Örebro University
Department of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences English
Computer gaming’s facilitation of the English subject;
A quantitative research on the influence of computer gaming on students' English performance
Author: Jonas Olsén Degree Project Essay Spring term 2016 Supervisor: Mattias Jacobson
Abstract
The focus of this study is the correlation between spent time on gaming and student grades. It is my hypothesis that computer gaming has potential for students to acquire
communicative competences in English. The aim of the essay is to see what effect computer gaming have on grading outcomes in the English subject for upper secondary school students in Sweden.
The study was conducted using a survey concerning: students’ gaming habits, how much time they spent gaming on a daily basis, what kinds of games they were playing and how they felt that they used English whilst playing those games. The survey was conducted on two English classes in an ICT school. 25 students participated from grades 2 and 3 in the Swedish upper secondary school system. Based on the data from the survey, four gamer-groups emerged based on time spent on playing computer games: Non-gamer, occasional-gamer, moderate- gamer and frequent-gamer. Results indicate that occasional game play (maximum two hours a day) led to higher proficiencies in English (as shown by their grades) than the other groups. There was also an indication that no time spent on gaming might be disadvantageous.
Keywords
List of Contents
Introduction ... 1
Theoretical Background ... 2
Material and method ... 6
Selection ... 7 Ethical aspects ... 7 Results ... 8 Data description ... 8 Grades ... 8 Survey Analysis ... 9 Question 1... 9 Question 2... 9 Question 3... 9 Question 4... 10 Question 5... 11 Question 6... 12 Question 7... 13 Question 8... 15 Question 9... 17 Question 10... 18 Question 11... 19 Question 12... 20 Question 13... 21
Correlation: Gaming and grades ... 22
Group 3 ... 22
Group 2 ... 23
Group 1 ... 24
Group 0 ... 25
Discussion: Genres and student beliefs ... 25
Conclusion: Gaming and grades ... 29
References ... 32
Electronic sources ... 33
Introduction
I chose the topic concerning computer games because of two reasons. Firstly, I have a genuine interest in this topic myself and I have experienced that what the topic suggests – influences from computer gaming leading to proficiencies in English. Secondly, during my school placements I have encountered many students that in one way have expressed their fondness of gaming.
Many researchers are interested in computer gaming and its impact on school performance. A reason for this is that students in today's upper secondary schools are increasingly getting access to computers thanks to the implementation of the "1:1"1 in more and more schools to meet the digital requirements in the recent curriculum (2011). The curriculum we have in Sweden today requires a student to have access to an extracurricular computer, says Annette Holmqvist who works at the department of development at the Swedish National Agency for Education to Dagens Nyheter (Englund, 2013, August 20). This encourages a student's family to have at least one computer for the student to use at home, which in turn opens up for more activities than homework for the student to spend his or her time on. Time spent on gaming is in some cases limited by children’s parents. For example, when I was a young teenager my parents would limit my gaming-time because they did not want me to be stuck in negative patterns, which they thought that too much computer time led to. Why do parents limit the time spent on gaming? According to Wainer et al (2008), technology and more specifically computers are a new phenomenon to the older generations. Parents do not know how to approach computers, so they limit the time spent on them because they do not believe it is healthy and their children will not learn anything useful from it. Pia Sundqvist has done extensive research on the topic of computer games and grades. The results that emerges from Sundqvist’s research suggests that computer gaming promotes language learning.
However, with this essay I aim to explore whether time spent on computer gaming correlates with students’ grades. More specifically, I will analyze the time factor and see if frequent game play trumps occasional game play (or the other way around) when it comes to grades. In order to analyze this, two questions were asked: What is the correlation between students' computer gaming time and their English performance as shown by their grades? What is the students’ perception when it comes to acquiring English skills in various game
genres? It is my hypothesis that computer gaming has potential of influencing students’ communicative competences in English as shown by their grades.
Theoretical Background
To present the theoretical background of the essay, a description of how technology sets off societal change, which in turn affects all parts of society and human behavior, including learning theory, is in order. Society has reached a point where technology is available everywhere. Computers in particular are something we see as a vital asset to have in today's society where much of what we do is happening on the internet. Schools have also been undergoing this technology revolution – from having assigned rooms with computers for the students to use for a few assignments, to giving out personal computers for students to use for all theoretical subjects in school. The implementation of personal computers to use in schools also means that the student is in some cases (as shown in my school placements) allowed to bring the computer home with them. This opens up for extramural activities such as computer gaming.
Pia Sundqvist has done extensive research on the topic of computer games, using various approaches to analyze and to contribute to the field. Pia Sundqvist and Liss Kerstin Sylvén (2012) discuss how gender, age, and what type of game affect second language acquisition. Sundqvist and Sylvén argue just as I do in the introduction to this section that computer gaming (and general computer use) is definitely part of popular culture today in Swedish society. Sundqvist and Sylvén mention two types of games that they analyze using an acquisition perspective to see how a player can learn from those games. The first game is World of Warcraft (WoW) and the other The Sims. WoW is an online role-playing game that involves characteristics such as interaction with other players in order to complete objectives together, for instance in dungeons and raids in which players cooperate to overcome certain obstacles (Sundqvist, Sylvén, 2012). The game requires the player to interact with other players, which lead to an encouragement of both production skills (speaking and writing) and receptive skills (reading and listening) (Sundqvist, Sylvén, 2012). On the other hand, we have The Sims, which is an offline single player game. According to Sundqvist and Sylvén the Sims have some crucial differences compared to WoW. In The Sims, the game language is not fixed and can be changed based on the player's preferences, whereas in WoW the game enforces English. The amount of reading is also much larger and more demanding in WoW compared to Sims. Sundqvist and Sylvén discuss social interaction and how WoW's game design
emphasizes social interaction as a vital and integral part of the game itself whereas in Sims it is harder to achieve (Sundqvist, Sylvén, 2012). In the conclusion of Sundqvist and Sylvén's study, they say that WoW supplies an environment for learning where the players can practice, develop and examine their interactive skills. Their result points out that the weak learners do not take part in computer gaming.
