Video Games in the English as a Foreign Language Classroom
Tom A. F. Anderson, Barry Lee Reynolds, Xiao-Ping Yeh*, Guan-Zhen Huang*
Graduate Institute of Network Learning Technology,
*Graduate Institute of Learning and Instruction,
National Central University, Taiwan
ta@cl.ncu.edu.tw
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate potentials
of and to identify factors relevant to computer games at
the center of a course curriculum. In order to improve the
English listening ability of foreign language learners in
Taiwan, two types of lessons were developed for
America’s Army, a free-for-download FPS military game.
The current study compared different factors that
contribute to the possible success of lessons that use
video games as their core material. A deeper impression
of the feasibility of using in-game dialogue for language
learning was. Assessment of listening comprehension was
conducted in pre- and post-tests. The study shows
students feel they can learn English through a course that
uses computer games and gives directions for further
research.
1. Introduction
English, recognized by many as the international
language, is taught all over the world in English as a
Foreign Language (EFL). Students in an EFL setting lack
opportunities for extensive exposure to English, which is
necessary for language acquisition [1]. No matter the
teaching methodologies that they employ, EFL educators
around the globe have been exploiting realia media,
enhancing their instruction and giving students exposure
to abundant sources of input that are beneficial for
improving listening skills [7][8][9]. Throughout the years,
language educators have continuously urged students to
seek alternatives to static textbook pages and vocabulary
lists [3].
Authentic material refers to those media that native
speakers are exposed to in English speaking countries.
Many EFL educators and researchers advocate the usage
of authentic materials as a means of helping students
reach native-like fluency in a language [4]. Authentic
materials in the EFL classroom can have a positive effect
on learning [6]. Authentic language learning materials
can increase learner on-task behavior; additionally,
overall class motivation to learn class content may
increase when using authentic materials [18]. This may be
one of the reasons that foreign language movies and
culture classes that use authentic media are fast becoming
a standard in foreign language departments world-wide
[5].
Video games are a form of interactive and engaging
authentic materials currently receiving much attention
from educators [11]. They offer potentials in improving
EFL listening ability [10]. Listening comprehension can
be improved by providing audio lessons supplemented by
visual input and feedback [22], both of which video
games can provide. Research has shown games integrated
into mainstream classrooms support higher-level learning
and thinking skills [12], and can be especially helpful in
developing future professionals [13]. Though research in
the area is young, recent investigations probed educators
opening up classrooms to video games, video games for
language learning, and the changing role of the language
teacher in game-based learning environments
[15][16][17]. Research has shown that with proper
teacher guidance, video games, through the power of
simulation, not only promote higher-level thinking skills,
but also provide opportunities to delve into the language
and knowledge of professionals from other semiotic
domains [14].
The game America’s Army (AA) is comprised of in-
game tutorials and deployment in simulated missions. The
in-game tutorials involve realistic virtual actors speaking
hundreds of lines of dialog designed to provide players
with an understanding of the training that real soldiers
undergo in their training as well as to understand how to
play the game. Players are required to initially complete
training sessions covering basic rifle marksmanship and
movement prior to playing the missions. These training
missions involve listening to a virtual instructor (Fig. 1)
deliver lectures and instructions, and subsequently
performing actions as directed, quickly and accurately.

Figure 1. America’s Army screen-capture.
Sergeant says: “Good morning, Soldier!
Welcome to Basic Rifle Marksmanship.”
We selected AA for this current research for a number
of reasons: AA provides hours of dialog that teach real-
world skills—it taught a man the first aid he performed to
save a life [21]; AA is authentic—it has been one of the
top ten most popular FPS games for seven years as
tracked by GameSpy.com; AA is customizable—it comes
with a Mission Editor; and AA is affordable—it is a free-
for-download game. We propose an off-the-shelf video
game as a source of authentic, engaging, dynamic input
for non-native speakers of English.
2. Research Questions
The main aim of this study was to explore possibilities
that games, with assistance from English language
instructors, can afford for EFL learning. We constructed
three research questions to focus our exploration of the
possible potentials of AA for foreign language
acquisition:
1. What should a teacher do using AA in a
Taiwanese EFL environment?
2. How do students feel about using video games,
especially AA, for learning English?
3. Can AA increase the listening comprehension of
EFL learners in Taiwan?
3. Experimental Methods and Results
The two experiments that appear in this paper were
conducted as part of an ongoing investigation of
computer games for learning. Two researchers involved
in this study were experienced EFL teachers, and they
served as the instructors. Students at our university have
intermediate to advanced English abilities, and are
exposed to English language course textbooks, although
lectures are almost always delivered in the lingua franca,
Mandarin Chinese. Each student in these experiments was
provided with a dual-core Windows Vista OS desktop or
notebook PC sufficient for maximum screen resolution
and to enable simultaneous screen-capture. America's
Army: Special Forces (Overmatch) 2.8.3 for Windows
was pre-installed on each computer for each session.
