learn and produce a new target language. For
these reasons, the implementation of content-based games activities
inside an EFL classroom helps students and teachers keep motivating
in the teaching-learning process in which Moayad (2011) states that
“…games motivate learners, promote communicative competence and
generate fluency and may have a significant role in improving a second
language acquisition” (p. 4).

2. Theoretical Framework

This study is built on the theory of Constructivism Approach, Active
Learning Approach, The Natural Approach, and the Meaningful Learning
Theory. They support the development of this study. Constructivism
learning is taken into account as a primary theory. Bada (2015) states that

Revista Pucara, N.º 31 (183-215), 2020

188

this is an approach to teaching and learning based on the foundation that
cognition (learning) is the consequence of psychological construction.
Two notions are focused on this approach. The first one explains how
students learn new information by linking their existing knowledge, and
another notion highlights how students build up their learning through
their experiences. So, the use of content-based games in a classroom can
help the students connect the new information to the previous learning,
and in this way, this knowledge could be more significant because the
students learn through their experiences, and they could become active
learners. One of the benefits of constructivism is that kids get the
learning faster and appreciate learning when they work dynamically.
Additionally, Constructivism Approach pays attention to the students’
experience, and how they are constructing their knowledge. For instance,
if a person finds something new, he/she has to settle it with his/her earlier
learning. It means that he/she could switch what he/she supposes because
a person is an active designer of his/her learning. Besides, teachers have
to make sure that students understand the previous information and can
connect to the new one and build up new learning (Bada, 2015).

Roehl et al. (2013) manifest that teachers have the challenge to change
the way how the students have to learn. It means that teachers are in
charge of creating new strategies, and they do not have to focus on
traditional teaching methods like memorizing new information. The idea
is that learners have to be enrolled in the new learning through their
experiences actively. The Active Learning method plays an important
role in the teaching-learning process because students are the core of the
classroom as active learners. Besides, Active Learning emphasis students’
participation in which they are not only listeners, for this reason, it is
proposed activities that help learners to have a dynamic role in education
such as: “…(a) individual activities, (b) paired activities, (c) informal
small groups, and (d) cooperative student projects…” (Roehl et al., 2013,
p.45), and they could have the opportunity to interact with other students.
Like this, students have the advantage to get knowledge by working
in different manners. According to the social interaction that learners

189

Mejora de la capacidad de expresión oral de L2 para jóvenes aprendices a través de juegos
basados en contenido

need to have in the learning process, Smolucha (1989) in his research
states that “…Vygotsky proposed a developmental theory of creativity in
which creative imagination develops from children’s play activities into
a higher mental function that can be consciously regulated through inner
speech” (p. 4). Also, Miller (2003) establishes that Vygotsky said that
“…a child’s development depends on the interaction between a child’s
maturation and a system of symbolic tools and activities that the child
appropriates from his or her sociocultural environment” (p. 13). It means
that the growth of human cognitive and higher mental meanings come
from social relations and through the contribution of communal events
derives cognitive and outgoing meanings.

Taking into consideration that students should be the center of a learning
process instead of teachers, the Natural Approach (NA) is quite important
in the way how this research project is developed. Ellidokuzoğlu (2014)
states in his project that “…in NA the aim is to make students rediscover
their innate capacity to acquire a language…” (p. 1). Second language
acquisition is installed in social activities that arise as personal interaction
with people, things, and events (Aimin, 2013). Students could achieve
learning in different manners and situations. Krashen and Terrel (1995)
established Five Hypotheses that are taken into consideration in the
educational system; however, three of them are part of this research
project. Learning-Acquisition Hypothesis is the first one in which
learning is focused on the structure of a language and acquisition is
related to the message (meaning) of the new language. Furthermore, the
author claims that when a person interacts with a native speaker, he/she
is worried about the message and the features of his/her language; for
instance, movements and signs that define the feature of the meaning
(Abukhattala, 2012). The use of content-based games is focused on the
acquisition because the strategy pretends to help students improve their
learning English-speaking skills by highlighting the message. The Input
Hypothesis is the fourth one in Krashen’s theory. This hypothesis is
the most important because this hypothesis states that students get the
new language by understanding the message little by little. Teachers

Revista Pucara, N.º 31 (183-215), 2020

190

give the students a moment of silence that is called a “silent period” in
which students could feel and understand that the new learning is giving
results. Then, the next stage produced is “speech emergence”. Krashen
and Terrel (1995) stated that the stage “speech emergence” is developed
when learners acquire new information little by making mistakes at the
beginning of the learning process. As an advantage of this stage, the
students could continue producing the learning in a better way. So, the
use of content-based games in the teaching-learning process lets learners
produce the target language word by word and then building up short
phrases according to students’ age, level, and school content. The
Affective Filter Hypothesis is the fifth hypothesis that Krashen proposed
in the educational system. Du (2009) states that “Language learning is
a process that involves objective and affective factors” (p.1). People
who have a low affective filter will permit extra input into their language
achievement. Affective Filter was incorporated by Krashen as one of
his five input hypotheses. There are four affective factors: motivation,
attitude, anxiety, and self-confidence that affect learners when they are
acquiring new information. These factors are essential when teachers
want students to produce a new learning because some students do not
have good L2 development due to their lack of motivation to improve it.

