臉書冒險遊戲中的青少年第二外語單字習得

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(1)國立台灣師範大學英語學系碩士論文 Master Thesis Graduate Institute of English National Taiwan Normal University. 臉書冒險遊戲中的青少年第二外語單字習得 Young Learners’ Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition through a Facebook Adventure Game. 指導教授：陳浩然博士 Advisor: Dr. Hao-Jan Chen 研究生：林秋琴 Chiu-Chin, Lin. 中華民國一百零二年六月 June, 2013.

(2) 中文摘要. 對青少年來說，單字習得在英語學習中一直扮演著十分重要的角色。為了增加學習者對第二語言單字學習的動機及成效，本研究採納了遊戲學習法。此研究的目的為探討臉書冒險遊戲在第二語言單字學習上的效用、單字不同呈現方式對學習的影響及學習者對英語遊戲學習的看法。三十二位大直高中國中部的學生自願參與此研究。首先，受試者完成單字翻譯及選擇題來測量他們對目標單字的先備知識，接著在學校的電腦教室進行八十分鐘的臉書冒險遊戲，遊戲結束後，接受後測以了解單字學習情形，並以問卷形式探究出學習者對此種學習方式的感想。三天後，進行延後測以測出此種單字學習效果的持久性，並加以學生訪談了解其它可能影響單字學習的因素。研究結果顯示，雖然單字翻譯題測驗似乎受到測驗流程的干擾，受試者的單字選擇題分數在遊戲結束後出現明顯進步。單字測驗成績顯示圖片對單字習得有正向影響，但單字出現次數與單字習得與否並無明顯相關。在學生訪談及問卷中可得知，受試者對利用臉書網站上的冒險遊戲學習單字頗有好評，這些正向的學生回饋也同時點出此種學習方式的優缺點，以利往後的研究進行改良。. 關鍵字：青少年、臉書、冒險遊戲、單字習得. I.

(3) Abstract Vocabulary acquisition has always played an important role in English learning for young learners. To increase learners’ motivation for L2 vocabulary learning, game-based learning method was adopted in the present study. This study aimed to investigate the L2 vocabulary learning effect of a Facebook adventure game, the influence of different vocabulary presentations on vocabulary acquisition, as well as the young learners’ perceptions toward game-based English vocabulary learning. Thirty-two ninth graders in Dazhi Senior High School (Junior High Department) voluntarily participated in the study. They were asked to take a pretest for vocabulary translation and recognition to measure their prior knowledge about the target words and were required to take part in the game session for 80 minutes in the school computer lab. Afterwards, a posttest was conducted to find out how they progressed on the target vocabulary items and a questionnaire was utilized to probe into their perceptions about the idea of acquiring L2 vocabulary through Facebook adventure games. A delayed posttest was held three days later to check whether the participants still retained the knowledge of the target words and a semi-structured interview was used to investigate other possible factors which could affect the vocabulary retention. The results showed the participants made significant progress on vocabulary acquisition in the recognition test although the translation test results seemed to be affected by the test procedure. Retention rate of the target words indicated that picture glosses did have positive impact on vocabulary acquisition but word encounter times seemed not to correlate with the participants’ performance on vocabulary tests. From the student interview and questionnaire, positive comments toward this game-based learning method were presented and advantages as well as disadvantages of this learning method were identified through the learners’ feedback.. Key words: young learners, Facebook, adventure game, vocabulary acquisition. II.

(4) Acknowledgement My thesis could not be accomplished without the assistance of many dear friends. First, I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Hao-Jan, Chen, for being the source of my inspiration. Every time I couldn’t move on any longer and felt all the doors were closed, he’d open another window for me. I am grateful that he always responded to all my questions in no time and granted me with answers as fast as he could. My sincere gratitude should also go to my committee members, Dr. Zhao-Ming, Gao and Dr. Chun-Chieg, Tseng, for they gave me countless help by reading my thesis draft patiently, clarifying lots of complicated ideas and solving many tanged statistics problems. I could have been stuck in all the scary tables and figures were it not for their wise suggestions. In addition, I need to thank my cute students in Class 904 and 905 and their homeroom teachers. I couldn’t carry out the whole experiment without their generous cooperation. In the experiment process, I believe we all had a great time learning English and I hope the successful learning experience will make them realize learning English can also be a lot of fun. Finally, I want to dedicate this thesis to my colleagues in Dazhi Senior High School, classmates in NTNU, my dear family, and my sweet friends who had supported and comforted me during the three years of studies. They made me believe that I was capable of finishing this difficult work and they shared my happiness and frustration unconditionally. Pursuing a master’s degree is one important milestone in my life and I really appreciate all the compliment, criticism and encouragement from people who care about me. Because of their existence, I could overcome the obstacles and enjoyed the pleasure of thesis writing.. III.

(5) TABLE OF CONTENT 中文摘要...................................................................................................................................... I Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... II Acknowledgement ..................................................................................................................... III TABLE OF CONTENT ............................................................................................................. IV LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................... VII LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. VIII CHAPTER ONE ......................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background and Motivation.................................................................................................. 1 1.1.1 A Versatile Game Platform: Facebook ...................................................................... 2 1.1.2 Game Genre: Adventure game ................................................................................... 4 1.1.3 Incidental Vocabulary Learning ................................................................................. 5 1.2 Purpose of the Study ......................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER TWO ...................................................................................................................... 10 LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................................... 10 2.1 Studies on Facebook in the field of language learning ................................................... 10 2.2 Studies on different genres of computer games and language learning .......................... 13 2.2.1 Studies on Serious Games in Language Learning.................................................... 14 2.2.2 Studies on MMORPG in Language Learning .......................................................... 15 2.2.3 Studies on Simulation Games in Language Learning .............................................. 17 2.2.4 Studies on Adventure Games in Language Learning ............................................... 20 2.2.5 Summary of Game Studies....................................................................................... 21 2.3 Studies on L2 Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition .......................................................... 24 2.3.1 The impact of word repetition on L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition ................. 26 2.3.2 The impact of picture glosses on L2 incidental vocabulary learning ....................... 27 2.4 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 29 IV.

