CAN VIDEO GAMES HELP STUDENTS LEARN GRAMMAR?

Can Video Games Help Students Learn Grammar?

Gaming to Improve Grammar

Aaron Lloyd

ENG 301

Baker College - Allen Park

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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibility that non-educational based games can

improve a child’s English grammar. In order to do this we must examine what is the differences

between educational and commercial games. When looking at the research data needs to be used

from studies that used educational and studies that used commercially to be able to prove

usefulness and improvement from both. Commercial games need to be limited to games that use

typing, reading, and communication skills, because not all games require these skills. This paper

will examine if commercial video games with the skills of typing, reading, and communication in

any combination increase English grammar better than educational video games and typical

schoolwork.
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This paper will look at current research to show that video games that require a child to

read and type to communicate in-game increase a child’s skills with English grammar. That

playing these games, not in excess, is equivalent to studying. There are already schools

incorporating educational games in their curriculum. The vast amount of research that was found

for this paper was on educational games or games that are not relevant today. The two most

popular games that involve reading and typing to communicate that are non-violent and PG or G

are Minecraft and Rodblox. Their unfortunately isn’t as much research as other games that are

considered educational based games. While Minecraft and Roblox are vastly popular outside of

schools and played as entertainment rather than educational. Motivation to learn is important for

understanding and retention, in this case understanding to play is how they learn without feeling

like they are learning (Ebrahimzadeh 2017)

Interactive video games that require reading and or typing improve a child’s skill with

English grammar because they want to play them and interact at levels with their peers. Video

games allow children to push themselves to improve to keep up or communicate efficiently with

peers because they don’t want to be left behind or looked down upon. ​Informal language learning

instruments such as digital video games and movies have been found to result in higher learning

outcomes compared to classroom practice (Cole & Vanderplank, 2016). Some classrooms are

already using Minecraft as a learning tool. The entire class joins a server that is controlled by the

teacher, where they can set the parameters of what the children are allowed to do. This can lead

to the class having to build something to cross a river, find the materials to build an item, or even

build a model of a landmark from the subject they were just learning about. ​Games with the use

of communities allow students to explore ideas within the game (Inchamnan 2016). ​All of these
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actions involve many complex decisions such as: communication with peers to attain a goal,

delegation of job duties, and agreement with peers on what actions to take. Also, coordination on

which steps or actions to take, math involved in materials in order to build a structure or crafting

items, science involved in crafting organic items, all the social interaction that must be typed and

read in chat, and much more. Even ​English language learners want to play with other players, so

they work on learning the game and how to interact in order to participate (Dodgson 2017).

English Language Learners are not at as bad of an disadvantage as one would think, since they

will be able to follow other characters around and contribute. They will be exposed to English

and visual what they refer to. The game that these students play does matter.

There is a major difference between commercial video games and educational games

when it comes to visual aesthetics and gameplay, this is a big reason why children prefer

commercial games.. Commercial video games are more appealing to children because they do

not think they are educational, unlike the ones they currently get to play in school now. They

enjoy the games in school because it is all they have to choose from. When they get home they

would choose commercial games like Minecraft, Roblox, and others before they would play an

educational game from school. The children make this choice because ​commercial digital video

games are richer in game play experience and visual appearance than educational digital video

games. Using commercial digital video games have higher overall quality and students prefer

over educational digital video games (Ebrahimzadeh 2017). The visual experience in many of the

educational games are simple and inexpensive, which the children notice and it impacts their

enjoyment and desire to play the game they are presented with. Can educational games every be

equal or considered high enough quality and game play experience as commercial?
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There are many ways that educational games need to be improved in order to have the

impact and enjoyment that commercial games have. The advantage that commercial games have

is that the children playing them are playing for entertainment and don’t realize they are

improving their reading and writing skills. Wile playing these games, they strive to improve at

the in game communication with their friends in order to increase the experience for both.

Educational games and school work do not have this affect on children as they see it as work and

not entertainment. They will not have near the same desire to improve as rapidly as they will

communicating in a social aspect of commercial games. A language learning software may

provide substantial exposure to the content but fail to affect change since it does not motivate

learner participation (Bodnar, Cucchiarini, Strik, & Van Hout, 2016).

