Readers, Players, and Watchers: Vocabulary retention of EFL students through digital video games

Background: Digital video games are a phenomenon of the 21st century. Children are attracted to these games and spend so much time on them. Computer assisted language learning proponents have indicated that these games might serve as a good educational medium. Purpose: The present study investigated short- and long-term vocabulary retention through a digital video game compared to a traditional reading treatment. Method: Participants of the study were 241 male high school students (age 12–18) randomly assigned to three treatments, namely, Readers who learned vocabulary through intensive reading, Players who learned vocabulary through playing a digital video game, and Watchers who learned by watching two classmates play the digital video game. Twenty one vocabulary items consisting of simple and compound nouns were first pretested to ensure their novelty for the students, followed by the interventions which lasted for five weeks. The same pretest was post-tested twice: as a one month and a three months delayed posttest after the study to measure short- and long-term vocabulary retention respectively. Results: The results indicated that the Players and Watchers outperformed the Readers in terms of both short- and long-term vocabulary retention. Moreover, the Readers forgot a significant number of words on the three-months delayed posttest. Only the Players’ treatment was equally effective for learning both simple and compound nouns. Conclusions/Implications: It is concluded that digital video games can help students retain vocabulary over a longer time period.