(6) 2.5 Research Questions: ........................................................................................................ 30 CHAPTER THREE................................................................................................................... 31 METHOD ................................................................................................................................. 31 3.1 Participants ...................................................................................................................... 32 3.2 Instrument ....................................................................................................................... 33 3.2.1 A Facebook Adventure Game .................................................................................. 33 3.2.2 Supplementary Material ........................................................................................... 36 3.3 Procedure ........................................................................................................................ 37 3.4 Data Collection ............................................................................................................... 40 3.4.1 Vocabulary Translation Test .................................................................................... 40 3.4.2 Vocabulary Recognition Test ................................................................................... 41 3.4.3. Semi-structured Interview ................................................................................... 42. 3.4.4 Questionnaire ........................................................................................................... 43 3.5 Data Analysis .................................................................................................................. 44 CHAPTER FOUR ..................................................................................................................... 46 RESULT ................................................................................................................................... 46 4.1 Effects of the Facebook Adventure Game on Vocabulary Acquisition .......................... 46 4.1.1 Results: Vocabulary Translation Tests..................................................................... 47 4.1.2 Results: Vocabulary Recognition Tests ................................................................... 49 4.2 Participants’ feedback on factors influencing the test results ......................................... 50 4.3 Relationship between Vocabulary Presentations and Vocabulary Retention Rate ......... 53 4.3.1 Word Encounter Times ............................................................................................ 53 4.3.2 Picture Glosses ......................................................................................................... 55 4.3.3 Vocabulary Presentation Influence on Target Words with Higher Retention Rate . 56 4.4 Results of the Questionnaire ........................................................................................... 58 4.4.1 Participants’ Perceptions toward Acquiring Vocabulary through Games ................ 58. V.

(7) 4.4.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Acquiring L2 Vocabulary through Facebook Games. 60. 4.5 Summary of the results ................................................................................................... 62 CHAPTER FIVE....................................................................................................................... 66 Discussion and Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 66 5.1 Discussion about Research Findings ............................................................................... 66 5.1.1 Research Question One: Can playing a Facebook adventure game help young learners acquire second language vocabulary items? ........................................................ 66 5.1.2 Research Question Two: Do different presentations of new vocabulary items (word exposure times and picture glosses) correlate with learners’ performance on vocabulary acquisition? How? ............................................................................................................. 68 5.1.3 Research Question Three: What are the young learners’ perceptions of acquiring vocabulary items by playing a Facebook adventure game? .............................................. 71 5.2 Summary of the Findings ................................................................................................ 76 5.3 Limitations of the Study and Recommendations for Future Research ............................ 77 5.4 Pedagogical Implications ................................................................................................ 80 5.5 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 83 Reference .................................................................................................................................. 84 Appendices ................................................................................................................................ 90 Appendix 1 Supplementary material ................................................................................. 90 Appendix 2 Pretest-Vocabulary Translation Test (1) ....................................................... 95 Appendix 3 Posttest-Vocabulary Translation Test (2) ...................................................... 96 Appendix 4 Delay Posttest-Vocabulary Translation Test (3) ........................................ 97 Appendix 5 Pretest-Vocabulary Recognition Test (1) ................................................... 98 Appendix 6 Posttest-Vocabulary Recognition Test (2)................................................ 100 Appendix 7 Delay Posttest- Vocabulary Recognition Test (3) .................................... 101 Appendix 8 Questionnaire ........................................................................................... 102 Appendix 9 Participants’ English proficiency level and raw scores of the test results 105 VI.

(8) LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Chapelle’s (2001) Criteria for Call Task Appropriateness .............................. 19 Table 2: Language learning effects of different game genres ....................................... 23 Table 3: Vocabulary list with different presentations .................................................... 41 Table 4: Student interview about factors influencing the test results ........................... 43 Table 5: Data collection and analysis ............................................................................ 45 Table 6: Mean scores of vocabulary translation tests at three timings.......................... 48 Table 7: Mauchly’s Test of Sphericity on the mean score of the three translation tests 48 Table 8: Summary of one-way repeated measures ANOVA on translation tests .......... 49 Table 9: Descriptive Statistics of Vocabulary Recognition Tests .................................. 50 Table 10: Mauchly’s Test of Sphericity on the mean score of the three recognition tests ...................................................................................................................... 50 Table 11: Summary of one-way within subjects ANOVA on recognition tests ............ 50 Table 12: Students’ responses toward questions in the interview (N=32) .................... 51 Table 13: Participants’ explanation about possible influence of the choice items (N=32) ...................................................................................................................... 52 Table 14: Correlation between target word encounter times and retention rate in translation immediate posttest ...................................................................... 54 Table 15: Correlation between target word encounter times and retention rate in recognition immediate posttest ..................................................................... 54 Table 16: Group statistics of picture glosses and retention rate .................................... 55 Table 17: Retention rate difference between words with and without picture glosses . 56 Table 18: Descriptive statistics of vocabulary presentation and retention rate in the immediate posttest ........................................................................................ 57 Table 19: Participants’ prior experience of Facebook games (N=32) ........................... 58 Table 20: Mean scores of 5-point Lickert Scale on students’ perceptions of vocabulary acquisition through video games .................................................................. 59 Table 21: Quantitative results in different test types ..................................................... 64. VII.

(9) LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: The game layout of Disney’s Ghosts of Mistwood ....................................... 35 Figure 2: Game task presentation ................................................................................. 35 Figure 3: Layout of the game orientation ..................................................................... 36 Figure 4: Tips of how to play the game ........................................................................ 37 Figure 5: Flowchart of the Procedure ........................................................................... 39 Figure 6: Results of the vocabulary translation/recognition test at three timings ......... 47 Figure 7: Illustration of the interference from the recognition test ............................... 52 Figure 8: Participants’ feedback about factors helping vocabulary acquisition............ 60 Figure 9: Participants’ willingness to keep learning vocabulary through games .......... 60 Figure 10: Participants’ feedback about advantages of game-based learning .............. 61 Figure 11: Participants’ feedback about disadvantages of game-based learning .......... 61 Figure 12: Participants’ reflection on the difficulties of the game process ................... 62. VIII.

(10) CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background and Motivation How to make English learning effective for young learners has always been what teachers are concerned about. With limited attention span and unlimited curiosity, young learners need sufficient motivation to keep learning. In order to provide motivation for learning, many researchers and teachers have utilized different intriguing games as language learning tools and found positive results in the learning process (Baltra, 1990; Chen & Yang, 2012; Crookall, 1990; Culley et al, 1986; DeHaan, 2005; Garris et al, 2002; Gee, 2003; Jones, 1986; Kirriemuir, 2004; Lee & Hoadley, 2007; Lee et al, 2005; Miller & Hegelheimer, 2006; Purushotma, 2005; Ranalli, 2008; Rankin, 2006; Rosas et al, 2003; Sørensen & Meyer, 2007; Suh et al, 2010) Although it has been proved useful and promising to learn a foreign/second language through games, it is not as practical when teachers try to put this learning method in their teaching syllabus. Several obstacles result in this difficulty. In general, there are too few suitable language learning games available for young learners. Considering their elementary linguistic competence, games chosen to play should not encompass too many vocabulary items or grammatical rules which surpass their 1.

