| Adventure | Back to the Future | English | Vocabulary Listening Reading Writing Speaking | 60 (M10/F50; 19) | Quantitative: Survey
Intervention: One hour | Survey questionnaire (open ended questions and Liker scale) | (+) 37 participants reported that game was helpful for vocabulary improvement (M = 4.17), 26 listening (M = 4.17), and 12 reading (M = 4.00); (−) Difficult in-game vocabulary; less gains in speaking (M = 3.00) and writing (M = 2.78). | Yang & Chen (2012) |
| Runaway: A Road Adventure | English | Vocabulary | 40 (M20/F20; 23-27/ intermediate) | Quantitative: Experimental
Intervention: 120 hours | Pre-test (TOEFL) Post-test (Spearman-Brown reliability: 0.803) Questionnaire (Liker scale) | (+) Experimental group outperformed control group in post-test: 16.75 ± 1.585 compared to 14.05 ± 1.326. (−) In experimental group male participants performed better than female; female participants enjoyed adventure video game less than male | Vahdat & Behbahani (2013) | |
| L.A.Noire | English | Vocabulary | 25 (M; 14-16) | Qualitative
Intervention: N/A | Interview Observation of a game play | (+) Positive effects on gaining new vocabulary and its retention. | Shahriarpour & Kafi (2014) | |
| First Person Shooter | America’s Army | English | Listening | 38 (M22/F16; 16+) | Mixed-Method: Experimental
Intervention: N/A | Pre-test Post-test Interview Questionnair (open-ended & quantitative) Observations of a game play | (−) No significant gains in listening comprehension (game tutorial group: pre-test 43.57 ± 15.98 compared to the post-test 47.86 ± 21.19; vocabulary group: 47.33 ± 20.82 compared to the post-test 47.33 ± 22.52; female participants reported the lack of interest in the First-Person Shooter games. | Anderson et al. (2008) |
| Sports | Jiikyoo Powafuru Pro Yakkyu 6 | Japanese | Listening Reading | 1 (M; 27; gamer) |
Mixed-Method: Case Study
Intervention: 30-minutes twice a week (one month) | Pre-test Post-test Observation of a game play Game logs (self-report) Interview
| (+) Enhancement of listening (seven additional expressions on the aural post-test were translated) and reading comprehension (pronounced 12 more kanji on the post-test and read some statistics in kanji). (−) Difficulty to focus both on game mechanics and on language learning. | DeHaan (2005) |
| Rhythm | Parappa the Rapper 2 | English | Vocabulary | 80 (M65/F15; 18-24; gamers) | Quantitative: Experimental
Intervention: 20 minutes | Pre-test Post-test Delayed Post-test Opinion self-report Cognitive Load Questionnaire: mental effort (a > 0.85) and material difficulty (a = 0.4583) | (+) Two-week delayed vocabulary post-test indicated that watchers forgot more words (from 23.27 to 16.03) than gamers (from 7.42 to 5.15) because gamers spend more mental effort; although this difference was not statistically significant (t(39) = 1.78, p = 0.082). (−) Cognitive overload; a paired-samples t-test suggestedthat players recalled significantly fewer words compared to watchers (t(39) = 11.63, p < 0.05); both group noticed and recalled less known words than they reported in the written pre-test of game lyrics (e.g., watchers decrease was from 35.8 to 21.70 words, while gamers’ from 35.7 words to 7.23). | DeHaan et al. (2010) |