Finally, this research project is focused on the way how the students
learn something new by connecting their pre-existing knowledge as well.
Meaningful Learning Theory highlights the importance of the students
as the center of the teaching-learning process in which teachers must
be acted as facilitators in the educational system. Ballester (2014) in
his research project states that if students have developed appropriate
learning before, they could continue learning without any difficulty.
Ausubel is the precursor of the Meaningful Learning Theory in which he
explained how to put the theory into practice to make the learning more
significant. According to some studies, the use of content-based games
as a teaching-learning strategy inside the classroom creates a dynamic
environment where students could feel motivated by learning the target
language and connect the new information. This research project was

191

Mejora de la capacidad de expresión oral de L2 para jóvenes aprendices a través de juegos
basados en contenido

focused on one of the principles of The Meaningful Learning Theory,
“Motivation”. “Motivation helps to improve classroom environment
and makes learners interested in their tasks and creativity strengthens
imagination and intelligence” (Ballester, 2014, p. 2).

3. Literature review

Based on the importance of implementing active and interactive oral
activities as part of the English class, there have been some investigations
about the improvements of the speaking skills. To understand the
students’ speaking learning process, Wang (2014) stated that speaking
skills could be influenced by three factors “…cognitive, linguistic and
affective factors” (p.1). He argued that the Cognitive factor has been
developed in different ways in which people could produce a new
language. Conceptualization has been applied when people tried to
think about how to use the correct information to express their ideas.
Formulation has been required when people wanted to express their
ideas by using grammatical structures correctly, and articulation has
been applied when people needed to produce the language by the use
of their organs. Linguistic factors have been really important when
people wanted to communicate by using pronunciation, grammar, and
vocabulary subskills. The ability to acquire speaking skills has depended
on Affective factors in which anxiety and restriction have had a great
impact on developing L2 speaking skills because people felt anxiety
when they did not domain the target language and could not express their
ideas, and also, they felt that it was better to keep silent instead of using
the target language in a wrong way. Dewi et al. (2017) stated that the
factors “…fear of making mistakes and fear of being laughed by their
friends…” (p.4) could prevent L2 students to have real communication.
These factors and the lack of vocabulary made L2 young learners not have
enough confidence to develop the mentioned skill, so this uncomfortable
feeling made that the classes turned into a boring environment without
any interest. For that reason, Wang’s (2014) research project paid
attention to the speaking skills stages which were four: “Pre-speaking;

Revista Pucara, N.º 31 (183-215), 2020

192

while-speaking; post-speaking; and extension practice” (p. 4-6). It was
stated that each speaking stage has been followed by the learning factors
which were mentioned before. In his research project, he identified that
the speaking process helped students reduce their anxiety level and
enhance their ability in speaking. It has been recommended to continue
using the four speaking skills steps because they have been very useful
when a person has acquired a new language.

It was important to take into consideration that the practicing of the four
L2 skills have been quite significant when a person has had to gain the
target language, however, the achievement of L2 listening and speaking
skills has been very valuable because people have had to interact all the
time in this era of communication. People who have not acquired good
L2 speaking skills would suffer because they have lived in an age of
competition. It has been recommended to foster grammar, vocabulary,
and pronunciation through the use of oral dynamic activities to keep
the students motivated as well (Arias et al., 2015; Khan & Ali, 2010).
Toro et al. (2018) manifested that in this new era, there have been some
teachers that have worked on traditional methods such as “task-based
activities” which have not been part of the students’ age and points of
view. For example, in Ecuador, there was a lack of useful strategies to
enroll the students to develop speaking skills. Based on this problem,
the Ministry of Education of Ecuador has designed a Curriculum where
the Communicative Approach has been the core of the principles to
acquire the target language, and also, it has been suggested the practicing
of different activities, strategies, and material which would offer the
learners more opportunities to apply the new communicative language.
According to Khan and Ali (2010); Arias et al. (2015); Buitrago and
Ayala (2008), there have been some educational methods that have
been recommended to use in an L2 lesson class, so one of the methods
that has been suggested to apply in classrooms was “Motivation”. They
manifested that “…students should be given motivation, encouragement,
some psychological training, reassurance, and counseling to remove
their shyness...” (Khan & Ali, 2010, p.4). Another method that has

193

Mejora de la capacidad de expresión oral de L2 para jóvenes aprendices a través de juegos
basados en contenido

been suggested to maintain the students motivated was to use the
target language in the classroom all the time and the physical language
communication, and like this, the students could understand better the
target language, as they could show the results in their research project
process. They have recommended using different instruments such as
electronic dictionaries, projectors, online self-tests, etc. to encourage
learners to improve different English skills. Another method to foster
speaking skills has been based on applying oral educational events such
as cultural activities that were related to the Spanish projects. Likewise,
they have suggested incorporating activities that helped students work
cooperatively by creating strategies according to the students’ abilities
in which the learners could not think or feel that the learning activities
were a competition.

