MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO FACULTY OF EDUCATION Department of English Language and Literature

The Influence of Computer Games on English Language Proficiency Bachelor Thesis

Brno 2016

Supervisor: Author: Mgr. Ivana Hrozková, Ph.D. Jana Hrčková

Declaration

Prohlašuji, že jsem závěrečnou bakalářskou práci vypracovala samostatně, s využitím pouze citovaných pramenů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu s Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity a se zákonem č. 121/2000 Sb., o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů.

I declare that I worked on my bachelor thesis on my own and that I used only the sources mentioned in the bibliography section.

Brno 6.3. 2016 ….………………….. Jana Hrčková

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank my supervisor, Mgr. Ivana Hrozková, Ph.D. for her patience and hard work. Furthermore, I would like to extend my thanks to my family and friends, who have been an enormous support during my lowest points.

Abstract This bachelor’s thesis addresses the topic of computer gaming and its influence on the English Language and its acquisition. In the first theoretical section I deal with theories of second language acquisition, motivation and incidental learning. Autonomous learning and the Computer Assisted Language Learning are also discussed. In the second part I address theory, I describe various types of computer games and their social aspects, which have a tremendous influence over language learning. The theoretical section of the thesis concludes with a discussion of recent researches related to computer games and their influence on English language proficiency and language acquisition. The practical part is comprised of my own research into this topic via a questionnaire on the use of computer games in and outside of language classroom.

Abstrakt Tato bakalářská práce se zabývá vlivem počítačových her na úroveň anglického jazyka a jeho osvojování. V teoretické části nejdříve popíši teoriíi akvizice cizího jazyka, motivace a spontánního učení. V druhé části se dále zabývám popisem počítačových her a jejich sociálních aspektů, které mají velký vliv na osvojení cizího jazyka. Teoretická část je zakončena diskuzí o nedávných výzkumech na téma počítačových her a jejich vlivu na úroveň anglického jazyka a jeho osvojování. Praktická část se skládá z mého vlastního výzkumu skrz dotazníkovou metodu na téma využití počítačových her ve vyučování i mimo něj.

Keywords: English language, second language acquisition, computer games, influence on foreign language, CALL

Klíčová slova: anglický jazyk, osvojování cizího jazyka, počítačové hry, vliv na cizí jazyk, CALL

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION ...... 7

2 WHAT IS LEARNING ...... 8

2.1 Learning...... 8

2.2 Incidental and intentional learning ...... 8

2.3 Autonomous learning ...... 9

2.4 Learning strategies ...... 10

3 ENGLISH LANGUAGE ...... 12

3.1 Second language acquisition ...... 12

3.1.1 Motivation ...... 13

3.2 Language skills ...... 14

3.3 CALL...... 15

3.3.1 Brief history of CALL ...... 15

3.3.2 Uses of CALL ...... 16

3.3.3 Language skills practice in CALL ...... 17

3.4 A game as an method of learning ...... 18

3.5 Language in computer environment ...... 19

4 COMPUTER GAMES ...... 21

4.1 Introduction ...... 21

4.2 Types of computer games ...... 22

4.3 Popular computer games ...... 23

5 RESEARCH ON COMPUTER GAMES ...... 25

5.1 Chen and Yang ...... 25

5.2 DeHaan, Reed, Kuwada ...... 25

5.3 Chik ...... 26

6 RESEARCH ...... 29

6.1 Aims and research questions ...... 29

6.2 Research sample ...... 29

6.3 Data collection ...... 29

6.4 Findings ...... 32

6.4.1 Demographics and language learning...... 32

6.4.2 Computer games ...... 33

6.4.3 The influence on English language ...... 34

6.5 Discussion ...... 38

6.6 Suggestion for further work...... 40

7 CONCLUSION ...... 41

8 REFERENCE LIST ...... 42

9 List of Figures ...... 45

10 List of Tables ...... 46

11 Appendices ...... 47

1 INTRODUCTION

When I attended grammar school, I was repeatedly told to stop playing computer games and to do some real English language studying. However, I persisted and learned most of the vocabulary and grammar through the social interaction, in-game texts and recordings. I then continued studying languages at a university, but again, I found out that although several courses make use of computer assisted language learning, none of them had anything to do with any sort of computer game (be it online or offline). That led me to a question, why are teachers not interested in this part of language learning and take advantage of the need to play, when the average age of players is around 35, with 30% of them being in the 18 to 35 years of age bracket. (ESA, 2015) With the spread of technology and computer, this should be an ample opportunity to make an entertaining past time into an educational experience. There have been several research studies conducted on the theory of how computer games influence behaviour of children and adults, however, none of them identified which language skill was influenced the most and how, which is the topic I would like to discuss.

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THEORETICAL PART

2 WHAT IS LEARNING

In this chapter, I will provide the definition of learning, describe several learning styles, cognitive styles and learning strategies. This chapter will be concluded with detailed description of motivation, autonomy and incidental learning.

2.1 Learning

What is learning? Mareš (1998) states that learning is a general term which can be studied according to its “bearer”, that is live organisms or technical systems. He listed several definitions of learning, each according to a different point of scientific view. Brugelsky defines learning from the neuro-physical point of view as a process which builds a relatively persistent inductive nerve arch on the basis on simultaneous activity of constituting nerves.(Mareš, 1998) This definition relates to neural level of learning. The behaviouristic theory of Hilgard defines learning as a change of behaviour on the grounds of experiences created by connecting new impulse with reaction. Lastly I would like to mention the definition of H.Frank, which describes learning from the information-psychological point of view – learning is the process of acquiring, saving, processing, storing and remembering information. We can study learning through the structural view according to several criteria, such as content, process, results, context etc. There are several processes that take place when learning: sensoric, perceptive, motoric and verbal learning (Mareš, 1998).

2.2 Incidental and intentional learning

Hulstijn claims that there are two popular views on what it means to learn a second language. Firstly he mentions that one view suggests it means years of intentional studying, deliberate committing of vocabulary and grammar rules to memory. The second view looks at language learning as if it was an incidental picking up words and structures just by engaging into activities (mostly communicative), such as listening and reading, during which the attention is not on the form of the discourse, but rather on the meaning (Doughty, 2003). This simple division is based on the methodology of learning a language. However, there are several more views on incidental learning. Historically, the first notion of intentional and incidental learning

8 can be found in psychology. In the early twentieth century learning was described as forming associations between stimuli and responses. The most elementary form of S-R learning is signal learning (e.g. crying when seeing onions). One step further in the hierarchy of learning is proper stimulus-response learning, e.g. learning word pairs (native – foreign). In the 1960’s and 1970’s cognitive psychology replaced the terminology of learning by information processing. Psychologists such as Hyde and Jenkins conducted research on a group of learners, whom they handed a number of words and told them to perform a number of orienting task. Participants were not told that they would be tested afterwards. They concluded that incidental and intentional learning refers to the absence or presence of announcement of the test conducted afterwards. Most second language learning researchers use incidental learning in connection with learning of vocabulary through reading. Three studies were completed where learners read a novel which included unknown words. Small vocabulary gains were recorded (as opposed to groups that had not read the text). As for grammar, there are many empirical grammar-learning studies in which participants were exposed to a principle or rule without being told. Doughty designed and performed an experiment in 1991 on two groups that included grammar of relative clauses. Neither of the groups were informed about a test on their acquisition of relative clauses rules coming afterwards.

2.3 Autonomous learning

Autonomy is generally defined as the ability to take responsibility and control of one’s own learning. It is important to recognize that autonomy is not total abandonment of the learner by one’s teacher and it is not a synonym for self-instruction, as autonomy is not limited to learning without a teacher (Little 1990). The basic definition of autonomy according to Holec states: “(Autonomy is) to take charge of one’s own learning, to have, and to hold, the responsibility for all the decisions concerning all aspects of this learning, i.e. determining the objectives, defining the contents and progressions, selecting methods and techniques to be used, monitoring the procedure of acquisition, evaluating what has been acquired” (Holec, 1981). Holec’s and Little’s descriptions of autonomy relate to autonomy as an individual’s capacity, but they do not give enough room for the third aspect of autonomous leaning, which is the content freely chosen by the autonomous learner himself. The learner should have the freedom to determine his own goal or purpose of the learning, if we were to describe it as genuinely self-directed. The idea of autonomy is based on a natural ability, or tendency, of

9 learners to take control of their own learning. Autonomy is available to all without exception and is shown in various ways, each different according to the learners needs, expectations and situation. Learners that do not show any autonomy in learning are able to develop it when presented with appropriate conditions and preparation, such as opportunity to exercise control over learning. Autonomous learning is more effective than non-autonomous learning (Benson, 2001). Autonomous learning is a concept that predates any formal theories of learning. Millions of people undergo second language acquisition through self-teaching everyday even in the modern institutionalized societies. The first concept of autonomy learning entered the language teaching field in 1971 through the Centre de Recherches et d’Applications en Langues (CRAPEL), established in France, University of Nancy. The capacity to take charge of one’s own learning was considered as a natural product of self-directed learning, where the objectives, progress and evaluation are determined by the learners. CRAPEL also innovated the approach to opportunities and supported the self-access resource centres, although in the early stages the theory of autonomy was unfortunately associated with individualisation. In recent years, self-access language learning has however acquired the connotation of self-directed or autonomous learning. It is often assumed that self- access work will automatically lead to autonomy. There is, however, no relationship between self-instruction and the development of autonomy (Benson, 2001). The growth of technology in education (personal computer, radio and video) has liberated a significant number of students from the obligatory attendance in regularly scheduled classes. New media (such as YouTube) enabled learners’ access to free educational materials. Not only has the international boom of communication technologies allowed the students to consume knowledge indiscriminately, but it also made language teaching necessary. International migration, tourism and businesses are requiring the use of a common language – English.

2.4 Learning strategies

Mareš describes learning strategies as procedures of bigger range, with which the learner completes a specific plan when solving given task, wants to achieve something and avoid another thing. He further explains that strategies are comprised of the task factor which consists of content, structure and difficulty of the task, perception factor such as whether the situation is perceived as a learning situation, intentional factor (intention, plans), decision factor

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(procedure), realisation factor described as the use of tactics while using the abilities and knowledge, directional factor consisting of evaluation and correction, and lastly resultative factor – the form of the results. (Mareš, 1998) Cohen states that learning strategies can be defined as learning processes that are consciously selected by the learner. The most important part is the free choice of learner. There are three main directions in research on language learning strategies: identification and classification, correlation of the strategies with learning outcomes and lastly the investigation of the possibility of training learners. Mareš states that learning strategies are relevant not only to human learning (not even animals), but also in technology, i.e. artificial intelligence development (Mareš, 1998). Wenden described the strategies in 1983 and divided them into three categories: the knowledge of what language learning involves, planning the content/methods and self-evaluation. Rebecca Oxford from University of Alabama defines learning strategies as specific actions, behaviours, steps, or techniques students use -- often consciously -- to improve their progress in apprehending, internalizing, and using the second language (Oxford 1990). She further categorizes strategies into two types – direct, which involves mental processing of target language, and indirect, which involve: “Focusing, planning, evaluating, seeking opportunities, controlling anxiety, increasing cooperation and empathy and other means.” (Oxford 1990). In her update she specifies a few situations which involve different learning strategies: “For example, Lazlo seeks out conversation partners. Oke groups words to be learned and then labels each group. Ahmed uses gestures to communicate in the classroom when the words do not come to mind. Mai Qi learns words by breaking them down into their components. Young consciously uses guessing when she reads.“ (Oxford, n.d.). One of the most important parts of a computer game is the social aspect, which provides the player with a form of social contact and sense of belonging in a group when playing. Vlčková (2007) touches this subject briefly in her book, stating that social learning strategies are very important for foreign language learning, as the language is a particular form of social behaviour. She further divides social strategies in three subtypes: Questioning, empathy and cooperation. Questioning is defined as asking native speakers, teachers or proficient language learners for explanation, clarification or correction. Cooperation is defined as specific interaction between one or more individuals for the purposes of improvement and lastly empathy is empathising with other foreign language learners (Vlčková, 2007). All of these subtypes can be implemented into computer gaming, especially multi-player games. Players communicating with others via VoIP programs can ask their peers for assistance with their foreign language experience.

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3 ENGLISH LANGUAGE

In this chapter, I will be dealing with second language acquisition and its aspects such as motivation and language aptitude. Another part of this chapter is the description of computer assisted language learning.

