Pcsi Tudomnyegyetem

Blcsszettudomnyi kar

DIPLOMADOLGOZAT

SZEKERES GBOR
OROSZTANR - ANGOLTANR
MESTERSZAK

PCS
2015

Pcsi Tudomnyegyetem
Blcsszettudomnyi kar
Orosztanr angoltanr MA

Szekeres Gbor

Motivation and Foreign Language Learning through

Roleplaying

Dr. Fodor Mnika

adjunktus
konzulens
List of contents:
Introduction.................................................................................................................................1
Chapter 1: Literature review.......................................................................................................3
1.1 RPGs and the feeling of optimal experience.....................................................................3
1. 2 Motivation and language learning....................................................................................4
1. 3 Language acquisition and language learning...................................................................6
1.4 Schemata theory................................................................................................................7
Chapter 2: The context of research.............................................................................................8
2.1 Participants........................................................................................................................8
2.2 Research question..............................................................................................................9
2.3 Data collection instrument................................................................................................9
2.5 Procedures.......................................................................................................................10
Chapter 3: Results and discussion.............................................................................................12
3.1 Early English learning experiences:................................................................................13
3.2 Post-secondary language learning...................................................................................18
3.3 Language learning motivation and RPGs........................................................................22
3. 4 Benefits of role-playing and related activities on English learning...............................23
3. 5 Effects of role-playing and related activities on various language skills.......................31
Conclusion and further research:..............................................................................................32
References:................................................................................................................................34
Appendix:..................................................................................................................................36

Introduction
There are many factors which contribute to learning a foreign language. Many of these are
related to the immediate learning situation, the practices of the teacher, the task types. Other
factors are labeled as individual differences and they are rooted in the language learners
psyche and are much more difficult to objectively measure. These individual differences like
personality traits, learner strategies, language aptitude, beliefs and motivation make each and
every learner, and thus every learning process unique. It is the teachers duty to collect, filter
and transform the learning material to the learners needs and to choose and apply techniques,
which work best with the given students. Yet even though most English teachers try their best
to accommodate learner needs, sometimes they fail. Many reasons can be pinpointed as the
source of this phenomenon. In this paper I aim to investigate a specific situation, in which
former students have achieved high levels of language skills despite their lacking English
learning experiences in institutionalized learning facilities.
I use the word lacking in a special sense. In the case of this researchs participants the
language lessons could not reach them for some reason. Their motivation to learn English
came from other sources, and these sources proved to be stronger than that of the lessons
themselves. When I wrote that the lessons could not reach these students, I meant a number
of different things. Perhaps they could not offer topics that interested the students, or the
students could not relate to the material presented in class. Perhaps their teachers could not
establish a working connection with the learners. These are common problems in language
classrooms, which can disrupt the learning process and discourage students from learning the
language. Having a firm grasp on English however is a must in the 21 st century. Students have
to find ways to learn this language to achieve success in most professional fields, even if their
formal education alone is not able to help them fulfill this task.
In the case of the participants of this research, playing role-playing games (RGPs) has
been a great help in their English language learning. These games, which are mostly
published in English, are complex versions of traditional board games blended with acting
and interactive storytelling elements. Players may use English during gameplay for a number
of reasons, e.g.: to interpret rules, to discuss related literature, or sometimes to use an English
word instead of a Hungarian one, because they find it more descriptive in the given context.
They also often play computer role-playing games and read fantasy and science fiction books
in English, because they are either unavailable in Hungarian, or so as not to lose any
information because of the translation.

