The present study aims to determine the impact of tabletop role-playing in the development and elicitation of the interaction and mediation modes of communication in higher secondary EFL school students in Venice, Italy. Alongside the observation of linguistic skills, linguistic self-confidence and motivation have also been taken into account as a possible area of influence for the use of tabletop role-playing games. To determine the outcome of the games’ implementation in the classroom, the study has gathered a number of voluntary participants to take part in an after-school language workshop that indeed consisted in no more than playing Zalka’s (2016) simplified system for tabletop role-playing while prioritizing the English language over the student’s native tongue. The data gathered during the study were of duplicitous nature: quantitative data gathered through a self-assessment questionnaire and qualitative data from the compilation of anecdotal records. The elaboration of the data was conducted by comparing entry and exit self-assessment questionnaires while holding the anecdotal records as an instrument to better understand the context’s influence in the results. The final results of the present thesis see tabletop role-playing games as having a neutral impact on the researched linguistic abilities, perhaps because of the reduced time in which the participants were exposed to the method employed here. On the other hand, tabletop role-playing appears to have a decisive impact on student’s motivation and linguistic self-confidence, aligning with previous research in its findings.
La presente tesi opera a determinare l'impatto del giocare di ruolo da tavolo nello sviluppo ed elicitazione delle abilità linguistiche di Interazione e Mediazione in studenti di Inglese lingua straniera appartenenti all'istituto d'istruzione superiore Francesco Algarotti di Venezia. Oltre alle suddette abilità linguistiche, la motivazione e la self-confidence linguistica sono state prese in considerazione come possibili aree di influenza per l'utilizzo di giochi di ruolo da tavolo. Per determinare tutto ciò, la presente ricerca ha raccolto un numero di partecipanti volontari e li ha sottoposti alla partecipazione in doposcuola di laboratori che consistevano in non più che giocare al sistema semplificato di gioco di ruolo da tavolo di Zalka (2016) durante il quale la lingua inglese era privilegiata alla lingua natia dei partecipanti. I dati raccolti durante la ricerca sono di natura duplice: dati quantitativi raccolti all'inizio e alla fine dell'interezza dei laboratori attraverso la somministrazione di questionari mirati e dati qualitativi raccolti durante l'effettivo svolgimento di essi mediante la compilazione di registri aneddotici. L'elaborazione dei dati è stata condotta comparando i dati dei questionari di entrata ed uscita mantenendo i registri aneddotici come utile strumento di contestualizzazione dei risultati. In conclusione, i risultati della presente ricerca risultano neutri rispettivamente all'impatto del gioco di ruolo da tavolo sulle abilità linguistiche ricercate possibilmente a causa della ridotta esposizione degli studenti al metodo. I dati relativi alla dimensione motivazionale, al contrario, presentano dei risultati positivi che si presentano allineati alla tendenza storica di ricerche affini.
The impact of tabletop role-playing games as adapted by Zalka in relation to the mediation and interaction ESL language abilities and the linguistic self-confidence of secondary school students of the "I.I.S. Francesco Algarotti”
TAIARIOL, NICOLA
2024/2025
Abstract
The present study aims to determine the impact of tabletop role-playing in the development and elicitation of the interaction and mediation modes of communication in higher secondary EFL school students in Venice, Italy. Alongside the observation of linguistic skills, linguistic self-confidence and motivation have also been taken into account as a possible area of influence for the use of tabletop role-playing games. To determine the outcome of the games’ implementation in the classroom, the study has gathered a number of voluntary participants to take part in an after-school language workshop that indeed consisted in no more than playing Zalka’s (2016) simplified system for tabletop role-playing while prioritizing the English language over the student’s native tongue. The data gathered during the study were of duplicitous nature: quantitative data gathered through a self-assessment questionnaire and qualitative data from the compilation of anecdotal records. The elaboration of the data was conducted by comparing entry and exit self-assessment questionnaires while holding the anecdotal records as an instrument to better understand the context’s influence in the results. The final results of the present thesis see tabletop role-playing games as having a neutral impact on the researched linguistic abilities, perhaps because of the reduced time in which the participants were exposed to the method employed here. On the other hand, tabletop role-playing appears to have a decisive impact on student’s motivation and linguistic self-confidence, aligning with previous research in its findings.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14247/25164