3.1 Second language acquisition

Second language acquisition (SLA) is the process of learning and using a non-native tongue, inside or outside a classroom. According to Ellis (1997), the language learned does not have to be the second language acquired, but it is rather any foreign language that is different from the native language of the speaker, thus it can be third, fourth language etc. The way in which language acquisition happens is inconsequential (Widdowson). SLA can be divided into three categories: naturalistic, instructed or both. Naturalistic SLA can be described as a language acquisition through bilingualism or multilingualism, whereas instructed SLA happens mainly in classrooms. Learning language through computer games could be classified as naturalistic, as there is no instruction from a mentor or a teacher. Second language acquisition can be explained through external and internal factors that shed light on how a learner acquires the language in the way they do. The two main external factors are social milieu, which are social conditions that influence what the learners hear, speak and the attitude to the language itself; Input, that is the samples of language the learner is exposed to, i.e. are the learners exposed to simplified language or are they exposed to the authentic language of a native-speaker. Furthermore, we can identify these main internal factors: cognitive mechanisms, general knowledge, communication strategies and language aptitude. Cognitive mechanism is the ability to notice and extract information from the second language, such as noticing that the adverbs usually end with the suffix –ed. General knowledge about the culture and society of the second language native speakers enables the learner to understand the input better; Skehan (1998) mentions that we are not exclusively dependent on the nature of sounds to achieve meaning. He further addresses the fact that the learner can relate message and context in both ways, message from context and context from message. Communication strategies help learners cope with communication when their vocabulary or grammar knowledge doesn’t suffice “... communication strategies are used by an individual to overcome the crisis which occurs when language structures are inadequate to convey the

12 individual’s thought.” (Dörnyei, 1997), e.g. substituting unknown words with simpler synonyms.

3.1.1 Motivation

Second language acquisition is also affected by the attitudes and affective states that influence the degree of effort of learners to learn foreign languages. The concept of motivation has been widely researched since the 1990’s, when a range of different articles were published and an extensive range of theories were proposed. Motivation research was firmly grounded in the field of social psychology, which enabled the use of terminology and metaphors (Doughty, 2003). This resulted into a special data-based research tradition which crystallized in empirical testing of various theoretical propositions. In the general meaning, motivation is what drives to people to think and behave as they do. “...more specifically (i) the choice of particular action, (ii) the persistence with it, and (iii) the effort expended on it. In broad terms, motivation is responsible for why people decide to do something, how long they are willing to sustain the activity and how hard they are going to pursue it.“ (Doughty, 2003). Ellis (1997) divides motivation into four categories. (i) Instrumental motivation, which can be the force determining success in foreign language learning. The learners make conscious effort to learn the language for a specific functional reason. (ii) Integrative motivation. Learners may want to learn the foreign language in order to better integrate into a target-language group or simply because of an interest in the culture and the people of the target-language speakers. However, studies have shown that this type of motivation does not seem to be as important as instrumental motivation. (iii) Resultative motivation. The learners that experience results or achievements in learning a foreign language may incite bigger motivation to reach even better results. This is however influenced by the contexts of the learner. As Ellis states, there are several examples of the negative resultative motivation, such as Mexican woman’s experience of discrimination after to learning English to a high standard, thus reducing her appreciation of the target culture. (iv) Intrinsic motivation. Some learners do not experience any of the abovementioned types of motivations, but are rather intrinsically motivated by their innate curiosity, hobbies and interests. They carry out activities for the satisfaction of achievement or to experience stimulation (Vallerand, 1997).

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The Canadian social psychological approach only acknowledges first two points mentioned in Ellis (1997), that is integrative and instrumental orientation. The approach further mentions the concept of integrative motive, which is divided into integrativeness (comprising of interest and orientation toward the foreign language community), attitudes toward the learning situation (teacher and course) and motivation (motivational intensity, desire to learn the language and attitude towards learning the language) (Gardner 1985). If we take a look at computer game players, we can identify two types of motivation (according to Ellis). One of them is integrative motivation as players might strive to fit in between their gaming peers and understand shared culture. Another can be resultative motivation. When players communicate with their fellow gamers and are able to understand the language exchange, they might get even more motivated to learn English.

3.2 Language skills

There are four basic language skills, often called macro skills, which can be further described according to the mode of communication (oral or written) or the direction of communication (receiving or producing a message). Skills are used interactively and in combination, not restricted to one skill. Each of these macro skills can be further analysed to smaller micro skills according to how is the skill used, the genre of material etc. Skills are often transferrable from the native language to the foreign language (Scrivener, 2005). It is important to differentiate between language system and language skills. Language system is defined as what we know about the language, and language skill is what we do with the language. Language skills are usually assessed through the Common European Framework for Languages, which serves as an evaluative tool for language proficiency. Listening is an oral receptive skill based on understanding spoken production (non- interactive) or interaction (interactive). It is a skill dependant on the learners understanding of grammar and vocabulary, although having perfect knowledge of them does not necessarily ensure listening comprehension. Listening is usually practised by listening to radio programmes, songs, interviews etc. and then participating in discussion. When learners listen, they use a variety of strategies to understand the language, such as listening multiple times to the same recording to ensure that they understood everything. Speaking is the oral productive skill in which the speaker produces an oral discourse. Same as listening, it can be interactive or non-interactive, but also partially interactive (giving speeches etc.). Speaking can be sometimes hindered by anxiety or fear of talking in a foreign

14 language. This can be also caused by the difficulty of transferring the knowledge to such as grammar and vocabulary into a practical spoken form. Anxiety can be reduced by coercing the learners to talk about the topic they are familiar with, such as their hobbies or work. Some of the activities used to practice speaking include discussions, speeches, drills, role-play etc. Reading is the receptive skill in the written mode and usually helps building vocabulary (which in turn helps listening skill). We can divide reading into two modes, reading to oneself and reading aloud. The reading to oneself is similar to listening, whereas reading aloud is similar to spoken production. Each learner can differ in the speed and fluency in which they read a text. These are controlled by the learner, as opposed to listening, where the learner does not have control. There are several strategies for learners to practice reading, such as skimming and scanning. Skimming is a method of reading a text very quickly and trying to get the general idea of the information within. Scanning is a method of quick reading in order to find a specific piece of information. Lastly, writing is the productive skill in the written mode. The role of writing has changed greatly since the invention of email and internet as a great deal of communication nowadays is conducted through them instead of calling (speaking). The communication in computer games also happens mainly through text. However, this written communication has its own peculiarities and is discussed in the chapter Computer language. Writing can be practiced through writing essays, brainstorming, copying etc.

3.3 CALL

3.3.1 Brief history of CALL

Computer Assisted Language Learning, often shortened to CALL, is a concept which first appeared after computer networks were introduced. Levy (1997) defines CALL as "the search for and study of applications of the computer in language teaching and learning". Chi- Fu (n.d.) divides the history of CALL into three phases: behaviouristic, communicative and integrative. First documented transfer of language educational material took place in 1980, when Collet used university computers to share grammar activities for his students. The earliest programs for CALL were designed for drills and testing vocabulary and grammar through multiple choice exercises. This behaviouristic phase lasted through 1960’s to 1970’s. The second, communicative phase of CALL programs stimulated cognitive involvement with the language and spoken interaction with other students performing the same task. This phase

15 emerged in the 1970’s and continued over 1980’s as a response to the rejection of behaviourist approach to learning. Communicative CALL stressed that learners should be implicitly taught grammar and then make their own utterances as opposed to filling in pre-fabricated patterns as it worked before. These instructions emphasized the importance of expression and development. Popular programs at that time were text reconstruction and simulations. The last phase began in 1990’s when communicative CALL had been criticized for being used ad-hoc and disconnected. The main aim of integrative CALL is to emphasize socio-cognitive view of language that promotes usage in real, meaningful contexts. This phase of CALL makes use of the whole range of language skills (reading, speaking, writing, and listening) and integrates technology into everyday teaching practice. Communicative CALL can be according to Chi- Fen further divided into two types: multimedia CALL (CD-ROM’s) which became widespread in the late 1980’s and through the 1990’s. They were used to store larger amounts of text, sounds and videos for the learners. At the end of 1990’s DVD’s became increasingly more used in classrooms due to their bigger capacity and better quality; and web-based CALL (on the internet). The World Wide Web was launched in 1992, however, it took a long time before the interactivity reached the level that multimedia CALL was at. Felix suggests that Web-based CALL should be used in combination with multimedia. However, we have to realize that the author published his book in 2001 and technologies have significantly improved since then.

3.3.2 Uses of CALL

Lee (2010) states several uses of CALL in his the online journal. Firstly, the use of internet in computer learning enables the learners to create their own experience. Instead of being just receivers of knowledge, they are also creators. Moreover, the internet offers the users a wide range of activities, as it is not linear. The learners have to choose themselves and develop their own skills, which in turn promotes their self-confidence. Another point that Lee (2010) makes is that learners are more motivated to use the computers, because they are associated with gaming, free time and being fashionable. Materials on computers are in the majority of cases available throughout the whole day, without the exception of occasional maintenance. Most of the materials are also accessible without charges. Individualization is another aspect of the immense popularity. The learner is not bound to one text-book with sometimes fossilized knowledge, but instead they can access the newest trends and discoveries in the field of their choice. Lastly, by using CALL on the internet, the learner can get in touch with different cultures via communicating with other learners from all around

16 the world. The fact that most of the internet interaction is greatly anonymized makes it even easier for shy or anxious students to make connections and even new friends. Usage of CALL in the class should follow certain principles. The input by teach and learner should be comprehensive and meaningful. Content of CALL needs to be learner- oriented to promote autonomy and interactive to motivate the learner. Interaction with computer can either unobtrusive or apparent. The first option takes place without the student’s knowledge or intention, whereas the latter simulates communication (Pennington, 1989). Pennington also states that computers, being machines unable of independent thinking, can frustrate the learner by being uncooperative. She further suggest that there should always be an option to skip a frustrating section and an option to simply save the progress and quit for the time being. Johnson reports that “computer activities can serve as a catalyst that brings students together to interact... peer and small group work centered around a computer-based activity can be a powerful force in a second language development program.” (Johnson 1985). According to Chi-fen there are four categories of the use of a computer in a language learning. Computers in class: Teaching with one computer in a class generally takes the form of presenting materials to the class, such as Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, classroom activities description/rules or discussion topics on a big screen. Interactive whiteboards can also be counted into this category. Teaching with several computers in a class (usually the computer network-work) can include group-based activities, synchronous or asynchronous communication over internet, tandem learning etc. Learning on computers outside class can include drills and exercises done for independent, self-accessed learning, including word processing, creating new web content and resources searching. One of the most used forms of distance learning are discussion forums and chatrooms.

3.3.3 Language skills practice in CALL

Every language skill can be practiced in computer assisted language learning. There are three main options how to improve reading skills through CALL. The first one can be identified as incidental reading (learners read the text not for the purpose of learning to read, but to complete the task), reading comprehension and text manipulation (Gündüz, 2005). Speaking skills can be practiced through the use of Voice over Internet Protocol programs, such as Skype or TeamSpeak. Furthermore, the learners can record their own videos and post them online via several available websites, namely YouTube or Vimeo. As for writing skills, Gündüz (2005) states that: “By providing something to write about, the computer stimulates both writing and

17 speaking. An example might be the following activity from the Redhouse Dictionary CD-ROM: ‘Put the jumbled idioms in order and write them in your notebook“. Since the dawn of computer they have been used for word processing, so most of the learners are able to type on their computers from a very young age nowadays. Listening skills are usually practiced via playing a CD-ROM or an mp3 file on either a computer or a radio. The exercises can include listening comprehension tested via gap-fill exercise (usually a song), or it can also be an excerpt from a well-known film/series. These exercised can be done as a group activity or an individual activity, although the learners need to use headphones with the latter. Lastly, grammar skills. There is a multitude of free grammar exercises available on the internet, either to be printed or to be completed online. One of the examples could be the website en.islcollective.com. This site offers plenty of various worksheets for any target language proficiency or grammar issue.

