Video Games and English Vocabulary Learning

Abstract

Video games are technological tools which are useful for teaching English vocabulary, especially for high school learners. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of the use of video games on the development of vocabulary learning in the English language. The participants were 30 learners whose ages range from 14-16 years old from Unidad Educativa Juan Leon Mera "La Salle", a private school in Ambato, Ecuador. This was a quantitative and quasi-experimental research. The data was collected in three stages: pre-test, experiment, and post-test during seven sessions. The pre-test was an adapted test from the book "Test your vocabulary 2" published and distributed by Pearson education limited. Then, the material for the experiment consisted of one video game that was Pokémon Emerald. At the end of the experiment, the teacher applied the same test as a post-test out of 10 points. Learners obtained the grade of 5,15 over 10 points as average in the pre-test. It shows a great difference between pre-test and post-test in which the average was 8,4 over 10 points. Finally, the results showed that the students increased their English vocabulary using video games