Academic Writing English Department

Role of Technology for English Language Learners

By Lia Indriani Pancali (1610117320018)

Abstract

This paper examined the effect of a technology on students’ language learning motivation. There is no doubt that anything experienced in social life directly affects learners’ educational experiences. Highly popular technology are being used in almost every educational area. In the process of teaching English as a foreign language technology enhance active participation of learners for real purposes. This helps them gain motivation and real life experience through gaining different roles. One of the most widely used technology medium is video games. This paper aims to gain insight learners’ perception, the effect of video games for their education and social life, and the motivational factors to play video games

Keywords:

Technology, video games, language learning, motivation, and social life

Introduction

The millennium generation was born into a century in which the technology has started to dominate almost every area of daily life. Especially the internet use has become a significant part of their lives. From this generation's standpoint, technology is a natural part of their environment (Aydin, Gumusoglu, and Taskiran, 2018). This has led educators to blend their teaching with technology in order to provide learners with the optimum conditions for learning. Through the use of the Internet, word processors, video games multimedia, and practice programs, students can engage in individualized instruction designed to meet their specific needs and participate in cooperative projects that will foster communication with peers in their classrooms and throughout the global community. Video games as a powerful tool for foreign language instruction and acquisition, what many outsiders of the video game culture do not understand is that video games can be an expressive and interesting medium that can easily compete with the best that other mediums have to offer, and, like any type of expressive medium before them, video games have gone through a harsh trial by those who are bigoted, uninformed and prejudiced against this medium.

Video games can provide the ability to shape events, environments and positions in a way which is not feasible through any other medium. According to Jalalian (2018), "Provision of educational and specialized materials in an attractive multimedia space in the form of computer educational games is a new achievement which can enhance the motivation and enthusiasm of students and increase their accuracy and attention". During the educational games, students achieve new mental concepts and acquire new skills.

Body

Using video games to educate has long been a much thought-of goal, yet rarely an achieved one. Although video games may not yet be able to educate users in a content area effectively, language learners may benefit from video games. Educational software developers have struggled to present a substantial amount of content and context without sacrificing the degree of control game players expect.

Not many research has specifically targeted language acquisition through video games; however, various studies carried out over the years in several universities of the U.S, England and Sweden with students of different majors, as well as current language teaching methodologies support the use of video games to learn language.

Interestingly, in one study Ebrahimzadeh and Alavi, with over 1,909,447,000 gamers worldwide, video games affect the way people socialize, communicate, play, and learn, leading educators to investigate them as language learning instruments. English does play a secondary role when gamers are to obtain, create, use, or manipulate their items. It also comes into play if gamers are to understand their quests or effectively communicate with one another. Thus, English becomes a means to a greater end.

Another study done by Galvis (2015), police officers have to undergo extensive training by means of video games in order to simulate the extreme driving conditions they face while on duty. While the type of video games is not mentioned by either source, one can easily infer that such games are simulations and virtual extensions, that is, augmented realities of a real-life context.

Barreto, Vasconcelos, and Orey (2017) identified three main motivational factors that entice students to play video games: (1) achievement, which includes satisfaction from advancing in the game, competing with others, and understanding game mechanics such as rules and systems; (2) social, which includes satisfaction from socializing, developing long-term relationships, and being part of teams; and (3) immersion, which includes satisfaction from discovering hidden objects in the game, role-playing and customization of virtual characters. Although, motivation is a crucial element in language learning, motivation alone does not guarantee the acquisition of a language.

Nevertheless, Garcia (2015) emphasizes in his research that the natural repetition which is presenting video games, such as the constant set-up of mini-battles in role-playing games and the frequent use of interactive menus in virtual pet and simulation games, allows a language learner to be continuously exposed to the target language and creates more opportunities for acquisition to occur as opposed to other media, such as movies or books, which often do not reuse the same vocabulary or grammar, making acquisition more difficult and slow-paced. Interestingly enough, the repetition in video games allows a language learner to use their own initiative to use known language to decode unknown elements through constant exposure.

Furthermore, research on active video games for educational and physical purposes has been examined with the purpose of verifying improvement of attitudes, intellectual skills, knowledge, motor skills and Total Physical Response (TPR) associated with physical activity and physical education. Total Physical Response (TPR) activities are used in order to connect the language item whether, vocabulary or grammar, to a physical action, hopefully making the language easier to grasp, which is quite similar in video games where players perform on-screen actions that may serve to link the language they learn to their native language.

Video games evoke different emotions in people. Some might perceive them as nothing more than a tool of entertainment, while others might consider them useless and tools of bad influence.

It comes as no surprise that many educators and teachers are trying to add video games to their lessons and curricula design both to catch and retain the attention of students, not to mention to enhance the course content and like ability. Many business, medicine, and law schools in northern Europe are implementing video games such as Kristen’s Cookies, Dexter and Objection as part of their curricula, whilst other schools introduce more commercially known titles, for example Brain Age and Trauma Center to their science and math courses. It has been indicated that since many learners automatically assume educational games to be boring, identifying and selecting a suitable commercial video games may improve students’ motivation (Ebrahimzadeh and Alavi).

Conclusion

From all the discussion above, it can be conclude that video game  affect the way people socialize, communicate, play, and learn, leading educators to investigate them as language learning instruments. It also evoke different emotions in people. Video games have become increasingly widespread in their use, both as a hobby and as an educational tool. ESL teachers should be no exception and be able to make use of this technology to help students in teaching grammar points as much as in developing students’ speaking ability.

References:

Alavi, Sepideh and Mohsen Ebrahimzadeh. The Effect of Digital Video Games on EFL Students’ Language Learning Motivation. Teaching English with Technology: 87-112

Aydin, Belgin., Ayse Taskiran, and Eylem Koral Gumusoglu. Fostering Foreign Language Learning with Twitter: Reflections from English Learners. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education (2018): 100-116

Barreto, Daisyane., Lucas Vasconcelos, and Michael Orey. Motivation and Learning Engagement through Playing Math Video Games. Malaysian Journal of Learning and Instruction (2017). Vol. 14: 1-21

Galvis, Hector Alejandro. Laying the Foundations for Video-Game Based Language Instruction for the Teaching of EFL. HOW, A Colombian Journal for Teachers of English (2015): 107-122

Garcia, Sebastian Rubio. Strategies of Collaborative Work in the Classroom through the Design of Video Games. Digital Education (2015)

Jalalian, Farzad. Study on the Role of Video Educational Games with a Linguistic Approach in English Language Education of the 2nd Grade High School Students. Advances in Language and Literary Studies (2018). Vol 9: 59-64