An initial trial experiment probed perceptions and
expectations of computer games used for language
learning. The trial study generated initial impressions
about using AA for teaching EFL and provided direction
for the main experiment. Qualitative information gathered
from the subjects in the trial study was used to assist the
researchers in designing a second experiment. A brief
description of the trial experiment is given in the next
section, and a more detailed description of the main
experiment follows in the subsequent section.
3.1. Trial experiment
Eight subjects (three Taiwanese undergraduate
students, 1=M and 2=F; two university exchange students
from France, 2=F; and four Taiwanese high school
students, 4=M) were recruited to participate in the trial
experiment. All participants had studied English for at
least six years. All participants expressed a desire to
improve their English ability at the time of their
recruitment.
The trial experiment was comprised of five sessions; in
each, one to three students were guided by a teacher
through AA training modules. Direct instruction was not
given, but subjects were told they could receive just-in-
time assistance on demand. Observations were made by a
researcher in a non-teaching role, and screen-captures and
video were recorded for subsequent analysis. After
completion of a module of AA training, participants were
interviewed, with probing and follow-up questions for a
deeper understanding of beliefs and feelings.
3.1.1 Trial Experiment: Results. Students expressed that
they felt it was possible to improve their English in a
class using America’s Army. The most revealing finding
of the trial experiment was in response to the open ended
question: “How could a teacher help you to learn more
English from a class using America’s Army?” All
participants shared an assumption that vocabulary lists
should be first priority. Such a glossary was created and
utilized in one condition of the second experiment.
Responses given in interviews were used to generate the
questionnaires used in the second experiment.
During one-to-one sessions students were observed to
interact more freely with the researchers, asking questions
and shouting out unknown vocabulary more frequently.
During paired play, it was determined that headphones
were required to prevent interference with the other
student's game play, to allow students to concentrate on
the spoken dialogues in the game. During paired play,
students appeared to be more isolated, directing their
questions to each other more often than to the researchers.
3.2. Second experiment
For this second phase of the study, twenty-nine
(17=M; 12=F) non-English major graduate and
undergraduate students from a national research
university in Taiwan were recruited to participate. The
uneven ratio of male to female in this study reflects the
population of the engineering university that the
participants attend. Non-English majors were recruited to
represent average EFL learners in Taiwan All participants
had studied English for at least six years. All participants
expressed a desire to improve their English ability at the
time of their recruitment.
The trial experiment began to answer our first two
research questions, but the third—regarding listening
comprehension—was yet unaddressed. Our second
experiment was designed to explore more deeply what
was revealed in the trial experiment and to begin to fill in
the gaps. Listening is perhaps the most difficult language
skills to assess [19]. To investigate our third research
question, twenty short one or two sentence audio samples
were randomly drawn from the initial AA training
module, paired with matching multiple-choice questions
created by one of the researchers based on Brown’s [19]
paraphrase recognition standards listening assessment.
Each web-based listening pre- and post-test was
comprised of ten questions, randomized: each participant
answered a question once, either in a pre- or post-test.
3.2.1 Second experiment: Methods. Subjects were
randomly assigned to one of two conditions: Those who
received instruction covering the glossary of important
terms (vocabulary group) and those who received
instruction in how to move and navigate though an AA
training module (game tutorial group). The ten
vocabulary terms presented to the vocabulary group were
words that were used repeatedly in the initial AA training
module and appear on the academic word list (a list of
570 words frequently found in academic English
language texts [2]). The AA training module presented to
the game tutorial group was not the initial training
module that was used to generate both the vocabulary
word list and the listening tests.
The two teachers took turns, teaching either the
glossary or training modes in four different teaching
sessions of AA, such that each condition was taught by
each teacher an equal number of times. Each subject
signed up and participated in only a single session.
Blocking was employed to ensure that conditions were
balanced: Equal numbers of students from the prominent
groups were assigned to each of the conditions. In other
words, like numbers of males and female, like numbers
from different departments and like numbers from each
recruitment method were assigned to each of the two
conditions.
The activity flow was as follows. Subjects were first
administered a listening comprehension pre-test for 10
minutes. Next, subjects were randomly separated into an
instruction group, either for vocabulary or for game
tutorial, in which they were given 10 minutes of
instruction by one of the two teachers. After instruction,
subjects were brought back together and completed the
initial AA training module in 30 minutes—subjects who
finished before the other students were asked to repeat the
module for additional practice until everyone had
completed play.
Throughout game play teachers circulated about the
classroom providing help to all students and answering
questions. Following the completion of the initial training
module by all students, students were given the chance to
complete another AA training module for an additional
10 minutes as a distracter. At the conclusion of game
play, subjects were administered a web browser based
listening post-test for 10 minutes. Finally, they were
given an additional 10 minutes to complete a paper-and-
pencil questionnaire that contained both qualitative and
quantitative questions. Actions of participants were
observed and videotaped throughout the activity.
