The role of games in enhancing EFL students' vocabulary acquisition Wagdi Rashad Ali Bin-Hady
Open accessAbstract
The aim of this paper review is to explore the advantages of (digital) games for developing EFL students' vocabulary acquisition. Moreover, this review discusses some of the most widely games used to enhance students' vocabulary acquisition and introduces them to EFL instructors so they can be widely used in their classroom teaching practices. The present review also explores the essential classroom procedures needed for incorporating games in the classroom teaching. It is found that games make lessons' enjoyable to students, minimize students' anxiety, help students recall vocabulary easily and naturally, and bring context to the classroom. The review also revealed that games such as The Sims, and Semantic Boggle are amongst the most widely used games for vocabulary retention. Teachers are advised to use the suitable vocabulary games for teaching vocabulary and link the games with the course content. The present paper review recommends the inclusion of games in English curriculum and classroom teachings.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Chapter 12: What does the Anthropocene hold for citizenship?
(2019) · edoc (University of Basel) · doi:10.1007/978-3 · Cited by 11,533 · see citing works
Learning Vocabulary in Another Language
Nation, I. S. P. (2001) · Cambridge University Press · doi:10.1017/cbo9781139524759 · Cited by 6,608 · see citing works
Foundations of Game-Based Learning
Plass, J. L., Homer, B. D., & Kinzer, C. K. (2015) · Educational Psychologist · doi:10.1080/00461520.2015.1122533 · Cited by 2,129 · see citing works
From Content to Context: Videogames as Designed Experience
Squire, K. (2006) · Educational Researcher · doi:10.3102/0013189x035008019 · Cited by 1,091 · see citing works
Vocabulary in Language Teaching
Schmitt, N., & Schmitt, D. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108569057 · Cited by 932 · see citing works
Effectiveness of Mobile Devices on Vocabulary Learning: A Meta-Analysis
Mahdi, H. S. (2017) · Journal of Educational Computing Research · doi:10.1177/0735633117698826 · Cited by 160 · see citing works
Research into practice: Vocabulary
Nation, P. (2011) · Language Teaching · doi:10.1017/s0261444811000267 · Cited by 154 · see citing works
The Effects of Using Games on English Vocabulary Learning
Derakhshan, A., & Khatir, E. D. (2015) · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Ashraf, H., Motlagh, F. G., & Salami, M. (2014) · Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.03.418 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
The importance of using games in EFL classrooms
Gozcu, E., & Çağanağa, Ç. K. (2016) · Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences · doi:10.18844/cjes.v11i3.625 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
A mobile game-based English vocabulary practice system based on portfolio analysis
Wu, T., & Huang, Y. M. (2017) · Educational Technology & Society · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Game-Enhanced Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition Strategies: A Systematic Review
Yudintseva, A. (2015) · Open Journal of Social Sciences · doi:10.4236/jss.2015.310015 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Data Driven Approaches in Digital Education
Lavoué, É., Drachsler, H., Verbert, K., et al. (2017) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-66610-5 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
The Use of Vocabulary-Games in Improving Children’s Vocabulary in English Language Learning
Wulanjani, A. N. (2016) · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · doi:10.31002/transformatika.v12i1.201 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Impact of Using Instructional Video Games on EFL Learners' Vocabulary Retention
Salehi, H. (2016) · Universal Journal of Educational Research · doi:10.13189/ujer.2016.041205 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Benoit, J. M. (2017) · Digital Commons (Liberty University) · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Vocabulary Acquisition in English as a Foreign Language: Digital Gameplaying The Sims
Lorenset, C. C., & Tumolo, C. H. S. (2019) · Revista Linguagem & Ensino · doi:10.15210/rle.v22i4.16642 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Darfilal, I. (2015) · Dépôt Institutionnel de lUniversité de Tlemcen · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Vocabulary Learning in Digital-Game Based Learning Using Sega Genesis Video Games
Jhon, A. (2016) · Proceeding of International Conference on Teacher Training and Education · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 3
- Gee, J. P. Deep learning properties of good digital games: How far can they go? In serious games: Mechanisms and effects. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. 2009. p. 67-82
- Guaqueta, C. A., & Castro-garces, A. Y. (2018). The use of language learning apps as a didactic tool for EFL vocabulary building. English Language Teaching, 11(2), 61-71. http://doi.org/10.5539/elt. · DOI
- Lorenset, C. C., & Piazza, P. T. (2019). Digital games, foreign language and vocabulary development. REVISTA EDUCAONLINE, 13(3), 1-19.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Yang, Y.-F., Goh, A. P. I., Hu, C.-C., Chen, N.-S., & Lai, S.-C. (2025) · Computer Assisted Language Learning · doi:10.1080/09588221.2024.2371383 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Akbulut, S., Şimşek, B., Direkci, B., Koparan, B., Gülmez, M., Şimşek, E. E., & Kayır, G. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1798613
“Students with high anxiety levels may avoid language learning (Khan and Zafar, 2010), find the input hard to understand (Chen, 2015), and have difficulty sticking to the vocabulary learning process (Bin-Hady, 2021).”
- Authors
- Bin-Hady, W. R. A.
- Affiliations
- Hadhramout University (YE)
- Corresponding author
- Bin-Hady, Wagdi Rashad Ali
- Venue
- Journal of the faculty of Education
- Publisher
- Thamar University
- Published
- 2023-01-23
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 17
- Pages
- 48-58
- ISSN
- 2617-4294 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4383899058
- Cited by
- 10
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 4.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- dx.doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Journal of the faculty of Education (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- 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
- game-based learning, video games, vocabulary acquisition, EFL learners, game-based language learning, vocabulary retention, classroom procedures, student anxiety, The Sims, English curriculum
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
