Learners' perceptions of a commercial adventure video game for learning English as a second/foreign language

Abstract

This paper presents a study of a group of 60 Taiwanese EFL learners' perceptions of a commercial adventure video game for second/foreign language learning. The study results reveal that learners held a positive attitude toward the use of the adventure game for English learning and considered the game particularly beneficial to their listening ability, reading ability, and vocabulary knowledge. Learners also reported their enjoyment of using the game for language learning and stated enhanced motivation in English learning. Nevertheless, learners reported several language barriers encountered while gaming (e.g., fast dialogue, fleeting subtitles) and identified some weaknesses regarding the game designs. The research results of this paper identified both strengths and weaknesses of adventure games for EFL/ESL based on learners' perceptions, and should encourage more studies on the investigation of using adventure games in language learning.