E-Sports in the ESL Classroom: Can they Help Students Overcome Language Transfer Issues?

Abstract

E-Sports popularity is constantly increasing, not only in the gaming world but also in many other areas such as education, media or marketing. Nowadays, the incorporation of e-Sports as a teaching tool, as well as a means to prepare students for future job outcomes, is being seriously considered, especially in English as a Second language (ESL). However, this initiative has been openly rejected by many authors arguing, among other reasons, various application problems in the foreing language classroom [1, 2]. Yet the controlled use of e-Sports in the ESL classes could be helpful if we take into account that engaging certain types of learners is a challenge in today’s ESL classes, especially teenagers and adults, . In fact, using e-Sports in the ESL classroom may help in students’ struggle with language transfer issues, so that the communicative situations that arise improve the their achievements, or mastery, of specific language-related contents [3]; this use can be also particularly beneficial to avoid cross-cultural misunderstandings when performing the language.The aim of this paper is to analize the influence of e-Sports intotwo main types of language transfer issues: a) language structure; and b) phonics transfer [4]. A model task the university subject “Oral Communication Skills in English” (Degree in Computer Engineering) was designed applying a communicative approach that combined e-learning and cooperative learning and to answer the following question: Could a task involving the use of eSports help students overcome language transfer issues when enhancing cross-cultural communication through live forums and chats? Although we still have a long way to finally implement e-Sports in fixed learning environments, the results of our research suggest that they may help students overcome language transfer issues when learning ESL and, ultimately, avoid cross-cultural commmunication sunderstandings, only if e-learning is properly adapted to the group characteristics and language cultural aspects are taken into account.