3.4 A game as an method of learning

Games have long been used in teaching, one example from the history could be J.A. Komensky’s “Škola hrou” There are two most prominent learning theories that can be applicable to gaming. First is the Gagne’s Conditions for Learning and the second Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Inteligences. Gagne’s theory argues that there are several types of learning. Games that are well designed should challenge players by employing several stimuli at once. In most games, information is presented through text and verbal instructions, sometimes even through videos. Most of the games also require precise use of the keyboard, which stimulates motor skills. Gagné also described Nine Events, which can be applied to games (Becker, n.d.). These start with gaining attention (reception). This stage is complete when the player starts the game as the developers usually include a trailer to entice players. Informing learners of the objective (expectancy) happens when the game informs the players what the ultimate goal of the particular is and how to reach it. Stimulating recall of prior learning (retrieval) can be seen in games which have prequels or sequels. Players transfer their prior knowledge to the new game. Presenting the stimulus (selective perception) is presenting the players with a sufficient challenge to beat, such as a difficult enemy to conquer or a strategy to solve. Providing learning guidance (semantic encoding) means that the player learns how to continue through the game itself. There are sometimes in-game tutors added by the developers to help players with the more difficult content. Eliciting performance (responding), which is playing the game itself. Providing feedback (reinforcement) is always present in the game in the form of informing the

18 player that they are indeed progressing towards the goal of the game. Assessing performance (retrieval) is sometimes expressed through the means of achievement points, which are awarded to the player for defeating very difficult foes or solving a particularly difficult puzzle. Lastly, enhancing retention and transfer (generalization) can be seen through application of rules across game genres and different games. The second theory was proposed by Howard Gardner in this book Frames of Mind. He suggests that there are seven types of intelligences according to which learners employ different learning strategies. These are linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, kinaesthetic, intrapersonal, interpersonal and naturalistic. All of these can be easily found in computer games, including the kinaesthetic. Although not all games employ actual physical movement, players are often immersed in the virtual worlds in which their avatar is physically moving. (There are games that require actual movement, however, they are usually programmed as console games and as such not considered in this thesis).

3.5 Language in computer environment

The computer environment significantly changed the way we communicate. First with the dawn of information technology came the programming languages, which are artificially created instructional languages to a standard form of commands. Then in 1992 came the internet, and with it the global network, which desperately needed a common global language. English, it seems, became that language. However, as the internet is a fast developing medium even the language developed rapidly. There are several distinctive features of a written language variety. Graphic features can be described as the general presentation and organization of the written language. Orthographic features such as the use of alphabet, capital letters/lowercase, spelling, punctuation and emphasis. Grammatical features are the many possibilities of syntax and morphology – word order, word inflections etc. Lexical features being the vocabulary (idioms, phrasal verbs etc.). The last feature of a written language variety are the discourse features, the structural organization of a text (Crystal, 2001). David Crystal further adds two verbal features – phonetic and phonological, the first one being the general auditory characteristics of spoken language such as voice quality, vocal register, voice modality etc.; whilst the latter is the sound system such as the use of intonation, stress and pause. The games and the internet are predominantly a written medium. The language input that a computer user does is by far exceeded by the language output that they return. Another

19 difference between normal speech and computer speech is that it lacks speed. The computer- human interaction is far slower than face-to-face contact. This is sometimes substituted by using smileys such as ‘:)’, ‘:(‘, expressing human emotion in an idiomatic written form (see Figure 1). In Figure 1 we can see an excerpt from an in-game chat (World of Warcraft). From the point of the written language factors mentioned by Crystal, we can see several differences between the usual written discourse and this in-game chat. As for the graphic features, first thing that a user sees is the difference in colour between users (represented by their nicknames, such as Nethielka). Structurally, this chat is synchronous, which means the messages are delivered and read in real-time. This type of computer chat requires constant awareness and the user hopes that the other players respond promptly. The other type of chat is called asynchronous, where people write their messages and they might be posted in a couple of minute, with responds coming in gradually over the space of longer time. The difference in the orthographic features are also very visible, such as the omission of capital letters at the beginning of a sentence by all of the participants, omission of punctuation such as full stop at the end of a sentence etc. Grammatically, the utterances can be considered as correct with the occasional mistake. Furthermore, the vocabulary usually contains specific terminology pertaining to either this specific game or gaming in general. In this case, we can see the term ‘garrison table’, which refers to an object that a player can find in their in-game house; or login, which means to enter the game itself. Players are also prone to using abbreviations such as lol (lots of laugh), rofl (rolling on the floor laughing), or dmg (damage) due to time-saving (see Figure 2). Another significant difference of the computer environment language is that it’s often very informal (Bodomo, 2010).

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4 COMPUTER GAMES

In this chapter I will first describe a brief history of computer games, then divide them according to player count and touch the topic of software rating. I will further introduce the typical representatives of each game category, describing the game content and gameplay. For the purposes for this thesis I am only considering computer programs which are primarily meant as a game. Games which primary purpose serves to educate (educational computer games (Egenfeldt-Nielsen, 2015)) are not included in the study, as they often include direct grammar and vocabulary teaching. An example of an educational game can be found on the Games to learn English website, such as ‘Endless Action’ or ‘Fast Hands’ (see Figure 3) , as well as any computer program primarily intended for CALL, such as Workspace (for interactive whiteboards).

4.1 Introduction

Games. The past-time of (not only) children that can be found throughout the history of mankind. Whether in the prehistoric times or modern society, children and adults alike spend a portion of their time playing games. “Games are a fundamental part of human life. The vocabulary of games has insinuated itself into our language and refers to activities that are not truly games. We "play along" with activities we find distasteful. We "play ball" with those who require our cooperation. We "play games" when we are insincere. A willing participant is "game for the enterprise."“ (Crawford, 1984). For the purposes of this bachelor’s thesis only PC games are going to be considered. While the gaming console industry is growing and can be considered an important part of game history and present, it is too diverse and the majority of gamers still prefer personal computers. With the emergence of computers in the 20th century, computer games inevitably appeared on the long list of past-time delights. The first computer game ever to be created was a game called Nimatron, designed in 1939, which emulated the logic game Nim (see Figure 4). The goal of the game was to be the last to remove an object from a pile. Nimatron is thought to be the ancestor of the computer game and surprisingly very few people have ever beaten it. In the year 1971 the company Atari was founded and developed one of the best known games ever – the Pong. The Pong is considered the first ever sports arcade game and sold approximately 8000 21 units (Mäyrä, 2008). The success of this game attracted many new companies to the market and gave way to the names such as Nintendo or Konami (Overmars, 2012). A notable breakthrough came with the emergence of the PC – personal computer in the early 1990s. Instead of playing on consoles, players enjoyed games on a faster machine. A very popular game (to this day), released in 1992, is called Wolfenstein 3D. Later that decade a series of golden classic were released, such as Age of Empires, Starcraft, Warcraft, Simcity and many other tycoon games. Many of those are still very popular today and were remade many times. Computer games evolved further, and in the late 2000’s a new genre of games sprung up with the rising popularity of social networks such as Facebook. The genre of social network games is still popular today with millions of people playing titles such as Farmville, Candy Crush or Clash of Clans (see Figure 5).

4.2 Types of computer games

Computer games are generally divided according to either player count or genre. Unfortunately, to divide PC games according to genre is almost impossible due to the multitude and broad range of themes. Some of the most sold genres in the year 2015 according to the Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry by Entertainment Software Association (2015) are strategy, casual and role-playing games (see Figure 6). As for the player count, we can divide the games into four categories: single player, multiplayer, multi-player online battle arena and massively multiplayer online role-playing game. In single player games, the person playing is the only human being involved with controlling the game. The opponents in the game and the game itself are controlled by the program and usually behave in predicted manner. Player in this mode depends on his own abilities and skills. Single player games have an unlimited range of themes – from logic games such as puzzles, through sports games, fighting, fantasy, sci-fi and role-playing games. An example of a single-player game is the classic game Super Mario Bros or more recently the Witcher series, in which the player controls the main character Geralt. The opposite of single-player games are multi-player games. In multi-player games, there are multiple people playing the same game at the same moment in time. The gamers can either play in a team, battling computer-controlled opponents or fight each other (in teams or solo). Players in this mode cooperate with each other to achieve better results. Multi-player games often involve sports, such as football, hockey or fighting. An example of a fighting multi-player game is the Counter-Strike series, where two teams (terrorists and counter-terrorists) battle each other in order to either plant or disarm explosives.

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Another example of a currently popular multi-player game is Hearthstone (Blizzard Entertainment). Based on Blizzard’s franchise, it is a logic card game similar to Magic: The Gathering (Wizards of the Coast). The sub-genre of MOBA – multi-player online battle arena is currently a very popular choice, with very successful titles such as League of Legends (Riot Games), Defense of the Ancients (Valve) and Heroes of the Storm (Blizzard Entertainment). Another division can be done according to the ESRB, which stands for the Entertainment Software Rating Board. It is used to divide computed games according to their suitability to different age-group target audiences. Each rating contains three parts, providing in-depth information about the content of the game.

4.3 Popular computer games

World of Warcraft (often shortened to WoW) is a subscription-based massively multi- player online roleplaying game made by the Blizzard Entertainment. The franchise was started by the release of Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994. The online version came out in 2004 and is since then considered the leading game in the MMORPG industry (LNorton, 2003). In the first quarter of 2015 Blizzard Entertainment registered over seven million subscriptions (PC Gamer, n.d.) all over the world, playing in five regions and thirteen regional languages(Blizzard Entertainmant, n.d.). There is no particular goal to achieve in the game. It is rather played for the enjoyment of defeating either players from the opposing faction (Player vs. Player, shortened to PvP) or defeating environment (Player vs. Enviroment, PvE), collecting gear for your champion or interaction between friends. As with other massively multi-player games, the social aspect of the game is very strong. There are many challenges a single player cannot overcome and would be easily defeated. For the purpose of social interactions the concept of guilds is introduced. A guild is a group of people regularly playing together under one banner. Being in guild helps to overcome difficulties while levelling your character and allows the players to enjoy privileges such as faster mail between guild members, cheaper armour repairs etc. (ZAM Network LLC, 2013). The player is also limited by the ability to learn only two professions out of eleven professions available. This forces players to communicate and trade.

League of Legends (often abbreviated to LoL) is a free-to-play multi-player online battle arena. The game was created by Riot Games in 2009 as a variation on the modification Defense of the Ancients for the game Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne. Since then LoL dominated the

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MOBA genre with twenty seven million players regularly battling against each other each day in ten regions with thirteen languages available (Riot Games, n.d.). There are four regular game modes, further divided into subcategories: Tutorials, which allow new players to learn how to control their champions, whereas PvP mode is the usual choice for players. It is further divided into normal, ranked, dominion and ARAM. The goal is to destroy the opponents’ team base with the nexus. Co-op vs AI is similar to the tutorial. Player teams up with four random players and battles against computer-controlled champions. Lastly, custom matches allow the players to choose their own teammates and opponents, including the computer-controlled bots. Serves as a special queue for tournaments.

Assassins Creed is a historical fiction single player video game series developed by Ubisoft Montreal, available for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and many other. Each of the games in the series is set in a different time period and location, ranging from Damascus in the 12th century, 15th century Florence to 19th century Victorian London. The main conflict lies in the rivalry of two secret societies, the Assassins and the Templars, who both fight for freedom through different means. The first game was released in 2007 and since then enjoyed tremendous popularity among computer game players. The game cleverly combines logic and physicality in the form of free parkour. The player, representing the faction of Assassins, is able to jump, climb over buildings, dive from towers into haystacks etc. When the player is spotted by guards, however, the character he plays needs to hide either into crowds, break the line of sight or jump into a haystack.

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5 RESEARCH ON COMPUTER GAMES

In this chapter I will introduce several researches on computer games and their influence or connection to second language acquisition. As computer games evolve and occupy our time more and more, they influence our everyday lifestyle as well. There are institutes dedicated to research on computer games, such as the Centre for Computer Games Research by IT University of Copenhagen (Denmark) or several online or printed resources (journal or magazines), such as Game Studies, Games for Change etc.

