EXPLORING HOW RURAL SCHOOL STUDENTS IN TURKEY STUDY WITH EUROPEAN STUDENTS COLLABORATIVELY TO SUPPORT THEIR LANGUAGE LEARNING AND CULTURAL EXCHANGE: TECHNOLOGY AND GAME-BASED EUROPEAN PROJECT

A language can be best learned by using that language in real communicative situations as one of the features of the communicative approach of language learning (Gulden & Tapan, 2003). Moreover, a game is one of the most appropriate strategies arranged for preschool children to create an interaction among students, to make them convey messages through languages and reflect their culture (Clarke, 2009). This is also valid for older children especially who are in the age of primary or elementary school. The students participated in the present study applied their English knowledge to communicate interculturally while they were playing and introducing their national games through the European project. Furthermore, they integrated technology into their language activities as students have positive attitudes towards technology-enhanced learning systems (Lin & Yang, 2011; Green, Sha, & Liu, 2011). The purpose of the study is to enhance the quality of cultural relations, to develop language skills by increasing collaboration and communication among European students and teachers, and to promote language learning by integrating Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and games into learning environment.
The European Project utilized among Turkey, Romania, Spain, and Norway. Students participating in the study were from a school in a rural region of Turkey. The school was in small town and had one hundred students coming from different villages of the town. Eighteen students from fifth and sixth grade included in the Comenius project. Most of the students’ families have low socio-economic status and come to the school from different villages by bus. Most of them do not have computer and internet connection at their homes. The school has one Information Technologies classroom including 21 computers and Internet connection.
In addition to the students, English teacher and Information Technologies (IT) teacher were also participants of the study. They placed in the project as designers, operators, and facilitators. To examine the impact of technology and game integrated language learning on students’ learning in detail, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from the students and the teachers through the questionnaire and open-ended questions following the questionnaire.
The results of the study showed that all of the students saw the lessons better organized and more motivating than traditional lessons. Students thought that their English teacher was enthusiastic and the class was more dynamic with technology and game integrated lessons. Students stated that the technology and game integrated activities helped them to understand the information easily comparing traditional ones. All students found the resources interesting and thought that they made the lessons interactive. They thought that they could study collaboratively with their friends to complete the tasks and work both individually and collaboratively. They expressed that they could clearly understand the tasks in the lessons and pay attention to the activities better than the activities in traditional form. They stated that the type of the lessons increased their creativity, they could ask questions, and they enjoyed using computer during lessons. Finally, they stated that they liked learning English through games and using ICT (Information and Communication Technologies).