Games In Language Teaching

Games in English Language Teaching

A game is basically a play governed by rules (Klauer: 1998). A language game is exactly the same, but with clear linguistic rules to which all participants in the activity must conform. According to Klauer (1998), there are some characteristics of a good language games, namely; it is governed by rules, it has objectives, it is a closed activity, and it needs less supervision from the teacher. Thus, not all play is a game, a play with no rules and objective cannot be regard as a game.

As teaching approaches have always been developing, consequently, it affects the teaching learning process, the methods as well as the strategies. In accordance, the use of games in the teaching learning process has become very popular. Many teachers, nowadays, equipped their teaching with games. They are enthusiastic in using games as their teaching devices, yet some of them often perceive games as mere time-fillers, a way of killing some times left in the teaching duration, or a break from the monotony drilling. In fact, many text book and methodology manuals writers have argue that games are not just time filling activities but have great educational values. Lee (1979) noted that games should be treated as central not peripheral to the foreign language teaching. Moreover, they are not just a diversion, a break from routine activities, but a way of getting the learner to use the language in the course of the game (Deesre: 2002).

 Using games as teaching learning activities can expose the students’ participation better, actively engage the language, and motivate the students (Ersöz: 2000). Harmer (2007: 223) argues that games can engage students and encourage them to use the target structures with enthusiasm. By using the game the teaching learning process is centered on the students, while the teacher acts as supervisor and/or facilitator. In other words, it represents a learners-centered instruction, a technique in which the students who are actively engage with the target language. According to Brown (2001: 46) learners-centered instruction is a technique which accounts learners’ need, styles and goal. It is a technique that focuses on students’ creativity, innovation, sense of self-competence. Games are effective because they provide motivation, lower students' stress, and give them the opportunity for real communication (Deesre: 2002). In order to use language games effectively the teachers should have careful design of their lesson plan, thus games is not used for killing the time. In addition, Hadfield (1990), as cited in Deesri (2002), suggested that ‘games should be regarded an integral part of the language syllabus, not an amusing activity for Friday afternoon of for the end of the term’. Games can contribute to students' skills if they are incorporated into the classroom, particularly if they are used to reinforce or introduce a grammatical rule or structure. The way the teacher using the language game will affect the ability of the students to use the language properly and meaningfully.

Race and Win

Race and Win is a kind of board game adapted from Toth’s (38: 1995). Toth’s is originally named as ‘Trying to Get Home’, its aim is to practice making suggestion, while Race and Win is a game which is aimed to let the students experience the use of subject and verb agreement in present simple tense, particularly subject and verb agreement on the third-singular person subject and -s/-es addition of verb. As other board games, Race and Win is equipped with board, counters, and dice. The students use the dice to move their counters along the path on the board (see Appendix 1). The students, with their counters, race to the finish to win the game; to win the game they should be able to make grammatical sentences of present simple. Yet, some rules should be followed in order to be able to play it, the rules and how to play it are:

How to play the game:                       

1.      Distribute the game board with its cards and dice to each group of four.

2.      Ask the students to place their counters on START. Each child takes in turn to throw the dice and move along the number of squares shown.

3.      If a child lands on an instruction e.g. Miss a turn, he or she must follow this instruction. If they fall on an ‘action’ square e.g.            , they should make a positive present simple sentence based on the picture, e.g. ‘He drinks a glass of water’. If he fails to make grammatical sentences he/she could not move the counter.

4.      If a player falls on a CARD square, he or she takes the top card from the pile of cards. If it is a ‘question’ card she or he should ask the questions, based on the former action square he fell on, to the other players who holds ‘answer’ card. If he/she falls firstly on the CARD square he/she can make his/her own interrogative sentence, not necessary based on action squares. If there is no players hold the answer card while one player has question he/she can keep the question for later turn.

5.      The players who hold more than one ‘answer’ cards can use any card he or she likes. He or she should give grammatical answer otherwise he or she should go one step back and make other player remain still.