(11) proficiency level. To meet this standard, most teachers can only choose educational games which usually sacrifice the “fun” element and fail to sustain learners’ motivation. Secondly, it can cost a fortune to purchase the genuine edition of games to foster language learning. Not only schools and teachers but also learners can hardly afford this expense on their budget list. Moreover, to play a game, especially computer games, learners must be equipped with a computer or other electronic devices, such as tablet PCs or smart phones, which are often not accessible for students in the regular school session.. 1.1.1 A Versatile Game Platform: Facebook Not ready to give up on the idea of learning while playing games, the researcher decided to turn to modern technologies for help. Social Networking Websites are one of the research targets when it comes to the investigation on online pupils’ relationship and interaction. A survey has shown that college students think Facebook, one of the most famous and popular social networking websites, could be a valuable language learning tool when instructors make suitable adjustments on the learning materials (Kabilan et al., 2010). College students are definitely not the only case. In Taiwan, junior high school students, especially the ones in the urban districts, rely on Facebook just as college students do. Many of junior high school students possess at least one Facebook account and many of them are active users. This means they log in this 2.

(12) website more than once a day. It is not hard to understand why Facebook is so desirable to young learners for it provides a real time platform to communicate, to share information, and most importantly, to have fun. Being a center of entertainment, Facebook also serves as a platform of different types of game application programs (APPs). More than ten game genres, like simulations, puzzles, adventures and RPGs, can all be found on Facebook. It provides various choices for its users’ different needs. Games, such as Happy Farm, City Ville, Diamond Dash, make millions of people join its membership and playing Facebook games has become a trendy activity for young people to do. With its high popularity among young people, Facebook may be the cure for impracticality of using games as a language learning tool. First of all, Facebook is an international website; therefore, the most used language in the games is English. Although there are translated versions, games designed only in English are still plenty for learners to choose from. Moreover, members of this websites come from different age groups and games on the websites are designed for people at different ages. Therefore, it is possible and easier to locate a suitable game for young English learners. Third, the economic issue no longer exists because most of the games on Facebook are free. All players need are the Internet and a Facebook account. Even though there may be some difficulties to let students play Facebook games in schools, it can serve as a 3.

(13) favorable self-learning method in the computer classrooms or at home. Many studies about Facebook have been conducted around the world (Bosch, 2009; Kabilan et al, 2010; Kanuka & Garrion, 2004) since Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, made it public in 2004. Nevertheless, not many of the studies discussed the issue of language learning. For those which touched upon this issue, they mainly investigated on its effect of communicative competence (Blattner & Fiori, 2009) which may be too demanding for young learners with limited linguistic knowledge. In order to cater to young learners’ linguistic competence, this study aims at investigating what young learners are capable of learning by themselves, English vocabulary learning potential of Facebook games.. 1.1.2 Game Genre: Adventure game As mentioned in the previous section, there are more than ten different game genres on Facebook. Deciding on the most suitable one for young language learners can be critical to the effect of language learning. Games which can be completed by simple error and trial should not be considered an excellent language learning device for they may not be able to trigger deeper cognitive learning activities. Games which lack for sufficient linguistic stimulations are not helpful in language learning, either. Among different types of games, adventure games are highly recommended for educational use by many researchers (Gee, 2003; Crookall, 2007; Chen & Yang, 2012). 4.

(14) An adventure game is “a video game in which the player assumes the role of the protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving (see Wikipedia, 2013).” The narrative game feature engages learners and raises their motivation for learning without too much effort (Gee, 2003). Moreover, learners can experience different language situations in role-plays constantly appearing in the game (Kirriemuir & McFarlane, 2004). In addition, adventure games often upgrade players to higher levels with more challenging tasks when they accumulate enough experiences. This characteristic may increase learners’ sense of achievement and extend their opportunities of learning. Concluded with the above reasons, adventure games may just fit younger language learners’ appetite for they are able to increase learning motivation, provide linguistic experiences in different contexts and offer distinctive challenges in each task to make learners interested and excited. With so many foreseeable advantages, the researcher will therefore choose one popular adventure game in Facebook as the main material in the present study.. 1.1.3 Incidental Vocabulary Learning It may be possible for young learners to gain linguistic knowledge by playing a video game. However, what linguistic knowledge to be obtained is needed to be identified. During the gaming session, words are the most exposed linguistic items to 5.

(15) the players. It may be difficult to ask young learners with basic language skills to communicate with other players, to recognize sentence patterns, or to identify grammatical rules. However, remembering different vocabulary items seems a natural learning process when players are immersed in the game environment. Therefore, this study will focus on whether young learners can acquire vocabulary items “incidentally” while playing a Facebook video game. Incidental learning refers to a gain of certain knowledge while performing a task or simply being exposed to the relevant materials (Laufer & Hulstijn, 2001). Generally, the participants do not know they will have a test after finishing the task. In other words, they are not aware of the real purpose of the learning activity, which makes learning less stressed and more fun. In Taiwan’s English education system, chances for students to learn without specific purposes are rather few. Since authentic materials in pupils’ daily lives are not easily accessed, most English learning takes place in classrooms with modified materials. Almost all information and linguistic knowledge are taught and learned “intentionally” according to the course syllabus. It is without a doubt that English lessons at school provide pupils with grammar rules, sentence patterns, and other language elements which are necessary and needed to be explained by teachers. However, when it comes to vocabulary learning, junior high school students in Taiwan 6.

(16) seem to be confined by the educational policies. The reason that only 1200 English words are allowed to be used in the Basic Entrance Exam (see Taiwan Elementary and Secondary Educator Community, 2012) makes teachers and students often lose their interests in teaching or learning English words which do not belong to the 1200 word pool. This phenomenon worries many educators since “a well-developed vocabulary is a prerequisite for fluent reading, a critical link between decoding and comprehension (Joshi, 2005).” Without instrumental motivation to learn more vocabulary, students now need something which can help them acquire vocabulary with pleasure and without too much effort. Some researchers believe that extensive reading is a good way for this kind of learning (Hunt & Beglar, 2005; Jenkins et al, 1984; Krashen, 1989; Lao & Krashen, 2000; Pigada & Schimitt, 2006). Nevertheless, nowadays students received too much stimulation from multimedia, reading seems not so attractive as to trigger their interests. Under such circumstances, a Facebook video game which contains all the fun factors from multimedia may have the ability to reach the same goal with more popularity. Graves (1987) proposed that students actually do most of their word learning independently regardless of how much teachers instruct in schools. Therefore, if provided with the right channels, students can actually acquire vocabulary words by themselves. Nevertheless, requiring junior high school students to learn without adult 7.

