Digital Gaming and English L2 Informal Learning in Adolescents

Background While the educational benefits of gaming on language are increasingly recognized, the precise effects of gaming as a function of important factors such as gender and game genre as well as potential nonlinear effects remain unclear. Methods High school students’ (N = 125, ages 16-18), gaming habits, English L2 achievement and self-concepts were measured and modelled using path analysis. Results Gender differences were observed. The linear positive effects of gaming were stronger for females than for males, suggesting that gaming frequency increases female English L2 achievement in an equally incremental manner. However, convex nonlinear effects were stronger for males than females, suggesting a threshold effect model where much higher gaming frequencies are needed to positively impact male English L2 achievement. Game genre was not detected as moderator of linear or nonlinear effects. Conclusion The findings challenge prevailing negative stereotypes about gaming’s societal value and highlight its potential as a supplementary language-learning tool with implications for leveraging gaming in gender-inclusive ways.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Simulation & Gaming

• Publication date

  2025-08-05

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1177/10468781251364372
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• The Impact of Online Gaming on English Language Acquisition in Primary School Students in Bosnia and Herzegovina

  2025cited by this paper
• L2 vocabulary learning through a COTS adventure game: Individual vs. paired gameplay and the influence of word exposure frequency, word level, and word salience

  2025cited by this paper
• Stigma and other public perceptions of recreational gaming and gaming disorder: A large-scale qualitative analysis

  2025cited by this paper
• Vocabulary learning strategies in extramural English gaming and their relationship with vocabulary knowledge

  2024influential reference
• Unleashing the Possibilities of Play: Analyzing the positive and negative consequences of multiplayer online gaming

  2024cited by this paper
• Exploring the relationship between digital gaming, language attitudes, and academic success in EFL university students

  2024cited by this paper
• Using eye-tracking to measure cognitive engagement with feedback in a digital literacy game

  2023cited by this paper
• Complexity, accuracy, and fluency improvements through massively multiplayer online gaming: a longitudinal mixed-methods case study

  2023cited by this paper
• Learning English vocabulary through playing games: the gamification design of vocabulary learning applications and learner evaluations

  2023cited by this paper
• A mixed-methods study of the incidental acquisition of foreign language vocabulary and healthcare knowledge through serious game play

  2022cited by this paper
• Relaxation, Percolation, and Non-Spontaneous Fluctuation of Linguistic Behavior in a Quasi-Isolated System

  2022cited by this paper
• The Effect of Minecraft Video Game on Students’ English Vocabulary Mastery

  2021cited by this paper
• Sex Differences in Video Game Play: A Communication-Based Explanation

  2019cited by this paper
• The effects of digital game-based instruction, teacher instruction, and direct focused written corrective feedback on the grammatical accuracy of English articles

  2019cited by this paper
• Playing in the Virtual Sandbox: Students' Collaborative Practices in Minecraft

  2018cited by this paper
• Using Narrative-based Contextual Games to Enhance Language Learning: A Case Study

  2018cited by this paper
• Evidence for the task-induced involvement construct in incidental vocabulary acquisition through digital gaming

  2017cited by this paper
• Language Learning Enhanced by Massive Multiple Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) and the Underlying Behavioral and Neural Mechanisms

  2017cited by this paper
• The Effect of Gender on Motivation and Student Achievement in Digital Game-based Learning: A Case Study of a Contented-Based Classroom

  2017cited by this paper
• Chaos Making A New Science

  2016cited by this paper
• Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching

  2016cited by this paper
• Encouraging Free Play: Extramural Digital Game-Based Language Learning as a Complex Adaptive System

  2016cited by this paper
• Gender Differences in Online Gaming: A Literature Review

  2014influential reference
• The benefits of playing video games.

  2014cited by this paper
• Affect and willingness to communicate in digital game-based learning

  2014influential reference
• Students' intercultural development through language learning in Vietnamese tertiary education: a case study on the use of film as an innovative approach

  2014cited by this paper
• Foreign Language Policy

  2014cited by this paper
• On the Emergence of Grammar From the Lexicon

  2013cited by this paper
• Nation Building, English as an International Language, Medium of Instruction, and Language Debate: Malaysia and Possible Ways Forward (doi: 10.14425/00.50.27)

  2013cited by this paper
• Gaming as extramural English L2 learning and L2 proficiency among young learners*

  2012influential reference
• Transforming Online Learning through Narrative and Student Agency

  2012cited by this paper
• lavaan: An R Package for Structural Equation Modeling

  2012cited by this paper
• Internet and Gaming Addiction: A Systematic Literature Review of Neuroimaging Studies

  2012influential reference
• Learn English or die: The effects of digital games on interaction and willingness to communicate in a foreign language

  2011cited by this paper
• Academic self-concept and academic achievement: relations and causal ordering.

  2011cited by this paper
• Massively multiplayer online role-playing games as arenas for second language learning

  2010influential reference
• Orientations to Video Games Among Gender and Age Groups

  2010cited by this paper
• Incidental foreign language acquisition from media exposure

  2010influential reference
• Language learning from the perspective of nonlinear dynamic systems

  2009cited by this paper
• The development of attention skills in action video game players.

  2009cited by this paper
• Scientific Habits of Mind in Virtual Worlds

  2008cited by this paper
• Transcultural communication in open internet environments and massively multiplayer online games

  2008cited by this paper
• The 'digital natives' debate: A critical review of the evidence

  2008cited by this paper
• Gender differences in game activity preferences of middle school children: implications for educational game design

  2008cited by this paper
• What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy

  2007influential reference
• 3D Role-Playing Games as Language Learning Tools

  2006cited by this paper
• Sex Differences in Video Game Play:

  2004cited by this paper
• The effects of violent video game habits on adolescent hostility, aggressive behaviors, and school performance.

  2004cited by this paper
• Evaluating the Fit of Structural Equation Models: Tests of Significance and Descriptive Goodness-of-Fit Measures.

  2003cited by this paper
• The Psychology of Survey Response

  2002cited by this paper
• Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis : Conventional criteria versus new alternatives

  1999cited by this paper
• Rethinking diversity: Hybridity and hybrid language practices in the third space

  1999cited by this paper
• English as a Global language

  1998cited by this paper
• The causal ordering of academic achievement and self-concept of ability during elementary school: A longitudinal study

  1995cited by this paper
• Complexity : the emerging science and the edge of order and chaos

  1992cited by this paper
• Mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes

  1978cited by this paper
• Self-concept of ability and perceived evaluation of others: cause or effect of academic achievement?

  1977cited by this paper
• THE ORIGINS OF INTELLIGENCE IN CHILDREN

  1976cited by this paper
• Results

  1969cited by this paper

• No citing papers are available for this paper.