Examining the Potentials of Computer Games for English Learning

Abstract

This study aims to investigate Taiwanese EFL college students’ perceptions of the potentials of computer games for language learning. The participants are required to play two selected video games, Sid Meier’s Pirates and Telltale Sam & Max in the researcher’s computer assisted language learning class. To elicit participants’ perceptions of computer games, researchers asked them to write a reflection paper after they had played these two games for more than ten hours. The findings show that most students believe that suitable computer games can assist second language learning. The strengths and weaknesses of using computer games in language education are also discussed in this paper.