chapter 3

Chapter Three

Methodology

In this qualitative action research, I sought to explore the extent to which the use of educational games can improve students’ understanding of structure and mechanics concept.

This chapter includes details of the research design and methods that were used in collecting and analysing data; this chapter also seeks to explain and justify the design and strategies that were employed in an attempt to answer the following research questions:

 How do educational games help to improve students’ retention skills?

 How effective is the use of games in helping students to express orally correct Language Arts structure and mechanic concepts?

 To what extent does the use of games improve students’ understanding of structure and mechanics concepts in Language Arts?

Research Design

Language Arts learning has been a chief problem for students globally, especially in country were learning English is their second language (Marzano, 2010). Hirumi (2010); Lee (2012) emphasized that with the high emphasis placed on passing standardize test teachers are left with little room for innovative teaching, which results in students merely remembering facts and memorizing answers for national examinations. With the Ministry of Education vision to achieve an 85% pass rate for all students sitting GSAT by 2015 and students’ underperformance in Language Arts on a local and international scale, I have conducted a qualitative research to examine the extent to which the use of games can improve students’ understanding of structure and mechanics concepts in Language Arts; this study was conducted over a twelve week period, three times per week during the time allotted of Language Arts.

This strategy was deemed relevant based on ...

... middle of paper ...

...with essential information needed to further my study (See appendix E). According to Heacox (2009) as cited in Tomlinson (2013), without diagnostic assessment teachers would not know the readiness of their students for new learning, their learning styles/needs, or where to begin in planning new curriculum goals. The author further stated that when assessments are incorporated into the teaching and learning process, it provides the information needed to modify the process. It also provides constant feedback, thus enhancing learning. According to Tomlinson (2013) “by providing students with feedback and assessments, it allows students to be a part of the learning environment and aid in developing self-assessment strategies that will help with their own metacognition”. Table 2 illustration how these data collection methods are aligned with the research questions.