These games provide a number of authentic English texts in the form of rulebooks,
along with a non-stressful environment for meaningful foreign language communication.
They also connect learners life and interests with the foreign language, which results in an
increased motivation towards practice. My goal however, is not to prove that learning this
way is better, or more preferable than learning English at school. I do not believe that these
two forms of learning can be, or should be separated from each other.
Through this research I hope to gain a better understanding of language learning
motivation: how it works in practice and what bolstering effects it can have on language
learning. For this reason I interviewed a group of people, who have found their reasons to use
and incidentally learn English while pursuing their hobby of roleplaying. I asked them to
reflect on their past English learning experiences, institutionalized, extracurricular and
incidental learning situations alike. When I was doing this research, I was mainly interested in
the sources of participants learning motivation, namely what made them want to improve
their language knowledge and practice their skills. I was also interested in their opinions about
their language skills, and I attempted to find out in what ways their hobby helped them
develop these skills.
I have chosen to focus on the roleplaying hobby for two reasons. Firstly, in some ways
RPGs are similar to the roleplay activities of language lessons. Although they are usually
played in the players native language, there can be certain aspects that could be borrowed to
further enhance the effectiveness of these learning activities. Additionally, the roleplaying
hobby has its roots in fantasy and science fiction literature, and many works in these genres
have not yet been translated from English to Hungarian, along with many RPG books as well.
In the case of the participants of my research, their hobby has intertwined with their interest in
these genres and this way they were introduced to the reading of English language literature.
It is noteworthy that there are many movies and TV programs in these genres nowadays.
Video games with fantasy and science fiction settings are also popular with the participants of
my research.
In the first chapter I further introduce role-playing and I connect it to motivation and
the schemata theory based on other researchers works. In this chapter I also review the
literary foundations of my research: language learning motivation and Krashens theory on
language acquisition. In the second chapter I introduce the details of my research, its
participants, the data collection instruments and the procedures I used. In the third chapter I
present and discuss the results of my research, and in the fourth chapter I make my
conclusions and I write about further research possibilities.
2

Chapter 1: Literature review

1.1 RPGs and the feeling of optimal experience
It is best to start with explaining what the hobby is about briefly, to create context for the
interviews and the topics I discuss later. To the best of my knowledge the effects of
roleplaying games on English language learning have not been particularly studied, although
the core activity, which is roleplaying has been an essential part of language teaching
methodology for long. Jennifer Groulings book The Creation of Narrative in Table-top RolePlaying Games gives a thorough review of the game itself, its history and the various ways it
can be played.
As suggested by the name, TRPGs are played face-to-face (around a table, most
likely), and involve players 'acting out' a role. This acting is not always literal.
Players do not arrive in costume or speak exclusively in-character something
that differentiates TRPGs from live-action role-playing games (LARPs). Instead,
players develop characters based on certain rules and are responsible for
deciding what those characters do over the course of the game. (Grouling, 2010,
p. 6.)
Accordingly, RPGs are complex communicative group activities, in which players in
different roles create narratives together. RPGs bring traditional acting and interactive
storytelling together. All players are responsible for playing their own characters in these
stories, including ways of speech, mannerism, etc. One player however assumes the role of
the storyteller (some games call the role Game Master) and he is responsible for directing the
events of the narrative and to act outside the characters. The storyteller, or Game Master
prepares tasks and situations to entertain the other players and to further develop the shared
narrative. These tasks often challenge the players imagination, their logics (they sometimes
involve riddles), or social skills. It may be said that roleplaying sessions are like very detailed
and complex forms of traditional roleplaying activities in teaching, only much longer.
According to the preferences of the gaming group, a single game can be several hours long.
Roleplaying and other hobbies I have associated with it (playing video games, reading)
are activities which are likely to induce the flow, a feeling of optimal experience introduced to
psychology by Mihly Csikszentmihalyi in his book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal
Experience (1990). Flow can be characterized by high levels of concentration, performance
and motivation:
4

[It is] a sense that ones skills are adequate to cope with the challenges at hand, in a
goal-directed, rule-bound action system that provides clear clues as to how well one
is performing. Concentration is so intense that there is no attention left over to think
about anything irrelevant, or to worry about problems. Self-consciousness
disappears, and the sense of time becomes distorted. An activity that produces such
experiences is so gratifying that people are willing to do it for its own sake, with
little concern for what they will get out of it, even it is difficult, or dangerous.
(Csikszentmihalyi, 1990, p 71.)
Roleplaying exactly fits into the criteria set by this definition. RPGs also have very
intricate rule systems, the goals of the shared narratives are usually set by the storyteller, and
there is constant feedback about ones performance at the gaming table from the friends one is
playing with.
1. 2 Motivation and language learning
EFL students have to find other areas where they can use what they have learned in the
language classroom. This search for functionality is rarely a conscious process however. Most
students must have a real need to use English, they must be motivated to do so. Of course it is
true, that it is not difficult to find authentic English material in todays world. In the case of
English, all students should be able to practice all kinds of language skills only through the
internet. With Skype, one can find conversational partners, students can listen to music,
movies, YouTube videos, and podcasts in English. Still, only the most dedicated students take
these opportunities, because people tend to choose the easier way. For example, if one can
watch a movie in English and in their native language as well, that person has to have some
kind of extra motivation to choose English.
Motivation is a key component of successful language learning, and one of the most
difficult psychological factors to research because of its elusive and subjective nature. I was
first introduced to motivation research by a book written by Zoltn Drnyei (2005). This led
me to read Teaching and Researching Motivation (2001), in which Drnyei provides a
detailed review of leading theories in motivation research. Motivation is recognized as one of
the main influential factors that affects language learning success. It is easy to see why
motivation is of great importance in SLA: It provides the primary impetus to initiate L2
learning and later the driving force to sustain the long and often tedious learning process
5