5.1 Chen and Yang

One of the many research studies conducted by Chan and Yang was focused on the influence of adventure video games on foreign language learning. Thirty five students from a university in Taiwan were assigned a game called “Bone”. They were asked to fill out a short survey in a written form after playing the game. The result of this research reported that the gamers enjoyed the language acquisition through games more than in the classrooms and the ability to understand the game gave them a sense of achievement. Some of the students also stated that the game forced them to think in English. As we can see in the Table 5: Languages studied and their number, the number of gains far outweighed the number of difficulties, most notably in the vocabulary section, where none of the students reported any difficulty and 11 of them reported an increase in vocabulary size. Chen and Yang conclude their research by stating that the challenge of a computer game is very important for the students as they are motivated to learn the vocabulary, actively listen and read what the game requires of the players. Although there are difficulties to overcome whilst playing, the benefits by far outweigh the downsides. (Chen, 2011)

5.2 DeHaan, Reed, Kuwada

The study of three university teachers is called: ‘The effect of interactivity with a music video game on second language vocabulary recall’ focuses on vocabulary recall via a game called ‘Parappa the Rapper 2‘. The purpose of the game is to complete the lines of a rap song through pressing buttons. The participants of the research were eighty Japanese undergraduate students aged from eighteen to twenty four. All of the subjects had between six to eleven years of English education, however the majority of the students never took any form of standardized

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English proficiency test. The group was randomly divided into pairs. One student was sat in front of a screen where a video feed from the game was shown. The other student was playing the game in a different room. The vocabulary retention was tested immediately after the game and with a two week delay. Students were given a written close test with forty one words from the lyrics of the rap song. The results showed that the watchers of the game recalled significantly more than the gamers. The data collected also revealed that recall tested immediately after the game was better than the test after two weeks. The researchers also asked the students to complete an open-ended response questionnaire. Many of the watchers reported that they felt bored after many replays, whereas the gamers reported enjoyment in repeating the songs to achieve better and better scores. The main difference between the gamers and watchers was in their concentration scores. Watchers reported that they were able to concentrate on learning new vocabulary significantly better than the gamers, who reported that they felt stressed by the need to score better. “They stated difficulty in pressing the buttons accurately when they focused on the language and that they could not listen to or read the English when they concentrated on the gameplay. A few of the players commented that they “wanted to be a watcher to learn the English.” (DeHaan, 2010). The study concludes with a statement that teachers might be interested in using games in their teaching practice and a few examples how to incorporate them.

5.3 Chik

Alice Chik from the City University of Hong Kong deals in her study with the autonomous learning experience in gaming. Gaming in East Asia is not allowed in schools as it is viewed as “addictive and non-educational”. Chik’s research (2014) described a twelve month exploratory study conducted in East Asia region, particularly Chinese speaking gamers. The goal was to determine the impact of everyday digital gaming upon the gamers’ foreign language learning. A hundred and fifty three Chinese Year 1 students responded by submitting their background survey and a five hundred autobiographical language learning history essay. Fifty of these were then chosen for an interview, based on their spoken language production skills. Ten of the selected students were also asked to interview their gamer friends (see Table 2).The research is then discussed from four points of view: Location, Formality, Pedagogy and Locus of Control.

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a) Location The location discussed in the research is both physical and virtual. Physical locations included households, Internet cafés, university premises, fast-food restaurants etc. Various locations provided different types of interactions between the gamers. When playing offline and on their own, gamers were only exposed to the language via reading the in-game texts. As already stated above, playing offline with other gamers observing can lead to learning more vocabulary (DeHaan, 2010). Virtual location in the game were created by changing the gaming language. One of the participants learned legal English due to playing Ace Attorney game and consequently spent less time on learning the terminology required by his Criminal Psychology course. Some of the participants of the study had taken an active role in creating the gaming environment for their peers who are not as proficient in English language by translating the game into their native language (Mandarin or Cantonese Chinese). These efforts were, however, met with an ambiguous success as some of the gamers still preferred the English version over the newly translated one. One of the interviewed students stated: “Though Jing was passionate about his translating activity, Sinicized versions were snubbed by other gamers: ‘I don’t know whether the people who made the add-ons had very bad English, or they simply used electronic dictionary to do the translation, the subtitles were usually ridiculous’”(Chik, 2014). Despite these caveats, we can still see merit of practising translation from foreign language to the native tongue.

b) Formality Playing computer games is usually considered informal activity. However, some of the study participants turned it into a primary means of learning a language. The gaming career of Edmond, a Mainland Chinese student in Hong Kong, showed a shift from gaming-focused to learning-focused activity...He wanted to learn sports jargon in English in order to befriend and play with international students in his hall of residence. In the previous summer, Edmond took up his friend Jack’s advice to use sports games to learn basketball jargon and commentary because there was no class teaching “such kind of English (Chik, 2014). The study shows that although many of the students played games primarily for the enjoyment, some of them turned the unintentional learning experience into completely intentional.

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c) Pedagogy The study found that gamers do not prefer educational games over the recreational games, but see the potential of learning a language through such. Peers help each other through online games or forums and list informal language vocabulary for their friends to peruse. “One translation that elicited a long discussion was the term ‘roaming’. The blogger originally put forward ‘ walking aimlessly ’ ( 漫走) as a possibility, and asked for confirmation. Others suggested ‘walking around’ (走動) and ‘wandering’ (漫遊). After rounds of discussion and negotiation, everyone agreed that ‘wandering’ was a better fit.” (Chik, 2014). The communities surrounding different game fandoms went so far as to creating their own encyclopaedia entries and tutorials for less skilled players which can be considered self- created pedagogical materials.

d) Locus of control Locus of control differentiates between self-directed and other-directed learning. This means the control over what language the gamers learn through the game and choosing to learn language specifically to play a computer game. For example, a player might choose to play a game in a foreign language as a means to purposefully learn more, as opposed to playing in his own native language, even though a localized version of the game is available on the market. The downside to this is that the content of what players learn is not controlled, e.g. playing Fifa (football simulator) will only teach the gamer vocabulary pertaining to sports. Though these gamers all acknowledged that these vocabulary items were highly specialized and were not used frequently in daily life, their confidence was nonetheless enhanced (Rama et al., 2012). Although the author admits that the study suffers from certain limitations, such as the participants’ initial high proficiency in English, its value is evident and it has demonstrated the pedagogical impact that gaming industry currently has on everyday second language learning. Gaming in a non-native language can be considered a language learning process as many gamers perform extensive research online and offline on various gaming strategies in both written and spoken form, thus spoken and written interaction are practiced. The last point Chik raises is the fact that many gamers utilize ‘enjoyment only’ games and use them as a learning resources on purpose. The main implication of this is that teachers should guide their students who are gamers so as to avoid misconceptions and to improve their learning experience to the fullest.

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PRACTICAL PART

6 RESEARCH

6.1 Aims and research questions

The aim of my research is to find out whether computer games influence the learners’ English language proficiency and how. I would also like to propose several uses of computer games inside and outside of classroom. My research questions are defined as: “Do computer games influence English language proficiency? If so, which language skills and how much? Can we utilize computer games in language learning?”

6.2 Research sample

The participants of my research are fifty non-native speakers of English language who play computer games. Their age ranges between fifteen to twenty-three years and all of them have learnt English language for at least three years to eliminate complete beginners from the research. Most of the participants have volunteered to participate through several gaming groups on Facebook or through in-game World of Warcraft and League of Legends chats. They were provided with a link to the questionnaire. A few of the respondents linked the form to their own gamer friends and spread it further.

6.3 Data collection

To collect data for my research I chose one instrument: a questionnaire as a method of quantitative research. A questionnaire is a structured sequence of questions on a specific topic. It can be defined also as a “Way of asking questions in a written form and acquiring written answers.” (Gavora, 2000). The questionnaire is sometimes substituted with the term survey, although questionnaire is generally purposefully distributed to a specific audience, whereas survey is completed by random responders (Chráska, 2007). There are several categories of question types that can be found in a questionnaire. The can be divided according to the goal of the question, the form of the answer and the content of the answer. The forms the questions can take are either unstructured: open-ended items, which do not provide options, but rather

29 require the respondent to create his own answer; or structured multiple choice items that suggest several options from which the respondent then chooses. These can be further divided into dichotomic questions (yes-no) or polytomic (more than two options), scale items (the most used type of scale question in questionnaires is Likert scale, where the respondent is required to express his degree of agreement with a statement) and finally ordinal questions, which asks the respondent to rank options according to a given criteria (Chráska, 2007). My questionnaire comprises of seven question pages and one confirmation page totaling 35 questions. For the distribution I used the Google Drive and Google Forms application online, which enabled quick spread of the questionnaire among the participants mainly through several Facebook groups. It also re-assured them about the complete anonymity, as this questionnaire does not record IP addresses, only the time-stamp (time when the form was completed). I did not use printed questionnaire, as the distribution and collection is more difficult and time consuming. In addition, gamers (who were the primary targets of this research) are more inclined to fill in an electronic resource, as they are used to interactive content on the Internet. To make this questionnaire even more attractive I chose a graphic theme called ‘Game Night’ (made by Google), which can be considered game-themed and may entice gamers to respond by reminding them of their favourite games (see Figure 7). I started my questionnaire with a personal introduction to the responders, stating my first name and surname, current studies at Masaryk University. Furthermore, I informed the responders about the time needed to complete the questionnaire and its purpose. I feel like this personal introduction will make the learners more at ease and comfortable with my research. I also kept my questions short and to the point, so as not to confuse the participants and have them give up mid-completion. In the process of designing my questionnaire I used several types of items. I started my research part with open-ended questions for personal data about the responder’s country of residence and (optional) their first name. On the next page I questioned the participants about their current language abilities, such as the length of their English studies in years, current proficiency and whether they study any other language besides English. On the third page the responders answered questions about their gameplay: which games they actually play (having a list to choose from or an option to write their own pick), how often they play (with a range from 1-2, 2-4, 4-10, 10-15 and more than fifteen hours a week), if and in which way the gamers communicate whilst playing (Text, Voice over Internet Protocol programs such as Skype/Ventrilo/TeamSpeak/Discord etc., Video or other) and whether they read the in-game texts. The next two pages are dealing with the actual influence of the computer games and how the gamers perceive it. I asked the participants whether they think that playing

30 games actually helped them with their English, which part of language was influenced the most by playing games, namely vocabulary, reading skills, listening skills or speaking (multiple choice question) and then to measure the actual influence using a Likert scale with the options ranging from ‘1 – Games helped me a lot’ to ‘5 – Games didn’t help me at all’. On the second page of the two I am asking whether the learners ever played a computer game explicitly for the purpose of studying a language, such as a sports game to learn sports terminology. This page is later expanded by two Likert scale questions about communication with other players and the level of formality. The question part of the questionnaire ends with a page asking the respondents whether they would like computer games be added in the curriculum/school work and if it would motivate them to learn English better. The whole questionnaire is concluded with a short test of textual comprehension. My questionnaire was piloted to eliminate mistakes and questions not related to my research and to improve the question formulations. For the initial test of my questionnaire I asked five volunteers to fill the answers and subsequently to provide me with feedback on the questions themselves. The volunteers were found through the in-game chat of World of Warcraft. Two of the piloting volunteers remarked that the question about their name made them feel more at ease and felt like I am interested in what they have to say about themselves. I found out that several questions were formulated ambiguously, such as the question about the location of the participants. The feedback stated that this question is too vague and participants were confused whether I am asking about the country or city. I rectified this mistake by adding an additional clarifying instruction. Another mistake I made when designing the questionnaire was also forgetting to add description to the Likert scale questions to indicate what the numbers actually mean. This was a serious mistake and if not corrected, the research could have been compromised by incorrectly marked answers. I also discarded three questions which had little to no connection to my research, such as ‘What is your native tongue?’ and ‘What game do you not like to play?’ and ‘What is your age?’ The piloting showed that the first question is redundant as the participants already state their nationality and the second question was originally included to build rapport. Unfortunately, as it asked about the negative experience with gaming, it did not serve its purpose. When piloting the questionnaire an interesting problem arose when the volunteers were asked about the influence of computer games on their language skills. Most of them were confused when I asked about writing skill and asked whether I mean grammar or vocabulary. Given the problems encountered with this question, I decided to exclude writing from the

31 research and incorporate the grammar and vocabulary micro-skills instead, as it will cause less confusion among the participants.

6.4 Findings

My questionnaire was distributed among the volunteering gamers fairly quickly, as they responded within minutes after releasing the form. The timestamp is recorded automatically through the Google Forms system and cannot be edited by the participants. The quick responses show that there is a definite interest amongst the gamers and foreign language learners in this topic and in the learning of language through their favourite computer games.