E. King (2015) focuses on the MMO (massively multiplayer online) game WoW to construct an after-school program consisting of teenage boys who played the game to see if they would learn 21st century working skills. King believes that the genre MMO has been
identified as an environment where players encounter 21st century working skills (King 2012). King found out that many adolescents view school-based learning as authoritative, and recognize game-based learning as having no learning value (King, 2015). A first step towards having game-based elements involved in the education in school is to promote extracurricular game-based learning as a tool, which is as functional as school-based learning (King, 2015). Having game-based elements in school will extend the students' minds regarding game-based learning and it is crucial to advocate all ways of acquiring knowledge. It does not matter whether the competence the students acquire is gained from an English class or from encountering dragons in a virtual world.
In one article, Sundqvist (2015) takes on a qualitative approach and interviews a boy about his English learning background. The boy, also known as Eldrin, is a 14-year-old Bosnian boy who together with his parents and sister moved to Sweden at the age of six. He began playing video games and quickly fell in love with it, which led to that his proficiency in English quickly improved. This led to his parents putting him in a school with English as an integrated profile (Sundqvist, 2015). Worth noting here is, that Eldrin comes from a highly educated family where both of his parents are doctors, which was the career that Eldrin was striving towards as well. Eldrin had an extrinsic motivation for learning the language because English is required of a doctor to know. Sundqvist mentions the concept of flow, introduced twenty- six years ago by Csikszentmihalyi (1990). Flow is a state when individuals are fully immersed with the activity at hand, nothing else seems to matter, and notions such as food and time seem to be overlooked (Sundqvist, 2015). The intrinsic motivation that Eldrin had for playing games leads to a state of flow, which leads to the key findings of Sundqvist's interview with Eldrin, which include the 'trial-and-error' method while gaming, and experiences of having fun (Sundqvist, 2015). Eldrin describes how he in the beginning of playing games did not understand the language, but he understood that there was a completely new world out there, in the game, and he wanted to know what the characters in the game were doing and what
they were talking about. That led to him spending about two or three years reading, listening and observing in trying to connect visuals with audio in order to understand what was happening inside of the game. Eldrin appreciated that everything was in context and that led to the game being pure entertainment for him (Sundqvist, 2015). The key factor here is the intrinsic motivation that leads to the state of flow. This is the main factor to game-based learning – you need to have fun when playing the game to be able to learn from it.
In collaboration with Peter Wikström, Sunqvist (2014) wrote an article focusing on the relation between extramural digital game play and in-school L2 English grading outcomes. Data were collected from a questionnaire, language diaries, vocabulary tests, assessed essays and grades in a 9th grade high-school class. Sundqvist and Wikström divided the class into three groups based on their gaming frequency: group 1 – non-gamers (0h/week), group 2 – moderate gamers (<5 h/week) and group 3 – frequent gamers (>5 h/week). The results show that group three generally had the highest grades, with group 1 following closely behind. However, for the vocabulary tests, group 2 were behind group 3, indicating that game play has parallels more directly with vocabulary competence (Sundqvist, Wikström 2014).
Paul Gee (2003) has become very influential amongst researchers in topics similar to mine. Many of the articles used in this essay mention Gee in their various studies to support their argument. The space given to Gee in this essay, will primarily concern a concept he calls semiotic domains. An explicit version of a semiotic domain is the following example from a basketball court. “The guard dribbled down court, held up two fingers, and passed to the open man” (Gee, 2003. p.15). According to Gee, this is a sentence from the semiotic domain of basketball. What this means is that for one to understand the semiotic domain of basketball, one must first understand the meaning of every word used within that specific domain. For example, “dribble” does not mean drool. If one does not know these meanings, then one cannot “read” basketball. Semiotic domains are social practices in which people orientate themselves, for example in video games. When you are playing video games, you are also part of a specific semiotic domain. This leads to according to Gee, that you learn literacy skills inside of this semiotic domain because you learn how to situate meaning based on your domain and what social practices it incorporates (Gee, 2003). In video games, there is what Gee calls "a family of semiotic domains" (p.19). The reason to why he considers the semiotic domain a family is because one semiotic domain does not cover all video games, so there are different domains for different video games. According to Gee, there are different literacies inside all computer game genres, and a player can be literate in one genre and less literate in
another. Being literate in video games is to recognize and produce meanings in the domain (equivalent to reading and writing).
However, to subscribe to the idea of literacies inside video games, one must first consider that not all people agree with it. According to Gee, the older generation considers video games "a waste of time". One general idea regarding video games and learning is that a game does not have the same content-based learning as in school domains such as history and science; hence, video gaming is meaningless in many people's eyes (Gee, 2003). However, nothing in life is a waste of time if the person enjoys wasting it. Gee argues that reading in school can be out of context for students, because they have little to no knowledge about the social practice they are reading within since it is a new concept for the students (Gee, 2003). In this case one can say that computer gaming is not wasted time from a context perspective since the game puts the player into context, for example in forms of various background stories. Playing video games situates the player in practical context with the content, which facilitates learning in the game, and that leads to the intrinsic motivation mentioned earlier, which can lead to an acquisition of language knowledge. Situated cognition is the idea that human learning is not only a matter of what goes on inside people's heads, but also that it is embedded in a social, practical and cultural world (Gee, 2003).
Wainer et al (2008) argue that the implementation of computers in schools must be closely evaluated, because the computers might have an effect which is the opposite of the intended one. In contrast with Gee, the authors in this article argue that acquired skills from computer usage are not related to school skills (Wainer et al, 2008). It is important to note here (the authors do so as well) that this study took place in Brazil, which the authors call a developing country, and that could have implications for what they found. Firstly, technology use and computer use in general is a relatively new phenomenon in Brazil, which means that it can be suspected that neither teachers nor adults there know how to use the computer properly in order to promote learning for their students or children (Wainer, et al. 2008). Secondly, there may not be enough content available written in Portuguese, or at least not useful
programs/internet sites that can be used to promote learning in school via the computer (Wainer, J et al. 2008). In the study, the authors do agree that computer use has a positive effect for older learners (11th graders), but a negative effect for younger and poorer students
whom did not get the help they needed from home (Wainer et al, 2008).
