Vocabulary in Context

In my 1st year at the Instute we had a course “Vocabulary in Context”. It was a really interesting and useful course for me by means of which I enriched my vocabulary a lot. During the lessons our teacher mostly used vocabulary games to teach us new words. So I decided to make my questionnaire related on that very course. The focus of the questionnaire was to find out the effectiveness of language games in acquiring vocabulary while learning English. Educational games help learners acquire vocabulary unconsciously while they are engaged in the game process. Utilizing games can also be very facilitating for the language teacher because of the playful atmosphere, which makes the teaching-learning process more facilitating. The data was collected by selecting 15 students from my group with whom we had the course. The questionnaire includes 5 questions related to the subject. The findings obtained after an analysis revealed that games could acquaint students with new words or phrases and facilitate deep learning of vocabulary in a better and faster way in comparison to memorization. Games also help develop students’ communicative competence. Most of the students agreed that new techniques via games had fruitful benefits in improving vocabulary. However, to improve certain limitations, the researchers also suggested some recommendations.
The questions asked from students have been graphically explained by pie charts.
1. Vocabulary games encourage and help learners to sustain their interest in second language learning.

The pie chart given above indicates that 80% of the respondents strongly agreed to the statement that „vocabulary games‟ encouraged and helped learners to sustain their interest and work, while 20% agreed to the statement. Most of the respondents found games helpful for learning new words.
2. Vocabulary games do not motivate learners to a great extent for L2 learning

The pie chart shows that 60% of the respondents strongly agreed that vocabulary games motivate learners to learn English, whereas 40% agreed to it. None of them disagreed with the statement.
3. Using games create interruption in the normal routine of the language classroom

The pie chart given above reveals that 20% of the respondents agreed to the statement that using games create interruption from the normal routine of the language class, 20% were „not decided‟, 40% disagreed and only 20% of the respondents strongly disagreed. It shows that there was some confusion among respondents as the method of using games was different from their usual learning techniques or traditional methods.
4.Use of games is a good classroom strategy to help students increase their vocabulary

The pie chart given above depicts that only 20% of the respondents strongly agreed that games helped students increase their vocabulary whereas 80% agreed to it. Overall, all the respondents agreed that games facilitated the learners‟ vocabulary acquisition.
5. Experience of learning English vocabulary through games

Most of the students found it a very good experience to learn English vocabulary through games as depicted by the pie chart given above.
The results of the questionnaire show that games acquaint students with new words or phrases and help them remember vocabulary better and faster, they help develop students‟ communicative competence. Vocabulary games encourage learners in retaining words through fun and relaxation as they usually involve friendly competitions which retain learners‟ interest. Thus, they lead to motivation for learners of English to get involved and participate actively in learning activities and imagine the real world context in the classroom to develop everyday use of English. The use of games during the lessons motivated learners to work further on the vocabulary on their own, thus the study shows that games are a good source of inspiration for the language learners. However, it cannot be ignored that games are not the only useful way; other techniques should not be ignored.