(17) supervision is never an easy job. Thus, young leaners must be provided with learning materials that are attractive and motivating enough to make learning occurs naturally. An English video game seems to be a perfect option for self-learning. Video games are characterized by the addictive and stress-free nature. If students always beg for more time to play video games, it might be a win-win strategy to let them learn as well when they think they are just having fun playing video games.. 1.2 Purpose of the Study With the advancement of modern technologies, video games have become one recreation that most young people do in their free time. Since they are so popular, researchers started to investigate the possibility of utilizing them for the purpose of education. Gee (2003) offered 36 reasons why good video games can outperform traditional classroom environment and Prensky (2003) also recommended incorporating online video games with multimedia learning in order to create more attractive learning environment. Since the input from video games is multi-sensory, it may arouse more interests of learners and make learning more effective. Following this trend, this study tries to investigate whether video games are useful tools for incidental vocabulary learning. In order to locate the suitable game, the researcher incorporated a versatile game platform, Facebook. Various types of game APPs on this website are available both for teachers and students. Most important of 8.

(18) all, they are mainly free of charge and learners can get access to them as long as they can get online. Among thousands of games on Facebook, the researcher chose one popular adventure game as the learning media because adventure games are proved to possess great potential for language learning and vocabulary acquisition. However, participants in former studies using adventure games were often college students or adults. Few of them consider young learners language learning needs and styles. Therefore, the goal of the current study is to find out whether young learners can acquire more English vocabulary without being informed of the purpose of the game session.. 9.

(19) CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW In order to find out whether playing Facebook games is beneficial in second language vocabulary acquisition, three kinds of literature are reviewed in this chapter: Facebook in the field of language learning, the relationship of different kinds of computer games and language acquisition, and effects of incidental vocabulary acquisition. A brief summary of the literature will be given and specific research questions will be addressed at the end.. 2.1 Studies on Facebook in the field of language learning Since Chun (1994) reported that Computer-mediated communication (CMC) has the power to modify the teacher-centered L2 classroom atmosphere and encourage students rely less on their L1 during interaction, many researchers were encouraged to investigate the field of computer- and web-based language teaching and learning. Some found it beneficial for shy or introvert students because CMC could reduce affective barrier by downsizing face-to-face interaction, which made those students more comfortable and less stressed (Chun, 1994; Warschauer, 1996). With such inspiring outcome, various computer- or web-based applications, including blogs, moodles, cloud computing, and social networking websites, have been under 10.

(20) investigation to help educators decide if these technologies are promising information communication tools (ICT). Among the aforementioned technologies, social networking websites, especially Facebook, has been in the spotlight for some time. Founded by Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard University in 2004, the famous social networking website “Facebook” has already successfully recruited more than one billion members worldwide (see Wikipedia, 2012). This astounding popularity soon caught educators’ attention and prompted them to find out whether students are able to develop positive relationship among one another and whether teachers had the chance to be involved in their pupils’ learning community (Bosch, 2009; Kanuka & Garrison, 2004). Since people usually use language to communicate in their learning community, researchers started to pay attention to Facebook’s language learning potential. In order to examine students’ perception of incorporating Facebook (FB) in learning a second language, a survey which were participated by 300 undergraduate students at University Sains Malaysia, Penang, was carried out. The researcher aimed at investigating whether FB was regarded as a “useful and meaningful learning environment” for students. The results showed that the majority of the survey takers believed that FB had the capability to enhance their English learning with the teachers’ or the course instructors’ assistance and modification (Kabilan et al., 2010). 11.

(21) Another study initiated by Blattner and Fiori (2009) probed into the rationale how FB helped language learners develop the “socio-pragmatic competence of a foreign language use (in specific contexts, relationship building, and language awareness).” Through participating in the group discussion with the native speakers, students gained opportunities to practice the target language in an authentic language community and thus gradually develop pragmatic competence in idea-exchanging activities. The aforementioned studies demonstrated the pedagogical potential of Facebook; however, most of them were conducted with interviews and surveys about students’ perception. Little empirical evidence was shown to prove that Facebook was capable of enhancing students’ language learning ability. Moreover, many of the studies focused on the task of group communication on Facebook, few of them discussed the functions of its games which so many young people have already participated in. For young learners, it may be difficult to express their ideas in the target language during group communication; however, video games are not difficult to play and understand. Therefore, in order to cater to the interests and language proficiencies of the participants and fill the gap in this research field, the researcher will explore the language learning potential of video games on Facebook. Nevertheless, there are so many different types of video games on Facebook, it is necessary to find out which kind of games is worth playing when the goal is to acquire a second language. 12.

(22) Therefore, in the next section, studies of different genres of video games will be discussed to find out a more suitable one for young learners.. 2.2 Studies on different genres of computer games and language learning “Edutainment” refers to the combination of “educational goals” with “entertainment content (Purushotma, 2005).” Nowadays, young learners in Taiwan often find language learning boring and have little interests in what teachers and textbooks offer. In order to increase students’ motivation toward learning, educators and teachers all try their best to develop learning materials that are entertaining and motivating enough to reach the state of “Edutainment”. Young learners of this era are used to every kind of multimedia in their daily lives. Thus, materials with more visual and sound effects tend to attract learners more easily than plain articles or textbooks. Among all the multimedia resources, it is undeniable that video games are more capable of catching young learners’ attention. Therefore, many researchers devoted themselves in conducting studies to investigate whether video games are able to enhance language learning. However, as mentioned in Chapter One that not every kind of video games are necessarily beneficial for language learning, the following section will probe into language learning effects of different types of video games. 13.

(23) 2.2.1 Studies on Serious Games in Language Learning. Serious Games refer to digital video/computer games with an educational purpose and agenda. Those games are oftentimes designed with a clear learning objective. While learners are playing the game, they absorb the knowledge or acquire the skill unintentionally. Since games are often regarded as the “fun factor” in language learning, language teaching games have been adopted to stimulate motivation and serve as communication practices because of the “semi-authentic” settings they provide (Sørensen & Meyer, 2007; Warschauer & Healey, 1998). It is important to have theoretical foundations when trying to adopt any kind of teaching method or material. Therefore, Sørensen & Meyer (2007) made a theoretical argument for serious games in the project “Serious Games on a Global Market”. They integrated different theories of educational design and learning in relation to games and proposed games were advantageous in language teaching and learning. For example, games transformed the formal learning settings into informal ones in which students had to learn something in order to play. In this learning context, learners were usually able to understand and use languages as a means for communication, information gathering and gaming. Moreover, they delineated certain features that would affect the learning quality of a game including: (1) adequate and adaptive feedback, (2) the embedding of cognitive strategies, and (3) animated graphics. 14.

(24) (Azevedo & Bernard, 1995; Sivin-Kachala & Bialo, 1994). Games with the above three qualities would accelerate the learning effects. Also, they stated some elements that could make educational games more enjoyable, such as providing suitable challenges, sufficient fantasy, and satisfied curiosity (Baltra, 1990; Kafai et al., 1997; Malone & Lepper, 1987). To examine the design and to assess serious games for first and second grade students, Rosas et al., (2003) conducted a study to evaluate the effects of the introduction of educational games into the classrooms in Chile. The video games in this study focused on basic mathematics and reading comprehension. Around one thousand and two hundred young students participated in this project and it lasted for 30 hours during the three- month period. The results showed students in the experimental group outperformed in math, reading comprehension, and spelling. Teachers also noticed an increase on students’ learning motivation and an improvement on classroom dynamics. These positive outcomes showed that it might be beneficial to promote serious games in elementary schools.. 2.2.2 Studies on MMORPG in Language Learning. Massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) have been more and more prosperous since the beginning of the Internet era. They became well-known not only for the role-playing features but also for creating connections, communication, and cooperation among different groups of people all over the world. Since the goal of 15.

