ABSTRACT

Many English as a foreign language (EFL) learners worldwide spend hours playing commercial-off-the-shelf massively multiplayer online games. They engage in a multitude of different interactions with the game environment and possibly with other gamers, using English as the predominant medium of communication. This raises the question of whether playing such games improves these learners’/gamers’ speaking performance over time. Drawing on usage-based theories of language learning, this longitudinal mixed-methods case study addressed this question by measuring six EFL gamers’ speaking performance in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) over the course of six months, and exploring their perceptions relating to the gaming environment and their language learning. The participants played in two teams: Team 1 with low-intermediate and Team 2 with high-intermediate proficiency. Each team comprised three EFL gamers and a native English speaker. Overall, the results appeared positive for the EFL gamers on both teams but in different ways. Their speaking performance showed improvements in 50% of the CAF indices. These results are discussed in light of the gamers’ perceptions about the dynamics of in-game communication, the game’s socio-affective environment, and the development of their speaking performance.

摘要

世界各地的许多英语作为外语 (EFL) 学习者会花几个小时玩商业现成的大型多人在线游戏。他们与游戏环境以及可能与其他游戏玩家进行多种不同的交互，使用英语作为主要的交流媒介。这就提出了一个问题：随着时间的推移，玩此类游戏是否会提高这些学习者/游戏玩家的口语表现。这项纵向混合方法案例研究借鉴基于使用的语言学习理论，通过测量六名 EFL 游戏玩家在六个月内的复杂性、准确性和流畅性 (CAF) 方面的口语表现，并探讨他们对游戏环境和语言学习的看法，解决了这个问题。参赛者分为两队：第 1 队为中低水平，第 2 队为中高水平。每支球队均由三名 EFL 球员和一名以英语为母语的球员组成。总体而言，结果对两支球队的 EFL 球员来说都是积极的，但方式不同。他们的口语表现显示 50% 的 CAF 指数有所提高。这些结果是根据游戏玩家对游戏中交流动态、游戏社会情感环境以及他们的言语表现发展的看法进行讨论的。