PILOT STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE "RELAX 2" BOARD-GAME - IN IMPROVING VOCABULARY AND SENTENCE FORMATION SKILLS IN ROMANIAN

Oct 15, 2026

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Board games function as a motivating learning tool that supports multiple dimensions of children’s development. This experiment evaluates the effectiveness of using the “RELAX 2” board game in Romanian language lessons and examines shifts in Hungarian children’s attitudes toward Romanian. The game was designed for Hungarian-speaking learners to help them playfully master key vocabulary from elementary topics, expand their word knowledge, and practice sentence-forming skills.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

1. Introduction

2.1. The linguistic competency

PILOT STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE "RELAX 2"BOARD-GAME IN IMPROVING VOCABULARY AND SENTENCE FORMATION SILLS IN ROMANIAN Ana JUHÁSZ Abstract. Board-games constitute a tool that simultaneously develops children in many ways and motivates them to learn. The aim of this experiment is to examine the effectiveness of using boardgames in Romanian lessons and how the attitudes of Hungarian children change towards the Romanian language. To this end, the author created a board-game for Hungarian speaking children. The aim of the game is to bring the children closer to the Romanian language, to make it possible for them to playfully master the key words in the topics present in the elementary classes, to increase their existing vocabulary, and to develop their sentence-forming skills. 21 children participated in the research. The children learned 14 topics during the experiments, of which 7 topics were learned using traditional methods and also 7 topics were learned using the board-game. To measure the level of knowledge, the children wrote a test at the beginning and at the end of each lesson. The results show that children were able to learn more words using board-games than using traditional methods. It also became clear that when using board games, more than half of the children (56.46%) managed to form a correct sentence, while when using traditional methods, far less than half (35.37%) were able to form a correct sentence. By the end of the experiment, the children liked the Romanian lessons and their learning motivation increased significantly. Keywords: traditional method, board-game, improving vocabulary, sentence forming skills, learning motivation 1. Introduction Hungarian speaking children from Romania fail somehow to acquire Romanian language at an adequate level. These shortcomings are still very difficult or impossible to fill ulteriorly. Almost half of the eighth grader students do not pass the final Romanian exam, and their only option remains technical schools. Students who are preparing for high school graduation are neither able to perform well at Romanian language and they are disadvantaged at admission because of that (Balázs, 2006) . When we observe the curriculum that apply to teaching the Romanian language in Hungarian language schools, we can notice that self-expression is neglected and the formal acquisition of knowledge is more dominant (Tódor, 2005).This situation generates asymmetric bilingualism. Bilingualism implies the application of a simplificative language strategy. This means that the speaker does not want to make mistakes and he rather gives up or modifies what he wants to say because he cannot express himself because of linguistic otherness. Thus, communication becomes formal, and he cannot live the joy of telling something (Tódor, 2005) . In 2013, a curriculum development was started with the aim of finding solutions for the problems that affect the Romanian language teaching for Hungarian children in Romania. The curriculum introduced an education based on speech comprehension and speech production. Most of the pedagogues consider that the attempt to make easier the teaching of the Romanian language is good, as there are less texts, and children encounter easier, more understandable words in the elementary classes (Pap, 2020) . According to a research conducted in 2017, all the interviewed pedagogues agree that new teaching methods should be introduced in the teaching-learning process and children should be motivated (Molnár, 2018) . According to the special literature, the use of board games in language teaching can be a good method, it is a well-established method in English teaching, for example. According to the author of the Smart Cards, playful learning increases performance levels and motivates children to learn. According to her, this game develops foreign language competencies excellently (Osváth, 2013) . In the course of my research, I examine how effective

FAQs

What is the purpose of the pilot study?

The study examines how effective the “RELAX 2” board game is in Romanian lessons for improving vocabulary and sentence-forming skills, and how it affects Hungarian children’s attitudes toward Romanian.

How many children participated and what learning activities were compared?

Twenty-one children participated. Seven topics were learned using traditional methods and seven topics were learned using the board game.

What results were observed regarding sentence formation and vocabulary learning?

Children learned more words with board games than with traditional methods. During the study, 56.46% formed correct sentences with board games versus 35.37% with traditional methods, and motivation increased by the end of the experiment.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Aditya