(25) learning languages is to communicate with different people, MMORPGs have successfully captured researchers’ attention to examine their language learning potential. The fact that thousands of participants interact with each other at the same platform may be the reason why MMORPGs became the target of investigation. Most interactions in the game take places in the form of language or language skills (Lee et al., 2005; Lee & Hoadley, 2007), therefore, MMORPGs can serve as a great authentic language learning environment for learners to obtain the chance of communicating with the native speakers by texts or online chatting, and thus practice their language skills (Waters, 2007). Rankin et al. (2006) proposed that MMORPGs were capable of improving English communicative skills and reinforcing language learning. Jensen (2002) also identified that MMORPGs were able to engage learners for they acted as the center of the game and were responsible for manipulating the game mission. Although MMORPGs may not be suitable for language beginners or grammar elaboration because most of them require a certain degree of language proficiency, they are still recommended for learners who like to learn a language in a more authentic context (Suh et al., 2010). Even though Taiwan has been developing MMORPGs for a long time, few academic studies on their language learning potential can be located. Among all Asian counties, South Korea has recently become a regular winner in most international 16.

(26) MMORPG competitions. The victory made people notice its advanced online game technology and prompted the development of the relevant studies. Suh and Kim (2010) investigated the effectiveness of the MMORPG instruction in elementary English education and found that students studying English with MMORPGs performed better in listening, reading and writing than those received face-to-face instructions. They also noted that students’ prior knowledge, motivation for learning, and network speed were factors influencing the outcome of English learning. These results showed that it may be promising to adopt MMORPGs in young learners’ language learning programs in Taiwan for these two countries share similar technological background.. 2.2.3 Studies on Simulation Games in Language Learning. A simulation game usually combines different real-life situations, role-plays and socio-dramas in a computer video game (Jones, 1982). By playing the game, players develop their decision-making ability, social norms, and language competences. After several years of examination, Ranalli (2008) compiled different research articles and reported the advantages of simulation games in language learning for incorporating simulation games in classrooms. The main ideas of his report are as follows. (1) Capable of providing situated learning with specific contexts which are “naturally rich in associations (Brown et al., 1989; Purushotma, 2005).” Players are able to practice appropriate language use and interaction with different 17.

(27) people and in variant occasions. (2) Capable of enhancing learners’ metacognitive strategy use and communicative competence through the process of decision-and plan-making and execution (Bullard, 1990). (3) Capable of enhancing cross-cultural communication by confronting foreign culture and language use (Crookall, 1987; Crookall & Oxford, 1990). (4) Capable of lowering affective barriers to acquisition because of the absence of face-to-face communication (Freiermuth, 2002). (5) Capable of offering learner-centered environment by giving opportunities for students to solve the problem without the influence of the “authoritative persuasion” from a teacher (Freiermuth, 2002, p.187). (6) Capable of giving authentic materials with instantaneous feedback and real-time situations (Jones, 1986).. Although integrating simulation games seems beneficial for language learning, games designed for second language use are seldom found on the entertainment-oriented market (Purushotma, 2005). Moreover, games that are developed for native speakers are somehow beyond beginners’ language competences. Therefore, Miller and Hegelheimer (2006) illustrated how to transform authentic 18.

(28) simulation games into appropriate learning materials for second language learning. Guided by Chapell’s (2001) criteria for determining CALL task appropriateness (see Table 1), a study was conducted to see whether a popular commercial simulation game, The SIMs, could enhance learners’ vocabulary acquisition with the supplemental materials, such as vocabulary lists, exercises, and online dictionaries. The results presented a significant vocabulary gain when students were asked to use the supplemental materials during the game. This outcome showed that with adequate adjustments and the well-designed supplemental materials, the already existing commercial simulation games can also be utilized as language learning tools.. Table 1: Chapelle’s (2001) Criteria for Call Task Appropriateness. In spite of the positive outcomes, some still argued for the use of the supplementary materials in this experiment for they included things like a vocabulary list and practices which might influence the credibility of the study. It could be difficult 19.

(29) to clarify whether the vocabulary gains resulted from the supplementary materials or from the game session.. 2.2.4 Studies on Adventure Games in Language Learning. Narratives, puzzles, and exploration are three essential elements in an adventure game (Marek Bronstring, 2012). Narrative refers to the storyline or plots of the game, puzzles are the challenges players need to solve, and exploration means to search or investigate the game environment. Adventure games usually possess an increasing difficulty so as to arouse gamers’ curiosity, let gamers gradually understand the game logic and thus obtain a sense of achievement after they are upgraded to a higher level. Several researchers have stated that adventure games are able to foster different language skills, and can be used for role-playing in the form of contextual learning to enhance communicative fluency (Baltra, 1990; Kirriemuir & McFarlane, 2004). Starting from the text adventure game (Culley et al., 1986), benefits of adventure games in language learning have been identified. Students were motivated to understand the language popping on the screen and their attention was focused on meaning and purpose instead of the form of the language, thus creating the chance of successful incidental learning.. Realizing that adventure games may enhance language learning, Chen and Yang (2012) wondered whether the games also worked in the foreign language scenario and 20.

(30) thus conducted a study to examine the impact of adventure games on foreign language learning. Twenty-two college students in Taiwan were asked to play an English commercial adventure game, Bone, while one group was able to take notes and the other was not. The results showed that students in both groups picked up some new words after the game, and there was no significant difference between the two groups. In other words, with or without taking notes, players were able to acquire new words after playing the game. Moreover, from the students’ feedback, it was confirmed that the students believed playing adventure games helped them improve their language skills and motivation. Judging from students’ perceptions, it may be an encouraging idea to incorporate adventure games in foreign language learning.. 2.2.5 Summary of Game Studies. The above four kinds of video games, serious games, MMORPGs, simulation games, and adventure games, are all able to increase learners’ incentives and possess different advantages toward language learning (see Table 2). Serious games help learners master the course contents by improving reading comprehension and spelling; MMORPGs enhance learners’ communication competence, such as listening, reading, and writing skills; simulation games offer different real-life situations and authentic linguistic materials and aid vocabulary retention; and adventure games provide an opportunity to play different roles in the virtual environment and a sense of 21.