The implementation of educational games inside the classroom has been
effective in the L2 learning process as an option to create an atmosphere
to talk, and in this way, the students could use the target language in a
freeway without thinking all the time about their mistakes. Buitrago and
Ayala (2008) indicated that the use of games has been “the most accepted
strategy by learners; they are always requesting to play” (p.5). The authors
named two kinds of games: linguistic and communicative in which
communicative games were considered more important by the named
researchers, so they were used to exchange information. An example of
communicative games was “…arranging games, guessing games, and
matching games” (Wang et al., 2011, p.3). Buitrago and Ayala (2008);
Wang et al. (2011); Yolageldili and Arikan (2011) stated that the use of
active games inside the classroom had a crucial impact on L2 learners
because these kinds of activities motivated the students to construct their
learning without stressed or frustration. In the same way, they stated that
games had a real and positive impact on second language acquisition, and
they enabled L2 knowledge particularly for young learners. Besides, the
authors argued that educational games needed a purpose, for this reason,
teachers had to think about the kind of game they had to apply in the
classroom and the correct time to introduce the game.

Revista Pucara, N.º 31 (183-215), 2020

194

Continuing with the analysis of using games inside classrooms, Moayad
(2011); Gozcu and Caganaga (2016); Dewi et al. (2017) agreed that the
use of games produced many improvements in students’ learning process.
Applying communicative games inside an L2 classroom, the students
could be very optimistic, and the class could be interesting. Gozcu and
Caganaga (2016) maintained that students could feel free and motivated,
and the most important reason was that L2 students could enhance their
communicative learning through communicative games. Moayad (2011)
suggested the use of games in primary levels to encourage the students
to use the new language more effectively. Twister was one of the games
that was proposed to use to help students improve their speaking skills
and reduce students’ anxiety and stress. It has been recommended that
in future research, teachers could use games in the L2 teaching-learning
process since the games have helped the students learn the target language
in a good environment as long as the games had an educational aim.

In conclusion, the use of traditional methods and few oral dynamic
activities which were only practiced to promote Grammar improvements
inside an L2 class in some Public Institution in Cuenca-Ecuador (Calle
et al., 2012) have led to carry out this research project that its aim was
to help the students improve their speaking skills through content-based
games inside a classroom. The content-based games benefited the learners
to consolidate their learning. For this reason, the students of the sixth
level from Catalinas learned English as a second language through some
content-based games which were related to the English class content.
The activities were developed at the beginning, middle, or the end of a
class, without losing control of the main purpose of the lesson. According
to the problem that was the lack of oral communication performance by
using English as an L2, and the purpose which was focused on helping
students enhance their speaking skills by the use of active and interactive
activities such as content-based games, this quasi-experimental project
required to answer the following questions: In what degree does the use
of content-based games inside the English class help sixth-grade students
from Unidad Educativa Particular “Rosa de Jesús Cordero” (Catalinas) to

195

Mejora de la capacidad de expresión oral de L2 para jóvenes aprendices a través de juegos
basados en contenido

enhance their L2 speaking skills? Which subskill would have the greatest
impact by developing oral communication in an L2 class content?

4. Objectives

4.1. General objective.

To analyze the use of content-based games in the English class to improve
the students’ speaking skills.

4.2. Specific objectives

To identify the most useful subskill to develop the speaking skill.

To establish the importance of using content-based games when
developing students’ speaking skills.

To compare the students’ oral production before and after the research
project intervention.

5. Method and design

The quantitative approach – a cross-sectional study was developed in this
research because the speaking skills-subskills level was measured before
and after the intervention, and the project was carried out a semester,
so the results were compared once when the project had concluded.
The Convenient sampling method was carried out to the selection of
the students in each class before starting the school year. The design of
the research was quasi-experimental since there were two groups, the
treatment group, and the control group.

The L2 young learners’ speaking skill was recorded before (pre test) and
after (post test) the intervention to analyze it later. The pre test was part
of the diagnostic test at the beginning of the academic year, and as the

Revista Pucara, N.º 31 (183-215), 2020

196

Unit 3 evaluation at the end of the research project. Students had to
talk about personal information, and they had to include events in the
past. They did not have a limit of time to speak, so they could speak in a
free way without paying attention to the time and mistakes. The research
supervisor analyzed the information that was recorded, and the students’
English-speaking level mean was compared at the beginning and at the
end of the project. The research project intervention lasted three-unit
classes (36 hours).

Ten content-based games were chosen to help students of the treatment
group improve their communicative learning. Each game was planned
as part of the class content, for this reason, each game was repeated
according to the necessities of the content. At the beginning of the class,
the students paid attention to the skill, objective, and instructions of the
class, and the game was part of the lesson plan at the beginning or at the
end of the class.

5.1. Games applied during the intervention

5.1.1. Taboo

According to Bowo (2014), Taboo enables significant teaching and
learning and generates exciting and pleasurable activities. In the research
project, this game was managed in the following way: The teacher
divided the class into two big groups and projected the class a picture of
the vocabulary word to each student who was part of each group made a
description of the picture which represented a vocabulary word that was
studied first. Each group had one minute to guess the vocabulary word.
The group who had more guessing words won the competence. This
game was carried out at the beginning of the class as a warm-up activity
that helped students to be refreshed to continue the lesson, and at the
end of the class as a consolidation step. This game required vocabulary
pictures or slides of the known words.

