Comparing The Effects Of Game Presentation Mode And Description Presentation Mode On Primary School Students’ English Vocabulary Retention

Vocabulary teaching has received a lot of attention in the language classroom and many studies focus on how to teach vocabulary more efficiently. The study of vocabulary presentation modes becomes a heated issue while no consensus has been arrived at as to what presentation mode is superior to others. In view of this, this study was undertaken to compare the effects of game presentation mode and description presentation mode on primary school students’ immediate and delayed retention of vocabulary.The main research questions are as follows:(1) Do game presentation mode and description presentation mode have different effects on primary school students’ English vocabulary retention? (2) What is the attitude of primary school students towards these two kinds of vocabulary presentation modes?This study adopted both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative study employed vocabulary tests as the research instrument, and the research subjects were primary school students from two classes of grade four in an ordinary rural primary school,45 students per class. One class adopted description presentation mode, and the other class employed game presentation mode. After the experiment of vocabulary presentation mode, the two classes would receive an immediate test and a delayed test respectively. The qualitative study adopted a semi-structured interview as the research instrument. Three students from each class, amounting to six altogether, were chosen and labeled as high, medium and low scorers according to their English proficiency levels. The questions for the interview were formulated by the researcher in advance, and the students were interviewed individually in the form of free discussion.Through both quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data, the results yielded are as follows:Firstly, in general, game presentation mode and description presentation mode have different effects on primary school students’ English vocabulary retention. With regard to immediate retention, students taught in description presentation mode perform a little better than those taught in game presentation mode, though no significant difference can be found between these two kinds of vocabulary presentation modes. However, with respect to delayed retention, it is the other way around. Students taught in game presentation mode perform much better than those taught in description presentation mode, and there is a significant difference between these two kinds of vocabulary presentation modes.Secondly, the primary school students take different attitudes towards game presentation mode and description presentation mode. From the interview, it can be concluded that game presentation mode is much more welcomed than description presentation mode by the interviewed students, no matter what English proficiency level they are at. It seems that description presentation mode, to some extent, has bad effects on drawing students’ attention and can hardly inspire their enthusiasm for vocabulary learning. Although students remember some words in class, they would soon forget most of them even in a week. They do not like this presentation mode very much. In contrast, students like game presentation mode very much, which may be attributable to the interesting nature of the games. And in this mode, students’ understanding of English vocabulary can be deepened.This study has the following pedagogical implications:firstly, English teachers in primary schools should design and select proper games based on pupils’ characteristics of both physical and psychological development, teaching objectives and contents; secondly, English teachers in primary schools should strengthen the control of the classroom and keep a good teaching order in the process of game presentation mode, in order to promote students’ vocabulary acquisition; thirdly, English teachers in primary schools should strike a balance between the use of description presentation mode and game presentation mode since these two kinds of vocabulary presentation modes are complementary to each other.