dc.description.abstract | English learning has gradually become a priority education policy for non-English speaking countries. Many non-English-speaking countries regard English learning as an important language learning course. However, for English learners, if the learning process is boring, it will reduce the motivation of learning, which will lead to poor learning performance. In the past, many studies used digital game-based learning to help learners learn English, thereby enhancing learning perfoemance and learning motivation. In the digital game-based learning environment, reward mechanisms are often used to stimulate learners′ learning motivation and make learners continue to participate in game activities. However, punishment mechanisms are rarely used. Recent research results on digital game-based learning show that the combination of reward and punishment mechanisms do not have only negative effects. Therefore, this study developed digital game-based learning systems, integrated the content of English learning into the learning environment, and designd four versions of reward and punishment mechanisms, including, rewards-and-punishments, only-rewards, only-punishments, and no-rewards-no-punishments. This study aimd to explore the effects and correlations of different reward and punishment mechanisms on learners′ English learning performance, gaming performance , learning motivation, learning perceptions and behavior patterns in a digital game-based English learning environment.
A total of 101 learners included in this study, who were divided into different reward and punishment mechanism groups (rewards-and-punishments 26 learners, only-rewards 26 learners, only-punishments 26 learners, and no-rewards-no-punishments 23 learners). The research tools in this study included English learning performance test, learning motivation scale, learning perception scale and system log file. This study used nonparametric statistics and lag sequential analysis (LSA) to explore the effects and correlations of learners under different reward and punishment mechanisms. The results of this study showed that in a digital game-based English learning environment, different reward and punishment mechanisms had different effects on learners. The main results were divided into the following four points: (1) Both rewards-and-punishments mechanism and no-rewards-no-punishments improved the English learning performance, but rewards-and-punishments mechanism performed best in terms of learning motivation and learning perceptions. (2) No-reward mechanisms were better than reward mechanisms in terms of gaming performance. (3) The reward mechanisms increased the number of significant behavior transfers from gaming behavior to assistance tool behavior. In addition, only-punishment mechanism had more significant behavior transfers from gaming behavior to gaming behavior than the other three groups. (4) The correlation results showed that there were significant correlations between the English learning performance and gaming performance of the four different reward and punishment mechanisms groups, and the learning motivation and learning perceptions of the four groups were all significantly correlated.
The results of this study were helpful to provide future studies directions for researchers who combine digital game-based learning with language learning when designing reward and punishment mechanisms in digital-games. In addition, the system developed by this study could also provide future instructors with different rewards and punishment mechanisms in different teaching environments. | en_US |