Vocabulary Size and Flow Experience: Unexplored Realms of Game-Based Learning in Iranian EFL Programs

In the past few years, there have been many studies about how game-based learning can help people learn languages. Since little research has been conducted on games in the Iranian EFL context, a deeper study of how games affect vocabulary size and flow is needed. The current study, conducted as a quasi-experimental research design with a pre- and posttest control group structure, investigated this effect by recruiting 60 Iranian intermediate EFL learners through a convenience sampling procedure and assigning them to experimental and control groups. The researchers utilized the EF Standard English Test (EF SET) to ascertain the proficiency level of the participants. Before the treatment phase, version A of Nation and Beglar’s (2007) vocabulary size test was given to both groups, and their vocabulary sizes were measured. The experimental group then participated in an eight-week massively multiplayer online role-playing game. The control group only received traditional, ordinary instruction. After this, version B of Nation and Beglar’s test was conducted. Along with this, learners’ flow experiences in the experimental group were measured through a questionnaire adopted from Egbert (2004). A comparison of the experimental and control groups suggested a statistically significant difference between the vocabulary sizes of learners in the experimental and control groups, whereby an increase in the vocabulary sizes of learners in the experimental group was witnessed. Moreover, flow was observed in 83% of the participants in the experimental group. Implications of the study, including using games in language instruction in the Iranian EFL setting, have been considered.