Another major reason that games used in classrooms are not having the same effect is

that it is hard to incorporate them into the lesson or daily routine. Many educators have not

played the educational or commercial games and do not understand what is making them

successful. The educators are also at a much higher comprehension level of English grammar

then their students and may not see how these games help them improve their grammar skills. In

addition to the educator finding ways to included it in their natural school day, there are other

parties that need to be on board with this inclusion to the teaching. A ​study does show how

difficult it is to organize and keep a schedule with all parties involved, being the administrators,

teachers and parents. After only two short play sessions, there were improvement show in over

half of the students (Jenson 2016). Think of how hard it is to get a set curriculum and all

educators, whom ages range and experience with video games vary, to use similar practices in

the United States. Even all school districts in a state or county then we can understand why it
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will take some time for them to work out how to best include video games into classrooms. This

leaves it up to individual educators to find a way to use video games to the benefit of their

students, which depending on their knowledge and experience might not always be a beneficial

endeavor until they have some standards or benchmarks set to go off of. This makes it very hard

and unlikely they will put in the time to learn best practices to use video games in their

teachings. While this is not beneficial to their students, the educators have strict learning goals

they need to meet to stay employed.

Video games have many effects on the human brain that are not considered at first

thought. The players are using hand eye coordination to perform actions on the screen with the

use of a keyboard, they are performing math operations in order to know if they can afford

upgrades or equipment with the currency they have, more math when crafting (combining

amounts of items to create other items), science when they are planting, raising, harvesting crops,

critical thinking when they are planning out the building of a structure or how to attain set goals,

and much more. ​Games, in general, support the development of critical thinking through

visualization, experimentation, and creativity (Amory, 2007). These skills are universally used in

all aspects of classroom work. Many of these skills are hard to improve with paperwork that is

used currently. Many of the project assignments are used as an attempt to increase many of these

skills. While video games naturally have players usings many of these skills in order to play the

game. ​The results are from analysing players engaging in creative problem solving while they

are playing. This skill can be applied to many subjects in school and on most school work

(Inchamnan 2016). We can look at The Affective Filter Hypothesis by Stephen Krashen, which

is one of the five hypothesis in his Theory of Second Language Acquisition. He states that there
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are affective variables that affect learning language such as: motivation, self-confidence, and

anxiety. A child that is good in theses areas will be able to better learn and have less of these

filters causing a mental block to learning, where the less and less a child state of each of these the

harder and harder it will be to learn. ​This is why, for example, students often acquire language

when singing or when involved in engaging hand-on activities, such as cooking or experimenting

with magnets (Freeman 2014). This conforms to Gee’s (2007) third learning principle called the

‘semiotic principle’, which explains the relationship existent among several sign systems (e.g.,

images, color codes, words, etc.) employed in a digital video games. Understanding these

relationships greatly improves learning through digital video games. On the whole, Gee (2007)

identified 36 learning principles at work in what he called good games (i.e., games that employ

most or all of the principles).

The research on this subject varies wildly from age group to purpose, but the vast

majority of the case studies done show that video games to increase a student's performance on

their school work. One s​tudy of 146 Grades 1 and 2 students playing the game, a paper and

pencil related activity and completing a pre- and post-test. Benefit will show how the video game

learning corresponds to written school work. The study does find preliminary findings of

improvement between pre and post test after playing the video games (Jenson 2016). Not only do

games that require reading and writing improve grammar, but some studies have found that they

can improve other skills. There are some video games out that require actually physical

movement in order to play. The Nintendo Wii is the most popular example of this. A study did

concluded that the controlled studies did show increase in increase motor, intellectual, and

physical capabilities from the use of active video games (Merino Campos 2016). While there are
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discrepancies between many studies, the most common reason is that they are not all using the

same variable sample. This means that each study picks the area of learning they want to see how

the use of video games affect the students and there are many areas and sub areas, where the

researchers get very specific. The other issue is the choice of games, some are commercial while

others are educational. There are studies showing both advantages and disadvantages of video

games in education, many of the studies having varying variables (Merino Campos 2016). In one

study the results were inconclusive and it stated that it’s a common result. They designed their

own educational video game for eighth grade students (Tsai 2012). Once you take a look at a

study like this you is seems it might have been inconclusive based on the game they designed,

there was no information on whether they had qualified game designers involved or if the design

was sent to a video game company for creation. In studies like these it would be more beneficial

to both the study and those that can use the data if they kept the variance to a minimum and used

an existing game.

In conclusion when a properly created educational game in used in the classroom it

should have a positive effect, but if an educator can correctly implement a commercial game

such as Minecraft or Roblox then their students will improve many of their reading and writing

skills that will lead to better grammar. In addition they will see improvements in other areas of

their school work and social interactions within the classroom.

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