Teachers and Students' Perceptions of Using Digital Games in Improving Vocabulary at Non-English-majored Class

Abstract

The use of gamification in education is of increasing interest. Numerous studies have explored various aspects of integrating digital games (DGs) into English language teaching and learning. This research sought to investigate teachers' and students' perceptions of incorporating DGs in improving vocabulary for non-English-majored students at Phenikaa University, Vietnam. This cross-sectional study was completed with a structured survey of 30 lecturers and 150 students, alongside in-depth interviews with some randomly-selected respondents from both groups. The findings revealed that these two groups of participants mostly shared positive attitudes toward DGs. The teachers were aware of the importance of DGs as a modern and appealing approach to teaching vocabulary; however, they were reluctant to use them frequently because of time constraints, distractions, and technological complexity. With regard to the students, most of them believe in the effectiveness of digital games as learners. However, they reflected that occasional class gaming-learning could be a more appropriate schedule. Contents that digital games can help most effectively with learning English tend to focus more on some aspects of vocabulary. The findings are of great value in giving educators and students a profound understanding of both the positive and negative impacts of using DGs to facilitate learners' vocabulary learning.