Video Games Help Learn English Better than School?

Kids who don’t have English as their primary language, yet invest heaps of energy on interactive games, foster better English language over non-gamers. For youngsters who spend a lot of energy on specific games, grow their English vocabularies more than they could at schools.

Can Video Games Help Learn English Better than School?

Yes, indeed. Playing video games can help you master the English language faster and improve your understanding of the English language in general. Several studies have shown that video games enhance conventional learning strategies and make learning another language enjoyable and energizing.

How do Video Games Help Learn English Better than School?

Gone are the days when text-based games were the trend. Games these days are frequently voiced by talented celebrities with a wide range of accents, hence playing games opens you to a ton of native English speakers, which unfortunately schools fail to do. 

The best way to improve your listening skills is to listen to something you find exciting, for instance, find a game that you like, and witness your listening abilities improving at an exceptional rate.

You must have encountered the arguments against playing games;

“Don’t you think you’re too old to play games?”

“Why are you wasting your time on video games?”

“How about you do something useful with your time instead?”

Maybe you’ve been influenced by these questions at times. But what’s important to know, however, is that not all games are made similar. Indeed, there are games that are just for fun — playing Candy Crush won’t help your English aside from ‘Loading’, ‘Sweet!’ and ‘Level 534’.

But such are not the games we would be discussing. There are many amazing story-based games out there that incorporate a ton of educational language. Here are the top six video games that help improve English.

Below, we shall be discussing five reasons why games are useful in learning English better than any conventional school system. Regardless of whether you’re a gamer or you’ve never touched a controller before, I trust this article will convince you that games can truly be helpful in mastering the English language to the native leve.

5 Reasons Why Video Games Enhance your English Skills

Games Improve Linguistic Skills and Cognitive Development

In combination with a strong vocabulary and sentence structure foundation, video gaming enables students to further develop their reading, comprehension, and speaking abilities. Surprisingly, struggling students have far more articulate outcomes.

According to a recent study, almost 78 percent of instructors state that learning games, even video games, are effective at helping struggling students to make up for learning gaps in academic studies.

So how do video games actually assist students to improve their linguistic skills and cognitive development? The key is practice, practice, and nothing but practice!

Most video games require the coordination of a few linguistic abilities, including reading, listening, speaking, and in some cases, writing. In addition, by eliminating the fear of committing errors so common in traditional school settings, students are able to practice the language and develop their linguistic and intellectual abilities simultaneously.

Video Games Provide In-Context Learning

Students normally learn quicker and grasp more when they are compelled to utilize the knowledge frequently and in genuine circumstances, even the fake ones created in games. Basically, this is submersion-based learning or context-oriented learning, the same as what one encounters when living abroad and being compelled to collaborate with individuals in another language.

Thus, by providing both a setting and consistent feedback, games enable students to utilize the material they learn in school or in a traditional education system to learn and dominate English or any other language more quickly.

Games Make Studying Fun and Alleviate Stress

Students dealing with homework, tests, and even school assignments can experience a great deal of pressure and anxiety, particularly those who are struggling to keep up. Stress and pressure can hinder students’ progress and make them feel distant from their families and friends.

However, games surprisingly are the extraordinary equalizer since they assist with lightening pressure, increment social commitment, and indeed, even assist students with having a good time while learning English or any new language.

Research studies show a wide scope of medical advantages from video games, including 

• Help reduce symptoms of depression 
• Help reduce symptoms of insomnia 
• Help alleviate transitory stress symptoms.
• Improvement at performing multiple tasks

Video Games Improve Concentration

Communication involves multitasking, for example, listening to the person next to you while constantly thinking about how to express your opinion to the other person. Most people do this naturally in their native language. As you can imagine, it’s more difficult to do so in a second language, since you would have to put in more effort to think of the correct words.

A study found that individuals could focus on more things at the same time after playing five hours of video games in seven days for quite some time.

This doesn’t surprise anyone, since video games require a considerable amount of concentration — that is the reason you can play them for hours and feel like you’ve been playing for a few minutes. Therefore, play computer games to improve your ability to focus on more than one thing at a time. As a result, you’ll become adept at communicating naturally.

Have Some Time Off

The vast majority of people associate language learning with never-ending lists of grammar and vocabulary, sitting in front of a computer for an extended period of time, and tests that make their blood pressure soar.

But one should know that learning shouldn’t be done that way. In cases where learning is pleasant, you will need to learn all the more consistently and for longer. You’ll never put off playing a video game because it’s so fun, and better yet, you’ll learn a lot of valuable vocabulary and speech skills while you play.

Even if you play for an hour a day, you’ll see your English improving right away! All that something you did with your free time!