To bring matters into a practical perspective, how teachers can work with digital-game based learning (DGBL) in the classroom. I examined an article written by Min Lun Wu, Kari Richards and Guan Kung Saw (2014), in which the authors advocate game based elements in
the classroom (specifically for an EFL classroom) based on the findings from their study. The study investigated 19 casual gamers' use of a MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role- playing game) – Everquest 2. The game was used as an alternative pedagogical tool to sustain communicative use of the English language. Data were collected with a mixed-method, including interviews, surveys and observations when the participants were playing the game. The authors pose a question regarding how teachers can incorporate games into the EFL curriculum to supplement language learning. They believe in what Sundqvist also talked about – intrinsic motivation. The immersive world of a MMORPG offers an ideal
communicative context for learners of the English language, and thereby has the potential of developing language proficiencies through online interactions. The authors address the potential of incorporating games in the classroom from a perspective that addresses the lack of student engagement, which is a commonly known problem in today’s schools. Min Lun Wu, Kari Richards and Guan Kung Saw (2014) believe that digital games help in addressing the problem of student engagement. DGBL can be used not only to engage the class, but also to conduct formative assessments, and encourage learning outcomes via the immersive and interactive environment in MMORPGs (Wu, Richards & Kung, 2014). This article can motivate and promote DGBL to be included in the curriculum, not only to meet the
aforementioned student motivation levels, but also to facilitate various requirements regarding language learning.
Material and method
My method for this essay is quantitative survey research, and I will construct the survey based on Alan Bryman's (2011) model regarding the construction of a survey and how to implement and follow it through out in the field. Bryman articulates the importance of closed-form questions in a survey. He suggests that open-form questions can lead to not only confusion for the respondents, but also for the researcher when it comes to analyzing and coding those answers. It is hard to categorize open form questions since respondents can answer freely, whereas in closed form the answers are limited, which also makes the coding of closed form questions more convenient. One thing that Bryman stresses is the length of the survey. Bryman emphasizes that a survey should not be too long, for it can become intimidating for the respondents – they can get tired and start to rush through the survey just to get over with it. The survey can on the other hand not be too short either, for the content in the survey must be sufficient to match the criteria in the research question(s) (Bryman, 2011).
Selection
The selection criteria for the survey was grounded on the intention to get as many respondents as possible who actually could answer all the questions regarding computer gaming, which means that I wanted a selection that represents adolescents who spend a lot of their
extracurricular time playing computer games. To find the school suited for this I looked to find an ICT (Information and communications technology) school because I knew from my past when I attended the upper secondary school that students of ICT schools are also often interested in computer games. Knowing this I contacted the principal at an ICT school to present my research idea. The principal said that he would gladly help and referred me to one of the English teachers at the school.
After some struggles with getting access to the respondents that I needed (they needed to have received grades in English) I decided to make the process more swift by agreeing with the teacher that he would administer the survey to the students, without me being there. This led to a convenient procedure since the teacher then only had to find time to distribute the survey, without having to book an appointment for me to come to the school and distribute the survey. This selection offered flexibility for the teacher. He could decide on when to hand out the survey himself. The survey is an online survey that was constructed at surveymonkey.com. The decision to make an online survey is also a choice of convenience; it is natural for upper secondary school students of this ICT School to complete a survey online since they all have access to personal computers. It is also more convenient for me when it comes to collecting data, since everything is available online makes it easier to produce graphs for example.
The respondents of the survey had either English 6 or 7 as their current English course. This means that they are in second or third grade, which translates to an age range of 17-18 years of age. Data were collected from 25 respondents in two classes: one English 6 class, and one English 7 class. 12 Respondents from English 6, and 13 from English 7. The gender distribution was 21 male and 4 female. I chose to conduct my survey at the gymnasium level because I am striving towards teaching students at this age when I am a graduated teacher.
Ethical aspects
The survey requires the students to fill in their name (see appendix 1) making it possible to connect the students’ survey answers with their grades in order to answer the research question concerning grades. However, I will act upon the foundations of God forskningssed (2011) which advocates survey research to anonymize the respondents. In practice, this means
that no one other than the researcher will have access to the combination between survey answers and the respondents. It is important for the students to know about this process, so that they do not feel anxious when typing in their name in the survey. The students should know that it is only the researcher who will have access to their identity and that their answers will be codified when the data is analyzed. The respondents studied in the upper secondary school in Sweden, which means that they were all above 15 years of age, and thus there was no need for students’ guardian(s) consent (Vetenskapsrådet 2011).
Results
Data description
A survey was constructed and sent digitally to the assigned teacher at the selected school. The survey (see appendix 1) was an online one, so the teacher received a link to said survey to forward to the respondents (students). The teacher conducted the survey in two English classes (one English 6 class and one English 7 class) between 04-20-2016 and 04-28-2016. The respondents’ grades were also part of the data. The grades were from a course prior to the one that the students were currently studying, i.e. from English 5.
Grades
Ideally, all of the students in both classes would have answered the survey, and in that case, there would have been 38 respondents. However, in reality 25 students completed the survey. Below are the respondents’ grades in English 5. One respondent did not answer question one (name question) in the survey and is therefore excluded from the grades analysis.
Grade A: 0 Grade B: 7 Grade C: 8 Grade D: 6 Grade E: 2 Grade F: 1 Total students: 24
Survey Analysis
I will begin the analysis by analyzing each question and provide charts for each question separately before analyzing the survey using my research question, which will zoom in on two questions in particular.
Question 1 was a name question. Students filled in their name; one chose not to and is therefore excluded from the analysis regarding the research question (since I cannot connect that person’s answers to a specific grade). The answers from question one yields 24 names.
