Effects of the design factors of skill training game on learning performance and emotion

Abstract

Skill training games are different from general cognitive learning games. The design of skill training games not only emphasize on assisting learners to learn facts and knowledge, but also on assisting learners to train some kinds of skills by repetitive operation and practice. To design skill training game for supporting effective learning, exploring how the key game design factors including concentration, feedback, challenge matching with player skills, control, and immersion affect learners` learning performance and emotion has become an essential research issue. Thus, this paper chooses two online English typing game sites with statistically significant difference in game design factors to investigate the effects of game design factors on learners` emotion and learning performance. Moreover, correlations among the considered game design factors, learners` emotion and learning performance were explored as well. In total, 97 elementary school students from Kaohsiung city, Taiwan were recruited as research participants to take part in the experiment. All participants were randomly assigned into the learning group using the typing game site - fast typing master (FTM) and the learning group using the typing game site - Internet typing classroom (ITC) to promote English typing skills. Analytical results show that the FTM has significantly higher evaluation scores in the five considered game design factors than the ITC. However, the both typing game sites have the same learning performance in promote learning performance of learners in English typing skills. Also, using the FTM to promote the learning performance of male learners is superior to the ICT, but there is no significant difference for female learners. Moreover, this study further confirms that the FTM with a higher evaluation scores in the game design factors leads to significantly more negative emotion for the female learners than the ITC, but there is no significant difference for male learners. Moreover, this study demonstrates that the game design factor of feedback is significantly correlated with learners` emotion and learning performance under some considered learning groups, but the other factors are only significantly correlated with learning performance. To consider the edutainment effects of an educational game, this study suggests that the most important game design factor in developing English typing games is the feedback mechanisms of the game. Finally, this study also finds that there is a significantly positive correlation between the learning performance and the positive emotion for learners with low typing skills, but there is no significant difference for learner with high typing skills. The research results of the study provide some valuable references for game designers to develop effective skill training games, and further clarify what is the most important factor in design of skill training games.