Vocabulary Learning Strategies Used While Playing Dragon Nest MMORPG

Abstract

There is no doubt that many students play video games because video games are addictive. However, there is a little academic research relating video games to the language learning. The aim of this qualitative study is to investigate the role of MMORPG called Dragon Nest in facilitating vocabulary learning. It intended to explore the vocabulary strategies students apply in playing Dragon Nest. Five students from three different batches in English Language Education Program (ELEP) were interviewed and observed. The results of the interviews and observations were classified into Vocabulary Learning Strategies taxonomy proposed by Schmitt (1997), including social strategies, determination strategies, cognitive strategies, metacognitive strategies, and memory strategies. Participants identified ten vocabulary learning strategies and they sometimes mixed the strategies. The result showed that social and metacognitive strategies are the most used strategies and the least used strategies are cognitive strategies.