6.4.1 Demographics and language learning

The first part concerning personal information and demographics started with the location of participants. I asked the participants to fill in their country of origin to exclude gamers from countries where English language is the native tongue, as they do not learn English as their second language. The Czech Republic in the lead with thirty four respondents, Denmark following with four participants, Slovakia with three, Germany with two and France, Croatia, Turkey, Sweden, Spain, Poland, Norway each with one participant (see Table 3), which shows that computer games can lead to international experiences. That is a very important part of language learning, because it promotes understanding of different cultures, language accents etc., which in turn encourages learners and serves as an integrative motivation (see 2.1). What is surprising is that the majority of people (thirty six out of fifty) decided to share either their first name or a nickname with me, although this was an optional question to build rapport with the respondent. This encourages the participant to finish the whole questionnaire and shows the trust and interest in the study. The language part of the questionnaire starts with the question of how long the participants have studied English. This question was added to exclude learners that have just started learning English language and have no experience with the language learning. The average number of years studied was 8.02 years, with the minimum of 2 and maximum of 18 years (see Figure 10, Table 4). Only seventeen people out of all fifty were only taught one foreign language – English. The rest of the respondents study or were taught at least one more language, mostly German, French or Russian. There are also participants who even study Japanese or Swedish (See Table 5). This shows interest of the participants in learning different

32 languages and the cultures connected to them. English language may serve as a means of connecting with people of other nationalities who do not speak the participants’ language. The participants were also asked to state their level of proficiency in English through self- assessment scale of Common European Framework of Reference. The results varied from A2 up to C2, which shows that even beginners (A2) are able to play computer games in English. It also suggests that gamers with different language abilities interact with each other through games (see Figure 11). This can influence beginners and help their speaking, writing and listening skills, as more skilled English language speakers communicate with them and help them understand the game. On the other hand, advanced English language users practise their language skills not only by communicating with their similarly skilled peers, but also by helping their less able gamer friends to understand the game. Explaining the game content can be considered an indirect language learning strategy. This shows the possible use of computer games and their influence throughout the range of differently skilled gamers.

6.4.2 Computer games

The third page of my questionnaire enquired about the computer games themselves and time dedicated to playing. I included these questions to determine how long and how often the players are influenced by the computer language and incidental language learning. The longer they play, the longer they are exposed to the foreign language and they practice different language skills. The participants had the option to select more than one game or supply the name of their own games of choice, which led to more answers than fifty. Most of the respondents are avid players of World of Warcraft (thirty four), followed by Assassins Creed (sixteen) and League of Legends (eleven players). Other games mentioned by the gamers were Skyrim, Counter-strike, Heroes of the Storm etc. with one of the players mentioning that the list of games they play is too long to complete, which again suggest that players spend significant time in English language based environment as most game titles are played in English. Fifteen of the players spend more than fifteen hours a week playing, the rest spend less than fifteen (see Figure 12). Rideout (2010) mentions: “Over the past five years, young people have increased the amount of time they spend consuming media by an hour and seventeen minutes daily, from 6:21 to 7:38—almost the amount of time most adults spend at work each day, except that young people use media seven days a week instead of five. “ When we consider that the average time spent in an English lesson at secondary schools is about three hours a week depending on the type of school (MŠMT, 2007), playing computer games exposes most

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English language learners to the language for at least twice that time period. This is a significant amount of time which can be utilized to enhance the learning process. The distribution of popularity between the games according to player count corresponds with the popularity of World of Warcraft with eighteen respondents ticking MMORPG as their favourite, MOBA being the least popular with only four votes. As MMORPG always include social interaction this is a very important fact to consider. Players are exposed and influenced by the game language more than when playing single-players in order to overcome challenges together. I also asked the gamers whether they communicate with other players whilst playing the game in order to ascertain the degree of socialization in their gaming and the type of language skills used to communicate. The vast majority of players do communicate (forty- seven), most of them via several communication channels. Again, this question had the option of selecting more than one answer. Forty-three communicate through text chat in-game, usually in combination with voice over internet protocol programs (twenty-eight) and two communicating via video calls. Chatting through in-game text encourages the use of writing skill by forcing players to respond to real-time text-based questions and answers by their peers. Communicating via voice over internet protocol programs makes players practice their speaking skills, both spoken production and interaction. Spoken production is mainly practiced by explaining the tactics to defeat a particularly difficult encounter or game-mechanics, while spoken interaction is usually involved when players discuss the in-game events and social life of their fellow gamers. Only one participant never reads the texts that appear in-game, the rest of the gamers do, which means reading skills are practiced not only when the players write to each other, but also as a standalone activity. Players mostly practice ‘silent’ reading to themselves when playing alone, completing quests and achievements. The answers given for this question show a great potential for practising language skills through computer games.

6.4.3 The influence on English language

The main question of the research is: “Do you think that playing games helped you with your English?” Vast majority of the responses said yes with forty six votes. Only four people do not think that their gaming experience was helpful to their English language acquisition. This shows how important gaming experience really is to language learners and that it definitely has a potential to become a part of language learning in and out of classrooms. I asked the participants to indicate the influence the gaming had on their language skills. The language skills discussed are three of the four macro skills – listening, speaking and reading. Writing was

34 divided into two micro skills, grammar and vocabulary due to confusion which occurred when the questionnaire was piloted (see above). Sixty-eight percent of the participants think that the one language skill that improved the most due to their gaming is vocabulary, followed by speaking (twenty-six) and grammar. One of the answers stated that they cannot choose one option, because they play games only to learn English language, which means all of the aforementioned language skills improved vastly. This also means that there are language learners that only play games for second language acquisition. In one of the latter questions players even stated that fifteen out of fifty participants utilized games for both playing and for language learning. Because this research is aimed at the influence, I asked the respondents to try and measure the influence gaming had on individual language skill. For this purpose I used Likert scales with five options, where number one represented ‘Computer games helped me a lot’, whereas number five signifies: “Computer games did not help me at all’. When I compare findings from the previous question I am able confirm that most of the respondents ticked that games are most helpful to the vocabulary. Astounding eighty-two percent of the participants selected the option one or two. Only five of the whole research sample ticked three or less. Given that computer games often use a specific range of vocabulary according to its genre and player base, the possibilities for learning new vocabulary are extensive. Gamers who regularly play World of Warcraft might acquire a broad vocabulary pertaining not only trading and strategy, but also colloquial phrases or words when communicating with other non-native or even native speakers. An example of vocabulary which a gamer could possibly acquire through WoW could be quests, alchemy, flasks, crossbow etc. Players of sports games, i.e. NHL or FIFA, can acquire sports terminology pertaining to the specific game, e.g. words such as time- out, icing, interference etc. This may lead to computer games being a good source of new vocabulary exercises for topic-focused lessons. Similar responds were given in the reading section, where again majority of participants (eighty-eight percent) claim that games were helpful with the rating from three above. Reading in-game is usually practiced through quest descriptions, which are essential for understanding the game itself. Most of the games mentioned in question 8 cannot be completed without being subjected to reading English. Although there are games that do not include written English language, these are sparse and mostly target younger children. Because games are so popular for vocabulary acquisition I also asked the participants what they do when they read or hear an unknown word (see Figure 16). Surprisingly, the majority looks the word up in either a dictionary or online, which again suggest utilization of the game as a learning instrument.

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Grammar, listening and speaking skills show very ambiguous results with the distribution of votes spread evenly across the scale. Most of the participant players stated that computer games do not have any special influence on their grammar. As computer games often use colloquial or even informal English language, grammar rules are sometimes ignored for the sake of the gaming experience, i.e. meeting a pirate and reading the quest text would subject the learner to incorrectly used verbs and pronouns (however, most of the texts in the games are grammatically correct). In the following example we can see both, however, such text would mainly influence the gamer’s vocabulary due to its specific genre and new vocabulary usage (swabbies, fleet). “Ye may be a slayer of Fleet Masters, but rules is rules and orders is orders. And MY orders say that all new pirates start out as swabbies. It's the rule.” (World of Warcraft). Listening and speaking skills were influenced mainly with players of massively multi- player games, such as World of Warcraft and League of Legends. The gamers who play these games are subjected to more spoken English than their peers who play only single player games. The reason for that is again the need for communication between players to achieve a common goal. Players who want to defeat the game are very often exposed to spoken language through VoIP programs, where the group discusses not only strategy and goals, but also chat about recent happening in the gaming environment. Players also chat casually as friends. This practice exposes them not only to listening, but they are also forced to respond to questions of their peers, which influences their speaking skills, both spoken production and spoken interaction. “Past studies into willingness to communicate have demonstrated its positive effect on second language acquisition; a willingness to communicate is clearly related to the likelihood of students improving their second language skills, particularly in productive skills.“ (Reinders & Wattana, 2011). Single-player games do not usually require the player to use their verbal skills but rather influence the listening skills, which is possibly the reason of the low scores on the Likert scales. Some of the games engage the player only by using verbal explanation of the storyline. Player can complete the game without actually comprehending what the game suggest via the audio track, but without any deeper understanding of the story, background of the hero (if there is one) and tactics. The gamer would consequently deprived of part of the gaming experience. By listening to the game audio track, the players not only practice their listening skill, but also acquire new vocabulary and pronunciation skills. The last section pertaining to the influence of computer games on the English language proficiency was dedicated to the communication between players. Firstly in the question 23 I asked the players whether they use formal English – the one they learn in the lessons, or

36 informal – including colloquialisms, idioms etc. Forty-seven participants answered that they communicate in informal language and only three use formal language. This shows the importance of teaching colloquialisms and informal language in general. Most of the school curriculum is based on formal language and grammar, whereas everyday experience usually requires learners to understand informal speech as well. With the exposure to informal English averaging at more than ten hours a week (as shown in abovementioned question), computer games could be used as a medium for practice and acquiring new idioms, phrasal verbs such as keep watch for’ (quest description) or ‘Make hay while the sun shines’ (quest name). When players communicate with each other in informal English, over half of the research sample do not experience difficulties, however, there are still a few that do. Because communication in- game happens mostly over the text chat, some of the players may experience difficulties with spelling, grammar or unknown vocabulary. One example can be seen in the Figure 2, where a new player (called Paladandin) is confused about an unknown phrase (dragon soul). The other player (Caediss) then proceeded to explain the meaning of the phrase, which lead to learning new vocabulary and practising reading comprehension. Only about thirteen percent of the results indicate that the gamers have difficulties expressing themselves when talking to their playmates. Fortunately, they are often understood by them, which can be seen in the Figure 2. In the last section of the questionnaire I asked the participants to answer questions about motivation and schoolwork. Over fifty percent of respondents answered that they feel motivated to learn English language better and only three said they disagree. Similar statistics emerged for the question whether the learners would like to include computer games in their homework with fifty percent agreeing, thirty-three percent being indifferent and only sixteen percent disagreeing completely. The questionnaire is concluded with a short text comprehension exercise to confirm several of the questions presented earlier. The participants were asked to read a short quest description and consequently re-write it into a simplified version. All of the rewrites were comprehensible and to the point of the original text. Several people (twenty-four in total) stated that there were unknown words (mostly words such as looming, lumber, deputy etc.). This shows the possible use of computer game vocabulary, as it expands and broadens the usual curriculum taught at schools. An interesting fact is that out of the twenty-four respondents seventeen checked the unknown word in a dictionary. This fact shows willingness to learn new vocabulary to complete work connected to a computer game and furthermore, forty-two people stated they would like to work with similar texts in school.

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6.5 Discussion

Looking at research studies done on computer games and language learning, I can see the similarities with my own research. Chen and Yang’s research showed that the language acquisition through games is enjoyed more than in the classroom. Students also reported that their vocabulary increased in size, which was also shown in my own research, when over half of the students stated that the computer games significantly influenced their vocabulary in a positive way. Chen and Yang also remarked that students are motivated to actively listen and read what the game requires of players, which also correlates with my research in the question about communication in-game. DeHaan, Reed and Huwada’s research focused on vocabulary recall after playing a game. The participants in my study were asked to rephrase a fairly difficult quest description to test their vocabulary recall. Almost all of them completed this task successfully with only minor difficulties, which shows that computer games significantly help with learning new vocabulary. Chik’s study dealt with autonomous learning experience in computer games. One of her research’s findings about formality was that student’s turned it into primary means of learning a language, which was also shown in my research, when approximately ten percent of the participants stated that they also played a computer game to learn English language. One of my respondents even stated that she only plays games to learn English. Chik also states that players often take an active role in creating the gaming environment for players that are not so skilled in English language, which shows that more English-proficient gamers can also influence the English language proficiency of their less-abled peers. My research showed that computer games are the instrument of incidental and intentional learning. The participants engage into their favourite activity (playing games) and pick up vocabulary incidentally by focusing on the meaning. Given the absence of a test after playing computer games, any acquisition of new vocabulary or grammar can be defined as incidental. However, some of the respondents also stated they intentionally seek out computer games as a means of language acquisition, which shows a degree of autonomous learning experience. Gamers who responded that they use computer games as a means of learning take charge of their own learning and use the game instead of any official learning material such as textbook. Many of the participants use the games as a learning strategy. Oxford (1990) states that there are direct and indirect learning strategies, both of which are applicable for playing computer games. The direct strategies that most of the players use is applying images and

38 sounds from the game to remember the actual vocabulary. Action is also required to play the game (even though it is only a virtual world). One of the cognitive strategies that Oxford (1990) mentions is also is repeating. Many of the games (such as World of Warcraft) include parts that can and should be repeated daily. This repetition exposes the learners to the same vocabulary repeatedly, which helps them to remember it. Because the game is a very hand-on experience, they also practice using the words right away in the game environment. Another cognitive strategy that is already implemented into the games is the quest summary. Although there is a longer body of text with explanation available to the players, there is also a summary of what is expected of the players, which makes the understanding easier. Furthermore, Oxford (1990) mentions compensation strategies, which can also be used when playing a computer game. The indirect strategies that the gamers use are mainly social strategies such as cooperating players who engage in MMORPG can get help from their peers with better understanding of the language via communicating with them over the chat or voice programs (as they stated in my research). Empathising with others, as Oxford (1990) mentions is also one of the social strategies. Players often ask in game about the different backgrounds of players and their cultures. My research question asked: “Do computer games influence English language proficiency? If so, which language skills and how much? Can we utilize computer games in language learning?” The questionnaire results and the theory showed that they indeed do influence English proficiency of the language learners, mostly in positive way. The most influence that computer games have is over the learner’s vocabulary range. The utilization of computer games for English language learning is possible due to the players’ motivation and interest in the gaming environment and their peers.