Question 2
Figure 1. Question 2 – Sex. Shows the percentages of the respondents who were male and female. 21 male, 4 females
The data show a prominent male population at this school. This leads the analysis to focusing more generally on correlations between hours spent on gaming and grades. In addition, a gender perspective was not applicable simply because there was not enough data provided from women. In total, there were 21 male and 4 female respondents.
The class distribution tends to be almost equal; there are 12 respondents from English 6 (48
Figure 2. Question 3 – shows the percentage of respondents who were studying what English course. 12 respondents from English 6, 13 respondents from English 7
%) and 13 respondents from English 7 (52 %).
Question 4
The data from question 4 show that all of the respondents have access to a computer during their extramural time.
Figure 3. Question 4. Shows the percentage of respondents who had access to a computer during spare time.
Question 5
The data from this question builds on the previous one. A “yes” from the previous question was required to answer this question. The data provides a wide range of answers, with a tendency of “3-4 hours” being prominent. The raw numbers of respondents for each item in the question are as followed: 5 respondents (1-2 hours), 7 respondents (3-4 hours), 2
Figure 4. Question 5. Shows the percentages of responses in each bracket
respondents (5-6 hours), 4 respondents (7-8 hours), 3 respondents (9-10 hours) and 4 respondents (11 hours or more).
Question 6
Figure 5. Question 6. Shows the percentages of responses in each bracket
The data from question six yielded 22 answers and 3 respondents chose to skip the question; of those three, two are women, which lead to two female respondents for the questions concerning gaming habits.
The results emerge as the following from question six: 4 respondents (less than one hour), 4 respondents (1-2 hours), 8 respondents (3-4 hours), 5 respondents (5-6 hours), 1 respondent (7-8 hours). This question will be used to analyze the research question later on in the study concerning whether there is a correlation between hours spent on gaming and students’ grades in English as shown by their grades.
Question 7
Figure 6. Question 7 – Of these game genres, which ones do you play the most? 5 is most spent time, 1 is least (you can answer the same in multiple categories)? Shows the amount of percentages of responses in each bracket
Question 7 is a bit different from the previous ones. This question asks what the respondents themselves think about their spent time, and I chose not to have the same approach with set hours as question items for this question. Instead it is up to the respondents themselves to estimate how much time on computer gaming they spend. In this question the respondent are given 5 different gaming genres (six including the “other genre” option) and then the
respondent sets a number from 1-5 in each specific genre telling which ones they are playing mostly. There was also an “I don’t play this game” option.
Figure 6 gives an insight into what upper secondary school students distribute their game time on. The computer gaming world is full of different genres and combinations. I selected the five genres (as shown in figure 6) because I believe that those genres are amongst the most popular ones, and thus the respondents have most likely encountered and played some of
them. It can be noted that some data is missing in three categories: RPG, RTS and “other genre”.
Figure 7. Raw data of the value distribution. The weighted average shows the average collected data out of 5 as its maximum. Columns marked 1-5 represents the respondents’ spent time in each genre. 5 being most spent time, and 1 the least amount of time. Some data is missing from the genres: RPG (one missing response), RTS (one missing response) and other genre (eight missing responses).
Figure 7 show the data summary of the distributed answers, which indicate that the most played game genre is indeed the “other” option with a weighted average of 4.14. However, data is missing from eight respondents in the “other genre” option, and I can assume that those 8 respondents did not play any “other” genre, which leads to the genre descending to the least played with only 7 people playing and 15 people not playing any game that falls under the “other” category. There is a leader in the MOBA genre with a weighted average of 3.21. Closely following behind is the FPS genre with 3.05 as its weighted average. However, out of
all respondents only one claimed not to play any FPS games, which indicates that the FPS genre is the most popular genre in those two classes.
Question 8
Question 8 builds on the previous question but instead of measuring time spent, it now measures how the respondents encounter English whilst playing those genres. This question was asked to analyze if there is a game genre that tends to be prominent when it comes to using English in the games of that genre.
The data show that respondents feel that the MMO genre is slightly ahead of the other genres when it comes to using English in games with 4.67 as MMO’s weighted average. However, 10 respondents claimed that they are not playing MMO games, but of the 12 respondents who are playing MMO games, 11 of them valued games of the MMO genre’s capabilities of
exposing a player to English as a five. This is in line with the articles Sundqvist and Wikström 2014, Sundqvist and Sylvén 2012, Min Lun Wu, Kari Richards & Guan Kung Saw (2014), and King, E. M. (2015) who have chosen to discuss the MMO genre as a tool for learning English.
On the other side of the spectrum, there are two genres at the bottom: the RPG genre and RTS genre. In those genres, three people have valued the use of English to a one.
Furthermore, the RTS genre is at the bottom when it comes to the weighted average in which RTS scores 3.69, which is 0.31 less than that of the RPG genres result.
Figure 9. Data distribution of how respondents believe that they use English while playing computer games. Weighted average numbers with a maximum of 5. Columns marked 1-5 represents how respondents’ believe that they use English in each genre. 5 being most used English, and 1 the least.
Question 9
Question 9 is the question where the respondents who did not play any computer games would return to answer. The question is about the students’ self-perception of their competence in the English language. One respondent answered only regarding his or her reading skills, and skipped the other three skills.
Figure 10. Question 9. Shows the average value (4 maximum) of how respondents believe their English competence is (ranging from: Not good, moderate, good and very good). Respondents answered in four categories (Reading, Speaking, Writing and Listening).
The maximum average weight in this question is 4, and not 5 as in the previous questions. The data show reading as the most prominent skill among these upper secondary school students in their self-evaluation.
Question 10
Questions 10 through 13 are four self-perceptive questions regarding how students feel that computer gaming influences their competence in English. (One respondent completed these questions even though that respondent claimed not to play computer games.)
Figure 11. Question 10. Shows the percentage of respondents who answered one of the four following values: Not at all, moderate, good and very good
The data from question 10 follows the same pattern as in question 9 where respondents claimed the reading skill to be the most prominent amongst the four skills. The data show the same results in question 10 where ten respondents (43.48 %) claimed that computer gaming influences their reading skills in a very good manner, and twelve respondents (52.17 %) said that it was good.
