MMORPG Gamification as an Innovative Method of Teaching English in Higher Education

Abstract

The relevance of study is determined by ever increasing integration of innovative technologies into teaching and learning process at all levels of educational system, as well as evident change in the population of today students Generation Z representatives are ‘digital natives’, thus educators have to search for appropriate methods and didactics to motivate and engage them, to enable their high performance results in changing landscape of education. Numerous studies have discovered innovative methods to design environments that are appropriate for ESL/EFL learners’ needs in order to guarantee successful mastery of their target language through the integration of technology in language learning. The results of several studies have shown the effectiveness of such a platform through the use of particular video game genres, such as MMORPG. Based on narrative review methodology, with the elements of case study approach, the current study attempted to identify and systematize existing key concepts and the overall scope of evidence in the domain of MMORPG gamification embodying to the process of teaching English. The findings tie MMORPG educational integration with the connectivism paradigm in modern pedagogy, and show that MMORPGs activate metacognitive and cognitive skills in learners, significantly contributing to vocabulary acquisition, reading and writing skills, as well as English communication skills. At the same time, some actually latent pitfalls should be taken into account such as assimilation of non-standard English, slang, or game-specific language, as well as the risk of addiction development. Thus, we conclude that a balanced perspective should be applied in the process of MMORPG gamification integration into the teaching process and curricula, and further empirical studies are needed in this domain.