3.2.2 Second experiment: Results. Similar listening
comprehension abilities were found for both groups (See
Table 1). Statistical analysis using a t-test revealed no
significant difference between pre- and post-test scores
for subjects (p<.05). Despite an apparent small
improvement in listening comprehension scores in the
game tutorial group, we note no significance was found.
Test of Listening Experimental Condition
Comprehension
Vocabulary Game Tutorial
Mean S.D. Mean S.D.
(%) (%) (%) (%)
Pre-Test 47.33 20.82 43.57 15.98
Post-Test 47.33 22.52 47.86 21.19
* p < 0.05
Table 1: Vocabulary condition Pre- and post-test
Qualitative data collected from the questionnaires
indicate that subjects had a positive attitude towards
learning English through a game-based approach.
Subjects compared their learning of English through
games to that of virtual movies, most likely because of
the interactive features of AA. Most students rated their
English ability as being poor. Furthermore, the majority
of students felt that the support of an instructor was
necessary throughout the game play. They felt that it
would be difficult for them to be successful in the game
without an instructor to help with problems.
Many students wrote it was difficult to follow the
instructions given by the virtual characters because the
rate of speech was too fast and they were unfamiliar with
the subject area: military English. Some students
responded it was difficult to interact inside the simulated
world; some had difficulties with the training module.
Some students complained about eye strain.
Overall, most males expressed that they felt the game
was fun and interesting, whereas many female subjects
stressed a general lack of interest in FPS games, evidence
that a broad group of students may lack motivation to
play games from the military genre.
4. Discussion
The debate on whether authentic materials should be
used in the second and foreign language classrooms
continues to be a concern for educators [7][18]. One thing
that most educators seem to agree is that whether
authentic or modified, materials should be targeted
according to the comprehension levels of the learners
[2][20]. Future research on off-the-shelf games for
language learning should take this into consideration
matching learners’ abilities to games at the appropriate
ability level. Locating games with appropriate content for
mature learners with low English abilities is an ongoing
challenge—one that could be overcome if more game
designers became more aware of the enormous market of
language learners.
Playing video games will prepare students for social
participation. It is common for groups of friends to play
video games in their leisure time. Computer games can
provide a natural bond for foreign language learners who
would like to become friends with native speakers.
However, playing and talking about these games requires
a particular frame of reference, a different set of
vocabulary than is generally taught in the language
classroom. By bringing video games into the forefront of
an elective language course, students will learn language
from in-game dialogues and textual prompts as well as
learning to talk about the games in English.
The role of Asian culture likely played a part in our
students’ poor self-perception of their English abilities.
Subjects may simply not be familiar with American
military culture and thus performed poorly. Past research
[4] has indicated that the teaching of culture is essential
when utilizing authentic materials for a classroom.
Future research in this area of game-based language
learning should seek to account for the active role that
culture plays in language acquisition.
For playing a game to become a learning process, the
teacher’s role—to promote analysis and reflection—is
very significant [23]. In our study, though requiring
additional preparation time to prepare tests and short (ten
minute) lessons, the teaching load was relatively
moderate. An improved method of just-in-time help may
be beneficial for students if, especially to prepare students
for virtual characters with fast paced speech. We are left
with the impression that it is feasible to use the dialogue
in computer games for language learning.
Educators of all domains hope students spend an
abundant amount of time practicing and studying the
content. Game-based learning advocates must recognize
that extended gaming can possibly lead to eye strain or
headache, a point that future designers for game-based
learning should take into consideration—preventing
students from focusing on one area of the screen for too
long while also requiring students to alternate between
game play and breaks is a necessity.
Figure 2. Medic training in a simulated
classroom in America’s Army.
Even though AA was initially chosen because it was
successful in teaching someone CPR without real-world
instruction [21] (see Fig. 2), the determination of games
that better appeal to a female audience should be
explored. Although students in our study are mature
enough to understand the difference between real world
and simulated worlds, AA involves shooting of firearms:
this type of game play may not be suitable all ages.
We worked under an assumption that paying attention
to instructional aspects of the game is important to
learning. This assumption was echoed in the responses
made by participants; however, future research should
investigate differences in language acquisition between
learners who attend to instructional aspects of video
games and those who play freely, skipping tutorial
elements. Further studies could investigate the role of
guidance of language teachers, who may draw the
attention of learners to certain language elements, and
whether such a direction would lead to an increase in
such activities in other situations.
5. Conclusions
Computer games provide language-laden, rich and
entertaining vistas onto immersive simulated worlds. We
believe properly designed activities for simulated worlds
in the classroom is a promising direction for learning,
which can result in dramatic improvements to a
traditional classroom. Our work demonstrates a
possibility that language learning can be supported by
digital games. Much like movies and other media, some
video games provide a window onto the world, a resource
that can and should be tapped for learning.
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