2 Literature Review

Byrne defines “game” as “a form of playing governed by rules (Byrne, 1995)”, and according to Kapp & Cone, “A well designed game is a system, in which players engage in an abstract challenge, defined by rules, an interactivity and feedback that result in a quantifiable outcome often eliciting an emotional reaction (Kapp&Cone, 2012)”. Due to the particular physiological and psychological characteristics of primary students, games could be very useful in the process of English teaching in primary schools. According to Hadfield (Hadfield, 1984), games are ``activities with rules, a goal and an element of fun.'' Similarly, in Foundations of Early Childhood Education: Teaching Three-，Four-, And Five year-old Children, (Spodek, Olivia,&Davis, 1990) it is defined that "games are different kinds of playing activities. They are highly structured and include specific rules to be followed." So one of the activities used for warm-up are games, in which players or teams race to be the first to reach the goal, or in which players or teams work together towards a common goal. This makes a classification of games: competitive games or communicative games. (Hadfield, 1984)

2.1 Previous Studies Abroad

The relationship between teaching and games could be traced back to ancient Greece. Scholars of children’s education in ancient Greece had already put their focus on the roles of toys in teaching. Moreover, some philosophers and ideologists began to realize the educational function of games, and tried to discuss it in the theoretical level. Games were firstly combined with the moral education by the famous philosopher Plato. From then on, more and more games, such as guessing odd, throwing dices, has been used in the process of children education.