(Drnyei, 2005, p 65.). It can also serve as a useful tool during instruction: motivation can be
an instrument in capable hands: through motivation teachers may encourage lazy students to
work harder, make the classes more inspiring and supplement dull teaching materials
(Drnyei, 2001, p 1.).
L2 motivation research was started in Canada by Gardner. His work is still much
relevant, although one of the central aspects of his theory, the concept of integrative
motivation is much more relevant in second language environments such as Canada, where
French and English coexist. In Gardners theory, integrative motivation is defined as a
motivation to learn a second language because of positive feelings toward the community
that speaks that language (Gardner, 1985, p 82). In EFL contexts, such as Hungary,
integrative motive does not appear frequently, where there is little to no contact between the
learners culture and the target culture. Clement et al. (1994) however have identified that
thanks to the media and the internet, there can be a considerable indirect contact with English
culture. If we consider RPGs a cultural product, this theory clearly applies to my research,
too. For example, RPG rulebooks are mostly written by native English speakers to other
native speakers. If the games setting is the real world (e.g. World of Darkness games), its
rulebooks are often rich in cultural information.
The other main aspect of motivation I based my research on is the distinction between
intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation has no external sources, while extrinsic
motivation can come from other people: families, friends, learner groups, teacher and school.
Praise and future benefits may also provide extrinsic motivation. These lists are not meant to
be comprehensive.
Intrinsic motivation to learn a language means learning it for its own sake, because it
satisfies the learner. Extrinsic motivation in this case means that a student learns a language to
get something in return, or because he needs it for something else. Drnyei (2001) presents
four types of extrinsic motivation.
1. External regulation, which comes from rewards or threats.
2. Introjected regulation, which are externally set rules (e.g. rules against playing
truant).
3. Identified regulation, which occurs when a person engages in an activity, because
he or she highly values it, and sees its usefulness.
4. Integrated regulation, which involves a behavior that is fully assimilated with the
individuals other values, needs and identity.
6

From this list identified regulation is the most relevant to my thesis, because it
occurs when the person engages in an activity because he or she highly values and identifies
with the behavior, and sees its usefulness (e.g. learning a language which is necessary to
pursue ones hobbies or interests) (Drnyei 2001, p 28). It can be said that for the
participants of my research, playing has an enormous motivational impact on language
learning. By definition games are played for fun, thus players receive positive feedback while
playing even if they are learning something in the process, although in this case roleplaying
sessions are not necessarily conducted in English. Only other out of game activities, like
playing computer based RPGs, or reading foreign language RPG related literature resulted in
direct language learning, but the motivational pattern links these activities to the hobby of
roleplaying itself. Because of this internal reason to spend time reading and comprehending
and practicing English, the language learning process became fun, engaging, and maybe even
challenging and competence-enhancing (Drnyei, 2005, p 77.). I believe that if somehow
English lessons had been interwoven with RPG elements in the target language, it could have
had a significant impact on the learning experience of the participants of my research.
1. 3 Language acquisition and language learning
My research is based on the Acquisition-Learning Hypotheses, which is part of Krashens
theory of second language acquisition (1982). In his theory, second language acquisition
(SLA) is contrasted by language learning the first is more preferable than the latter, because
it results implicit knowledge and competence. In the context of my research, for example,
when a role-player is reading an English language rulebook, he does not care whether it is
difficult to understand, he does it because he can associate it with a highly rewarding activity.
While the player from this example does so, he incidentally picks up or acquires pieces of
the language itself. This player is an example of a foreign language learner, who learns and
also acquires the FL in an informal context.
Another difference between SLA and Foreign Language learning is that the first
characteristic to learners who live in direct contact with speakers of the target language, while
foreign language learners do not have this kind of learning opportunity. The participants of
my research, who learned English in Hungary with minimal contact to an English language
community also learned English as a Foreign Language. Foreign Language learning is a
conscious effort, and it most often occurs in formal language classrooms, as a result of