197

Mejora de la capacidad de expresión oral de L2 para jóvenes aprendices a través de juegos
basados en contenido

5.1.2. Find your partner

Find your partner was used inside the class to practice the speaking skill
and improve the students’ understanding. The teacher prepared two sets
of pieces of paper in which were written the vocabulary word. There were
two pieces of paper with the same word. Each student received a piece
of paper with a written vocabulary word. The purpose of this activity
was that each student had to find her partner by saying the definition of
the word or describing the word that she got. The student who would
have found her partner first had to say stop. The teacher supervised the
task by walking around the classroom to motivate each student to use
the L2. This game required 34 pieces of paper with different vocabulary
words, and 34 pictures of the different vocabulary words.

5.1.3. Passing the ball

Passing the ball was developed in class to help students understand
new grammar content. The teacher divided the class into two teams.
After this, the teacher showed the students two small balls of a different
color (yellow-red). She explained to the students that the yellow ball
was for positive sentences and the red ball was for negative sentences.
The students sat down on the floor of the classroom and listened to
music when the music stopped, the students who had the ball of different
colors had to say the sentence according to the instruction. After this,
each group had to decide if the sentence was correct or incorrect. At the
end, the group who had more correct sentences had a prize. This game
required two balls of a different color, a computer, and music.

5.1.4. Airline help desk-miming

Airline help desk – miming was used in class to help students think
about solutions. This game emphasizes the use of the modal “should-
shouldn´t”. The teacher divided the class into five groups in which each
group had to select one student. This student needed to get a piece of

Revista Pucara, N.º 31 (183-215), 2020

198

paper in which was drawn a problem and she had to mime it. Her group
guessed the problem and gave solutions to it. The group that said more
solutions to the problem won. This game required different pieces of
paper.

5.1.5. Tic Tac Toe

Honarmand et al. (2015) say that “… tic-tac-toe is a classic and simple
game that can make learning English fun. Make a board that contains
nine squares” (p. 32). In this game, the teacher divided the class into
two teams. Each team selected a person who had to finish a sentence
following the teacher´s instruction. If the sentence was correct, she had
to mark with an X-0 a square in which there were numbers from 1 to 9.
The group that made a vertical, horizontal, or diagonal line first won the
game. This game required a board and any color board marker and the
halves of some sentences.

5.1.6. Bang Bang

In this game, the teacher divided the class into two teams. Each team
had to choose a student who came in front of the class and thought of
a simple past verb. The student of another team had to say a positive or
negative simple past sentence by using the given verb. If the sentence
was incorrect, the student who said the verb had to say the phrase “Bang
bang” to the student who said the sentence. Each group needed to take
turns. The group that has more correct sentences wins the game. This
game required a list of regular and irregular verbs which had to be
practiced before the game.

5.1.7. Excuses Excuses Board

In this board game, the students practiced the simple past tense by using
regular and irregular verbs. The teacher divided the class into seven
small groups. Each student in the group had a piece that represented her.

199

Mejora de la capacidad de expresión oral de L2 para jóvenes aprendices a través de juegos
basados en contenido

Each participant threw the dice and had to move her piece according to
the number in the dice. Some squares had the phrase “Sorry, I´m late”,
when a student arrived at this square had to say her justification by using
simple past tense positive or negative sentences. The group decided if
the sentence was correct or incorrect. The first student who finished the
game of each group won a prize. This game required 7 dices, 7 game
worksheets, and 7 different small pieces.

5.1.8. Restart

In this game, the teacher divided the class into 7 small groups. The
students had to use the past simple affirmative sentences and picture cards
to talk about what they did yesterday. Each group had a set of picture
cards, and they had to shuffle and distribute the cards equally. Each
student had to take one card and say what she did yesterday. The game
finished when one student laid down all her cards. If one student had the
restart card, she needed to change her action in the picture card and say
an affirmative sentence again. This game helped to practice simple past
tense. This game required a set of 20 picture cards.

5.1.9. Oh, Really?

In this game, the students practiced simple past tense by using time
expressions and information questions. The teacher divided the class
into 7 small groups. She gave them a set of picture cards. They had
to shuffle the cards and placed them down in a heap on the table. One
student went first by picking up the top picture card from the heap,
and she asked the student on the right an information question. The
student looked at the time expression and made a believable past simple
sentence using a time expression. The group had to decide if she said
the truth. The student who finished with all her time expressions won the
game. This game required a set of 20 picture cards and a set of 10-time
expressions.

Revista Pucara, N.º 31 (183-215), 2020

200

5.1.10. In the past

In this game, the students practiced past simple tense affirmative and
negative sentences. The teacher divided the class into 7 small groups.
Each group received a set of time expressions cards and some verb
cards. The time expressions were placed face down, and the verb cards
were given to each student in the group the same number of cards. The
students took turns to get one card from the pile and make a true past
simple affirmative and negative sentence. She had to use one of the verbs
on her cards and the time expression. She had to construct sentences,
and the group decided if the sentence was grammatically correct or
incorrect. The student who finished all her verb cards won the game.
This game required a set of 10-time expressions. The purpose of applying
these games was to reinforce the students’ L2 learning. These content-
based games were developed as a warm-up activity, practice activity, or
consolidation activity.