Question 11
Data from question 11 show more varied answers where once again the majority believes that computer gaming has good influences on their capabilities to speak. Question 11 and 12 are the productive skills (talking and writing).
Figure 12. Question 11. Shows the percentage of respondents who answered one of the four following values: Not at all, moderate, good and very good
Question 12
Data from question 12 show the lowest number of answers in the “great” option, and shows the most responses in the “good” option (together with question 10 which was the same percentage ((52.17 %)). It is equivalent with question 11 in the “average” option. Data show that respondents claim to learn writing and speaking the least from playing computer games.
Figure 13. Question 12. Shows the percentage of respondents who answered one of the four following values: Not at all, moderate, good and very good
Question 13
Figure 14. Question 13. Shows the percentage of respondents who answered one of the four following values: Not at all, moderate, good and very good
In question 13 the data show a tendency to correlate with the data from question 10. It is the second highest number of answers in the “great” option. The data indicates that computer gaming leads to an enhancement when it comes to listening. Listening goes hand in hand with reading, which the data suggests here.
Correlation: Gaming and grades
To answer the research question: What is the correlation between students' time spent on computer gaming and their English performance as shown by their grades? I will focus on question 6. I will analyze each respondent’s answer in this question and connect it to his or her personal grade in English 5, to see if there is a correlation between time spent on gaming and English proficiency. I will divide the students into four separate groups depending on their gaming habits. The dividing of groups is inspired by Sundqvist and Wikström’s research, in which they divided groups up depending on their game play habits (Sundqvist, Wikström 2014). However, I adjusted the groups a little bit to fit in with the data. Group 1 represents the least amount of time spent on gaming, i.e. less than 1 hour to 1-2 hours a day. Group 2
represents the moderate amount of hours spent on gaming, i.e. 3-4 hours a day. Group 3 represents the respondents who spent most time on gaming, i.e. 5-6 and 7-8 hours a day. Group 0 is the smallest group, and represents the non-gamers, i.e. 0 hours spent on gaming. I will start by analyzing the frequent gamer group and then moving down the ladder.
Grading scale - “higher” grades are A and B. C is “above average” and D and E are
“average”.
Group 3
First out in my result discussion I will analyze Group 3 to see if frequent gaming leads to higher grades in English. Data show that six (27.28 % of the population) respondents played more than 5 hours a day. Five respondents answered that they played 5-6 hours a day, and one student answered in the 7-8 hour bracket.
Data show the following regarding the six respondents who answered 5 hours or more:
Respondent Sex Answer Grade
Respondent 1 Male 5-6 hours D
Respondent 2 Male 7-8 hours B
Respondent 3 Female 5-6 hours F
Respondent 4(excluded)
Male 5-6 hours Not applicable*
Respondent 5 Male 5-6 hours B
*this is the respondent who did not answer question one, and thus is excluded from the analysis
Data show that 40 % of the respondents in Group 3 have received a high grade (A or B) in English 5. Based on the data from the survey, I can observe a connection with Sundqvist and Wikström’s research in which they divided students into three groups based on their gaming habits. Their findings, which are comparable to mine, suggest that there is a correlation between more hours spent on gaming and higher grades (Sundqvist, Wikström 2014). However, the only occurring F grade emerges from group 3: indicating that frequent game play can lead to negative grading outcomes. Sundqvist and Wikström’s findings are
applicable to group 3 and 2 in my findings, i.e. that the frequent gamer group tends to have higher grades than that of the moderate gamer group (group 2) which is up next for
discussion.
Group 2
The second group up for analysis is the respondents who answered 3-4 hours in question 6. These respondents represent a moderate amount of time spent on gaming and are equal in size with group 1, which makes them the largest groups with eight (36.36 %) respondents from the population.
Data show the following regarding the eight respondents who answered 3-4 hours.
Respondent Sex Answer Grade
Respondent 7 Male 3-4 hours D
Respondent 8 Male 3-4 hours C
Respondent 9 Male 3-4 hours C
Respondent 10 Male 3-4 hours C
Respondent 11 Male 3-4 hours D
Respondent 12 Male 3-4 hours C
Respondent 13 Male 3-4 hours B
Respondent 14 Male 3-4 hours C
Data show that out of the eight respondents, one of whom has received a high grade (A, or in this case, B) in English. The most prominent grade in group 2 is C. The grade C represents 62.5% of the group as a whole. The correlation in this group is that a moderate approach when it comes to spent time on computer gaming seems to have above average results. Worth
noting is also that two respondents received grade D, which is in the designated “average” grade group. However, D is still above E, and there were no E grades in this respondent group.
Group 1
Sundqvist and Wikström (2014) divided their respondents into three groups: Non-gamer, moderate-gamer and frequent-gamer group. I chose to add one group, simply because there was a large number of responses in this particular category. I choose to call this group the occasional-gamer group.
Group 1 represents the least amount of time spent on gaming, and consists of eight
respondents, which makes it equal in size to the largest group with group 2 (36.36 % of the population).
Data show the following regarding the eight respondents who answered less than one-hour and 1-2 hours spent on gaming.
Respondent Sex Answer Grade
Respondent 15 Male 1-2 hours C
Respondent 16 Male 1-2 hours B
Respondent 17 Male 1-2 hours D
Respondent 18 Male Less than one-hour B
Respondent 19 Female Less than one-hour B
Respondent 20 Male Less than one-hour B
Respondent 21 Male Less than one-hour D
Respondent 22 Male 1-2 hours D
Data show that 50% of the respondents in group 1 received a high grade (A or B) in English 5. Here I can see a discrepancy compared to Sundqvist and Wikström’s findings. Sundqvist and Wikström’s results show that their version of a moderate gamer group trailed behind the frequent gamer group that had the highest scores, and were behind the non-gamer group that was closely behind the frequent gamer group (Sundqvist, Wikström 2014). Results from group 1 indicate that this group has the highest percentage of the higher grades (50% with grade B). The findings of group 1 suggest that it is beneficial to not spend too much time playing games, and instead have a mindset that promotes occasional game play. Furthermore,
this suggests that playing 1-2 hours a day is enough to experience the semiotic domain inside the game, which lets the player understand the language used and to produce it themselves, which leads to positive effects grading wise (Gee, 2003). Following closely behind is the frequent gamer group, which shows 40% having high grades. This supports the argument regarding my hypothesis that computer gaming has potential for students to acquire
communicative competences in English. Here that hypothesis is confirmed by their grades.