instruction. In my thesis, formal English learning and language acquisition is clearly

contrasted, although the focus of my research are motivational tendencies.
Another part of Krashens theory is the input hypothesis, which states that SLA is a
result of comprehensible input. Learners can successfully acquire a language, if input material
is slightly above their level (i+1), but he also says that this i+1 level can be provided if
communication is successful (Krashen 1982, p 23.). In the case of the participants of my
research, I believe the English material they encountered while pursuing their hobby must
have been mostly on this level. Even if the wording itself was difficult, communication could
be still successful, because the material was familiar, and they could relate it to their lives and
to their schemata.
1.4 Schemata theory
Schank and Abelsons schemata theory (1995) underlies my whole research. They argue that
ones experiences and the experiences of others are the fundamental constituents of human
memory, knowledge and social communication. (p. 1) Schemata are the units of stored
information, which are constructed around past experiences. People interpret new information
based on their schemata system. Schank and Abelson argue that even factual knowledge is no
exception. We remember facts if we can transform them into a schema, if we can relate it to
our experiences, and basically to ourselves. When students come to the language classroom
they try to relate what they experience there to their existing schemata. If students cannot
connect the language material to their schemata, it remains meaningless data for them and it is
easily forgotten. In other words, when students are introduced to new language material, they
immediately try to interpret and store it, but if they cannot relate to the learning material in
any way, then all the things they could have learned are lost instead.
Schank and Abelson also say that knowledge is always functional, it exists for being
used. It is true for language knowledge as well. If students cannot find practical reasons to
learn English and to retain in memory what they have learned, they are not likely to be
successful language learners. This is a serious problem in EFL learning environments, like in
Hungary, but meaningful communication contexts may occur even in this kind of
environment. When players, for example, use English during role-playing, they do it in a
meaningful context, and for practical reasons as well.

Chapter 2: The context of research

2.1 Participants
I interviewed three participants. All of them are young adult males; they are 27-30 years old
and they all play RPGs habitually. Their hobby provided a high level of motivation towards
learning English, because they needed to better understand the rules and settings of the games,
etc. In my opinion role-playing tasks could be made more effective, if they were tailored to
the interests of language learners. The same is the case with learning in general, too. Although
the idea of taking the learners hobbies and interests into consideration while teaching is not
new, my research shows that it can still pose a problem in certain contexts.
The participants of my research told stories about their unremarkable formal English
education. It did not make any real impression on them, repetitiveness and a focus on the
course book, grammar and translation are their main memories about this period of their
English learning. This is clearly a problem, because even in Hungary, English is a must if one
wants to go to university and to be a successful professional in many fields.
The three people I interviewed found a way to reach a high level of English
proficiency through their hobbies and incidental learning. With this research I aimed to find
out how they achieved all this.
The interviewees are selected through criterion sampling. I was looking for Hungarian
people, who have achieved a high level of English language skills and who also play
roleplaying games as a hobby. All three participants are young males and they gave me their
consent to use their real names in this work, and to use the content of the interviews as I see
fit. These statements of informed consent can be found in the appendix.
Balzs Lay is 27 years old, he has a BSc in electrical engineering and he works as an
electrical engineer too. He learned German as his first foreign language at school and he
actively uses the language, because his company works for German investors. English is his
second foreign language, which means that he started learning English in secondary school.
After secondary school he participated in a basic level English course at the university, but he
dropped out after his second semester. During the following year he completed a vocational
course in the field of logistics. The course had a heavy emphasis on English language
teaching. After this course, Balzs Lay successfully took a B2 English language exam and he
restarted his university studies from the beginning.
Blint veges is 30 years old. He is working on his PhD in Herpetology, and he works
for the Hungarian Academy of Sciences as an assistant researcher. He studied at the same
secondary school as Balzs Lay. His first foreign language is German and his second one is
9

English. He is a qualified specialized translator in Biology, but his working language is

