A Game-based Learning App for Primary School Children

with German as a Second Language

Thomas Deutsch

, Stefan Hinterh

olzl

and Iris Groher

Institute of Business Informatics - Software Engineering, JKU Business School, Johannes Kepler University Linz,

Altenbergerstrasse 69, Linz, Austria

Keywords:

Learning Application, Game-based Learning, Rewards, Primary School, Second Language.

Abstract:

The use of technology and multimedia is becoming increasingly important in today’s classrooms. Digital

games are often used by teachers to complement traditional methods of instruction, even for primary school

children aged between 6 and 10 years. Studies show that these games have positive effects on learning out-

comes and increase the motivation of children. In this paper, we present a game-based learning application

we developed for children in primary school with German as a second language. The web-based learning

application provides different learning games that can be customized by teachers based on children’s needs.

Reading and writing skills are not required to play the games. To increase the motivation of children, we

integrated a reward system into the application, which can also be customized by teachers according to their

needs. We have already used the learning application in two primary schools in Austria and the feedback we

received was very positive.

1 INTRODUCTION

Software-assisted learning is becoming increasingly

important. The use of technology and multimedia

in classrooms supports teachers to complement tra-

ditional methods of instruction with innovative ap-

proaches that can change the way students learn. In

particular, computer games have high potential as ef-

fective learning and teaching tools in modern class-

rooms (Husni et al., 2021), as they can engage a new

generation of learners in a way that traditional educa-

tion does not (Whitton, 2007). Students’ motivation

is also increased through digital game-based learning

(Erhel and Jamet, 2013; Divjak and Tomi

c, 2011) and

games have proven to be particularly effective when

created by teachers (L

opez-Fern

andez et al., 2021).

Digital games are often used for learning foreign lan-

guages (Chiu et al., 2012; Chiu, 2013) but have also

successfully been used for learning mathematics in

primary school (Chen et al., 2015; Deng et al., 2020).

In Austrian schools, an increasing number of pri-

mary school children learn German as a foreign lan-

guage. Knowledge of German as a language of in-

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8536-983X

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6143-8776

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0905-6791

struction and the gradual development of educational

language competencies form the basis for participa-

tion in all educational processes and are thus a pre-

requisite for success at school.

To better support primary school children in learn-

ing German, we developed derdieDAZ, a game-based

learning application, in cooperation with Austrian

school teachers. We implemented three types of

learning games that can be customized by teachers

as needed. An important feature of our application

is that the games do not require reading and writing

skills, as the content can be provided with images and

audio ﬁles. To increase the motivation of children, we

implemented a reward system with both digital and

real-world rewards that can also be customized by the

teacher. The implemented reward system is based on

an analysis of widely used learning applications and

expert interviews. We successfully tested derdieDAZ

in two primary schools in Austria.

The remainder of this paper is structured as fol-

lows. In Section 2, we present the research method we

followed to develop the learning application. In Sec-

tion 3, we discuss existing learning applications and

the results of the interviews with teachers. In Section

4, we present derdieDAZ and ﬁrst results from using

it in two primary schools in Austria. We conclude the

paper with an outlook on future work in Section 5.

556

Deutsch, T., Hinterhölzl, S. and Groher, I.

A Game-based Learning App for Primary School Children with German as a Second Language.

DOI: 10.5220/0011126300003182

In Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2022) - Volume 1, pages 556-561

ISBN: 978-989-758-562-3; ISSN: 2184-5026

2 METHODOLOGY

We developed the learning application in cooperation

with primary school teachers in Austria. In the ﬁrst

meeting, the basic requirements for derdieDAZ were

discussed. The teachers stressed the importance of

supporting different roles (administrators, teachers,

and students) as well as support for customizing the

learning games. Support for audio output was also

regarded as important. The application was devel-

oped over one semester following an agile develop-

ment process and the teachers provided constant feed-

back.

To integrate rewards into derdieDAZ, literature on

gamiﬁcation and reward systems was studied and two

existing learning applications were analyzed. Two

semi-structured interviews with experts were also

conducted online and recorded with consent for the

analysis. The ﬁrst interview was conducted with a fe-

male expert in the ﬁeld of teaching with digital media

and the second interview was conducted with a female

expert in the ﬁeld of didactic and language acquisi-

tion for German as a second language. We asked our

interviewees about their experience with game-based

learning applications and how they have used these

applications in their classes. We further asked them

about the elements of game-based apps that they con-

sider to be important and whether customization is an

important feature. We also wanted to know what re-

ward systems (digital and non-digital) they have used

in their classes and whether these systems have in-

creased the motivation of students. During the in-

terviews, we showed them derdieDAZ and discussed

how reward systems could be integrated into the app.

