In-Game Social Interactions to Facilitate ESL Students' Morphological Awareness, Language and Literacy Skills

Abstract

Video games that require players to utilize a target or second language to complete tasks have emerged as alternative pedagogical tools for Second Language Acquisition (SLA). With the exception of vocabulary acquisition, much of the prior research in game-based SLA fails to gauge students' literacy skills, specifically their morphological awareness or understanding of the smallest meaningful linguistic units (e.g., prefixes, suffixes, and roots). Given this shortcoming, we utilize a two-player online game to facilitate social interactions between Native English Speakers (NES) and English as a Second Language (ESL) students as a mechanism to generate ESL students' written output in the targeted language and draw attention to their morphological awareness. Analysis of chat logs demonstrates the game's potential to enhance ESL students' morphological awareness and other important L2 literacy skills such as word reading accuracy. Both NES and ESL students' reflections of their gameplay experiences suggest game design modifications that promote ESL students' willingness to communicate with NES while developing their morphological awareness and practicing their L2 communication and literacy skills.

Effectiveness Of Card Games in English Vocabulary Learning Among Chinese Public Primary School ESL Students

“…A recent study conducted by Liu et al (2021) reveals that most teachers have a positive view of the games in motivating English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners towards learning English. Similarly, another study on video games facilitating ESL students' language skills shows that the game has an impact on increasing ESL students' reading accuracy based on the comparison of the pre-test and post-test results (Rankin et al, 2021). Furthermore, as noted by Saha & Singh (2016), games encourage learners to participate in academic activities and create a context based on real life for them to apply English in ESL classrooms.…”

“…Several studies have researched the relationship between game-based learning and English as a second language (ESL) learners (Liu et al, 2021;Rankin et al, 2021;Idris, Said, & Tan, 2020). Many researchers have pointed out the significance of GBL in motivating and engaging learners to learn through games with defined outcomes.…”