(31) achievement in various tasks which result in communicative fluency and L2 vocabulary acquisition.. Although each genre has its own benefit, not all of them suit young learners and the research goal of the present study. Games nowadays are usually entertaining and commercial-oriented; therefore, games designed according to the course objectives are rather few. For those serious games which have already existed in the school system, they seldom arouse young learners’ interest to play. As for MMORPGs, the themes of most popular MMORPGs in Taiwan are usually about wars and battles. Although this does not mean they will impose negative impacts on learners, they may not be recommended for educational purposes. Simulation games should be a perfect learning material because it offers authentic situations for learners to practice their language, but many simulation games, like The Sims and The Sims Social, are not designed for young learners. Therefore sometimes learners will be asked to perform tasks which are not appropriate for their ages, such as flirting. Due to these concerns, adventure games seem a better choice. Adventure games in Facebook encompass different themes and a wide range of varieties. Moreover they are often popular with young learners and teenagers. In other words, it is easier to locate a suitable adventure game in Facebook according to learners’ ages, needs and interests. Moreover, from the former studies, adventure games have already been proved to be capable of helping players gain 22.

(32) foreign language vocabulary items. The research gap falls on that few studies investigated junior high school students. Therefore, the present study tries to find out whether the positive test results will also appear when the participants change to young learners.. Table 2: Language learning effects of different game genres Game Genre. Language Learning Effects. Serious Game. ◎ Improve reading comprehension and spelling. MMORPG. ◎ Improve listening/ reading/ writing skills. Simulation Game. ◎ Vocabulary gains ◎ Improve communicative fluency. Adventure Game ◎ L2 vocabulary gains. The present study wish to help young learners gain L2 vocabulary knowledge while their focus is just to play a video game. This way of learning is the so-called incidental vocabulary learning. However, games are seldom the learning materials which traditional incidental learning advocators adopt. Instead of playing games, learners are usually asked to read extensively. Articles, books, and novel series are what most used in tradition incidental learning. Therefore, the following section will discuss the effect of incidental vocabulary learning from the results of former studies. 23.

(33) and find out what elements may influence the effect of incidental vocabulary learning when the learning materials change from books into video games.. 2.3 Studies on L2 Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition Most language learning starts from vocabulary acquisition for “a well-developed vocabulary is a prerequisite for fluent reading, a critical link between decoding and comprehension (Joshi, 2005).” It was estimated that learners need around 3000-5000 word families to comprehend general texts (Goulden et al., 1990) without too much difficulty. However, in regular junior high schools in Taiwan, students only need to learn 1200 words to cope with the high school entrance exam. The gap between the two numbers leads to English reading difficulties for young learners in Taiwan. Teachers often need to modify the original texts into simplified version in order to fit learners’ limited vocabulary size and thus reduce the authenticity of the reading materials. Realizing students’ vocabulary deficiency and not willing to give them additional pressure and burden, many researchers started to investigate the function and advantages of incidental learning.. Krashen(1989) may be the most well-known proponent who promotes L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition through extensive reading. Influenced by the incidental vocabulary learning hypothesis (Nagy & Herman, 1985) which indicated 24.

(34) readers could acquire new words when they received repeated exposure in the reading texts, Krashen believes that readers can also acquire L2 vocabulary and improve their spelling with sufficient comprehensible input in extensive reading. With this belief in mind, Krashen (2000) examined the impact of popular literature on literacy development of college students in Hong Kong. Readers were able to choose what they liked to read and read for pleasure instead of learning. The result showed that these students made great progress on vocabulary and reading rate compared with the students receiving regular course. Similar results appearing in many other similar studies (Hermann, 2003; Hunt & Beglar, 2005; Pigada & Schmitt, 2006) demonstrated the fact that L2 vocabulary acquisition is likely to be accomplished through extensive or pleasure reading.. Besides paper-based reading activities, with the rise of computer assisted language learning (CALL), computer-related learning resources have joined the field of L2 learning. Altogether with paper and computer-based reading materials, researchers discovered some different results with different vocabulary presentations.. In the regular paper-based reading texts, words are often presented in the linear order and with a similar size. However, in order to catch players’ attention and increase their motivation, linguistic items often appear in various and colorful ways in different video games. From the traditional reading materials, it is proved that words 25.

(35) with certain presentation ways may have the privilege in vocabulary acquisition. Therefore, the present study will try to find out whether different ways of word presentations in video games will also influence the outcome of vocabulary acquisition. The following sections will probe into the two most common variables which may influence incidental vocabulary learning: word repetition and picture glosses.. 2.3.1 The impact of word repetition on L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition. There is no consensus on how many encounters of a new word will guarantee acquisition. However, many researchers believe that the exposure times of unknown words may have an influence on acquisition (Saragi et al., 1978; Jenkins et al., 1984). Jenkins et al. (1984) proposed that the increase of word exposure would enhance the word acquisition. Words that appeared 10 times in context were acquired more easily than words that showed up twice. Saragi et al. (1978) also suggested that ten or more than ten word encounters would bring out the significant vocabulary gains. Horst et al. (1998) suggested eight or more times; Waring and Takaki (2003) stated more than twenty times and Rott (1999) gave a slightly smaller number, 6 times. No matter how many encounters these researchers came with, there seemed to be a positive relationship between the number of word encounter and the vocabulary gains.. Webb (2007) examined the effect of word repetition on word knowledge with 10 different measurements, including orthography, association, grammatical functions, 26.

(36) syntax, and meaning and form. The results showed that at least one aspect of word knowledge increased when the number of word encounter increased. Moreover, if learners ran into a word more than 10 times, significant gains were obtained.. Even though researchers have distinctive opinions on the effect of word encounter times, there seems to be a positive correlation between the encounter times and the participants’ performance on vocabulary acquisition. Therefore, the present study tries to reexamine whether this phenomena stays true in different learning environments. Since former studies mainly adopted paper-based materials, this study attempts to investigate if word repetition has the same influence on vocabulary acquisition when using video games as learning materials.. 2.3.2 The impact of picture glosses on L2 incidental vocabulary learning. The above section explains that word repetition may be crucial for vocabulary acquisition, but there are still other factors which may influence L2 vocabulary acquisition, for example the meaningfulness of contexts, degree of similarity between L1 and L2 (Saragi et al., 1978), the ability to guess word meanings (Jenkins et al., 1989), learners’ attention (Hulstijn et al., 1996), and pictures in the book and part of speech of the target words (Horst et al., 1998). Among these factors, Horst et al. (1998) suggested that pictures in the book may affect the vocabulary gain. With the penetration of multimedia in language learning programs, pictures, one of the 27.