A speaking rubric and an audio record were the instruments applied in the
research intervention project. There were five subskills in the speaking
rubric “pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary, grammar and message”.
Each subskill was graded over 2 points. There were four parameters to
be evaluated in each subskill (Excellent 2/2, Good 1.5/2, Fair 1/2and
Poor 0.5/2).

Differing from the students who belonged to the control group received
different activities related to the same topics. Creswell (2014) says
that there must be equality in both groups, treatment and control group.
He suggests that the control group should have the same benefits as
the treatment group. The control group activities were based on extra
interactive worksheets, videos, songs, speaking activities from the book
such as dialogues in pairs, group work to practice reading and writing,
listening skills, and vocabulary games in groups. These activities helped
the control group improve their different English skills.

201

Mejora de la capacidad de expresión oral de L2 para jóvenes aprendices a través de juegos
basados en contenido

5.2. Context and participants

The school that was part of this research project was “Rosa de Jesús
Cordero-Catalinas”. It is a big private institution where there are only girls
who have a high economic status. The Institution is located in Ricaurte-
Cuenca. The participants were two groups of thirty-four students in each
group. They were girls who were between nine and ten years old from
the sixth-grade of middle school who were not chosen randomly because
the Administrative Department Staff was in charge of separating these
two groups at the beginning of the year. These two groups were not
homogeneous in English language proficiency. According to the CEFR
and the International Baccalaureate program, the English level that these
groups of students might achieve is an A2.1 as their exit profile. Most
of the sixth graders’ students have been studying in the institution since
they were in kindergarten where they started receiving English classes.
The English level that each student has to achieve is according to the
CEFR guidelines. It is important to manifest that the students who are
in kindergarten take English classes as an adaptation process to start
elementary school. The students who start the second-grade have to
achieve an A1 English level when they finish the fourth-grade, and the
students who start the fifth-grade have to get an A2 English Level when
they finish the seventh-grade as the exit profile.

According to the psychologists from the School Counseling of the
institution, there were not students with a physical disability or a strong
intellectual disability; however, there was the presence of a student who
was diagnosed with special needs (lack of attention). For this student,
the teaching-learning process guidance and evaluation were more
personalized. The Exclusion Criteria that were taken into account to start
the project were if the students did not have their parents’ authorization
to develop different projects inside the institution, and in the case, if the
students were not enrolled in the school year since the beginning of the
project. The Inclusion Criteria that were taken into consideration were
if the students were between 9 and 10 years old if they were students of

Revista Pucara, N.º 31 (183-215), 2020

202

the sixth-grade level of the Institution, and if their parents had signed the
Consent Letter at the beginning of the school year.

6. Analysis of Data

The results are expressed by measures of central tendency and dispersion.
The data normality test for samples of more than 30 Kolmogorov
Smirnov data revealed that the behavior was not normal (p <0.05), so it
was decided to apply nonparametric tests: the nonparametric comparison
test of U-Mann Whitney groups and the test for related samples (before
and after) of Wilcoxon. Besides, the correlation coefficient r of Pearson
was used to establish a correspondence between qualification criteria.
Data processing was carried out in the statistical program SPSS 25, and
the edition of tables and graphs in Excel 2016. For a better understanding,
it was used histogram, box and whisker diagrams, tables, and stacked
column charts. The decisions were made with a significance of 5% (p
<0.05).

6.1. Results

The total performance of the qualified oral expression in the pre test is 10
points which has oscillations between 1 and 7.5 with a mean of 5.0 (SD
= 1.4); 47.1% (n = 32). It does not reach the required learning, 41.2% (n
= 28) is closed to reaching and the remaining 11.8% (n = 8) reaches it.

203

Mejora de la capacidad de expresión oral de L2 para jóvenes aprendices a través de juegos
basados en contenido

Figure 1. shows that the ratings are concentrated between 4 and 6 points which
implies a mean performance of this skill.

The subskills scored over 2 points revealed oscillations between 0 and
2. Figure 2 shows that the best performance is grammar with a mean of
1.12 (SD = 0.37) which is followed by pronunciation with a mean of 1.07
(SD = 0.40). On the other hand, the lowest performance is vocabulary
( = 0.85, SD = 0.37). The message subskill is constant in almost all
participants with a score of 1.

Revista Pucara, N.º 31 (183-215), 2020

204

Figure 2. Speaking subskill. Box and mustache diagrams show the distribution of
data; the horizontal lines reflect the values: minimum, maximum, and quartiles;
external points reflect outliers.

