16 The Linguist Vol/60 No/3 2021
thelinguist.uberflip.com
FEATURES
LINGUISTIC ADVANTAGE
Gameplay from Deponia (above); and a
gamer plays League of Legends (right),
both useful for language learners
Is gaming really a waste of time or could it be one of our greatest
aids to language learning? Reza Shirmarz investigates
G
ames have always been an efficient
way to master new kinaesthetic and
linguistic skills, especially for our
youngsters. Computers and digital technology
have not only revolutionised education
systems, but also provided young people
with new forms of learning and learning
environments that are engaging and fun. As
child psychiatrist David Shaffer noted, "games
can bring together ways of knowing, ways of
doing, ways of being, and ways of caring."
1
It took a couple of decades, and
substantial technological, cinematic and
computer graphic advancements, for gaming
to transform from video games made of
simple moving objects into an extremely
complicated interactive and audiovisual
phenomenon. Today, games are considered
to be a means of cultural communication and
social interaction that can boost the
collaboration skills and technological abilities
of gamers.
English is now the main language used in
most internationally promoted games. Film,
theatre and TV have long been used as
supplementary resources for learning
languages, especially English, but in recent
years, gaming has surpassed them in terms of
helping young learners of English, particularly
in vocabulary and pronunciation.
This might also be the result of a
remarkable increase in gaming participants
over a very short period. From 2016 to 2019,
the number of gamers worldwide increased
by nearly 40% from 609 million to 850
million, according to Statista. In addition, the
time gamers allocate to gaming seems to be
much greater than the time movie fans
spend watching films. This means gamers are
more exposed to the English language.
Many ed tech companies have capitalised
on this, applying the artistic and graphic tools
of gaming (which itself borrows heavily from
cinema, theatre and music) to create more
pleasurable learning environments. The
popular language-learning games Fluent,
Professor Garfield, Bubbles, Fable, Deponia
and Firewatch are good examples.
Evidence is emerging that the impact of
gaming on English language learning differs
around the world. Research from Vilnius
University, Lithuania showed that the majority
Gaming to success
