Games as a teaching strategy to promote teacher-student interaction: an action research in secondary efl classrooms

Abstract

This research aimed at exploring the contribution of games as a strategy to promote interaction between teacher-student in EFL teaching and learning. The study took place at a secondary school located in the north-east of Colombia. Data was gathered through audiotaped observations, the researcher’s journal and non-structured interviews with 40 participants aged between 11 and 13 years old. The present study was guided by qualitative action research principles as a way to study, reframe and reconstruct instructional practices applied in concrete and particular research context. Content and interpretative analysis were carried out with the collected data. The obtained findings, ratified that using games as a pedagogical strategy develops attention, motivation, interest, participation and promotes teacher-student relationship; in the same way, the teacher managed to overcome the shortcomings presented and improved the classroom environment, fostering rules of mutual coexistence, such as respect, solidarity, tolerance among the actors of learning, making it a more meaningful process.