Table 1 shows the results of the pre and post test of the two working
groups. It can be seen that grammar is the best performance in the pre test
and message in the post test. Significant changes are evidenced in both
groups (p <0.05).
Table 1.
Efficacy of methodologies in control group (pre-post test)
Control group Intervention group
Subskills Pre test Post test p Pre test Post test p M SD M SD M SD M SD
Pronunciation 0,985 0,379 1,353 0,262 0,000* 1,162 0,403 1,441 0,239 0,000*
Fluency 0,926 0,305 1,353 0,262 0,000* 1,103 0,365 1,662 0,363 0,000*
Vocabulary 0,735 0,331 1,338 0,319 0,000* 0,971 0,368 1,559 0,385 0,000*
Gramar 1,015 0,313 1,382 0,303 0,000* 1,221 0,393 1,662 0,267 0,000*
Message 0,985 0,23 1,485 0,337 0,000* 1,088 0,26 1,971 0,119 0,000*
Grade 4,500 1,108 6,882 1,052 0,000* 5,544 1,411 8,279 1,095 0,000*

Note: *Significative difference (p<0.05)

205

Mejora de la capacidad de expresión oral de L2 para jóvenes aprendices a través de juegos
basados en contenido

In this current research project, the treatment group has a good performance
in the subskill grammar in the pre test and a better performance in the
subskill message in the post test.

6.2. The efficiency of the Methodology

The control group presents the main improvements in vocabulary while
the treatment group in message. The differences between before and after
the intervention are not significantly different between the two working
groups because they were students of the same level, and the strategies
that were applied with them were the same. The only difference was that
for the treatment group the oral activities were presented based on oral
games activities meanwhile the control group work on oral traditional
activities. In the subskill message, there is a greater change in the
treatment group (p <0.05). In the control group, a 0.5 point is registered
while in the treatment group a 0.9 as is in detail in table 2.
Table 2.
Difference between pre and post test

Control Group Treatment Group p

Media DE Media DE
Pronunciation 0,368 0,376 0,279 0,330 0,323
Fluency 0,426 0,329 0,559 0,404 0,133
Vocabulary 0,603 0,404 0,588 0,417 0,879
Gramar 0,368 0,449 0,441 0,364 0,543
Message 0,500 0,389 0,882 0,248 0,000*
Grade 2,382 1,219 2,735 1,061 0,301

Note: *Significative difference (p<0.05)

6.2.1. Control Group

In each subscale, there were at least 21 students with positive changes in
the control group. Grammar and pronunciation are the subskills with the
most draws and negative changes. In figure 3 the details can be observed.

Revista Pucara, N.º 31 (183-215), 2020

206

Figure 3. Changes in subskills. Stacked columns show the number of cases with
positive, negative changes and tie in their qualifications.

6.2.2. Treatment Group

Figure 4 shows that in the treatment group, all the students present
improvements in the subskill message after the application of content-
based games within class planning.

Figure 4. Changes in subskills. Stacked columns show the number of cases with
positive, negative changes and tie in their qualifications.

207

Mejora de la capacidad de expresión oral de L2 para jóvenes aprendices a través de juegos
basados en contenido

Finally, after the intervention, 15 students of the treatment group
dominate the required learning -7/10 compared to 2 of the control group.
Likewise, 12 cases in the control group are closed to achieve the learning
concerning 1 of the treatment group as it is shown in figure 5.

Figure 5. Reach level. The columns show the frequency of students at each level
in each group.

6.3. Relationship between teachers’ criteria

Tables 3 and 4 show important correlations between the researcher´s
criterion and supervisor which implies concurrence of qualification
criteria and guarantees impartiality and objectivity in the use of the
rubric.

Revista Pucara, N.º 31 (183-215), 2020

208

Table 3.
Relationship between teachers' criteria (Pre Test)
Researcher
Pronunciation Fluency Vocabulary Gramar Message Grade

S
up

er
vi

so
r

Pronunciation .535**
Fluency .717**
Vocabulary .665**
Gramar .421**
Message .347**
Grade .771**

Note: * significant relationship

Table 4.
Relationship between teachers' criteria (Post Test)

Researcher
Pronunciation Fluency Vocabulary Gramar Message Grade

Supervisor

Pronunciation .500**
Fluency .747**
Vocabulary .657**
Gramar .577**
Message .621**
Grade .874**

Note: * significant relationship

Table 3.
Relationship between teachers' criteria (Pre Test)
Researcher
Pronunciation Fluency Vocabulary Gramar Message Grade

S
up

er
vi

so
r

Pronunciation .535**
Fluency .717**
Vocabulary .665**
Gramar .421**
Message .347**
Grade .771**

Note: * significant relationship

Table 4.
Relationship between teachers' criteria (Post Test)

Researcher
Pronunciation Fluency Vocabulary Gramar Message Grade

Supervisor

Pronunciation .500**
Fluency .747**
Vocabulary .657**
Gramar .577**
Message .621**
Grade .874**

Note: * significant relationship
In general, more students dominated the required scopes which were part
of the sixth level exit profile. It is important to remember that the control
group had a better level of English at the beginning of the intervention
according to the pre test results.

7. Discussion

This research investigated the importance of using content-based games
in an L2 classroom. It focused on motivation and on the improvement

209

Mejora de la capacidad de expresión oral de L2 para jóvenes aprendices a través de juegos
basados en contenido

of the speaking skills. Taking into account that each different subskill
had different results according to the initial and final test in both groups,
the difference between the treatment group and the control group was
analyzed.

