Enhancing Thai EFL Learners’ Knowledge of English Adjective Order and Meaning Through a Board Game-Based Intervention
Keywords:
board game, game-based intervention, adjective order, adjective meaning, EFL learnersAbstract
This study examined the effects of the ADJ.VENTURE board game on Thai EFL learners’ knowledge of English adjective meanings and adjective order, as well as their perceptions of game-based learning. Grounded in game-based learning principles and form-focused instruction, the study employed a quantitative quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design. Participants were 88 Grade 8 students from two intact classes at a secondary school. The intervention was implemented over ten instructional sessions, during which the experimental group received board game-based instruction supplemented by teacher guidance, while the control group received conventional instruction. Data were collected using a recognition test, an adjective ordering test, and a perception questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and independent-samples t-tests were used for data analysis. The results indicated that students in the experimental group obtained significantly higher post-test scores than those in the control group on both the recognition test (M = 15.32 vs. 9.73, p < .001, d = 2.15) and the adjective ordering test (M = 8.23 vs. 3.23, p < .001, d = 4.10). These findings suggest meaningful differences between the two instructional approaches. Questionnaire results further showed that learners held positive perceptions of the board game, particularly regarding enjoyment, engagement, vocabulary learning, and understanding of adjective order. While the findings suggest that board game-based instruction may support the development of lexical and grammatical knowledge of English adjectives, the results should be interpreted with caution due to the use of intact classes from a single school. Future research involving larger and more diverse samples is recommended.
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