Theuseofamassivemultiplayeronlinerole‐playinggame
(MMORPG)asatoolforEnglishlanguageeducation
KyotoUniversityGraduateSchoolofHumanandEnvironmentalStudies
DrMarkPeterson
Thisqualitativeresearchinvestigatedtheuseofacommercialmassively
multiplayeronlineroleplayinggame(MMORPG)asatoolinEnglishlanguage
educationinvolvinglearnersbasedinJapan.Theaimsofthisexploratory
researchweretoestablishtheviabilityofthistypeofcomputergameasa
platformforacomputerassistedlanguagelearning(CALL)project,andtocollect
dataonlearnerattitudesandinteraction.Thisactivitywasundertakeninorder
toestablishifplayingthegamewouldelicittypesofinteractionindentifiedas
beneficialinsecondlanguageacquisition(SLA)research.Alongitudinalstudy
wasconductedoverthecourseofthe2011‐2012academicyearandinvolved
undergraduateintermediatelevellearnersofEnglishasaforeignlanguagebased
atKyotoUniversity.Thelearnersparticipatedinweeklygamesessionsina
popularcommercialMMORPG.Participanttranscriptdatawascollectedovera
sustainedperiodandwassubjecttodiscourseanalysis.Thissourceofdatawas
supplementedbyresearcherobservationandlearnerfeedbackcollectedfroma
post‐studyquestionnaire.Thedataanalysisrevealsanumberofsignificant
findings.Thetranscriptandobservationdatashowsthatalthoughthe
participantsencounteredanumberofdifficultiesduringtheirgameplayasthis
researchprogressedtheybecameincreasinglycomfortable.Thisfinding
indicatesthatMMORPGsmayrepresentviableplatformsforCALLprojects
involvingintermediatelevellearnersofEnglish.Analysisofthelinguisticoutput
producedduringthegamingsessionsfurtherprovidesevidencethatduring
interactionwithotherplayersinthegametheparticipantsengagedinformsof
purposefulinteractionassociatedwithSLA.Inthiscontext,significantformsof
interactionindentifiedinthedataincludedcollaborativedialogueinvolving
assistance,co‐constructionandtheconsistentproductionofcoherenttarget
languagelinguisticoutput.Moreover,itwasfoundthatthelearnersengagedin
formsofsocialinteractioninvolvingtheappropriateuseofpolitenessandthe
establishmentandmaintenanceofcollaborativerelationships.Thesewerebased
onreciprocityandthefrequentexchangeofpersonalinformation.Thedata
indicatesthattheaboveformsofinteractionfacilitatedtheoperationofstatesof
intersubjectivity.Learnerfeedbackwasbroadlypositive.Theparticipants
identifiedanumberofbenefitsofparticipatinginthisresearchincluding
opportunitiesforrisk‐taking,fluencypracticeandexposuretonewvocabulary
notnormallyencounteredintraditionallanguageclassrooms.Thefindingsof
thisstudyhavebeenreportedinthepublicationslistedbelow.Thepositive
findingsofthisresearchwillformthebasisoffuturestudiesthatarenowinthe
planningstage.ThisworkwillseektofurtherexplorethepotentialofMMORPGs
astoolsthatprovideameanstofacilitatelanguagelearningthroughinteraction.
References
Peterson,M.(inpress).ComputerGamesandLanguageLearning.Palgrave
MacMillan.
Peterson, M. (2012). Learner interaction in a massively multiplayer
online role playing game (MMORPG): A sociocultural discourse analysis.
ReCALL, 24, 361-380.