Game Genre

Game

Title

L2

L2 Focus

Sample

(M/F; Age; L2P & G/N) a

Method

Instruments

Findings

Authors

MMORPG

Ever Quest II

English

Vocabulary

4 (16+; beginner, intermediate, advanced; non-gamers)

Qualitative: Case Study

Intervention:

16 hours

Post-game questionnaire

Chat messages

Game observations

Interview

Post-vocabulary assessment

(+) Intermediate and advanced ESL students increased their vocabulary by 40% as well as generated six times more chat messages than the high-level beginner and 2.5 times than the intermediate student; all four participants correctly defined 35% of words that were used only once in conversation with non-player characters and 55% of words that were introduced more than five times.

(−)High-level beginner and low-intermediate ESL participants experienced cognitive overload.

Rankin et al. (2006)

Ever Quest II

English

Vocabulary

24 (16+; advanced)

7 (16+; native speakers)

Mixed Method:

Between Subject Experimental/ Content Analysis

Intervention: Four hours

Pre-test

Post-test

Chat logs

(+) The ANOVA analysis of post-test scores revealed statistically significant difference between groups (p = 0.01): students who played with native speakers performed higher (55.56 ± 5.06) compared to single players (82.22 ± 5.54).

(−) Students who had traditional classroom instructions performed significantly (ANOVA, p = 0.02) higher on Vocabulary in Sentence Usage post-test (score 54.78/100) than students (score 16.16) who played game; no statistical difference between groups for Vocabulary in the Context of the Game and Vocabulary outside the Context of the Game.

Rankin et al. (2008)

Ever Quest II

English

Vocabulary

18 (16+; advanced)

8 (16+; native speakers)

Mixed-Method: Experimental/

Content Analysis

Intervention: Four hours

Pre-game vocabulary assessment

Post-test assessment

Chat messages

(+)The ANOVA analysis of Vocabulary in a Context of a Gameplay post-test scores revealed statistically significant difference between groups (p < 0.05): students who played with native speakers performed better (score 83.33/100) than students who had traditional classroom instructions (60) and students who played the game alone (57).

(−) Participants with traditional classroom instructions and participants who played game alone had similar scores in the vocabulary post-test (60 and 57); students with traditional instructions outperformed (score 54.78/100) students who played alone (16.16) and with native speakers (13.10) on Vocabulary outside the Game Context post-test.

Rankin et al. (2009)

Simulation

The Sims

English

Vocabulary

18 (M10/F8; 23; intermediate)

Quantitative: Experimental

Intervention: Four 55 minute sessions

Pre-test

Post-test

Weekly quizzes

Post-project Survey

Questionnaires

(+)Students from all groups enhanced vocabulary (7.30 ± 0.73); Students with mandatory supplemental materials performed better (7.88 ± 2.48) than students with optional (6.61 ± 1.62) and no materials (6.89 ± 0.58); 94% of participants reported that supplemental materials were helpful.

(−) The Tukey-Kramer post-hoc test revealed statistically significant difference only between students’ scores who had mandatory and optional materials (p = 0.035).

Miller &

Hegelheimer (2006)