THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DIGITAL GAME-BASED LANGUAGE LEARNING IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY: A LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

<p>Implementing digital game-based language learning in a developing country faces many challenges due to the teachers’ and students’ digital competence and technological limitations. Furthermore, most of the research in implementing digital game-based language learning is conducted in developed countries. Therefore, this current research focuses on the studies of the implementation of digital game-based language learning conducted in developing countries to see whether some improvements can be made in this area. The results show that implementing existing games and developing new games are the two major distinctions in applying digital game-based language learning. On one hand, while using existing games is easier and more convenient, most educational games are in the form of quizzes with limited gameplay, and non-educational games are more fun but can cause addiction and are not entirely suitable for learning. On the other hand, the games developed specifically for learning English are great, but they are primarily simple games designed to achieve beginner goals such as vocabulary and reading skills for young learners. Therefore, the need for digital English language learning games designed for more complex objectives for various age groups with good visuals and gameplay is still available, and much future research should be done in this area.</p>