The Effect of Web-Based Games on Facilitating and Enhancing Reading and Writing Skills in Learning English

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of web-based games on facilitating and enhancing reading and writing skills in learning English vocabulary. The research employed a pre-test and post-test experimental design with a control and an experiential group. Thirty-six elementary students at fourth, fifth, and sixth grades from the west of Tehran were selected as the participants who were randomly assigned to research groups. The experimental group used web-based games. Then, a checklist developed by the researchers was used to assess learning and facilitation in the two groups. Having examined the differences between the experimental group and control group by removing the pretest factor and by controlling the effect of the pretest, the study showed a significant difference in posttest (P <۰.۰۵ and F = ۳۲.۷۹) between the two groups. As a result, the hypothesis that educational intervention (web-based games) had a significant effect on reading and writing scores was confirmed with ۹۵% confidence. The following results were obtained from statistical analyses: (a) Web-based learning has a significant effect on facilitating the learning of English vocabulary; and (b) Web-based learning has a significant effect on improving reading and writing skills. Therefore, the findings of this study show that using web-based games can be effective in facilitating and increasing reading and writing skills in learning English vocabulary.

Keywords:

facilitation , reading and writing skills , vocabulary learning , web-based games