(37) multimedia learning aids, have been under investigation to examine its effect on L2 incidental vocabulary acquisition.. Chun and Plass (1996) and Plass, et al. (1998) tested the impact of different glosses on vocabulary acquisition and found that the combination of text explanation and pictorial glosses helped students remember more new words. The same outcome also appeared in the study conducted by Kost et al. (1999) and Yoshii and Flaitz (2002). Nonetheless, there were studies leading to different results. Yanguas (2009) reported that no significant differences were found among groups using different multimedia glosses, including text, pictorial, and the combination of the two when producing the target vocabulary. The results in these studies showed that picture glosses would have best effects when they were in combination with text explanations. Secondly, in some cases, pictures would not show advantages in the process of vocabulary acquisition. The contradictory findings revealed that there is still no consensus that whether picture glosses will guarantee better vocabulary acquisition. Moreover, studies regarding multimedia glosses focused mostly in reading activities using paper-based or computer-based materials, and few of them incorporated video, computer or online games. In the game environment, vocabulary items seldom appear with a text explanation. They usually shop up with a picture. Therefore the present. 28.

(38) study will examine whether pictorial glosses alone in the video game can also help improve vocabulary gains.. 2.4 Summary This chapter tries to present the current research progress on incorporating Facebook games to enhance L2 vocabulary acquisition. In the first section, studies showed that most learners agreed that Facebook has certain potential to be a useful language learning resource for its traits to foster communication and group interaction. However, particular APPs like games have not been investigated for their language learning potential. Next, the researcher introduced different kinds of video games and their language learning application. Advantages and shortcomings of different game genres were analyzed to see which better suits young learners for language learning. Adventure games encompass a wide range of story themes and distinctive levels of difficulties for gamers. Along with the possibility to train different language skills, adventure game was chosen to be the instrument for the present study. Previous studies examined different dimensions of language learning in game-based learning, but the researcher tries to narrow down the scope and focus on its potential to enhance L2 vocabulary acquisition. Studies in the past showed that acquiring new words incidentally by reading activities was possible. Now the researcher tries to probe into. 29.

(39) the question whether incidental vocabulary acquisition is still effective when reading activities become playing a Facebook game. Moreover, different presentations of new words were taken into consideration after the review of incidental vocabulary learning experiments and the incorporation of multimedia glosses. Two most discussed variables, repeated encounters of the new words and picture glosses in the video game, will also be examined in this study to see whether there is a connection between vocabulary presentations and learners’ performance on vocabulary acquisition.. 2.5 Research Questions: 1. Can playing a Facebook adventure game help young learners acquire second language vocabulary items? 2. Do different presentations of new vocabulary items (word exposure times and picture glosses) correlate with learners’ performance on vocabulary acquisition? How? 3. What are the young learners’ perceptions of acquiring vocabulary words by playing a Facebook adventure game?. 30.

(40) CHAPTER THREE METHOD This chapter presents the methodology of the present study, including the information of the participants, instruments, procedures, data collection and analysis. Two pretests were conducted to examine learners’ prior knowledge about the target vocabulary items. A brief orientation of the game was addressed to the participants before the game session in order to prevent them from getting stuck in the process for too long and losing their patience. After the participants reached Level Five of the game, two immediate posttests were held to measure learners’ vocabulary gains. Additionally, learners were asked to fill a questionnaire to express their perceptions about the English vocabulary learning potentials of this adventure game in Facebook. Three days later, two delayed posttest were conducted to check whether the learning effect sustained. A semi-structured student interview was adopted at the end to examine possible factors that might influence the test results. After the collection of the required data, these data were analyzed with a SPSS statistic package according to different needs of each research question.. 31.

(41) 3.1 Participants Thirty-two ninth graders (N=32) in Dazhi Senior High School (Junior High Department) in Taipei city participated in this study. According to these participants’ average scores in the mid-term and final exams in the fifth semester, it is clear that most of them were high (GPA >85) or intermediate level (GPA: 60~85) students in English (see Appendix 9). There were no control groups; therefore, all learners went through the same experiment process. Ninth graders are better subjects for the study because of the following reasons. Although this study aims at young learners, participants still need to be equipped with basic vocabulary words and sentence patterns in order to play the adventure game without too many linguistic loads. After five semesters in junior high school, the ninth graders should possess at least 1000 English words and other basic linguistic knowledge. In addition, ninth graders are more mentally matured and thus are able to express themselves more logically and constructively. Moreover, nearly all ninth graders in this school have a Facebook account and are active users. Therefore, there is no need to teach them how to operate the Facebook game from scratch for they should have already been very familiar with the overall settings and different functions of this social networking website. With their adequate linguistic background knowledge, Internet literacy and ability to express themselves, ninth graders are thus considered 32.

(42) more suitable participants for the present study than other young learners in this school.. 3.2 Instrument. 3.2.1 A Facebook Adventure Game One Facebook adventure game, Disney’s Ghosts of Mistwood, was chosen as the material due to the word level appropriateness for young learners. Over one million Facebook users around the world play this game on a regular basis (Facebook, 2012), and it ranks four-star among games of the same category. These numbers show the games’ wide popularity among gamers and the possibility that it may be attractive and motivating for the participants in this study. An intriguing story plot is provided at the beginning of the game. The player’s aunt has been kidnapped and is hidden somewhere on the haunted family estate and the player’s goal is to help the ghosts of the estate and discover clues to defeat the Dark Spirit and rescue the aunt. A pilot test was held to make sure the vocabulary in this game is not beyond junior high school students’ English proficiency. Most students in the trial experiment agreed that the game was not too difficult to understand or to play. Even though sometimes few words or sentences might surpass their capability, they could still depend on the pictures or icons to speculate on the meanings.. 33.

(43) In addition to the suitable vocabulary difficulty, gamers’ level will be upgraded and become more challenging after completing each task or when accumulating enough energies. This characteristic of this game may stimulate learners’ curiosity and sense of achievement and hence encourage them to keep playing. As the time they spend on the game expands, the chance they acquire new words increases. In many of the former studies (Miller & Hegelheimer, 2006; Chen & Yang, 2012), lots of participants complained that the speed of input, visual or aural, was too fast for them to comprehend and it was suggested that learners’ power of control would improve their learning of the language (deHaan, 2005). Thus, the researcher decided on this game also because the players can control the speed of the input. Every instruction proceeds only when the players finish reading and click on the button. This feature guarantees that learners will not miss any word or task just because they are slow readers. Most importantly, there is no Chinese version (the learners’ first language) of the game; therefore, it will lower the chance that the participants have already been familiar with the game and thus maintain the credibility of the study. For the aforementioned reasons, great popularity, an attractive plot, suitable word level, participants’ control of the speed, and game level upgrading system, this game is considered appropriate for young learners to acquire second language vocabulary words. 34.

(44) Figure 1: The game layout of Disney’s Ghosts of Mistwood. Figure 2: Game task presentation 35.

