In-Game Social Interactions for English Proficiency

Prior research demonstrates that social interactions between native and non-native English speakers during gameplay promotes English as a Second Language (ESL) students’ vocabulary acquisition (Rankin et al. 2009; Rankin et al., 2008). Working in collaboration with Dr. Casey Kennington (Boise State University), Dr. Sana Tibi (FSU College of Communication & Information) and the Dr. Patrick Kennel, (FSU Center for Intensive English Studies), we have reconceptualized an online game to leverage conversation-based interactions between native and non-native English speakers to promote English proficiency.

Underserved Population: In this study, we focus on English Language Learners (ELLs) as this particular population is disadvantaged due to English literacy and/or English. 

Perdido is a chat-based dialogue system which allows two players to interact with one another via the chat window to find the same room.




The creation of the game study to address different aspects of L2 vocabulary acquisition is an ongoing process with the end goal of promoting conversational fluency.