Can I say something? The effects of digital game play on willingness to communicate.
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Other Title
Authors
Reinders, Hayo
Wattana, Sorada
Wattana, Sorada
Author ORCID Profiles (clickable)
Degree
Grantor
Date
2014-06-01
Supervisors
Type
Journal Article
Ngā Upoko Tukutuku (Māori subject headings)
Keyword
CALL (computer-assisted language learning)
language play
second language acquisition (SLA)
gaming
language play
second language acquisition (SLA)
gaming
ANZSRC Field of Research Code (2020)
Citation
Reinders, H., and Wattana, S. (2014). Can I say something? The effects of digital game play on willingness to communicate. Language Learning & Technology, 18(2), p.101-123
Abstract
This paper reports on a study into the effects of digital game play on learners’ Willingness to Communicate (WTC), or individuals’ “readiness to enter into discourse at a particular time with a specific person or persons, using a L2” (MacIntyre, Dörnyei, Clément, & Noels, 1998, p. 547). Thirty Thai learners of English as a foreign language enrolled in a University language course completed six 90–minute lessons playing Ragnarok Online, a popular online role–playing game. The game had been installed on a private server and was thus only available to participants in the study. We modified the game to include special instructions, or quests (missions that players are assigned to accomplish in order to get items and progress throughout the game), designed to encourage collaboration and communication. To gauge participants’ WTC, a series of questionnaires was designed, adapted from MacIntyre et al’s (2001) WTC scale and previous studies on language and communication anxiety (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986; McCroskey & Richmond, 1982) and perceived competence (Compton, 2004; MacIntyre & Charos, 1996). These asked respondents about their (own perceptions of their) willingness to use English, as well as their confidence, anxiety, and perceived communicative competence in communicating in English. The questionnaires were administered at the start of the course, and again after six gaming sessions. Results on the first set of questionnaires showed that students had low confidence, high anxiety, low perceived competence, and low WTC. The second set of results showed a marked and significant improvement, with participants feeling more confident, less anxious, more competent, and more willing to communicate. We argue that the careful construction of tasks that draw on the affordances of games can have a positive effect on the language learning process.
Publisher
Sponsored by the National Foreign Language Resource Center (NFLRC) at the University of Hawai’i, University of Hawai‘i Center for Language and Technology (CLT), and the Center for Language Education, and Research (CLEAR) at Michigan State University
Permanent link
Link to ePress publication
DOI
Copyright holder
© Hayo Reinders & Sorada Wattana
Copyright notice
Copyright © 2014,