3 EXISTING APPLICATIONS

AND EXPERT OPINIONS

In this section, we present the results of our analysis

of two existing game-based learning applications, An-

ton

and Scoyo

, and the two focus interviews we per-

formed. We selected Anton and Scoyo for our analy-

sis as they are the most popular learning applications

in Austria and Germany.

3.1 Analysis of Existing Learning

Applications

Anton. The learning application Anton is a web-

based learning app that provides over 100,000 tasks

https://anton.app/de/

https://www.scoyo.de/

and over 200 types of exercises, explanations, and

learning games. The application is designed for the

1st to 10th grades and it thus covers all years of com-

pulsory education. It includes learning games and

rewards in the form of stars and trophies as well as

matches the content to both the Austrian and the Ger-

man school curricula. Teachers can create groups that

represent school classes and students can be invited

to join these groups. For each group, the teacher can

deﬁne weekly learning packages. In Anton, users can

choose among different types of avatars, which can

be customized by selecting different types of clothes,

colors, and body parts. As noted above, when stu-

dents complete tasks, they receive feedback in the

form of stars and trophies, which are colored depend-

ing on the correctness of the answers in the learning

game. In addition to the stars an trophies, users are

presented with an avatar that performs a dance. They

also immediately receive textual and audio feedback

about their performance in the game. Users receive

coins for solving tasks. For every six stars or trophies,

they receive a coin. Coins can be spent on various dig-

ital rewards. For example, Anton offers games with-

out learning objectives that can be played by spending

one coin. Additionally, coins can be spent on individ-

ualizing the avatar.

Scoyo. The web-based learning application Scoyo

provides learning material for children from the 1st to

7th grades. In addition to school content, it offers ex-

tracurricular content such as trafﬁc education. Teach-

ers create accounts for students, assign students to

classes, and provide them with tasks. Similar to An-

ton, Scoyo supports the customization of avatars. In

Scoyo, coins are earned for each correctly answered

question in a learning game. These coins can be used

to buy items in the reward shop. There are digital

rewards in the form of additional avatars; however,

physical rewards such as key rings and cinema vouch-

ers can also be purchased. Scoyo implements a level

system where experience points can be collected for

correctly answered questions, which correspond to

levels. The app also gives immediate feedback to stu-

dents after each question. Trophies can be earned for

challenges, such as ﬁve correctly answered questions

in a row. Scoyo offers students a printable page on

which their achievements are displayed. Teachers and

parents can receive statistics about the results of stu-

dents.

Both applications include a reward system. They

support digital rewards in the form of coins that can

be spent for customizing avatars or, in case of Anton,

for playing games. Scoyo also includes a shop with

physical rewards. Both provide a user management,

where teachers can create groups for their students.

A Game-based Learning App for Primary School Children with German as a Second Language

557

3.2 Interview Results

Our interviewees had considerable experience in us-

ing learning applications. One used learning applica-

tions daily in her class. The primary school children

had fun with them and for her - as a teacher - it was

important that the digital devices were perceived as

working rather than playing tools. However, she also

noted that learning applications are not a complete

substitute for lessons, only a supplement. The data

from the learning applications were never made pub-

lic and only published on a privately run class blog on

which the relatives of the children (parents, grandpar-

ents, etc.) could see the results of the games. Creativ-

ity and individualization were considered to be very

important aspects of learning applications. In particu-

lar it was always important to obtain children’s feed-

back and show the results of their work to their fami-

lies and teachers. The interviewees agreed that teach-

ers need comprehensive statistics to monitor the work

of their students.

Reward systems were used both for groups and

for individuals. There was a mixture of rewards from

the application itself and from the teacher. The prize

for reaching the group goal was a special lesson out-

doors (e.g. on the sports ﬁeld). Individual rewards

usually amounted to small gifts such as erasers and

pencils. One interviewee emphasized that to be effec-

tive, rewards must be clearly deﬁned as rewards from

the teacher. When the goal is achieved, it must also

be clearly communicated that this reward now cele-

brates the children’s work accordingly. The experts

emphasized, however, that positive feedback is a very

strong motivation for children and, under certain cir-

cumstances, should be given priority over rewards in

the above-mentioned form.

4 THE LEARNING APPLICATION

derdieDAZ

In this section, we present the learning application

derdieDAZ, which is a web-based learning platform

designed for children in primary school with German

as a second language. We ﬁrst present how chil-

dren are supported by the app and how teachers can

customize the learning games. We also show how

rewards have been integrated into derdieDAZ to in-

crease the learning motivation of children.