(45) 3.2.2 Supplementary Material Miller and Hegelheimer (2006) found in students’ feedback that supplementary materials could help learners complete the tasks in a simulation game. It is conceivable that supplementary materials can simplify the complicated procedure and details of the game. Thus, using supplementary materials to cover the details which are irrelevant to language acquisition is necessary and timesaving. However, unlike the former study, the supplementary material in this study only included the orientation and tips of how to play the game. The researcher was hoping to see the effect of incidental vocabulary learning by playing a Facebook game; therefore, other materials like vocabulary list, exercises, and grammar features were not required since the participants were expected to acquire vocabulary words without extra practices. The orientation and tips (see Appendix 1) were presented in learners’ first language and with vivid pictures from the Facebook game. Important notes were provided to increase learners’ game literacy and helped them focus on language items and solve the tasks in the game.. Figure 3: Layout of the game orientation 36.

(46) Figure 4: Tips of how to play the game. 3.3 Procedure The participants received two pretests consecutively three days before the experiment. The two pretests were composed of one vocabulary translation test and one vocabulary recognition test. The participants were told that they would take a mock test for GEPT (General English Proficiency Test) for intermediate level and were not informed that they would take the tests again and nor would they receive the answers to the test. Both of the two pretests contained 40 test items, twenty-five of which were target words and fifteen of which served as distractors. The students played the game in the computer classroom. A short briefing about 37.

(47) the game was offered before the game. After the briefing, the participants spent around 80 minutes playing the game until they reached Level Five. In the meantime, no dictionary or peer discussion was allowed. The researcher observed the classroom condition and gave aids only when necessary. Two immediate posttests were given to the participants after the game session: one vocabulary translation test and one vocabulary recognition test. The posttests only test on the 25 target words with different test item orders. Lastly, the participants were required to fill a questionnaire which investigated on learners’ background knowledge of the game and their perceptions of the language learning potential of playing a video game. Two delayed posttests were carried out three days after the posttests to see whether the vocabulary gains, if any, sustained. The order of test items was adjusted once again to prevent the practice effect. A semi-structured interview was conducted right after the delayed posttest.. 38.

(48) Pretest 1. Vocabulary Translation Test (1) 2. Vocabulary Recognition Test (1). Three Days Later. Game Orientation. Game Play ( Level 5 / 80 min). A Questionnaire. Immediate Posttest 1. Vocabulary Translation Test (2) 2. Vocabulary Recognition Test (2). Three Days Later. Delayed Posttest. A Semi-Structured Interview. 1. Vocabulary Translation Test (3) 2. Vocabulary Recognition Test (3). Figure 5: Flowchart of the Procedure. 39.

(49) 3.4 Data Collection. 3.4.1 Vocabulary Translation Test. The translation test served as one part of the pretest, the posttest and the delay posttest. In the pretest, participants were asked to translate 40 English words (see Appendix 2). Twenty-five of them were the target words in this study and the other 15 words were the distracters. The target words were chosen for two different characteristics: high frequency words (N=16) and words with picture glosses (N=17) (see Table 3). Eight of the target words overlapped in both categories. Although each category, word frequency and picture gloss, should include as more words as possible for better credibility, in the 80-minute game session, only limited adequate items were identified. Therefore, only 25 target words were selected in the present study. Students were asked to give a Chinese definition for each word. One correct answer stood for one point in the total score. Answers with ambiguity were given partial scores, and the researcher was responsible for the rating. As for the immediate posttest and the delayed posttest, only the target words were tested and they appeared in a different sequence to counterbalance the practice effect (see Appendix 3, 4). The scoring standard in the immediate posttest and in the delayed posttest was the same as that in the pretest. An example is provided below:. 40.

(50) 編號. 英文. 1. absolute. 中文. Table 3: Vocabulary list with different presentations High Frequency. Picture gloss. 1. complete (12). Crystal Ball (6). 2. craft (12). cottage (5). 3. Defeat (12). horseshoe(5). 4. fog (15). Mausoleum (5). 5. estate (15). metal (7). 6. explore (10). Owl (6). 7. search (13). scrapbook (3). 8. pause (11). Scythe (3). 9. Weed (11). Voodoo Charm (3). 10. Workhouse (12). Weed (11). 11. Dark Spirit (13). Workhouse (12). 12. chopping (20). Dark Spirit (13). 13. Corrupted Tree (22). chopping (20). 14. Wood scrap (23). Corrupted Tree (22). 15. Coin (50+). Wood scrap (23). 16. Reward (50 + ). Coin (50+). 17. Reward (50 + ). Note. The number in the bracket refers to the word encounter times in the game and words in boldface overlap in both categories.. 3.4.2 Vocabulary Recognition Test. The recognition test was the second part of the pretest, immediate posttest, and the delayed posttest. Due to the time limitation, the participants could play the game 41.

(51) for only 80 minutes. Under such circumstance, it might not be easy to ask the participants to produce all the Chinese definition of the vocabulary items. However, this does not mean they did not possess the receptive knowledge of the vocabulary since it has been approved that vocabulary production is much more difficult than recognition (Laufer,1998).Therefore, the vocabulary recognition test was designed here to check whether the participants were able to acquire the receptive knowledge of the vocabulary even when they failed the vocabulary production task. This test was composed of 40 multiple-choice questions in the pretest (see Appendix 5) and 25 questions for the target words only in the immediate posttest and the delayed posttest (see Appendix 6, 7). Each question contained one correct answer and three distractors. One correct answer was given one point. An example is provided here: 10. complete (A) 希望 (B) 完成 (C) 複雜 (D) 利用. 3.4.3. Semi-structured Interview In addition to the vocabulary tests, a semi-structured interview was conducted. to probe into the factors which influenced the participants’ vocabulary retention rate. The students were asked six questions, including what they had done after the immediate posttests (Q1, Q5, Q6), their ideas about the test design (Q2), physical condition during the experiment (Q3), and attitude toward the tests (Q4)(see Table 4). 42.

(52) The participants were guided by the researcher with possible answers when not knowing what to answer or how to answer the questions.. Table 4: Student interview about factors influencing the test results 1. Did you play the game again after the immediate posttest? 2. Did the choice items in recognition tests affect your answers in the translation tests? 3. Was the game session too long for you to concentrate on the tests after the game? 4. What was your attitude toward the tests when taking them? 5. Did you discuss the tests with your classmates after the immediate posttest? 6. Did you look up words in the dictionary after the immediate posttest?. 3.4.4 Questionnaire A questionnaire was used to investigate participants’ previous experience of playing Facebook games and their attitudes and perceptions of acquiring vocabulary through a Facebook video game. The questions were divided into two sections. The first section pertained to participants’ prior experience of playing Facebook games; the second section explored the participants’ learning motivations and their ideas about the learning effects of playing a Facebook game. Five questions in the second section were designed in the form of 5-point Lickert Scale and another two questions left space for flexible response. Additional four open-ended questions were designed to explore the participants’ deeper thoughts about this way of acquiring L2 vocabulary (see Appendix. 43.