Language games to enhance the speaking skill on beginner English language learners at University

Abstract

This research aimed to discover if language games used as a teaching strategy improve the ability to speak English. The target population was fifty-two first level students at a university in Ecuador. Twenty-six students were part of the experimental group and the remaining twenty-six students were part of the control group. A previous test was applied for both groups to know their level of conversation. The results showed that both groups had a very basic level of speech. Consequently, language games were applied to students in the experimental group as a strategy to improve their ability to speak English. After this process, the students of both groups took a subsequent test to see if the games used during the classes made any difference with respect to the ability to speak. The findings indicated that students belonging to the experimental group obtained a higher average in the subsequent test compared to the average obtained by the control group. Therefore, it is important to consider that the averages of the experimental group exceeded the averages of the control group. Based on these findings, games as a teaching strategy improved the ability to speak English in the first level students of the university.