Roles of Edutainment in Teaching Vocabulary: Exploring the Perspectives of University EFL Instructors

Abstract

This quantitative study aims to explore EFL instructors' perspectives on the roles of edutainment in teaching vocabulary concerning students' cognitive, psychological, and social development. Therefore, the researchers developed a questionnaire to measure Saudi EFL university instructors' perspectives on the roles of edutainment in teaching vocabulary. Participants were asked to rank their responses based on a 5-point Likert scale. The sample consists of 91 EFL instructors in Saudi universities during the 2020 and 2021 academic years. Results indicated that edutainment contributes to vocabulary learning as most university EFL instructors use edutainment in their classes. However, not all of them are using it in teaching vocabulary. Generally, EFL instructors favored the edutainment role in developing students' psychological aspects over the other dimensions. EFL instructors extremely valued the crucial role of edutainment on students' attitudes, critical thinking skills, and communication while learning vocabulary. Likewise, EFL instructors appraised the essential role of edutainment on students' creativity, motivation, and satisfaction. On the other hand, EFL instructors moderately valued the role of edutainment on students' comprehension and collaboration while learning vocabulary. The study concludes with some recommendations and suggestions for further research.