Group 0
Group 0 is my version of Sundqvist and Wikström’s (2014) “non-gamer” group and consists of three respondents. This makes group 0 the smallest group with 12% of the population. Data show the following regarding the three respondents who skipped answering question 6.
Respondent Sex Answer Grade
Respondent 23 Female None C
Respondent 24 Male None E
Respondent 25 Female None E
Data show that 66% of group 0’s population has grade E, which is the indicator of an average grade on the grade scale mentioned earlier. The data show that out of the two classes’
population, 100% of grade E is found in the non-gamer group. The result of group 0 conflicts with the findings of Wainer et al’s article (2008) which were that computer use in general is bad for your grades. The results of my data suggest that computer gaming promotes language learning which leads to higher grading outcomes in the English subject.
Discussion: Genres and student beliefs
In order to answer the second research question: What is the students’ beliefs when it comes to learning English in various game genres? I will analyze the survey’s questions in which game genres and student beliefs are on the agenda – 8-13. The questions concerning genres and beliefs are 8-13. The genres I will focus on will be the MMO genre and the FPS genre. The reasoning behind this focus is to have one of the most popular genres (FPS in this case) and the genre that indicates having the best learning capabilities according to the weighted average result from the data (MMO).
In question 8, I asked the respondents to rank each game genre’s capabilities of exposing a player of using the English language on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being most used English, and 1 the least. Results show that in general, all of the genres have great capabilities of exposing the player to English. As on the scale 1-5, 5 was the most prominent in all categories with the highest number showing in the FPS (First person shooter) genre’s 5 bracket as 59.09% (13 respondents). However, the top weighted average score is shown in the MMO genre: 4.67. Moreover, the FPS genre only showed one response (4.55%) in the “do not play” bracket, concluding that FPS games are the most popular ones in those two classes. Whereas in the MMO genre, 10 respondents (45.45%) did not play any games in that genre, indicating that the genre is in the midst when it comes to popularity, but in the front when it comes to
exposing players to English. Out of the 12 students who played MMO games, 11 answered in the fifth column.
In question nine, respondents answered how they felt about their English skills. Results show that the receptive skills (reading and listening) are the most prominent amongst the four skills. Among 15 people who answered that their reading skills were “very good”, all of them played computer games. Out of the three respondents who did not play computer games, two answered “moderate” and one “good”. This indicates that game play supports reading skills (among others), which is also supported by for example Sundqvist and Sylvén (2012) who argue that games often enforce English, which obligates that the player has to use English to “survive” in the game. Moreover, of the eleven people who put a five in the MMO’s
capabilities of exposing a player to English (in question 8), ten of those answered “very good” about their reading skills in question nine. Fifteen respondents answered “very good” when it came to their reading skills, and this leads to 66% of those playing MMO games.
Gee (2003) argues for situated cognition, which is the idea that learning has two sides. Learning is not only something that goes on inside people’s heads, but also that it is embedded in a social, practical and cultural world. In the MMO genre, players encounter a vast immersive world that functions in many ways like our world functions, for it is required of us who live in the world to talk to make ourselves understood. The theory concerning situated cognition is applicable to the MMO world together with Gee’s semiotic domains definition. Players will quickly realize that they need to be able to understand (read) the semiotic domain of the MMO game to acquire enough knowledge to generate (write) meaning in the domain, which leads to an acquisition of the language skills reading and writing. In question nine, there is a section about the respondents’ writing skills. The MMO genre is in front with four out of seven answers in the “very good” bracket in question nine. This
indicates that the semiotic domain of the MMO genre is beneficial when it comes to reading and writing. This is in line with the aforementioned process where you first must read to be able to understand and then generate meaning yourself (Gee, 2003).
Moving forward to questions 10 through 13 the FPS genre and the MMO genre will be compared closely to see if and where there is a distinction between the two according to the students’ perception of the two genres’ language learning capabilities.
In order to discuss a discrepancy between the two genres, questions 10 through 12 will be discussed in unison since they all yield very similar results. For example, the three questions show the same number of answers in the “very good” bracket. The results from those three questions indicate that both the FPS genre and MMO genre favor reading speaking and writing equally. The data analyzed are the survey responses from those who answered either a 5 in MMO or FPS in question 8.
Why are the results similar in questions 10 through 12? The answer can be found in multiple sources. It could be that the semiotic domain in MMO’s and FPS’ are very similar to each other. That would explain why the answers yield similar results in at least reading (question 10) and writing (question 12) since those skills are the main parts of a semiotic domain according to Gee (2003). Another reason for the similarities could be a matter of what you actually do inside of the game. Sundqvist and Sylvén (2012) mention that inside of the game WoW players are likely to interact with other players inside dungeons and raids where the objective is to cooperate to overcome encounters such as dragons and monsters. Similarly, inside the FPS genre, you often cooperate with teammates to bring other players down, for example in Counter-strike, which is a team-based five versus five game where the objective can be to bring the other team down in order to win. Interaction is a big part in both of those games since it is required if they want to succeed with their objectives. If the interaction is lackluster, players can expect to struggle in their progression towards their goal.
