The Effect of Digital English Activities on the Motivation of 5th Grade
Students
Gizemnur Şentürk
Büşra Şen
Beyza Naz Sebze
Çağla Nil Gündüz
Project Development in Education
2022-2023 Fall Semester
21.09.2022
Project Development in Education
Abstract
This article investigates the effect of digital activities on students'
motivation to learn English by making Turkish English teachers use digital
English activities. 5 Turkish English teachers working in secondary school
participated in this research. These teachers provided feedback by filling out
the forms prepared after using the activities in their lessons. Today, the
place of technology in education has an indisputable importance. Since today's
children are exposed to technology a lot, using digital tools during the lesson
will significantly increase the motivation of children to learn English. Data
for this study were collected and analyzed through face-to-face interviews.
Keywords: motivation, technology, english
teaching, digital activity
1. Introduction
With the introduction of the Internet into our lives, access to
information has become easier. Digital resources such as electronic books,
digital encyclopedias, blogs and articles allow information exchange and are
just a click away.The connection of the Z generation with the digital world is
an indisputable fact. Digital transformation puts an end to paperwork in
education and offers measurable instant performance and data, archives are accessed
within seconds. Thanks to digital education in education, students are more
active in the lesson and children focus on the lesson for longer because it is
more interesting than traditional education. With the development of
technology, traditional education has lost its influence today. Children
growing up in the age of technology cannot get efficiency from traditional
education. For this reason, schools should organize their education programs
according to this age. They should use Web 2.0 tools in the lessons.
2. Literature Review
According to Kapp, the use of traditional games in the classroom is
declining as technology can create more interesting games that fit students'
lifestyles. Online or digital games in the teaching process are more suitable
for students who can download apps to play on their mobile phones. Another
benefit of digital games is that they encourage learning. Students can perceive
the element of confrontation, gain a sense of success or loss, and receive
immediate feedback.
(Kapp, 2012) By integrating the digital games that
children play with pleasure in their spare time, it is ensured that the lessons
are adapted to today's conditions.Traditional education is gradually losing its
effect and new resources are being sought. At the forefront of these resources
is the developing technology and digital materials. Digital games increase
students' motivation to learn and make the classroom environment fun. In
addition, thanks to these activities, socialization in the classroom improves
and contributes to students' communication skills. Because students are active
in digital activities. In traditional activities, there is an understanding
that the teacher is more active and the student is more behind. This is
important for students' self-confidence.
According to the Douglas Fir Group, digital technologies transform
interpersonal communication. It expands people's opportunities to learn and use
additional languages, creating new purposes for interaction and new
environments where exchanges take place. (Douglas Fir Group, 2016)
Macaro, Handley & Walter noted in their research that students
generally respond positively to opportunities to improve their language skills
through the use of digital tools. (Macaro, Handley & Walter, 2012)
Good use of technology in classroom helps students in their literacy
development. (Levine, Ferenz, & Reves, 2000)
Multimedia technology combined with appropriate instructional design can
create a good learning environment that leads to effective language learning.
(Huang, Dedegikas, and Walls, 2011)
Co-creation between students, teachers, entrepreneurs and policy makers
should be encouraged to support innovative, efficient and user-friendly digital
tools in education. (Billore,
So., &Rosén, C. 2017. )
3. Methodology
3.1. Research Design
In this study, a qualitative research design was adopted to investigate
the effect of teachers' use of digital activities in lessons on students'
motivation.
3.2. Participants and Settings
The participants are in-service English teachers who have completed their
education in the Education Faculties of universities in Turkey.
The teachers consist of 5 people, both men and women. Some of these
teachers work at Ataköy Atatürk Secondary School, one at Aydın Lider Schools,
and one at Manisa Selimşahlar Ertük Secondary School.
3.3. Data Collection Tools
A blog is used to collect digital activities prepared for this research
and new entries are published weekly. Forms were prepared so that teachers
could give feedback on students' motivation after using the digital activities.
4. Discussion
The age we live in is called the
"information" age. We are living in a period when it is difficult to
follow technological developments. The speed of change is dizzying, the
innovations it brings are miraculous. These changes in technology quickly show
and feel their effects in our lives. The transition from chalk, which has been
used in classrooms for years, to blackboard markers, has replaced chalkboards
with smart boards today. With this digital development, today's generation has
grown up with technology and they want to see this development in education.
