Using the MMORPG 'Runescape' to Engage Korean
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Using the MMORPG ‘RuneScape’ to Engage Korean EFL (English as a Foreign Language) Young Learners in Learning Vocabulary and Reading Skills Kwengnam Kim Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of Education October 2015 -I- INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. © 2015 The University of Leeds and Kwengnam Kim The right of Kwengnam Kim to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. -II- DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP The work conducted during the development of this PhD thesis has led to a number of presentations and a guest talk. Papers and extended abstracts from the presentations and a guest talk have been generated and a paper has been published in the BAAL conference' proceedings. A list of the papers arising from this study is presented below. Kim, K. (2012) ‘MMORPG RuneScape and Korean Children’s Vocabulary and Reading Skills’. Paper as Guest Talk is presented at CRELL Seminar in University of Roehampton, London, UK, 31st, October 2012. Kim, K. (2012) ‘Online role-playing game and Korean children’s English vocabulary and reading skills’. Paper is presented in AsiaCALL 2012 (11th International Conference of Computer Assisted Language Learning), in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 16th-18th, November 2012. Kim, K. (2013) ‘Online role-playing game and Korean children’s English vocabulary and reading skills’. Paper is presented in IATEFL 2013 (47th Annual International IATEFL Conference and Exhibition), in the Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool, Liverpool, UK, 8th-12th, April 2013. Kim, K. (2013) ‘Can online role-playing games help improve Korean children’s vocabulary and reading skills?’. In Archibald, A. N. (Ed.), Proceedings of the BAAL Annual Conference 2012 (the 45th Annual Meeting of the British Association for Applied Linguistics), p. 117-119), in University of Southampton, UK, 6th-8th, September 2012. London: Scitsiugnil Press. Parts of the above works have been used in my thesis as follows: Examples of text data and categories of vocabulary and reading strategies from the presentations and guest talk were used in Chapter 8 and Chapter 9. Examples of text data and categories of vocabulary and reading strategies from the paper published in BAAL 2012 Proceedings were used in Chapter 8 and Chapter 9. -III- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I give thanks to God for your love and the courage you allowed me to get through. A big debt of gratitude goes to my precious supervisors, Professor Alice Deignan and Dr. Aisha Walker for their endless support, their invaluable advice and wisdom and their stimulating discussions about my topic, which led me to get insights into my roles as an independent PhD student as well as a confident researcher. In particular, I deeply appreciate their encouragements, which they gave me whenever I was frustrated with the hardships of the long and solitary PhD journey. It was very lucky that I had Alice and Aisha as my supervisors, who gave me a ‘carrot’ (encouragement) and a ‘stick’ (sharp comment) at the same time, saying that you were the best supervisors for me. I am grateful to the other lecturers and officers in the School of Education at the University of Leeds. I am also grateful to my fellow research students, whom I have shared the same workstation, room 8.95 at E.C. Stoner building with me for four years. Especially to Elly, Mint and Angy, you shared the time to discuss and talk about our stress and depression frankly, giving me positive energy to get over our slump and finally get through the whole process. My thanks go to you the participants in my research: private English institute’s head teacher, English teacher, students and their parents who supported and helped me to make my research possible. I am thankful to my invaluable Korean friends who believed and encouraged me whenever I visited South Korea. Special thanks to friends who have finished and are doing PhD in the UK, giving me sincere encouragements and vivid advice to go proceeding this challenging and exhausting journey. The debt of gratitude goes to my precious parents, brothers, sister, brother-in-law, sister-in-laws, nephews and nieces for their financial support and emotional encouragement, convincing that they trust me whatever I would do and wherever I would be. I am indebted to you forever. A special thanks to beloved DJ, who has been there for me for a long time. You have been my best friend supporting whatever I would do and sharing whatever we would do. -IV- ABSTRACT This study aims to explore the affordances offered by online role-playing games like RuneScape in learning English vocabulary and developing reading skills, and to examine whether there is any relationship between playing RuneScape and Korean children's vocabulary and reading skills. I sampled five elementary students (1 female and 4 males, aged 10-11), who played RuneScape for 30 minutes per session for 9 to 14 sessions in a private English institute in South Korea. I collected the text data through retrieving the text from the recordings of participants’ game- plays using a screen recorder. The observation data was attained by observing them playing games through participant observation, observation framework and field notes. I analysed the English text learners would encounter when playing Runescape, and using observation, attempted to describe the vocabulary and reading strategies they tend to use whilst playing. The findings showed that participants encountered the seven categories of vocabulary whilst playing: generally-used vocabulary, fixed phrases, RuneScape vernacular, lexis specific to computer games, chat speak (acronyms and abbreviations), emoticons and reduplication. From the observation data, I found that participants used the following vocabulary strategies: looking up in a dictionary, verbalising vocabulary and guessing meanings verbally. Reading strategies were: clicking, verbalising, reading texts aloud, translating and typing. The findings suggest that there is relationship between playing RuneScape and vocabulary and reading skills. However, Korean children do not get sufficient practice in their use of vocabulary and reading skills for pragmatic purposes in their English classrooms, due to time limitations and large classes. Children tend to lack instrumental motivation for learning English, so the fun and interest of playing games might help engage them in learning English. I would argue therefore that online role-playing games have the potential for Korean children as a useful supplementary tool for developing vocabulary and reading skills. -V- TABLE OF CONTENTS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ............................................................................................................ I DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP .................................................................................................. II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................. III ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................. V LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................ XI CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 MOTIVATION FOR THE STUDY .......................................................................................... 1 1.2 DEFINITION OF MMORPG ................................................................................................. 2 1.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ........................................................................................... 3 1.3.1 Methodological Innovation ...................................................................................... 3 1.3.2 Theoretical Contribution .......................................................................................... 4 1.4 RESEARCH AIMS AND QUESTIONS .................................................................................... 5 1.5 ORGANISATION OF THE STUDY ......................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER 2 ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN SOUTH KOREA & CHILDREN, TECHNOLOGY AND LANGUAGE LEARNING ................................................................................................................ 8 2.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 8 2.2 ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING (ELT) IN SOUTH KOREA .................................................... 8 2.2.1 The Status of ELT and Challenges in ELT .................................................................. 8 2.2.2 Cultural and Social Barriers to ELT ......................................................................... 12 2.2.3 Contextualisation: Models of Reading ..................................................................