| dc.description.abstract | English learning has become a necessary educational strategy in many non-English-speaking countries. Vocabulary is a critical element for English learners.
However, learning a foreign language is difficult and stressful. In addition, memorizing English vocabulary is often considered boring, and learners may lack motivation for learning activities. With the advancement of technology, game-based learning has become an important part of education. It provides problem-solving quests, realistic scenarios and role-playing mechanisms that enhance learner’s motivation. Many studies integrate game-base learning strategy into language learning
to enhance learners’ motivation. However, not every learner can benefit this kind of learning strategy. Therefore, it is necessary to consider individual differences. Prior knowledge and learning styles are critical factors in digital game-based learning. Therefore, this study developed a multiplayer online role-playing game to create a game-based learning environment that can improve learners’ leaning performance. The learning materials are designed with task-based learning so that students can understand the meaning of the vocabulary through solving tasks in the gaming process. In order to investigate the impacts of learners with different prior knowledge and learning styles on learning performance and behavioral patterns, a quasi-experiment was conducted in a university English course. The experiment was conducted by dividing students into different prior knowledge and learning styles. In addition, lag sequential analysis was employed to explore the learning behavioral patterns of students with different prior knowledge and learning styles. Experimental results showed that the learners with higher English ability, higher gaming experience, higher-ability and higher-experience, and Style-Matching have better learning performance in the digital game-based learning environment. Moreover, the learners with lower English ability were prone to feel difficult in the process of the task. Hence, they were using more assistive tools in the gaming process. The learners with higher gaming experience were more familiar with the gaming skills and were prone to know how to use assistive tools to complete the task, showing better learning performance than the learners with lower gaming experience. However, the learners with lower gaming experience lack experience in the game. Even the system provides many assistive tools but they do not know how to use it. Therefore, the completion of the task is relatively low, which in turn affects the effectiveness of learning. The Style-Non-Matching learners showed more learning behaviors on wrong answers, which resulted in lower learning performance. The findings of this study provide a good reference for helping the students with different prior knowledge and different learning styles to improve their learning performance and provide designer to develop a personalized game-based learning environment.
Keywords: digital game-based learning, prior knowledge, learning styles, vocabulary acquisition performance, gaming performance, behavioral patterns, immersion. | en_US |