Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games and Willingness to Communicate in English: The Unspoken Thread of Motivation Among Iranian EFL Learners

In foreign language classrooms, willingness to communicate (WTC), or an individual’s autonomous motivation toward actively engaging in communication, is critical in attaining speech production competency. Nowadays, computer games, including massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), are commonly applied in language classrooms for a wide range of objectives (e.g., vocabulary growth, motivation increase, and so forth); however, their role in enhancing the WTC of Iranian language learners is an understudied realm. With this end in view and considering the importance of computer games in today’s English language learning and their effects on various aspects of this process, the current study aimed to investigate the effect of MMORPGs on the WTC of Iranian intermediate EFL learners in the private English language instruction sector. The study, adopting a pretest-posttest research design, was conducted with ۱۵ Iranian intermediate EFL learners of English, both male (N = ۷) and female (N = ۸), who attended English courses at the New Language English Academy in Rasht, Iran.At the start of the study, learners’ WTC levels were measured by means of a modified version of the WTC inside the classroom questionnaire [۵۰]. With the aid of an existing MMORPG, Neverwinter, the study was conducted for eight weeks in the language lab of the institute. After eight weeks of interaction through the game under the supervision of the researcher as the teacher of the class, WTC levels were measured by means of a second WTC inside the classroom questionnaire [۵۰]. Comparison of WTC scores through paired samples t-test revealed statistically significant differences between the WTC scores of the learners before and after applying the game. Participating in the game increased learners’ WTC levels since they benefited from the less stressful environment provided by the game and thus were willing to use the chances provided to practice and use English. Implications of the results, including attention to computer games’ role and effectiveness in encouraging English use for authentic communication, have been considered.

کلیدواژه ها:

Anxiety ، Massively multiplayer online role-playing games ، Motivation ، Willingness to communicate