Awardee: Kun Nie, Visiting Instructor in Asian Languages and Literatures
Kun Nie teaches Chinese in the Department of Asian Languages and Literatures. Her research interests include second language acquisition and technology-enhanced learning.
Research Assistant: Minghua Zhang (Pomona ’26)
Title: Using User-Generated and Game-Based Learning Platforms as a Break from Traditional Classroom Activities
Goal: To incorporate games to review vocabulary and grammar to develop students’ Chinese proficiency
Project Description
With the underlying notion that research details using games to review vocabulary and grammar is an adept way of developing students’ language proficiency, Nie will explore the use of two platforms, Kahoot! and Wooflash in her Chinese002, Elementary Chinese for Bilinguals and Chinese051A, Intermediate Chinese courses. Such platforms are really accessible, given all that is needed to connect is a mobile device to respond to instructor generated content that can be displayed in-class, or conveniently, through a screen-sharing platform like Zoom. The aim is for students to witness firsthand the research-proven benefits of multiplayer game platforms—increased learning motivation, communication, and collaboration—at least once a week when reviewing newly learned vocabulary, phrases, and grammatical structures.
Opinion polls offering students the opportunity to evaluate the format and content of the online games are set to occur around the midterm and final exam period. If at least 85% of the students demark the online games to be engaging and rewarding, the notion that gaming is a viable alternative, arguably less stressful, way of fostering learning within the foreign language classroom will be evermore reinforced.
Project Outcomes
Coming into Fall 2022, Nie implemented the use of two platforms, Kahoot! and Quizizz. Student insights reaffirmed the expected outcomes, with a consensus that the use of online games to review vocabulary and grammar was both engaging and rewarding. On the flip side, the percentage reports provided after each game helped Nie target future questions based on what students felt more confused about, thereby creating a self-sustaining learning cycle.
“Online games increased student participation and made the classroom more dynamic.”
– Kun Nie