6。3 Summary 19

1。 Introduction

1。1 Background From优T尔K论M文L网wWw.YouERw.com 加QQ75201^8766

With the increasing number of English learners and the high demand of English teaching nowadays, we have been urged to discover more effective ways in language teaching。 Many scholars have tried great efforts to search such a way and they have turned to the “game-based learning”, (Perrotta, C。, Featherstone, G。, Aston, H。 and Houghton, E, 2013; Ren Lulu, 2016。9) which is pointed out in 21st century。 Researches have shown that games play an indispensable role in contrast to education in their daily life throughout the development of children。 The assumption of using games in teaching can be traced back even earlier。 (Ren Lulu, 2016。9) Scholars like Joanne E。 Oppenheim (1984) held the idea that play is by its very nature educational。 Hadfield (1998) also provided the classification of games in language teaching。 At the beginning of the twentieth century, based on the “theory of activity”, Dewey laid emphasis on the use of games for children to learn from the experience。 He believes that games, competitions and other activities are most suitable for the children’s characteristics。 Children can get the chance to discover, analyze and solve problems in a relaxing activity, so that the intelligence can be fully developed。 Apparently, using games in language teaching would be or has been a new trend in today’s English class since so many researchers have studied on and advocated this teaching methodology。

1。2 Research purpose and significance

It is known to us all that games play an indispensable role in contrast to education in their daily life throughout the development of children。 Children’s emotional and intellectual growth is supposed to be accompanied with games。 And the birth of the “game-based teaching” has attracted many scholars’ attention。 Numerous scholars have done much research on the topic of using games in teaching, including the definition and classification of games, their effects on language learning, and so on。 However, most of them conducted their study focusing on exploring the games in a broad sense。 What’s more, since the previous researches have proved that applying games in foreign language teaching has the positive impact on students’ learning, it is more important to specify the application of games used in today’s English class。 

Based on the research of other scholars’ study, in this paper, the author is going to lay emphasis mainly on the application of just one kind of games choosing from the nine types pided by Hadfield, which are guessing games。 By doing this research, the author hopes to make a more detailed analysis of the application of guessing games in English language teaching in junior high schools, including the rate of using, the impact and the problems in using。 This research may have some practical significance in foreign language teaching。 

2。 Literature review

2。1 Game 

2。1。1 Definition of game 

There exists an array of definitions of the term game。 According to Collins, a game is an activity or sport usually involving skill, knowledge, or chance, in which you follow fixed rules and try to win against an opponent or to solve a puzzle。 This is a definition given by a dictionary of the term game in a broad sense, which has the similarity with but differs from the term game in this paper。 In 1998, Hadfield defined the game in his book Elementary vocabulary games as “an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun。” while Blanka Frydrychova Klimova(2015) preferred to regard the game as “a meaningful fun activity governed by rules” in her paper。 Obviously, there is no uniform definition of the term, but we may find some similarities of these definitions。 First of all, a game is or must be an activity。 Secondly, there should be some fixed rules to judge the results of this activity。 What’s more, the participants may gain a sense of pleasure when doing the activity。 And when it is combined with language teaching, the aim of using games is to improve the efficiency of learning as well as teaching。 论文网