| Abstract |
Language anxiety is one of the major elements that often affect students’
performance and acquisition of English language. It occurs more frequent in
output-based activities such as speaking (Chiu et al., 2010; Atas, 2015).
Students easily become apprehensive when asked to give oral presentations
or performing in front of other students, leading to an increased level of
anxiety. As a result, they are reluctant to speak and choose to remain silent
for fear of creating mistakes and get corrected in front of others (Yalcin &
Incecay, 2014). Hence, in order to eliminate anxiety, the Spin & Stack game is
introduced. The purpose of the game is twofold; it is entertaining and
educational. The game pack consists of a 54-blocks tower, a spinning wheel
and coloured stars. To begin, players will first spin the wheel to determine a
colour. Once the colour is determined, player has to move the same coloured
block from the tower. After slowly pulling out the block, player needs to
complete a speaking task imprinted on the block and finally, stack the block
crosswise on top of the tower. To add competition, the number stated on the
sides of the block indicates the level of speaking task (1 – leisure topic; 2 –
creative topic; 3 – educational topic) and also the amount of stars to collect
upon completion of each task. The process is then repeated with other
players until the tower topples down. Player with the most stars is declared
the winner. The novelty of this game lies in its multi-game play feature as it
can be played in various ways in order to motivate and enhance players’
interest. It can also be played without the spinning wheel for a less
challenging experience and may involve two to four players from different
levels of proficiency.
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