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6.6 Suggestion for further work

As a suggestion for further work I propose devising a battery of exercises based on computer gaming experience. Not only are the learners motivated by their interest in the games themselves, but as the research suggested they are also keen on learning English language itself through them, as was shown in the last section of the questionnaire where I tested reading comprehension of in-game quest description. The exercises should be focused on broadening and using the vocabulary gained through computer games themselves. Furthermore, computer games could be also used as a means of teaching directly in the classroom by the teacher for explanation of grammar or vocabulary, listening comprehension etc. This could be implemented into CALL lessons, i.e. through playing on the interactive whiteboard.

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7 CONCLUSION

My bachelor thesis focused on English language learning through computer games. In the first theoretical part I described the learning process including incidental/intentional learning and learning strategies. Furthermore I dealt with the topic of second language acquisition, motivation and the use of computer assisted language learning. I also briefly described the differences between generally used English language and language used in computer environment. The last section of my theoretical part was dedicated to current research on language learning through computer games. The practical part comprised of my original research through the questionnaire method, which showed the influence of computer games on English language proficiency and the possible use of computer games in language learning. The research showed that the computer game players are interested in learning English language through gaming and that their English language proficiency (mainly vocabulary) has been positively influenced by their playing, as was suggested by the previous research mentioned in the theoretical section.

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8 REFERENCES Becker, K. (n.d.). "Learning Theories Embodied in Games. In DiGRA 2005 Conference: Changing Views – Worlds in Play. Vancouver: DiGRA. Benson, P. (2001). Teaching and researching autonomy in language learning. Harlow, England: Longman. Blizzard Entertainment. (n.d.). World of Warcraft - Getting started. Retrieved January 28, 2016, from http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/guide/getting-started Bodomo, A. (2010). Computer-mediated communication for linguistics and literacy: Technology and natural language education. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference. Chen, H. H., & Yang, C. (2011). Investigating the Effects of an Adventure Video Game on Foreign Language Learning. Edutainment Technologies. Educational Games and Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality Applications Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 168-175. Chi-Fu, Chen Emily (n.d.). Unit 1.Introduction to Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) Computer Assisted Language Learning and Teaching. Department of English National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology. Retrieved March 6, 2016, from http://www2.nkfust.edu.tw/~emchen/CALL/unit1.htm Chik, A. (2014). Digital gaming and language learning: Autonomy and community. Language Learning & Technology, 18(2), 85-100. Retrieved March 9, 2016. Chráska, M. (2007). Metody pedagogického výzkumu: Základy kvantitativního výzkumu. Praha: Grada. Condon, E. (1940). U.S. Patent No. 2215544. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Crawford, C. (n.d.). Art of Computer Game Design: Reflections of a Master Game Designer. Osborne/McGraw-Hill, U.S. Crystal, D. (2001). Language and the Internet. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. DeHaan, J., Reed, M. W., & Kuwada, K. (2010). The Effect of Interactivity with a Music Video Game on second language vocabulary. Language Learning & Technology, 14(2), 74-94. Retrieved March 9, 2016. Doughty, C., & Long, M. H. (2003). The handbook of second language acquisition. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.

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Dörnyei, Z., & Scott, M. L. (1997). Communication Strategies in a Second Language: Definitions and Taxonomies. Language Learning, 47(1), 173-210. Dwyer, O. (n.d.). Games to Learn English - Fast Hands. Retrieved February 28, 2016, from https://www.gamestolearnenglish.com/ Essential Facts About The Computer And Video Game Industry [PDF]. (2015, April). Entertainment Software Association. Egenfeldt-Nielsen, S. (2005). Beyond edutainment: Exploring the educational potential of computer games. Copenhagen: IT University of Copenhagen, Department of Innovation. Ellis, R. (1997). Second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Gavora, P. (2000). Úvod do pedagogického výzkumu. Brno: Paido. Gündüz, N. (2005). Computer Assisted Language Learning. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 1(2), 193-214. Retrieved March 9, 2016. Lee, K. (2000). English Teachers' Barriers to the Use of Computer-Language Learning. The Internet TESL Journal, 6(12). Retrieved March 9, 2016. LNorton. (2003, July 5). Blizzard Entertainment announces World of Warcraft. Retrieved May 11, 2015, from http://web.archive.org/web/20071103122615/http://www.games- fusion.net/press/content/blizzard_entertainment_announc.php Mareš, J. (1998). Styly učení žáků a studentů. Praha: Portál. Mäyrä, F. (2008). An introduction to game studies: Games in culture. London: SAGE. McAllister, K. S. (2004). Game work: Language, power, and computer game culture. Tuscaloosa, Ala.: University of Alabama Press. Overmars, M. (2012, January 30). A Brief History of Computer Games [PDF]. Utrecht: Utrecht University. Oxford, R. L. (1990). Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know. Boston: Heinle & Heinle. Oxford, R.L. Language Learning Strategies: An Update. ERIC Digest. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2016, from http://www.ericdigests.org/1995-2/update.htm PC Gamer. World of Warcraft sheds 3 million subscribers. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2016, from http://www.pcgamer.com/world-of-warcraft-sheds-3-million-subscribers/ Pennington, M. C. (1989). Teaching languages with computers: The state of the art. La Jolla, CA, U.S.A.: Athelstan. Rideout, V. J., Foehr, U. G., & Roberts, D. F. (2010). Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds [PDF].

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Riot Games. (n.d.). Game Info. Retrieved March 28, 2016, from http://gameinfo.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/game-info/ Reinders, W., & Wattana, S. (2011). Learn English or Die: The Effects of Digital Games on Interaction and Willingness to Communicate in a Foreign Language. Digital Culture & Education 3, 3-29. Retrieved February 5, 2016. Skehan, P. (1998). A cognitive approach to language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Statista. (n.d.). Gender split of computer and video gamers 2015 | Survey. Retrieved March 28, 2016, from http://www.statista.com/statistics/232383/gender-split-of-us-computer- and-video-gamers/ Vlčková, K. (2007). Strategie učení cizímu jazyku: Výsledky výzkumu používání strategií a jejich efektivity na gymnáziích. Brno: Paido. ZAM Network LLC. (2013). Guild Guide: Reputation, Rewards, Perks, and Achievements. Retrieved March 28, 2016, from http://www.wowhead.com/news=225622/guild-guide- reputation-rewards-perks-and-achievements

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9 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: World of Warcraft in-game chat ...... 47 Figure 2: Computer language comprehension ...... 47 Figure 3: Abbreviations used in computer environment ...... 48 Figure 4: Fast hands: an online language-learning game ...... 48 Figure 5: Nimatron ...... 49 Figure 6: The most played Facebook games in the year 2015 ...... 50 Figure 7: Computer game super genres ...... 51 Figure 8: The questionnaire design, front page ...... 52 Figure 9 :Questionnaire: Gender ...... 53 Figure 10: Questionnaire: Language studied ...... 53 Figure 11: Questionnaire: The number of participants according to years studied (English language) ...... 54 Figure 12: Questionnaire: Number of respondents according to English language proficiency (CEFR scale) ...... 54 Figure 13: Questionnaire: Time spent playing PC games ...... 55 Figure 14: Questionnaire: Language formality used in PC games ...... 56 Figure 15: Questionnaire: The influence of PC games on language ...... 56 Figure 16: Questionnaire: Looking up unknown vocabulary ...... 57 Figure 17: Questionnaire: Understanding informal English ...... 57 Figure 18: The questionnaire ...... 58

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10 LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Summary of gains and difficulties in language learning ...... 65 Table 2: Background information for the 10 Gamer-participants ...... 66 Table 3: Number of participants according to the country of origin ...... 67 Table 4: The number of participants according to years studied (English language) ...... 67 Table 5: Languages studied and their number ...... 68 Table 6: Number of respondents according to their English Language proficiency (CEFR scale) ...... 68 Table 7: Questionnaire responds ...... 69

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11 APPENDICES

Figure 1: World of Warcraft in-game chat

Source: World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment

Figure 2: Computer language comprehension

Source: World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment

47

Figure 3: Abbreviations used in computer environment

Source: Crystal, David. Language and the Internet. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2001. Print.

Figure 4: Fast hands: an online language-learning game

Source: Dwyer, Owen. "Fast Hands." Games to Learn English. Owen Dwyer. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.

48

Figure 5: Nimatron

Source: Condon, Edward. The Machine to Play the Game of Nim. Patent 2215544. 26 Apr. 1940. Print.

49

Figure 6: The most played Facebook games in the year 2015

Source: "Facebook Games in 2015 | Statistic." Statista. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.

50

Figure 7: Computer game super genres

Source: ESSENTIAL FACTS ABOUT THE COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY. Rep. Entertainment Software Association, Apr. 2015. Web. 11 Mar. 2016.

51

Figure 8: The questionnaire design, front page

Source: "Create Forms." Google Forms. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.

52

Figure 9 :Questionnaire: Gender

Gender

24; 26; 48% 52%

Male Female

Figure 10: Questionnaire: Language studied

Languages studied

34%

66%

no,only English English+another

53

Figure 11: Questionnaire: The number of participants according to years studied (English language)

The number of participants according to

years studied (English language)

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0 2 years 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 18 years

Figure 12: Questionnaire: Number of respondents according to English language proficiency (CEFR scale)

Number of respondents

2% 8%

28% 22%

40%

A1 A2 B1 B2 C1 C2

54

Figure 13: Questionnaire: Time spent playing PC games

Time spent playing PC games

16% 30%

16%

16% 22%

1-2 hours per week 2-4 hours per week 4-10 hours per week 10-15 hours per week more than 15 hours per week

55

Figure 15: Questionnaire: The influence of PC games on language

INFLUENCE ON LANGUAGE 1 2 3 4 5

GRAMMAR 5 12 18 10 5

LISTENING 9 14 14 10 3

SPEAKING 12 11 6 11 10

READING 17 14 13 3 3

VOCABULARY 26 15 4 4 1

Figure 14: Questionnaire: Language formality used in PC games

Language formality

6%

94%

Formal Informal

56

Figure 17: Questionnaire: Understanding informal English

Understanding informal English

3; 6%0; 0%

6; 12%

18; 36%

23; 46%

Extremely easy - 1 2 3 4 Extremely difficult - 5

Figure 16: Questionnaire: Looking up unknown vocabulary

Looking up unknown vocabulary

25 22 21 20 19 17

15 12

10 9

5

0 Reading Listening

Yes, immediately Yes, after playing No

57

Figure 18: The questionnaire

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

Table 1: Summary of gains and difficulties in language learning

Source: Chen, Howard Hao-Jan, and Christine Yang. "Investigating the Effects of an Adventure Video Game on Foreign Language Learning." Edutainment Technologies. Educational Games and Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality Applications Lecture Notes in Computer Science (2011): 168-75. Web.

65

Table 2: Background information for the 10 Gamer-participants

Source: Chik, Alice. "Digital gaming and language learning: autonomy and community." Language Learning & Technology 18.2 (2014): 85-100. Web. 9 Mar. 2016.