However, in many schools, the use of technology in education, communication and
informatics is very limited. Although our failure in education can be seen with
all its nakedness in every corner of our social life, the excuses of lack of
resources are always given as reasons. However, the fact that the only
permanent solution to all our problems is the investment we will make in our
people has been known and expressed for centuries. The aim of this study is to
present digital activities that will be used to train qualified students in
English teaching of the information and communication technologies offered by
the age. Since technology is not a static process, it is in constant change and
transformation. For this reason, this research will be more useful than
previous research. Education or training is a business of communication and
interaction. It is not possible to modernize education by ignoring
communication and interaction technologies. Contemporary, on the other hand,
can be defined as fulfilling the requirements of the age.
5. Implications/ Future Studies/
Limitations
The contribution of educational
technologies to education and the development of human beings is an undeniable
reality. It is of great importance that the teachers who will implement this in
schools are well-equipped in this regard. Educational technology increases the
student's perception capacity, increases the access level of each student in
terms of learning tools, enables the objective measurement and evaluation of
student success, gives each student opportunities in learning according to
their own characteristics, reduces the possibility of students forgetting what
they have learned, increases the motivation of students to learn, contemporary
teaching environment conditions. It encourages students to participate in
teaching activities by preparing them and offers life-long education
opportunities to individuals. If we want our future generations to shape the
future, we must attach the necessary importance to educational technology and
inform our students correctly on this subject.
With the rapid development of
technology, it does not seem possible to think that education and training will
continue in the classroom and face-to-face for many years.
Digital education process and digital
transformation in education; has accelerated and diversified in the last 1-2
years. While learning is in a concept similar to power point slides, there are
digital learning applications and digital learning in very different education.
It would be the best method to start looking for an answer to the question of
how digitalization in education will be, based on the logic of "in-class
training will decrease even more in the next education period".
While investigating the answer to the
question of how Digital Education will be, we can list other important findings
below:
Digital Transformation in Education,
which entered our lives thanks to Education 4.0 and digital learning; With the
advancing technologies and social media, the concentration time of the Y
generation, that is, the generation born between 1981-2000 and the Z
generation, which came later, on the classical lecture methods in the
classrooms is considerably reduced. This raises the problem of ensuring the
concentration of the participants on the subject in classroom training and
learning. Digital Education and Digital transformation in Education centers on
gamification. One of the first answers to the question of how Digital Education
will be is gamification. Generation Z grew up with computer games. Earning
points, receiving awards, competing are the definitions of this generation. Do
you know how digital education will be? Communication and interaction centered.
They use communication technologies very well. They are masters at Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram and all other communicative technologies. They can easily
find information on the Internet. They even have the world's information in
their pockets. It will definitely be online and mobile! With the digital
transformation in education, in-class education designs based on classical
expression will be abandoned. He should use many technologies together so that
he can receive education in the format he wants, wherever and whenever he
wants. Digital transformation in education should not be perceived as a
revolution that will take place in a short time, but should be seen as a
long-term evolution, and this process should be managed and directed by
professional/academic circles.
Devices or applications used in the
digital transformation of education are only tools. Transformation cannot be
expected to occur only by expanding the use of these tools. Therefore, it is
necessary to consider this as a mentality issue and to focus on the content,
software and the quality of the educators rather than the device used and
research.
No research can be perfect and fully
inclusive in all its aspects. We also encountered some flaws in our research.
Although our project was capable of adapting to today's digital world and
taking education and training to the next level, not every teacher was willing
to participate in the project. Some teachers did not have as much digital
competence as we expected. We did not know that we would encounter such a low
level of technology knowledge in our research, and we believed that teachers
could use the activities we prepared instantly. Some teachers asked for our
special attention, relevance and extra knowledge during this process, and this
cost us a lot of time.
6. Conclusion
It should not be considered a
prophecy to predict that the students we train today will be the dominant
generation of the society 10 or 15 years from now, and will probably be
employed in offices fully equipped with technological products, in service or
production sectors created almost entirely by the communication opportunities
offered by technology. It is an inevitable fact that societies have to get a
larger share of the world's resources in order to increase their quality of
life. Getting a bigger share from the scarce resources of the world is only
proportional to the "power" you have in the competitive free markets
forced by the new world order. This power is "knowledge". The most
effective and easiest way to reach "power" is information
technologies. Individual "power" is not desirable unless it serves
social purposes. Making individual power serve social purposes is possible by
providing cooperation between individuals. This cooperation requires
communication technologies. The biggest obstacle to achieving these is our
resistance to change. It is the duty of our teachers to break this resistance
and bring our society to the level it deserves in the contemporary world.
In summary, as a result of our
research, we observed that there were great changes in students' motivation to
learn English. The rate of participation in the course increased, their grades
increased and their communication with the teacher became stronger. As a result
of these changes in students, teachers also saw the importance of digitality in
education more clearly. As a result, the positive feedback they received from
the students showed that the teachers would also increase their motivation and
add digital activities to the progressing lesson processes.
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