4.1 Game-based Learning

The learning application derdieDAZ provides three

types of games covering entry-level skills of the Ger-

Figure 1: Main navigation screen for children.

man language: a quiz, a game for practicing personal

pronouns, and a game for practicing the structure of

sentences.

The application includes user management with

three types of roles: administrators, teachers, and stu-

dents. Each school using derdieDAZ has a dedicated

administrator that can create teacher accounts. Teach-

ers can create student accounts, with each student

linked to one teacher. Teachers can create their own

games to support their individual teaching methods.

Additionally, a set of example games is provided by

derdieDAZ.

In the next sections, we present how the differ-

ent types of games support children in learning the

German language and how teachers are supported in

creating new games for their students.

4.1.1 Playing Games

One important challenge we face is that children in

primary school can barely read during their ﬁrst year

in school. Our goal was thus to keep the navigation in

the learning app as simple as possible, ideally with-

out the need for reading skills to use the app. At least

for the login and tasks that require skills beyond the

children’s capabilities, we assume that the children re-

ceive help from parents and teachers.

Figure 1 shows the screen presented to children

after they login. The derdieDAZ folder at the top con-

tains example games. The three blocks below repre-

sent the different types of learning games supported

by derdieDAZ. The star on the top right is part of the

rewards (see Section 4.2). The dropdown menu navi-

gates users to their proﬁle page and the reward shop.

Quiz. The ﬁrst learning game derdieDAZ offers is

the Quiz (see Figure 2). This game includes a ques-

tion (in this example, ”Which animal is this?”), an op-

tional image to visualize or extend the question, and

four possible answers (”a snake”, ”a cow”, ”a horse”,

and ”a fox”), of which one is correct. The German

articles of the nouns are visualized in different colors.

Clicking on an answer selects and locks the student’s

choice. The student is then notiﬁed whether the an-

swer is correct. If necessary, the student may switch

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558

Figure 2: Learning game - Quiz.

Figure 3: Learning Game - Personal Pronouns.

into audio mode by clicking on the bottom right but-

ton. In audio mode, clicking on an answer, question,

or image plays the audio ﬁle provided by the teacher.

Typically, the student hears the teacher’s voice read-

ing the words and phrases. The goal of the Quiz is to

help children build their basic German vocabulary. It

can also be used to repeat other primary school sub-

jects such geography and biology.

Personal Pronouns. To help students learn conjuga-

tions of verbs, derdieDAZ provides a dedicated game

(Figure 3 shows the conjugations of the verb ”run”).

In this game, students are asked to move the words in

the third column to the appropriate place in the sec-

ond column. Once completed, students can review

their answer by clicking on the bottom middle button.

Correctly placed words are colored in green and in-

correctly placed words in red. The student can only

move forward to the next question once all the words

are in the correct order. Similar to the Quiz game,

students can listen to the audio ﬁles provided by the

teacher.

Sentence Structures. The third game provided by

derdieDAZ helps children learn the correct sentence

structures in the German language. In this game, stu-

dents must reorder a twisted sentence (in the exam-

ple of Figure 4, ”the monkey”, ”plays”, ”the guitar”).

Like in the other games, students can review their an-

swer by clicking on the bottom middle button. Cor-

rectly placed words are colored in green and incor-

rectly placed words in red. Similar to the Personal

Pronouns game, students can only advance to the next

question once the sentence is correct. Additionally,

Figure 4: Learning Game - Sentence Structure.

Figure 5: Creating a Learning Game - Quiz.

listening to provided audio ﬁles is again possible.

4.1.2 Creating Games

In this section, we describe how teachers can cus-

tomize derdieDAZ by creating learning games for

their students. Consequently, this part focuses pri-

marily on the teacher’s perspective for arranging and

providing content.

Teachers can create, edit, or delete games; stu-

dents, however, can only play the games that their

teacher has created. As some students may lack the

necessary reading skills and therefore face challenges

navigating through derdieDAZ, teachers can generate

a direct link to each game or folder.

The general process of creating games is similarly

designed for the three implemented game types. Fig-

ure 5 shows the teacher’s perspective for creating one

task within a quiz game. The teacher is required to ﬁll

in the empty text boxes and optionally upload a pic-

ture or provide a link to it. For the quiz, the teacher

aims to enter the correct answer in the green bordered

box. The button with the colored circle enables or dis-

ables the article coloring in the task. Tool tips are pre-

sented to explain the additional settings within each

game type. For all game types, derdieDAZ provides

the possibility to record audio ﬁles for text and im-

ages.

