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2. Literature Review
As a widely spread brand new way of entertaining and advertising, video games have gotten much attention from all over the world. From last century, its educational functions such as skill gaining and subjects learning in classes also attracts some experts’ interests. But recently there are increasing studies investigating the impact of games on language learning.
There are a lot of respectable researchers dedicative to studies on video games’ function of improving players’ English skills.
The most remarkable linguistic potentials of video games reflects in vocabulary enlarging. Ang and Zaphiris (2006) found that video games contributed in ways that would be considered behavioral and in nature, which is known as Behavioral Theory. The repetition in video games is good for players’ vocabulary extension. Liss Kerstin Sylven and Pia Sundqvist (2014) conducted a study which underlined the finding that regular games have a significantly better English vocabulary than others. Turgut and Irgin (2009) found that video games are effective toward learning sub-skills, especially vocabulary and pronunciation.
Many researches about video games’ other linguistic benefits on video games were conducted. DeHaan (2005) conducted research to examine the role of video games in improving listening and reading in Japanese. The result shows that playing video games does increase learners’ ability in listening and reading comprehension and it lies in video games’ textual repetition, contextual clues, and simultaneously presented aural language. Johnson et al. (2004) employed software called the Tactical Language Training System to enhance communicative competencies of Arabic language learners. The software provided integrated training in culture and spoken foreign language. Results of their study showed that the software would enable learners, even those with low levels of confidence, to acquire communication skills in difficult languages such as Arabic.
Some researchers explored and proposed the theoretic framework of applying video games in classrooms. Ellis (2003) noted that video games are beneficial if used in classrooms, and when considering using video games in classrooms the learner is involved in the goal: communication. Communicative language teaching, and communicative materials, are designed to achieve this end.
Some researchers found that video games could be socially friendly. For example, Freeman and Capper (1999) put gaming’s real world validity to the test, finding that those who gamed to learn another language felt more comfortable when facing real-world pressures and had a better understanding of complex concepts than non-gamers.
While I was in Portugal, I found that a lot of my friends could speak English very well. Considering the more international language environment in European countries, I thought at the beginning it is nothing supervising. But one of my friends Filipe Neves told me later that he actually didn’t learn much from school, his English was improved mostly from games. To learn more about how video games function on language learning, I had an interview with some of them. They all had English classes since grade seven. When asked whether computer games had improved their English language skills, they answered in confidence “Definitely!” They gained English in different ways though even before they had English classes. At the beginning when little about English learnt, Holger Delles, one of the interviewees, played a series games published by the company Sierra where most of English words were new for him and among some commands of what he wanted his hero to do even need be typed. He bought a German-English dictionary, and went through games hardly. “It surely helped boosting my English,” Holger said, “Unlike in school where students never look up words, but when they come across new words in the games, they simply can’t progress if they don’t understand what is being said.” By contrast, Filipe, another interviewee never looked up dictionary when encountering new words, he liked to skip strange words and with the process of the game, he would understand anyway. They all marked that afterwards when they were comfortable enough to read English, they started to play more challenging games like There Is an Echo which requires more often to listen, speak and write. They also noted that most friends of them are like them and they found that with other conditions paralleled, people who played more games tend to speak better English in their own countries.