Tailored RPG as a Supplementary Reading Pedagogy for Teaching English

Abstract

Even though English has become the main foreign language in Indonesia, The Ministry of National Education in Indonesia decided to remove English from the main subjects in elementary level due to the difficulties of teaching and learning. Hence, this study investigates the effectiveness of employing computer games as a supplementary pedagogy in English teaching to improve students’ reading ability and to reduce students’ learning anxiety. This study will be expected to shed the light on how to prepare creative reading materials by using computer games for English teachers, private or public schools, cram schools, and researchers. Ninety four students in a private school in west Indonesia were recruited as the participants. A mixed-research design was employed and twelve games were introduced to the students for six weeks.Moreover, a RPG workshop was presented to the English teachers for 4 weeks. Four research questions were developed, and the data were collected through pretest and posttest, classroom observation, teacher interview, and teaching reading strategy questionnaire. The results showed that the p-value of the t-test is < .0001, indicated that the RPG works as an effective supplemental teaching strategy. The students’ English proficiency improved significantly after the RPG intervention. The result also pointed out that RPG helped the students to be more focused on their assignments. Simultaneously, the English teachers perceived that RPG increased the students’ motivation to learn English. Therefore, all teachers agreed that RPG could be an alternative strategy for teaching English. They commented that RPG helped them to prepare the materials by using virtual characters to create meaningful dialogue, so the students could learn English more easily in a more interesting way. Overall, it can be concluded that RPG worked as an effective supplementary reading pedagogy in English teaching.