TEACHING EFL VOCABULARY TO YOUNG DIGITAL NATIVESTHROUGH ONLINE GAMES: A STUDY WITH TURKISH 5TH GRADE EFL LEARNERS

Abstract

The current study aimed to examine the effect of online vocabulary gameson teaching new words to young learners ofEFL. For this aim, 46 Turkish 5thgrade EFL students in a state school were assigned into control and experimental groups. Both groups studied 22 words in 6 instructional sessions conducted in 6 subsequent weeks in the second semester of 2016-2017academicyear. Throughout this period, the data were collected via recognition-production tests and semi-structured interviews. The results of the recognition and production tests showed that experimental group outperformed the control group in terms of vocabulary gains. The results of the semi-structured interviews also supported the quantitativeresultsindicatingthatonlinevocabularygamesincreased students’ motivation. Additionally, it was observedthat young learners were amused by digital games and were willing to learn more via them.