66

Table 3: Number of participants according to the country of origin Country Number of respondents 1. the Czech Republic 34 2. Denmark 4 3. Slovakia 3 4. Germany 2 5. France 1 6. Croatia 1 7. Turkey 1 8. Sweden 1 9. Spain 1 10. Poland 1 11. Norway 1 total number 50

Table 4: The number of participants according to years studied (English language)

The number of The number of years of participants according to English language years studied (English studies language) 2 years 1 4 2 5 7 6 4 7 7 8 7 9 5 10 13 11 2 12 1 18 years 1

67

Table 5: Languages studied and their number Number of language studied Number of respondents only English 17 two foreign languages 22 three or more foreign languages 11

Language studied Number of respondents German 19 French 10 Russian 6 Japanese 3 Italian 2 Polish 1 Swedish 1 Swedish 1

Table 6: Number of respondents according to their English Language proficiency (CEFR scale)

Number of Proficiency respondents A1 0 A2 4 B1 11 B2 20 C1 14 C2 1

68

Table 7: Questionnaire responds

Question Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7 How long What is have you What is your level of What is your Where are you your studied proficiency in English Timestamp age? Who are you? from? name? English? Do you study any other language? now? 7.3.2016 22:38 16 Female (girl) Czech Republic Andrea 7 French A2 7.3.2016 22:38 17 Female (girl) Czech Republic 7 no,only English A2 7.3.2016 22:41 17 Male (boy) Poland Jakob 5 German C1 7.3.2016 22:42 17 Female (girl) Czech Republic 7 German B1 7.3.2016 22:46 17 Female (girl) Denmark Agatha 10 French B2 8.3.2016 0:17 20 Male (boy) Czech Republic Skunk 9 no,only English B2 8.3.2016 0:51 19 Male (boy) Czech Republic 9 Russian C1 8.3.2016 1:29 19 Male (boy) Czech Republic Jesus 6 German, Russian B2 8.3.2016 6:55 22 Male (boy) Czech Republic 10 no,only English B1 8.3.2016 10:39 18 Male (boy) Czech Republic Přemek 7 Japanese C1 8.3.2016 11:05 20 Male (boy) Czech Republic 8 no,only English C1 8.3.2016 13:01 17 Male (boy) Sweden Sven 2 no,only English B2 8.3.2016 20:31 19 Male (boy) Denmark Lars 9 German C1 8.3.2016 22:18 21 Female (girl) Czech Republic Lenka 10 lame Swedish beginner C1 8.3.2016 22:45 18 Male (boy) Denmark 5 German B1 8.3.2016 22:51 19 Male (boy) Turkey Ozgur 5 German B2 9.3.2016 16:46 20 Male (boy) Norway 8 no,only English C1 9.3.2016 20:27 22 Female (girl) Czech Republic 10 German, French, Latin B2 9.3.2016 20:38 22 Male (boy) Czech Republic Nosfe 4 German, French B2 9.3.2016 20:41 18 Female (girl) Czech Republic Veronika 10 Spanish B2 9.3.2016 20:44 16 Male (boy) Germany 7 German, French B2 9.3.2016 20:49 23 Female (girl) Czech Republic Lucie 5 German, Spanish, Italian, Rusian, Polish B1 9.3.2016 20:52 21 Female (girl) Czech Republic Emily 7 no,only English B2 9.3.2016 20:53 18 Female (girl) Czech Republic Eliška 10 German B2 9.3.2016 20:54 21 Female (girl) Czech Republic Hana 8 no,only English C1 9.3.2016 21:00 16 Female (girl) Czech Republic 6 no,only English B2 9.3.2016 21:01 20 Female (girl) Czech Republic Tyna 10 no,only English C1 9.3.2016 21:07 15 Female (girl) Czech Republic Lenka 6 no,only English B1 9.3.2016 21:16 19 Female (girl) Czech Republic Nat 9 French, Russian B2 9.3.2016 21:26 19 Female (girl) Czech Republic Kristýna 10 German B2 9.3.2016 21:44 20 Male (boy) Czech Republic Ondřej 10 no,only English C2 9.3.2016 21:57 16 Female (girl) Czech Republic Věra 8 German B2 9.3.2016 22:50 23 Female (girl) Slovakia Erika 9 no,only English B2 9.3.2016 23:04 18 Male (boy) Croatia Bruno 5 German C1 9.3.2016 23:46 21 Female (girl) Czech Republic Zuzana 10 German, Russian B1 10.3.2016 14:31 23 Male (boy) Czech Republic Petr 18 Spanish, Russian C1 10.3.2016 17:51 22 Female (girl) Czech Republic 10 japanese C1 10.3.2016 17:58 23 Male (boy) Czech Republic Stepan 4 German, Japanese B2 10.3.2016 18:07 19 Female (girl) Czech Republic 8 no,only English B1 10.3.2016 18:09 20 Male (boy) Germany 5 no,only English B1 10.3.2016 18:26 21 Female (girl) Slovakia Martina 11 German C1 10.3.2016 18:27 21 Male (boy) Slovakia 11 no,only English B1 10.3.2016 19:20 16 Female (girl) Czech Republic Kate 10 French A2 10.3.2016 19:23 20 Male (boy) Denmark 10 French, Italian A2 10.3.2016 19:43 19 Male (boy) France Taylor 7 Spanish B1 10.3.2016 20:42 23 Male (boy) Czech Republic Dominik 12 German C1 10.3.2016 20:47 22 Female (girl) Spanish Steph 8 French B2 10.3.2016 20:49 17 Male (boy) Netherlands Robert 5 no,only English B1 10.3.2016 21:14 18 Male (boy) Czech Republic Honza 8 no,only English B2 10.3.2016 22:50 23 Male (boy) Czech Republic Eneris 6 Spanish B2

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Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 Which type of computer game do you play/like the Which of these computer games do you play? How often do you play computer games? most? World of Warcraft 10-15 hours per week Multi-player game World of Warcraft, Diablo more than 15 hours per week Single-player game World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Assassins Creed (any), Might and Magic Heroes I-VII more than 15 hours per week MOBA Lineage 2 more than 15 hours per week MMORPG Assassins Creed (any), Tera 4-10 hours per week MMORPG World of Warcraft more than 15 hours per week MMORPG World of Warcraft, League of Legends 4-10 hours per week MOBA Train Simulator 1-2 hours per week Single-player game DOTA 2, CS:GO more than 15 hours per week MOBA Yakuza, Shin Megami Tensei, Metal Gear Solid etc. 10-15 hours per week Single-player game World of Warcraft 1-2 hours per week Single-player game World of Warcraft, Assassins Creed (any), Heroes more than 15 hours per week MMORPG World of Warcraft, Assassins Creed (any) more than 15 hours per week MMORPG arcanum, fallout, red alert, dune online 2-4 hours per week Single-player game World of Warcraft, Heroes of the Storm 10-15 hours per week Multi-player game World of Warcraft more than 15 hours per week MMORPG World of Warcraft more than 15 hours per week MMORPG Heores of the storm, Hearthstone, The Sims,... 4-10 hours per week MOBA World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Assassins Creed (any) 2-4 hours per week Multi-player game Assassins Creed (any) more than 15 hours per week Single-player game World of Warcraft, Dota, actually many things but shooters. 4-10 hours per week Multi-player game Witcher 1-2 hours per week Single-player game Assassins Creed (any), Fallout 1-2 hours per week Single-player game World of Warcraft, Assassins Creed (any) 4-10 hours per week MMORPG casual games or Neverwinter Nights 2-4 hours per week Multi-player game World of Warcraft 2-4 hours per week Multi-player game World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Skyrim, Portal 2, etc 4-10 hours per week MMORPG World of Warcraft, Assassins Creed (any), Dragon Age 2-4 hours per week Single-player game World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Assassins Creed (any), Skyrim, Saint Row, GTA, The Sims 3, Diablo 3, .... more than 15 hours per week Single-player game League of Legends, Assassins Creed (any), Counter-Strike: Global offensive, Hearthstone more than 15 hours per week Multi-player game Assassins Creed (any), Alan Wake, American Truck Simulator, Assetto Corsa, DCS World, DiRT Rally, ETS2, Heroes & Generals, Life is Strange, Mafia, The Stanley Parable, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, Train Simulator 10-15 hours per week Multi-player game World of Warcraft, Skyrim 10-15 hours per week Single-player game World of Warcraft, Skyforge 4-10 hours per week MMORPG World of Warcraft, Assassins Creed (any), FIFA 10-15 hours per week MMORPG World of Warcraft, Tomb Raider, Elder Scolls and so on... 2-4 hours per week MMORPG XCOM, ARMA, Skyrim, Fallout 2-4 hours per week Single-player game World of Warcraft 1-2 hours per week MMORPG World of Warcraft 1-2 hours per week MMORPG World of Warcraft, League of Legends 4-10 hours per week MMORPG World of Warcraft 10-15 hours per week MMORPG World of Warcraft 2-4 hours per week Single-player game World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Wot, Csgo more than 15 hours per week Multi-player game League of Legends, Dont starve, minecraft, Life is strange 1-2 hours per week Multi-player game World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Assassins Creed (any) 10-15 hours per week Multi-player game World of Warcraft, cs more than 15 hours per week Multi-player game World of Warcraft, Assassins Creed (any), Fallout, Mass Effect, Dota2, TF2, Ace Attorney etc. 4-10 hours per week Single-player game World of Warcraft 4-10 hours per week MMORPG World of Warcraft, Assassins Creed (any), call of duty more than 15 hours per week Multi-player game World of Warcraft, Transport Tycoon 1-2 hours per week Multi-player game World of Warcraft, League of Legends 4-10 hours per week MMORPG

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Question Question Question Question Question Question 12 13 14 Question 15 Question 16 17 18 19 Do you How much How much think that do you do you How much playing How much think the think the do you games do you think games games think the Do you helped the games helped you helped you games read the you with helped you with your with your helped you texts in your What has improved the most with your reading listening with your How you communicate with other players? game? English? because of computer games? vocabulary? skills? skills? speaking? Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord), Video Yes Yes Speaking / fluency 2 4 4 1 Yes Yes Vocabulary 2 2 3 5 Text Yes Yes Vocabulary 1 3 2 5 Text Yes Yes Vocabulary 1 2 3 4 Text Yes Yes Vocabulary 2 4 4 5 Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes Speaking / fluency 2 2 2 1 Text Yes Yes Vocabulary 1 1 3 2 Not at all Yes No Vocabulary 3 5 5 5 Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes Vocabulary 2 3 3 3 none Yes Yes Vocabulary 1 1 1 2 Text No Yes Vocabulary 2 3 2 5 Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes Vocabulary 1 1 2 1 Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes Vocabulary 1 2 3 2 Text Yes Yes Vocabulary 2 2 3 5 Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes Vocabulary 2 2 4 3 Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes Vocabulary 1 2 2 4 Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes Grammar 1 1 1 1 Text Yes Yes Vocabulary 1 1 2 3 Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes Vocabulary 4 3 4 3 Text Yes Yes Speaking / fluency 1 1 1 1 All of them. I only play games in english to improve my language Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes skills. 1 1 1 1 none Yes Yes Vocabulary 2 2 3 5 Text Yes Yes Vocabulary 2 3 3 4 Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes Vocabulary 1 3 3 2 Text Yes Yes Vocabulary 1 1 4 5 Text Yes Yes Vocabulary 1 1 4 4 Text Yes Yes Vocabulary 2 3 3 4 Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes Speaking / fluency 1 1 2 2 Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes Vocabulary 1 2 4 2 Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes Speaking / fluency 2 3 1 1 Text Yes Yes Speaking / fluency 1 1 1 1 Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes Vocabulary 1 1 2 3 Text Yes Yes Speaking / fluency 1 2 2 2 Text Yes Yes Vocabulary 1 1 1 3 Text Yes Yes Vocabulary 1 1 3 4 Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes Speaking / fluency 1 3 1 1 Text Yes Yes Vocabulary 3 2 5 5 Text Yes Yes Speaking / fluency 4 3 4 4 Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes Vocabulary 1 3 2 1 Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes Speaking / fluency 1 2 2 1 Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes No Vocabulary 2 5 4 4 Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes Vocabulary 1 1 1 2 Text Yes Yes Vocabulary 4 3 4 2 Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes No Grammar 3 2 3 1 Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes No Vocabulary 4 4 2 2 Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes Vocabulary 1 1 2 2 Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes Speaking / fluency 5 5 5 5 Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes Speaking / fluency 3 3 3 4 Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes Speaking / fluency 2 1 2 4 Text, Voice programs (Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/Discord) Yes Yes Vocabulary 2 2 3 4

