Interactive games (wordwall) and vocabulary learning

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate students' perspectives on the effectiveness of interactive Wordwall games in vocabulary learning. A total of 87 students from 10th to 3rd BGU (38 male 49 females) participated in a descriptive, non-experimental research design. The data was gathered using an 18-item survey on a Likert scale and two openended questions were included. The reliability of the survey was confirmed by Cronbach's Alpha coefficient (0.854). The study was based on three research questions aligned with the objectives. The results revealed that interactive Wordwall activities such as memory games, quizzes, and matching activities were the most popular among students due to their dynamic and engaging nature. However, Quickfire Games or limited-time activities were not favored as they generated pressure among students. In addition to these activities, students also reported using other applications such as Duolingo and Quizlet for vocabulary learning, while Kahoot, Liveworksheets, and Quizizz were used less frequently. Furthermore, many different strategies were employed by students to expand their vocabulary. The most used among these were memory strategies like repetition, visualization, and listening. Interestingly, receptive skills such as reading or listening were found to be less effective than more enjoyable methods like reading funny stories or watching movies with subtitles. Finally, it was noted that visual strategies were not widely favored by students as they did not find them attractive or useful for their learning purposes. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the preferences and practices of students when it comes to learning new vocabulary through interactive Wordwall games and other techniques.