Why Digital Games Can Be Advantageous in Vocabulary Learning
Open accessAbstract
Vocabulary learning is an integral part of language learning; however, it is difficult. Although there are many techniques proposed for vocabulary learning and teaching, researchers still strive to find effective methods. Recently, digital games have shown potentials in enhancing vocabulary acquisition. A majority of studies in digital game-based vocabulary learning (DGBVL) literature investigate the effectiveness of DGBVL tasks. In other words, there are enough answers to what questions in DGBVL literature whereas why questions are rarely answered. Finding such answers help us learn more about the structure of the DGBVL tasks and their effects on vocabulary learning. Hence, to achieve this aim, the available literature on digital games and vocabulary learning were systematically reviewed from 1996 to 2020. The results revealed seven themes such as motivation, authenticity, repetition, instantiation, dual encoding, interactivity, and feedback. Based on the available literature, these themes are factors, in digital games, that can contribute to enhancing vocabulary acquisition.
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Rasti-Behbahani concluded that digital games can supply learners with a rich context that offers many opportunities for effective vocabulary learning.
“Rasti-Behbahani [43], in a systematic review of 167 papers on DGBVL, analyzed certain factors such as motivation, authenticity, instantiation, repetition, interactivity, control, and dual encoding and concluded that 'digital games can supply learners with a rich context that offers many opportunities for effective vocabulary learning' (p. 116).”
From The Effect of Multiplayer Video Games on Incidental and Intentional L2 Vocabulary Learning: The Case of Among Us (2021) · cites this paper as [43]
The Conclusion states the quoted finding and lists the factors named in the citing sentence. However, “Selecting Literature Critically” says 17 papers were selected for synthesis, not 167. (LLM, conf=0.93)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredGames often encourage learners to further understand words by giving different situations using the same words, and they can provide learners with enough repetition and frequencies of occurrences of the target vocabulary.
“This is so because games often encourage learners to further understand the words by giving different situations using the same words [68], and they can provide learners with enough repetition and frequencies of occurrences of the target vocabulary [43].”
From The Effect of Multiplayer Video Games on Incidental and Intentional L2 Vocabulary Learning: The Case of Among Us (2021) · cites this paper as [43]
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- Authors
- Rasti-Behbahani, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Jyväskylä (FI)
- Corresponding author
- Rasti-Behbahani, Amin
- Venue
- Theory and Practice in Language Studies
- Publisher
- Academy Publication
- Published
- 2021-02-01
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 111
- ISSN
- 1799-2591 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3121948276
- Cited by
- 29
- References
- 59
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3
- FWCI
- 6.96
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Locations
- Theory and Practice in Language Studies (publishedVersion)
- Jyväskylä University Digital Archive (University of Jyväskylä) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Games and Gamification
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Second Language Acquisition and Learning
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning
- Keywords
- vocabulary acquisition, motivation, authenticity, repetition, instantiation, dual encoding, interactivity, feedback, language learning
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