Turning the discussion to question eleven (speaking), and why the result shows similar data in the FPS and MMO “groups” (the respondents who answered 5 in either of the two genres in question 8). It is possible to discuss this matter based on my previous experience in playing games in both of those genres. I believe that in MMO’s speaking is situated, which means that speaking is limited to specific occasions inside the game. Sundqvist and Sylvén (2012) mention dungeons and raids, and it is here that you encounter speaking the most. It is in dungeons and raids that players are most likely to encounter voice programs to
communicate with others in order to overcome certain obstacles, because it is on those occasions that players also are most likely to team up with other players. In the FPS genre,
speaking is a major factor in most of its games. For example, in the aforementioned game Counter-strike the whole game is built around players speaking to other players throughout the game, in order to complete the objectives to win the match. Why is not the FPS group ahead of the MMO group when it comes to the results of question 11? I believe that the two genres’ type of interaction come into play here. In WoW players often find themselves talking about how to overcome an obstacle before they engage in. Whereas in Counter-strike, players need to be short and concise with their speaking since you risk encountering enemies
throughout the game.
The discrepancy becomes visible in question 13 (How do you think that computer gaming influences your listening skills in English?) The result of question 13 yields the following answers.
MMO FPS
Not at all: 1 Not at all: 1
Moderate: 1 Moderate: 0
Good: 5 Good: 6
Very Good: 4 Very good: 6
The answers are still similar, but here the largest difference between the two emerges. The answer to this discrepancy comes from the discussion of the previous question. The
aforementioned circumstantial speaking in MMO games compared to the constant talking in FPS games also leads to differences in students’ listening skills. Players are more likely to find themselves listening to others in FPS games than in MMO games where voice-based interaction is more situational than what it is in FPS games.
However, the number of responses are too few to conclude that for example the FPS genre is superior when it comes to enabling the listening skill among students or that the reading skill is prominent in the MMO genre. Sundqvist and Sylvén (2012) argue for example that the MMO genre helps learners automate language use. They do not mention if any of the
language skills are more advanced in the MMO genre for example. I believe that this discussion comes down to the students’ preferences. Their preferences come from personal experiences where I can assume that they all play games differently. Looking at WoW again for example, there are many ways to play this game, and a player does not have to encounter dungeons and raids if she does not want to. This means that the player will most likely encounter less voice-based interaction, which will affect that player’s beliefs about how the
game influences his various English skills. The same goes for the FPS game Counter-strike. Options to turn off voice-based interaction inside the game could lead to the player not encountering verbal interaction. How can teachers work to implement DGBL in the classroom? Ideally, playing a game on the premise that no student has played that game before would be the best to be able to analyze language-learning outcomes. However, realistically, what a teacher can do is to make sure that he/she is knowledgeable about the game, so that the teacher can properly scaffold in-game instructions for the students, which, for example King (2015) stresses in order for game-play to lead to a motivation of learning language.
Conclusion: Gaming and grades
Amongst the respondents who completed the survey it is possible to establish some
indications of the correlation between grades and game play time. The original idea was to conduct the survey on three classes, but after encountering some difficulties regarding the time window, the third class had to be excluded. The following correlations are the result from that of 24 survey respondents (2 classes).
The following correlation patterns emerge from the data. However, the correlations discussed in this essay should not be viewed as universally accurate. The correlations presented here reflect the results of my investigation, carried out on a limited population.
• The occasional-gamer group (Group 1) showed the highest percentages of grades A and B, indicating the following correlation: Occasional (2 hours maximum) game play promotes higher grading outcomes in the English subject.
This correlation is interesting when comparing my result to Sundqvist’s results. Sundqvist’s findings suggested that her equivalent group to my frequent-gamer group provided the best result. In my study, the occasional-gamer group showed the best grades. This correlation indicates that there are multiple factors (motivation, will power, ability to learn etc.) that influence student grades. Playing computer games in itself does not lead to higher grades. However, playing games might lead to higher grades if the player can control the spent time playing. My data suggests that to reach the higher grades in English the player benefits from playing occasionally. Immersing yourself as a student into the game, to invest many hours on it, might not always be beneficial when it comes to grading outcomes. The findings in group 1
suggest that a maximum of 2 hours of game play a day is sufficient to experience the semiotic domain inside the game, and to learn from it.
• The moderate gamer group (Group 2) showed the following correlation: Average amount of time spent on game play tends to lead to above average results in the English subject.
• The frequent gamer group (Group 3) showed the second highest grade percentage. However, group 3 also showed the only occurring “F” grade, hinting at the possibility that frequent game play is not only positive, but can also have destructive tendencies. As I talked about earlier, my findings suggest that frequent game play might not only have advantageous results. This is in line with the findings of group 3 in which the only “F” grade occurred. This result hints that frequent game play might be disadvantageous, because the players truly immerse themselves into the game, which could lead to a prioritizing of game play over school. However, group 3 is the second strongest group, grade wise. These findings can be related to the state of flow which I have talked about earlier. The findings suggest that the state of flow can be viewed as a coin with two sides. The upper side of the coin is that players immerse themselves in the game, so they can learn everything there is to know about the game: leading to an understanding of the semiotic domain, which tends to lead to
advantageous results, grade wise. The downside of the coin is that the state of flow can be disadvantageous when the player prioritizes game play over school work. Since not all games promote language-learning skills there is a possibility that spending too much time on a game could lead to destructive tendencies.
• The non-gamer group (Group 0) shows the following correlation: Non-gaming tends to lead to average results. The only two occurring “E” grades that existed in the two classes became visible in this group.
The findings of group 0 suggest that no spent time on computer gaming has a neutral effect. However, the cause-effect is not as easy as this, for there are more factors (in/out of school related) influencing grading outcomes.
The data of my survey, suggests that computer gaming is good for your grades, especially if you play a small amount. This result is in line with Sundqvist’s research, which suggests that computer game play supports language learning (2014).
To answer the research question: What is the correlation between students' spent time on computer gaming and their English performance? The data hints to the possibility that no time spent on gaming tends to lead to lower grades compared to the groups who spent time playing computer games. However, there might be a multitude of factors influencing the grades and it would be necessary to investigate a number of variables in order to conclude on the
correlation of game play and grades in the English subject. Some type of multivariate analysis combined with traditional qualitative methods (interviews/ethnography) would be favorable for a deeper understanding of students’ gaming habits and what effect those habits have on grading outcomes in the English subject.
