O impacto do uso do card game Magic: the Gathering na aprendizagem de inglês como L2 para estudantes de escolas públicas de Natal/RN

Abstract

The use of games in language teaching has increasingly been explored as a pedagogical strategy, particularly concerning motivation and implicit learning. This thesis investigates the impact of the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering on English as a second language (L2) learning among 8th-grade students from public schools in Natal/RN. The study's main objective is to assess whether integrating Magic: The Gathering into L2 teaching can contribute to improving reading comprehension and reading of conditional sentences, as well as analyzing its impact on student motivation. The research was conducted with 76 students, aged between 13 and 15, divided into experimental and control groups. The theoretical-methodological foundation is based on game-based learning, drawing from Gee (2008) and Prensky (2012), as well as studies by Brown (2007), Souza and Almeida (2007), and Thomas and Reinders (2010). For second language acquisition, the study relies on Lightbown and Spada (2013), while Gardner’s theory (1983) supports the analysis of motivation. Additionally, the reading model by Gagné et al. (1993) and contributions from Forster et al. (2009) in the field of cognitive psycholinguistics provide insight into the cognitive processes involved. Csikszentmihalyi’s (1990) flow theory underpins the analysis of participant motivation during the intervention. Pre-tests and post-tests were administered to measure the performance of the experimental and control groups in reading comprehension. Data were analyzed separately for male and female students in all stages of the study. The results suggest that the use of the game can significantly increase student motivation and improve the reading of conditional sentences. However, no evidence was found that Magic: The Gathering has a significant impact on overall reading comprehension. These findings highlight the potential of strategic card games as a pedagogical tool in language teaching, contributing to the fields of Applied Linguistics and Psycholinguistics by providing empirical data on their use in educational contexts.