First of all, the initial performance of the treatment group was low.
The subskills with the best performance were only grammar and
pronunciation. At the beginning, it could be identified that the students
did not reach the required learning -7/10. The subcategories with the
worst performance were: vocabulary and message. On the other hand,
the control group presented major improvements in vocabulary at the
beginning of the project. Comparing with the study that was developed
in Ecuador in the Amazon Region, 53,19% of students manifested that
pronunciation was the most difficult subskill to produce. Showing
that the grammar subskill was practiced more than the other subskills
such as vocabulary, fluency, pronunciation, and message (Arias et
al., 2015). Wang (2104) established that students did not domain the
subskill vocabulary and message because they did not live in a context
where they could practice all the time the target language. So, students
preferred keeping silent practicing another subskill than making mistakes
in oral production where 46% of students made grammar mistakes, so it
affected the students’ speaking accuracy; 44% of students often made
some hesitation and 45% usually forgot the vocabulary to be used when
they spoke. He stated that the students felt motivated in the learning
process because the teachers applied new and dynamic activities that
helped them in the teaching-learning. In the same way, Wang et al.
(2011) stated that the results that he presented were significant in the
subskill “vocabulary”.

Furthermore, in this project after the treatment, there were not significant
differences in the improvements (Overall 2 points in total). The treatment
group had only higher progress in the subskill message. On the other
hand, in each subscale, at least 21 students with positive changes were
registered (Control group). According to Dewi et al. (2016); Buitrago

Revista Pucara, N.º 31 (183-215), 2020

210

and Ayala (2008); Khan and Ali (2010), it was quite important that the
students felt in a comfortable environment at the moment of practicing
real communication. Dewi et al. (2016) action research method worked
because, at the end, 30 students reached the minimum score that was 75.
It represented 83.33%. The context could help the students feel motivated
and improve their learning process. So, in the research project, the students
worked in pairs and groups and they did not have any punishment for
making mistakes, and all the oral activities were based on dynamic group-
pair games. It meant that everything depended on the way on how the
teacher-researcher managing the class. In the current research project,
the quantitative method was applied in which most of the students of the
treatment group had positive changes in the subskill “message” and in
the control group 21 students had some positive changes in the subskill
“grammar-pronunciation”. The strategy that was applied for the control
group was “task-based activities”. Toro et al. (2018) explained that they
had good results on their research project by using “task-based activities”
because the students also feel motivated and argued that from 30% to 50%
of teachers used this strategy. These activities helped students interact
with the teachers or their classmates when they had to ask for support
during the completion activity. For this reason, the use of this kind of
activity could work well as long as the instructions have been given
correctly. At the beginning of the treatment, both groups had different
percentages in the different subskills; taken into account that one of the
problems that the students had to face was the fear of speaking.

Finally, the application of content-based games inside an L2 classroom
had positive results because the students worked more dynamically
(Yolageldili & Arikan, 2011; Gozcu and Gaganaga, 2016; Moayad,
2011). The improvements of the different subskills were not the highest;
however, it was identified that the students had an enhancement in
general. In the pre test, the students of the treatment group had a relevant
result in the subskill “grammar” and the subskill “message” was better
in the post test. This is quite different because according to Calle et al.
(2012), most Ecuadorian English teachers did not promote the use of

211

Mejora de la capacidad de expresión oral de L2 para jóvenes aprendices a través de juegos
basados en contenido

oral activities as a strategy to improve the speaking skills, and they only
concentrated their teaching-learning process on developing grammar
skills, so at the end of the research project the learners felt more motivated
and they could use the target language better; as a result of it, the subskill
“message” had a great impact.

8. Conclusions

The study showed that the use of content-based games had a great effect
since this kind of activity motivated the students due to the new way
of learning acquired during the classes as is manifested in the Active
Learning Approach. It is important to highlight that this strategy was also
very useful because the students showed excessive interest in learning a
second language because of the interaction they were involved in by the
Natural Approach which was showed when students were exposed to the
language.

After comparing the results, it was found that both groups improved
significantly, especially the treatment group. The subskill “Message”
was predominant in the treatment group with an improvement of 0,88
points, representing 81%.

In general, the students of the treatment group improved by 2.74
points compared to the beginning of the school year, representing an
improvement of 49.3% (0.2 in Fluency, 0.5 in Grammar, and 0.8 in
Message). The control group had a slight improvement in the subskills
Pronunciation and Vocabulary in contrast to the treatment group because
this group practiced different activities that allowed them to enrich these
subskills. Another point of view is that both groups shared the same
previous knowledge and constructed their new knowledge based on what
they already knew.

One of the limitations could be the lack of habits of learning through
games. Another limitation is that games are not part of the lesson plans

213

Mejora de la capacidad de expresión oral de L2 para jóvenes aprendices a través de juegos
basados en contenido

References:

Abukhattala, I. (2012). Krashen’s Five Proposals on Language Learning:
Are They Valid in Libyan EFL Classes. Journal of English
Language Teaching. 6(1), 1-4. https://doi:10.5539/elt.
v6n1p128

Aimin, L. (2013). The Study of Second Language Acquisition Under
Socio-Cultural Theory. American Journal of Education
Research. 1(5), 162-167. https://doi: 10.12691/education-1-5-3

Arias, M., Castillo, L., Gonzalez, P., Espinoza, F., Ochoa, C., Quiñonez, A.,
Solano, L. & Ulehlova, E. (2015). EFL Teaching in the Amazon
Region of Ecuador: A Focus on Activities and Resources for
Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills. English Language
Teaching, 8(8), 94-103. https://doi:10.5539/elt.v8n8p94

Bada, S. (2015). Constructivism Learning Theory: A Paradigm for
Teaching and Learning. Journal of Research & Method in
Education. 5(6), 66-70. https://doi: 10.9790/7388-05616670

Ballester, A. (2014). Meaningful Learning in Practice. Journal of
Education and Human Development. 3(4), 199-209. https://
doi: 10.15640/jehd.v3n4a18

Bowo, Y. (2014). The Effect of Using Taboo Game to Ninth Graders´
Speaking Skill. SMP Pangudi Luhur Jakarta, 165-170.

