The Influence of Game-Enhanced Communication on EFL Learners’ Pragmatic Competence in Compliment Responses

A small number of studies have explored the effects of digital gaming on second/foreign language (L2) pragmatic competence. However, the effectiveness of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) germane to L2 pragmatic development remains unclear because most game-mediated pragmatics studies have focused on educational games. Adopting the interactionist approach, this pretest-immediate-posttest-delayed-posttest study investigated the influence of an MMORPG on L2 learners’ pragmatic competence in compliment responses. Specifically, 105 English-as-a-foreign-language learners from a university in China interacted with L1-English-speaking players in World of Warcraft for four weeks. Unlike most studies that have conducted discourse completion tasks for data collection, compliment responses were gathered through computer-mediated communication with L1-English-speaking interlocutors on WeChat. Results showed that the learners tended to deny compliments on the pretest, whereas they preferred to accept praise on the immediate and delayed posttests. Implications for language policy-making and teaching are discussed regarding the usefulness of MMORPGs for learners who are not immersed in the environment of the target language or have few opportunities to go abroad to experience various social contexts in an L2.