German, not English. He did not take any English courses during his university studies and he
has not learned the language formally ever since. He does not have any language certificates
in English, but he aspires to take the C1 level exam, because he needs it to complete his PhD.
Balzs lveczky is 28 years old, and he is a BA student. He is majoring in English
Studies at the moment as a correspondent student, while he works at a local museum in his
hometown. He has been learning English since the beginning of elementary school and it his
first foreign language. When he started his university studies, he was majoring in Esthetics
and his minor specialty was English Studies, but he dropped out after twelve semesters. Later,
he reapplied at the same university as an English Studies major. He has a C1 level English
language certificate.
Admittedly, all three participants of my research speak English sufficiently well for
their professional and personal needs. All of them have learned English in classroom
circumstances, but they consider their informal language learning equally beneficial as, or
even more beneficial than their formal learning. They all learned English from English
language RPG books, fantasy and science fiction novels, comics, TV-shows, video games, and
RPG related recreational activities.
2.2 Research question
My research questions focused on the participants English language learning experiences,
their English learning motivation and the motivational effect of RPGs and activities (reading
books, playing games, etc.) the participants have taken up in connection with this particular
hobby. Based on the participants self-evaluation I also aimed to find out how their language
skills have improved due to these activities.
2.3 Data collection instrument
I conducted in-depth interviews to explore the participants English learning experience in
retrospect. The interviews were conducted in Hungarian, because the aim of the research is
not to measure the language competence of the interviewees. I wanted to reduce their anxiety
to a minimum level to encourage honest responses which are rich in information. I also
believe that it would have been beyond the scope of this research project to try to measure the
participants English competence. Moreover, all of them have been exposed to classroom
English and they have improved their language skills during their university studies and
working years, too. Because of this, it would require careful examination to objectively
10

determine to what extent their hobby has helped them to improve. This time, I was only
interested in their motivation and their retrospective views on their learning experiences.
I used a semi-structured format for my interview (Appendix), because I wanted to
pursue specific topics like formal and informal language learning backgrounds and possible
sources of motivation. I also wanted to investigate ideas related to the research that I could not
have prepared for. Due to the emerging nature of qualitative research (Drnyei 2007, p.126) I
asked further questions if I saw it necessary. These follow-up questions were focused on the
participants beliefs, feelings and perspectives concerning the ways in which their various
English learning experiences have helped them improve their language skills. I also asked
them to evaluate themselves to accentuate which skills benefitted the most from their high
level of motivation (writing, speaking, grammar, listening and reading comprehension,
fluency, communicative skill, etc.).
The main reason I chose interviewing as my data collection instrument, because I
wanted to explore the nuances and details of personal histories. Many ideas would have
remained hidden if I had chosen a questionnaire format instead. Also, qualitative methodology
does not depend on a thesis the researcher aims to prove. Instead, it is possible to explore the
research questions, analyze the findings and through saturation (Drnyei 2007, p 244), the
thesis emerges from the results themselves.
I am aware of the limitations of qualitative research. Because of its nature, it lacks the
generalizability of quantitative research. On the one hand, this issue may be fixed by further
research based on the findings of this one. On the other hand, by choosing qualitative research
I also chose to focus on the personal story of my participants.
2.5 Procedures
I first interviewed Balzs Lay on 29 October 2015 and I recorded the conversation with a
mobile application. I used the same recording device for the later interviews, on 02. 11. 2015.
With Blint veges and on 06. 11. 2015. With Balzs lveczky. I interviewed Balzs Lay at
his apartment in Budapest, and the interview was an hour and ten minutes long. Both
interviews with the other participants were conducted at my home in Budapest. The interview
with Blint veges took 37 minutes, and the one with Balzs lveczky took 47 minutes.
Between the interviews I transcribed the data and I pre-coded the text for later analysis. I
found it necessary to do so, because I wanted to identify key points to investigate in the future
interviews. With the iteration of the pre-coding and the interviewing processes I was able to
explore the differences between the participants experiences and to saturate the data. After
11

three interviews I did not look for further candidates, because Blint vegess and Balzs
lveczkys responses did not yield entirely new findings. Their responses rather helped me to
find themes in the data and to add further nuances to Balzs Lays extremely rich responses.
After coding in the first cycle I gathered and compared the results I found in each
interview to focus the codes into thematic categories. The main categories which emerged
were the following: formal secondary school English learning, language examination, family
background, English learning in higher education, professional development, ESL benefits of
role-playing, hobbies associated with role-playing. I examined all these categories mainly in
the light of motivation impact.
The core category of my research is the benefit of the roleplaying hobby on ESL,
although from a motivational point of view, professional development proved to be a central
factor of the participants successful language development. I based my theory on this cyclical
analytic methodology, following the guidelines set by Drnyei (2007), Rubin and Rubin
(1995) and Saldana (2009). The method I used is called grounded theory, because the theory
is grounded or rooted in the original data themselves (Saldana 2009).