4.2 Rewards

The application derdieDAZ is designed to motivate

students in their learning activities through various

A Game-based Learning App for Primary School Children with German as a Second Language

559

Figure 6: Individualization - Unlocking Avatars.

mechanisms. The analysis of the two existing learn-

ing applications and interviews suggest that individ-

ualization help motivate studying. Thus, derdieDAZ

offers a range of avatars from which students and

teachers can choose. Additional avatars can be un-

locked by completing predeﬁned challenges. Com-

pleting tasks in addition to regular learning/playing

rewards students with points. These points contribute

to both the class-wide goal deﬁned by the teacher, and

individual points that can be spent in the reward shop.

4.2.1 Individualization and Challenges

derdieDAZ provides individualization in the form of

avatars. This allows users to personalize the user ac-

count and therefore increases the identiﬁcation of stu-

dents with their digital representation. This is further

enhanced by the possibility of unlocking new avatars

by completing special tasks (e.g., ”complete a game

without any incorrect answers”, ”play ﬁve days in a

row”). Avatars that can be unlocked are presented

in Figure 6. Locked avatars are colored in gray. By

clicking on one of the cards, the user is presented with

the necessary steps to unlock this avatar.

4.2.2 Points and Shop

Students in derdieDAZ receive points for playing

games as well as for playing several days in a row.

The points earned by completing one game are calcu-

lated based on the performance of the student. This

prevents students from simply clicking through the

games to quickly earn points. Teachers deﬁne the

maximum amount of points that can be earned in a

game.

These points are used as currency in the shop (see

Figure 7). The items available in the shop are deﬁned

by the teacher. In the default setting, the shop only

includes a downloadable homework voucher, allow-

ing students to skip one piece of homework of their

choice. The teacher deﬁnes the price of the voucher

and decides whether students are allowed to buy them.

The teachers receive a list of the purchases their stu-

dents have made and are responsible for handing out

Figure 7: Shop - Teacher’s perspective.

Figure 8: Class goal - Teacher’s perspective.

the rewards. Rewards can only be bought again by

students, if their teacher resets the reward for them.

4.2.3 Class Goal

To offer further motivation, derdieDAZ provides

teachers and their students with the option of deﬁning

a class goal. All the acquired points are then double-

counted: once for each student and once as a contri-

bution to the class goal. Figure 8 shows an example

of a completed class goal (e.g., ”one outdoor lesson”).

On this page, the progress of the class can be moni-

tored and if the goal is accomplished, confetti covers

the screen. Similar to the other aspects of the appli-

cation, the teacher can fully customize the reward as

well as the threshold and progress of the class.

4.3 Application in an Austrian School

derdieDAZ was continuously evaluated in two pri-

mary schools in Austria during the development pro-

cess. The application was implemented in an agile

way and thus feedback from teachers and students

was constantly incorporated. It received mostly pos-

itive feedback from students; they had fun during

the learning process and could navigate the applica-

tion intuitively. Teachers generally liked derdieDAZ;

however, they reported that it was time-consuming to

prepare games with various difﬁculty levels for their

classes. Therefore, teachers pushed the idea of prede-

ﬁned games that can be shared among teachers. In the

GonCPL 2022 - Special Session on Gamiﬁcation on Computer Programming Learning

560

future, we plan to extend derdieDAZ by incorporating

a community feature in which teachers can share the

games they have developed.

5 CONCLUSIONS

The game-based learning application derdieDAZ

helps primary school students with German as a sec-

ond language improve their reading and writing skills

using three game types. First, the quiz, a standard

”pick the right answer out of four” game, aims to im-

prove basic German vocabulary. The second, the pro-

nouns game, helps students conjugate verbs correctly.

Lastly, we provide a game to enhance sentence struc-

turing skills.

The main input for the development of derdieDAZ

came from teachers, the literature, the expert inter-

views, and an analysis of successful learning appli-

cations in the German market. After the ﬁrst ver-

sion of the application has been successfully tested in

Austrian primary schools, gamiﬁcation elements were

added in a follow up project. The goal of this project

was to enhance the learning motivation of students by

supporting individualization, class goals, and a shop

with rewards.

We have not yet evaluated the reward system of

derdieDAZ in primary schools. However, the feed-

back we received from teachers during a demonstra-

tion was very positive. An evaluation in primary

schools together with teachers and students is part of

our future work.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank the primary school

teachers and interviewees for their valuable input.

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