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Question Question 20 Question 21 Question 22 Question 23 Question 24 Question 25 Question 26 Question 27 28 Question 29 Would you When you like your When you play a When you When you communicate When you play a Would you teacher to Do you think computer game communicate communicate with other computer game like Do computer give you you would be and see an with other with other players, do you and hear an computer games homework more interested unknown word, players, do players, do you have a problem unknown word, games to be motivate you connected in English if you Have you ever do you look it up you use formal find it easy to understanding do you look it up included in to learn to could play played a game to in a or informal talk to them in informal in a the school English computer computer games learn English? dictionary/online? English? English? English? dictionary/online? work? better? games? as homework? No Yes, immediately Informal 4 3 Yes, after playing 1 1 1 1 No No Informal 5 2 No 1 3 1 1 No Yes, immediately Informal 3 4 No 1 1 1 1 Yes Yes, after playing Informal 2 3 No 1 2 1 1 No Yes, immediately Formal 1 4 Yes, immediately 2 3 1 1 No Yes, after playing Informal 2 4 No 1 2 1 2 No Yes, immediately Informal 1 5 Yes, after playing 1 2 1 2 No Yes, immediately Informal 1 5 Yes, immediately 1 4 1 1 No No Informal 2 5 No 2 2 3 2 No Yes, immediately Informal 1 5 Yes, after playing 1 1 1 1 No Yes, after playing Informal 3 5 No 3 5 5 2 Yes Yes, immediately Informal 1 4 Yes, after playing 1 1 1 1 No Yes, after playing Informal 1 5 Yes, after playing 2 2 2 2 Yes Yes, after playing Informal 5 2 No 2 1 1 1 No Yes, after playing Informal 2 4 Yes, after playing 2 2 2 2 No No Informal 3 4 No 2 1 2 1 No Yes, immediately Informal 1 5 Yes, immediately 3 3 1 1 Yes Yes, immediately Informal 1 5 No 1 1 1 2 No Yes, after playing Informal 4 2 Yes, after playing 2 2 3 5 Yes Yes, immediately Informal 2 3 Yes, immediately 1 1 1 1 No Yes, immediately Informal 1 4 Yes, immediately 1 2 2 2 Yes Yes, immediately Formal 5 4 Yes, immediately 2 4 2 2 No Yes, immediately Informal 3 4 Yes, immediately 2 3 3 2 Yes No Informal 2 4 No 1 1 3 2 No No Informal 1 5 No 3 1 5 5 No Yes, after playing Informal 3 3 Yes, after playing 2 2 2 2 Yes No Informal 1 5 No 1 2 1 2 No Yes, immediately Informal 2 3 Yes, immediately 3 3 2 3 No Yes, immediately Informal 1 4 Yes, immediately 2 3 2 2 Yes Yes, immediately Informal 2 4 No 2 2 1 1 No Yes, after playing Informal 1 5 Yes, after playing 2 3 1 3 No No Informal 3 4 No 2 1 2 2 No Yes, after playing Informal 2 4 No 1 1 1 1 Yes Yes, immediately Informal 3 5 Yes, immediately 1 2 2 2 No Yes, after playing Informal 3 4 Yes, after playing 2 3 2 3 No Yes, after playing Informal 1 4 Yes, after playing 1 1 1 1 No No Informal 4 4 No 2 5 3 5 No Yes, after playing Informal 2 4 No 2 2 2 2 No Yes, after playing Informal 1 5 Yes, after playing 1 1 1 1 Yes Yes, immediately Informal 2 4 Yes, after playing 1 1 1 1 No Yes, immediately Informal 2 4 No 3 5 4 5 Yes Yes, immediately Informal 3 4 Yes, immediately 3 1 2 2 Yes Yes, immediately Informal 4 3 No 1 1 1 1 No Yes, after playing Informal 1 5 Yes, after playing 3 3 3 2 No Yes, after playing Informal 1 5 Yes, after playing 1 3 3 3 Yes Yes, immediately Informal 2 4 Yes, immediately 1 1 1 1 No Yes, after playing Informal 1 5 Yes, after playing 1 1 1 1 No No Formal 1 5 Yes, after playing 1 3 1 1 No Yes, after playing Informal 2 4 No 3 3 4 4 Yes Yes, after playing Informal 1 5 No 1 2 2 3

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Question 30

I've got a real problem in my hands. I have a deadline looming for an order of lumber, and I'm running out of time. The wolves and bears of here have chased my workers away from the bundles of wook that they've already chopped. I've already talked to Deputy Rainer about clearing the animals, but I need someone to go collect the wood for me. If you could collect eight bundles of wood for me I might just make my deadline. Collect eight bundles of wood. I need to pick up bundles of wood for me but there are wolves and bears so I can't. Please bring me back 8 bundles of wood for me and I need it quick.

I'm in trouble. I need to finish an order of lumber but I don't have enough time. My workers ran away from wolves and let all the chopped wood there. I talked to Deputy Rainer about getting rid of the wolves but I need someone to get the wood for me. Please, bring me eight bundles of wood and I might make it on time. Head north and collect eight bundles of wood for me. There should be no obstacles on the way...And hurry up! Hey im scared to go to forest to pick up wood, but i really need it, could you bring me 8 stacks of wood please ? Go get wood from beast-infested area I have a problem and I have almost no time to deal with. The animals north of here have scared my workers away and I need you to go get 8 piles of wood for me from there, so I make the deadline. The guy needs the player to collect some wood chopped by his workers who had been chased away by wild animals to meet the order deadline. Collect 8 bundles of wood and bring it back to lumberjack before the deadline. Be cautious, there might still be some wild animals around. My hands don't work. Go to the woods north of here and collect wood. Collect 8 bundles of wood. The animals will be cleared for you. "Give me (questgiver) eight bundles of wood" e a problem. A deadline for order of wood is coming near. I don't have much time. The wolfs and bears scared my people away from the piles of wood they prepared north of here. I talked to deputy rainer Already about killing the animals, but I need someone to collect the wood for me. If you collect 8 piles of wood for me, I will have a chance to make the deadline Collect eight pieces of wood. There will be wolves around. Wolves and bears to the north scared the wood workers away. They need me to go and collect the lumbers lying around. I have a deadline for an order of lumber coming up, the animals are scaring my workers away from the faggots. Could you go collect the faggots for me? Please collect eight faggots for me so I might make my deadline. i have to collect 8 bundles of wood Just bring me the wood. Some mate wants me to bring him some wood I want you to collect eight bundles of wood in the woods. The people who gathered them were scared away by wild animals. Deputy Rainer knows about the problem. I have problem, can you just go and pick up for me eight bundles of wood? And careful there are wolves and bears.

I have a real problem. My lumberworkers have been chased away by wolves and bears. I need someone to collect the wood they've already chopped. Collect 8 bundles of wood for me. collect eight woods and I will give you money and exp I have a deadline, the end of which is coming closer and I need help, because my workers were hunted in wood and I need someone to collect the woods for me. I have a problem. I cannot make the order for lumber in time. My workers have been scared away by wolvew and bears from north. I already informed Deputy Rainer about the problem with animals, but I need someone to collect the wood. If you could do it, I will be able to make it on time. He needs help with collecting wood because of his quest deadline.

I have a problem. My deadline for an order of lumber is approaching. The wolves and bears north from here scared off my workers while they were working. I spoke with Deputy Rainer and he will take care of the animals, but I need YOU to collect the wood for me. I have a problem here. You see, I haven't got much time left. Wolves and bears chased away my workers from here. Deputy Rainer will take care of that animals, but I need you to go collect eight more packs of wood for me, so I can make it in time. There is a deadline for an order of lumber and I´m running out of time. My workers ran away because of the fear of wolves and bears on the north, so i need someone to go collect the wood for me. If you collect 8 bundles of wood for me, there might be even some reward ( wink emoji ;) ) Go north and collect 8 wood. I have no avaible workers now. Just go and pick some wood for me. You will get some experiences :D Somebody has a problem delivering an order of wood on time. His/her workers were ambushed while harvesting wood by bears and wolfs. The wood has been chopped, animals exterminated but wood wasn´t collected yet. That´s players job to collect 8 bundles of wood. (I hope I understood this task correctly). I've got a problem. I have a deadline for an order of wood soon, and i'm running out of time. the beasts from north have chased my workers away from the wood they already cut. i've already asked DR to take care of the animals, but need someone to go collect the wood for me. If you could bring me 8 pieces of wood, I might make my deadline. Go to the north, kill potential bears and wolves, get eighth bundles of wood and get back before the deadline.

1 Collect eight bundles of wood I have a problem. I havent got time. Animals from north chased my workers from chopped wood. I nedd you to collect the wood. At leas eight bundles. hey adventurer! For a series of reasons, the lumber I require for a upcoming deadline are stuck up in the north in bundles of already chopped lumber. Can you go and collect it for me? Be careful of wolves and bears, I need 8 of those bundles by the way! Hey, I have a problem and I need some help - I really need to get this order done as soon as possible and I haven't got much time left. The animals not too far away from here have scared my workers off and distracted them from their job. I've already had talks with an official to clear the animals and prevent this happening again,but I need some help to collect the wood. Would you be able to collect 8 bundles of wood for me? It would be a huge help and I should be able to make my deadline! I have deadline for an order of wood. The wild animals have chased away my workers from the wood the've already chopped down. I need your help. Collect 8 bundles of wood and return them to me. I have a huge problem. I have to fill this lumber order as soon as possible. The wild animals chased everyone away and they can't get to the piles of wood. I talked to Deputy Rainer to clear the way but someone needs to go get the wood. If you can get me 8 bundles, I might do this order collect piles of wood and kill mobs on the way I am running out of time to meet a deadline to prepare wood. My workers have already chopped the wood, but wolves and bears have scared them away. Deputy Rainer will take care of the animals, but I need someone to bring me eight bundles of wood. He's got some pest control problem and asks player to help him to collect some wood in the forrest.

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Question Question 31 Question 32 Question 33 34 Question 35 Would you like to work Did you Did you look the with find this unknown words similar exercise up in a texts in Do the other players understand difficult? Are there any unknown words? dictionary/online? school? you when you speak in English? 5 lumber No Yes Yes, with problems 4 lumber No Yes No 2 looming Yes, online Yes Yes, with no problems 2 Deputy, bundle, lumber Yes, online Yes Yes, with no problems 4 bundles Yes, online Yes Yes, with no problems 5 - No Yes Yes, with no problems 1 no No Yes Yes, with no problems 5 - No Yes Yes, with no problems 5 No No Yes Yes, with no problems 5 looming Yes, online Yes Yes, with no problems 3 looming No Yes Yes, with no problems 5 looming Yes, online Yes Yes, with no problems 5 There are no unknown words No Yes Yes, with no problems 5 nope No Yes No 4 no No Yes Yes, with no problems 5 looming, deputy No Yes Yes, with problems 5 no No No Yes, with no problems Yes, in a 3 looming, lumber, dictionary Yes Yes, with no problems 5 0 No No Yes, with no problems 2 lumber Yes, online Yes Yes, with problems 5 No unknown words here. I also recognize this quest. I'm a nerd. :( No Yes Yes, with no problems Yes, in a 5 looming dictionary Yes Yes, with problems 5 No No Yes, with no problems 1 looming No Yes Yes, with no problems 1 no No No Yes, with no problems 3 lumber Yes, online Yes Yes, with no problems 5 bundles No Yes Yes, with no problems 3 Looming Yes, online Yes Yes, with no problems 5 looming Yes, online Yes Yes, with no problems 5 chopped Yes, online Yes Yes, with no problems 4 looming Yes, online No Yes, with no problems 2 looming Yes, online Yes Yes, with no problems 5 none No Yes Yes, with no problems 5 No Yes Yes, with no problems 3 bundles No Yes Yes, with problems 5 looming Yes, online Yes Yes, with no problems 5 deputy rainer (bcs i don't play wow) No No No 4 None No Yes Yes, with no problems 4 deputy Yes, online Yes Yes, with problems 5 .. No Yes Yes, with problems 5 n No No Yes, with no problems 5 looming Yes, online Yes Yes, with no problems 2 looming, lumber, bundles No Yes Yes, with problems 5 words oki doki No No Yes, with problems 5 no No Yes Yes, with no problems 5 nope No Yes Yes, with no problems 5 no No Yes Yes, with no problems 5 no No Yes Yes, with no problems 5 Loom No Yes Yes, with no problems 5 - No Yes Yes, with no problems

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