Buitrago, R. & Ayala, R. (2008). Overcoming fear of speaking in English
through meaningful activities: A study with Teenagers. 1-24.

Calle, A., Calle, S., Argudo, J., Moscoso, E., Smith, A. & Cabrera, P.
(2012) Los profesores de inglés y su práctica docente: Un
estudio de caso de los colegios fiscales de la ciudad de Cuenca,
Ecuador. MASKANA, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2012 p1-17

Creswell, J. (2014). Research Design. SAGE Publications, Inc. 4th
Edition. 1-342.

Dewi, R., Kultsum, U. & Armadi, A. (2017). Using Communicative
Games in Improving Students’ Speaking Skills. English
Language Teaching, 10, 1st ser., 63-71. https://doi: 10.5539/
elt.v10n1p63

Revista Pucara, N.º 31 (183-215), 2020

214

Dornyei, Z. (2001). Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom.
Cambridge University Press. 1-163.

Du, X. (2009). The Affective Filter in Second Language Teaching.
Journal of Asian Social Science. 5(8), 1-4. https://doi: 10.5539/
ass.v5n8p162

Ellidokuzoğlu, H. (2014) How to apply the Natural Approach in an
unnatural setting. Military Inquiry (Stratiotiki Epitheorisi -
Στρατιωτική Επιθεώρηση). 1-8.

Fitri, R. & Gurning, B. (2013). Improvement students in speaking through
team games tournament techniques.

Gozcu, E. & Caganaga, C. (2016). The importance of using games in
EFL

classrooms. Cypriot Journal of Educational Science. 11(3), 126-135.
https://doi: 10.18844/cjes.v11i3.625

Honarmand, R., Rostampour R. & Abdorahimzadeh, S. (2015). The
Effect of Game Tic Tac Toe and Flash Cards on Zero Beginners’
Vocabulary Learning. International Journal of Educational
Investigations. 2(3), 27-41.

Kasker, C. (2009). The newest communication research on classroom
motivation. Center for Teaching Excellence, United States
Military Academy.

Khan, N. & Ali, A. (2010). Improving the speaking ability in
English: The students ‘perspective. Journal of Social and
Behavioral Sciences. (2), 3575-3579. https://doi:10.1016/j.
sbspro.2010.03.554

Krashen, S. & Terrel, T. (1995). The Natural Approach Language
Acquisition in the Classroom. Prentice-Hall Europe.

Miller, S. (2003). Vygotsky’s educational theory in cultural context. 1-19.
Ministerio de Educación del Ecuador. Currículo de los Niveles

de Educación Obligatoria Subnivel Medio. English as a
Foreign Language for Subnivel Medio. 449-528. Segunda
edición, 2019. https://educacion.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/
downloads/2019/09/EGB-Media.pdf

215

Mejora de la capacidad de expresión oral de L2 para jóvenes aprendices a través de juegos
basados en contenido

Moayad, M. (2011). The effect of using educational games on the students’
achievement in English language for the primary stage.

Rijal, S., & Arifah, N. (2017). Teaching productive skills through VARK.
Journal Pemikiran Penelitian Pendidikan dan Sains. 12-18.

Roehl, A., Linga, Sh. & Shannon, J. (2013). The Flipped Classroom:
An Opportunity to Engage Millennial Students Through Active
Learning Strategies. Journal of Family & Consumer Sciences.
105(2), 44-49.

Smolucha, F. (1989). The Relevance of Vygotsky´s Theory of Creative
Imagination for Contemporary Research on Play. 1-12.

Toro, V., Camacho, G., Pinza, E. & Paredes, F. (2018). The Use of the
Communicative Language Teaching Approach to Improve
Students’ Oral Skills. English Language Teaching, 12(1), 110-
118. https://doi: 10.5539/elt.v12n1p110

Urrutia, W, & Vega, E. (2010). Encouraging Teenagers to Improve
Speaking Skills through Games in a Columbian Public School.
12(1), 11-31.

Wang, Y., Shang, H. & Briody, P. (2011). Investigating the impact of
using games Teaching Children English. International Journal
of Learning & Development. 1(1), 1-15. https://doi:10.5296/
ijld.v1i1.1118

Wang, Z. (2014). Developing Accuracy and Fluency in Spoken English of
Chinese EFL learners. Journal of English Language Teaching.
7(2), 1-9. https://doi:10.5539/elt.v7n2p110

Yolageldili, G. & Arikan, A. (2011). Effectiveness of Using Games in
Teaching Grammar to Young Learners. Elementary Education
Online. 10(1), 219-229.