This review examines the second language acquisition (SLA) literature with regard to the role of “massively multiplayer online games” (MMOGs) in second language (L2) learning. It focuses on commercially developed off-the-shelf (COTS) MMOGs only (some of them modified for educational purposes such as Reinders’ & Wattana’s work). It surveys the current empirical research to find out which aspects of L2 learning have been investigated, how they were studied, and what the findings suggest in relation to L2 learning opportunities and outcomes within and beyond MMOG contexts. We synthesized the findings of 31 studies reporting empirical evidence about the role of MMOGs in L2 learning. We observed that the empirical research in this area is mainly qualitative and that L2-related motivational and affective factors, L2 vocabulary, and learners’ communicative competence (or discourse management strategies) are the most widely investigated topics. Based on the findings, our paper presents a model that depicts hypothetical interrelationships among (a) MMOG designed settings, (b) the social and affective affordances provided in these settings, (c) L2 learning opportunities, and (d) the L2 learning outcomes achieved. We conclude that MMOGs provide socially supportive and emotionally safe (i.e. low-language-anxiety) environments that afford multiple opportunities for L2 learning and socialization, which, in turn, help L2 learners to enrich their L2 vocabulary repertoire and enhance their communicative competence in the target language.
Although the literature on compliments and compliment responses is abundant, very few studies have examined complimenting behaviour and the influence of gender on complimenting behaviour in Persian language. More scarce is the number of studies that investigated speech act behaviour of Persian speakers in cyberspace in general and in social networking sites such as Facebook in particular. This research on Iranian Facebook (FB) users’ complimenting response behaviour was carried out in order to broaden the scope of studies in pragmatics to include non-Western languages and to extend the scope of speech act studies to cyberspace. The study probed into Iranian FB users’ compliment response behaviour in same-gender and cross-gender interactions. The current research also sought to explore the extent to which compliment response behaviour on Facebook resembles its counterpart in face-to-face interactions. The findings revealed that online medium of communication and technological affordances on Facebook have brought new norms of communication into existence. The findings also suggested that some emerging sociocultural factors such as cyber-feminism might have impacted the participants’ preferences for more egalitarian patterns of language use when responding to compliments from an opposite gender. More importantly, the findings showed how marginalized groups such as women in Iran benefit from virtual spaces such as FB to assert a linguistic identity of self that is not easily possible to share publically in real life settings.
Social networking or social media refers to computer‐mediated communication tools that enable users to connect through World Wide Web with a vast number of other users. Social networking allows faster and efficient flow of information among members of community groups around the world. The notion of utilizing social networking sites as resourceful settings for language‐learning purposes is important for two reasons: (a) the emerging new technologies (i.e., Web 2.0 tools) can enhance the opportunities for language learners to use their second language in authentic situations, and (b) the increasing tech‐savvy generation of language learners whose learning habits are incompatible with traditional language‐learning settings and approaches. Second‐language teachers can use social networking tools to improve the process of learning a second language as students engage and communicate with each other.
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