References
Bryman, A. (2011). Samhällsvetenskapliga metoder. (2., [rev.] uppl.) Malmö: Liber.
Gee, J.P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York Palgrave Macmillan.
Gee, J.P. (2007). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. (Rev. and updated ed.) New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
King, E. M. (2015). "Designing After-School Learning Using the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game." Theory Into Practice 54, no. 2: 128-135. ERIC, EBSCOhost (accessed April 6, 2016)
Min Lun Wu, Kari Richards & Guan Kung Saw (2014) Examining a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game as a Digital Game-Based Learning Platform, Computers in the Schools, 31:1-2, 65-83, DOI: 10.1080/07380569.2013.878975
Sundqvist, Pia & Wikström, Peter. (2014). Out-of-school digital gameplay and in-school L2 English vocabulary outcomes. . Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Karlstad University, SE-651 88 Karlstad, Sweden
Sundqvist, Pia. (2015). About a Boy: A Gamer and L2 English Speaker Coming into Being by Use of Self-Access. SiSAL Journal Vol. 6, No. 4, December 2015, 352-364. Karlstad University, Sweden.
Sundqvist, P., & Sylvén, L. K. (2012). World of VocCraft: Computer games and Swedish learners’ L2 vocabulary. In H. Reinders (Ed.), Digital games in language learning and teaching (pp. 189-208). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Vetenskapsrådet (2011). God forskningssed. Stockholm: Vetenskapsrådet.
Wainer, J., Dwyer, T., Dutra, R. S., Covic, A., Magalhaes, V. b., Ferreira, L. R., & … Claudio, K. (2008). Too Much Computer and Internet Use Is Bad for Your Grades,
Especially if You Are Young and Poor: Results from the 2001 Brazilian SAEB. Computers & Education, 51(4), 1417-1429. (Accessed April 11, 2016
Electronic sources
Englund, C. (2013-08-20) Datorkrav i skolan kan slå mot familjer. Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved 2016-05-09 from Uhttp://www.dn.se/ekonomi/datorkrav-i-skolan-kan-sla-mot-familjer/U
Skolverket. (2011). Läroplan, examensmål och gymnasiegemensamma ämnen för gymnasieskola 2011. Retrieved 2016-05-12 from
Appendix
Appendix 1 – Survey. I made it in Swedish for the students’ convenience so there would not be any misconceptions (language wise).
1. Namn 2. Kön
⃝ Man ⃝ Kvinna
3. Vilken kurs I Engelska läser du? ⃝ Engelska 5
⃝ Engelska 6 ⃝ Engelska 7
4. Använder du dig av en dator på fritiden? (om nej gå till fråga 9) ⃝ Ja
⃝ Nej
5. Hur mycket tid spenderas vid datorn dagligen?
⃝ Mindre än 1 timme ⃝ 1-2 timmar ⃝ 3-4 timmar ⃝ 5-6 timmar ⃝ 7-8 timmar ⃝ 9-10 timmar
⃝ 11 timmar eller mer
6. Av spenderad tid vid datorn, hur många timmar av dessa spelar du spel? (Om du inte spelar spel, gå till fråga 9)
⃝ Mindre än 1 timme ⃝ 1-2 timmar ⃝ 3-4 timmar ⃝ 5-6 timmar ⃝ 7-8 timmar ⃝ 9-10 timmar
⃝ 11 timmar eller mer
7. Av dessa spelgenrer, vilka spelar du oftast? 5 är mest spenderad tid, 1 är minst (du kan svara samma på fler kategorier)
1 2 3 4 5 Spelar inte MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online: t.ex. World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, Black Desert) MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena: t.ex. League of legends, DotA, Smite RPG (Role Playing Game: t.ex. Assassin’s creed, Dark
Souls, Fallout) FPS (First Person Shooter: t.ex. Counter Strike, Call of Duty, Team Fortress) RTS (Real Time Strategy: t.ex. Starcraft, Warcraft, Age of Empires) Annan Genre
Om Annan Genre – Skriv vilket/vilka spel.
Nästa fråga innehåller ordet "använder". I detta fall är användandet av engelska samma sak som att komma i kontakt med engelska. Alltså t.ex. Att spelet är på engelska, du pratar engelska med dem du spelar med och du skriver på engelska - helt enkelt ett användande av det engelska språket.
8. Av dessa spelgenrer, vilka använder du oftast språket Engelska i? Rangordna som förra frågan
1 2 3 4 5 Spelar inte MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online: t.ex. World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, Black Desert) MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena: t.ex. League of legends, DotA, Smite RPG (Role Playing Game: t.ex. Assassin’s creed, Dark Souls, Fallout) FPS (First Person Shooter: t.ex. Counter Strike, Call of Duty, Team Fortress) RTS (Real Time Strategy: t.ex.
Starcraft, Warcraft, Age of Empires) Annan Genre
Om Annan Genre – Skriv vilket/vilka spel
9. På det stora hela, vad anser du om dina kunskaper i Engelska?
Inte alls bra Medelmåttiga Bra Jättebra
Läsförståelse ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝
Talförmåga ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝
Skrivförmåga ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝
Hörförståelse ⃝ ⃝ ⃝ ⃝
Om du inte spelar datorspel är du nu klar med enkäten. Klicka på "Klar" Längst ned
10. Hur tycker du att datorspelande påverkar din läsförståelse i Engelska?
⃝ Inte alls ⃝ Medelmåttigt ⃝ Bra
⃝ Jättebra
11. Hur tycker du att datorspelande påverkar din förmåga att prata på Engelska?
⃝ Inte alls ⃝ Medelmåttigt ⃝ Bra
⃝ Jättebra
12. Hur tycker du att datorspelande påverkar dina skrivfärdigheter i Engelska?
⃝ Inte alls ⃝ Medelmåttigt ⃝ Bra
⃝ Jättebra
13. Hur tycker du att datorspelande påverkar din hörförståelse i Engelska?
⃝ Inte alls ⃝ Medelmåttigt ⃝ Bra
⃝ Jättebra
14. Något att tillägga?