12

Chapter 3: Results and discussion

In this section I am going to present the results of my research and discuss them at the same
time. I decided to merge these two parts because it is best if I discuss and interpret my
findings alongside the quotes from the interviews to prove my points. In this results and
discussion section I am going to take each research question one by one and answer them in
turn. In the first two subsections I focus on the participants various English learning
experiences from their early education to the present and I try to identify sources of
motivation while doing so.
In the third subsection I briefly focus on the motivational effects of RPGs on English
learning. I also identify its possible extent, which is based on one of the participants doubts
about my theory. Shortly, it cannot be said that the role-playing hobby results in a conscious
effort towards language learning, instead it mainly provides motivation and opportunity
towards meaningful language use.
In the fourth subsection I start to analyze the effects of role-playing and activities like
reading and playing computer games on English learning. I did not separate these two topics
from each other, because these hobbies are closely related to each other.
In the fifth subsection, I assess what the participants think about their own English
proficiency and I relate their ideas to the findings I discuss in this part.

13

3.1 Early English learning experiences

The first and most important thing that I understood about the participants formal English
learning that it occurred in a strictly foreign language environment. They had little to no direct
contact with native English speakers and with the target culture. If they had any, they did not
feel it noteworthy enough to mention when we were talking about their background. Balzs
Lay said that during his secondary school years he did not talk to anyone in English outside
the language classroom. When we were talking about their secondary (and elementary) school
English studies, the other two participants also focused on the lessons and the teachers they
had had.
Although it is not a surprise that their recollections are hazy about these lessons, I do
not attribute these fading memories to the passing of years. Based on what they told me, I
suspect that their English education lacked any strong characteristics. In Blints and Balzs
lveczkys cases these memories were marked mainly by the changing of teachers:
Blint: We had three teachers. The first left during the first year on maternity
leave. She was quite good by the way, because she gave us good foundations.
Then we got the one [] we nicknamed Pickles for a short time. Well, she
was quite sour. And then, after that we got [our last teacher] and we learned with
her after that.
Although Blint said that their first teacher was quite good by the way, the only
thing I got to know about her was that she had the students pick English names for themselves
from pop culture and they used these names during her lessons. According to Blint, their
group found this practice quite fun, but when I asked him to further elaborate on the English
lessons from these years, he could not mention anything remarkable. He only told me that he
disliked learning the phonetical transcription of English words:
Blint: Well in the first year what I hated was [] This stupid thing, what do they
call it?
Interviewer: The phonetical transcription?
Blint: Phonetical, that one! Yeah, that wasnt very exciting.
After this point, he summarized their last English teachers practice as mainly based
on the course book. He said that compared to his excellent German teacher, this last English
14

teacher was: She was well a bit like Then after a long pause he concluded that she
taught it well, but she was like nothing extra. I suspect that this teacher taught English
well, although it sounded as if Blint was looking for excuses for her at this point.
As for his general impression about his secondary school English studies, Blint said
that he enjoyed them, because it was very simple for him, so there was enough time for being
silly and stuff. In other words, it was good because it was not demanding and he could relax
during these lessons.
Balzs lveczkys recollections are fragmented in this matter. He started learning
English in the first year at elementary school, but he only remembers being very good at it
and being not quite good at it. He also has some memories about the three English teachers
he had had in elementary school. Two of them were strict, serious and precise and one
was not. For him, starting secondary school was a breaking point in terms of his English
learning. In the first year of secondary school he had seven English lessons a week, then five
lessons a week in the following years, which is higher than the standard three or four lessons a
week that regular first foreign language groups have. He also had to catch up with the rest of
the group, but he successfully overcame this challenge by the second year.
Balzs had two English teachers at secondary school, but the first one only taught
them in the first term. Unlike Blint, he has some memories about the lessons and the task
types as well. As I remember, we had more written tasks. Speaking tasks were on a low
level, but there were some Since then I have met many students, who are not taught
speaking at all. When I asked what kinds of written tasks they had, he said that writing
compositions and letters were kept to the minimum. We did lots of translation at secondary
school for example lots and lots of translation. And, yes, we did tests. It is unfortunate that
there are Hungarian schools where they do not teach productive skills during foreign language
lessons.
I also asked Balzs, whether the teacher talked to them in English, but he said that the
lessons were conducted and managed in Hungarian. Even his strictest teacher usually
conducted the lessons in Hungarian. They were expected to know a bit of linguistic
terminology in English though: predominantly the names of the tenses, but not much else.
Balzs liked these English lessons however, because he was interested in the language and
because he was good at this particular subject. He felt that it gave him prestige among his
peers: It was something I was good at in my class, and this is important for a child, and I
enjoyed these lessons because of it.

