Learning academic vocabulary is part of the curriculum for elementary students.
Many gifted students learn new words easily but do not necessarily feel positive about
studying vocabulary at school. They also do not transfer these words to their own writing.
This researcher used games in her own fifth-grade classroom to teach vocabulary and
measured the use of these words in the students' writing. This study also examined
students' attitudes about learning vocabulary through games. This mixed-methods study
used quantitative data to study the students' retention of the vocabulary words, their usage
of the words in their writing, and their attitude toward playing games to learn vocabulary.
The researcher also used qualitative data to measure the students' attitudes toward
learning with games. Three different vocabulary games were used and one editing game
was used during this 18-week study. Quantitative data from test scores and questionnaire
responses were analyzed comparing pre and post responses. Writing samples and word
tallies were collected throughout the study. Students learned the definitions of vocabulary
words while playing games and retained the meanings after 18 weeks, achieving a mean
score on the posttest of 71%. No significant usage of the relevant words in student
writing samples was found. Qualitative data from questionnaires and field notes were
coded and analyzed. A significant gain was shown in how students felt about studying
vocabulary after playing games. This study showed positive results in all areas measured.