The effects of serious games and blended learning on students’ achievement in reading

Abstract

Reading is considered one of the main skills that English as a foreign language learner needs to acquire successfully in their studies and lives. Yet, Jordanian learners suffer from a deficiency in reading and their achievement scores show weaknesses in reading. One of the suggested solutions to improve their reading is integrating serious games in the educational process since that serious games have been successfully applied in many disciplines. Still, there is a lack of research that explores the best practice of using serious games in classrooms. Hence, this paper aims to examine the effects of a serious game and blended learning model called lab rotation on students’ achievement in reading. The research design used in this study was the pre-experimental design that was conducted among fifty Jordanian undergraduate students who registered in the “Effective communication skills” subject for semester II, 2017 at Yarmouk University, Jordan. Moreover, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was employed in the data collection and analysis processes. The study’s results showed that utilizing a serious game and lab rotation model can improve students’ achievement in reading. Moreover, the study explored how students’ achievement in reading was improved after integrating the serious game and lab rotation model.