15

Of all the three interviewees, Balzs Lay could give the most detailed account of his
language learning background. He thought, that the most important thing about his formal
learning was that he learned English as his second foreign language. Compared to the other
group, who learned it as their first, his groups progress was well, a bit..Half-hearted.
He does not think that his knowledge after four years of studying was worth much. He
contributes this lack of success to syllabus itself: The syllabus was absolutely based on the
course book. There were, I dont know what word to use, there werent any creative ideas in
it.The only reason he was looking out for new ways to use the language was that he likes to
talk and to express himself. But, according to his memories, when he used unexpected words
or grammatical structures, he seemed to confuse his groupmates and the teacher herself.
Because of this, he felt neglected, and he said that:
Balzs L.: I couldnt always get engaged in the activities we did during those
lessons [] If the task was about finding the difference between in and
between, no matter what you wanted After the 40 th one, I would not say that
I had attention deficit, but I could not go on.
Another main problem, which he identified concerning his secondary school English
studies was that although the teacher strived to get for us some extra materials, which were
of surprisingly good quality, we didnt discuss anything twice. This lack of feedback made
him feel like they abandoned each and every topic, as if it was taken for granted that they had
learned it once and for all. This lack of focus and semantic connection between the topics they
discussed in the English lessons was clearly the shortcoming of the syllabus, which was
predetermined by the course book.
Balzs L.: I was resigned that there is a course book and that it sets the pace
[] That after this, we will be dealing with that, and after that its worthy to go
on with that. Obviously it mustnt be spoiled.
It really frustrated Balzs was that there was no connection between the items in the
syllabus, or between the syllabus and their lives. He admits, that he liked some the topics, but
in the end he came to a disappointed conclusion:

16

Balzs L.: I liked reading about London, or Scottish burial grounds, I can
remember that even now. But it was only a task type, and we had no chance
about being immersed in it It was four and a half minutes of my life and the
lesson went on, and in the following I had to deal with stuff like in and
between again.
In conclusion of this part, the interviewees secondary school English education can be
characterized by keeping to the course books and to repetitive, monotonous task types. In
Balzs lveczkys case, the massive amount of translation seems to be the remnant of the
jaded grammar-translation method, which was originally used for teaching classical
languages. This method was predominantly employed in Hungarian language teaching in the
Soviet era as well. A few fleeting traces of motivational strategies can be observed based on
the interviewees personal account. For example Blints first teachers technique of giving
English names to her students was a good way to create a motivating atmosphere in the
classroom. Moreover, it is always a good idea to introduce a piece of the target language
culture into the language classroom even if its only names.
Blint veges said, that he did not feel motivated by the English lessons. It was not
difficult for him to learn the language after learning German and he liked the successes, which
came easily for him. His parents encouraged him to learn languages, and also, his father set
him a good example by teaching himself German. It was not required of him to take a
language exam in English at the time. Other sources of motivation came from his hobbies. For
example, he liked listening to music and he tried to compose lyrics in English.
As for Balzs lveczky, he also had an encouraging family background. His older
sister learned English too, and his father spoke a bit of self-taught German and English, which
set a good example for Balzs, just like in Blints case. Balzs had some English language
books at home and he liked the idea that he had access to them through English. He also liked
to learn languages and he was interested in English itself, which can be identified as intrinsic
motivation towards the subject. Social motivation (Drnyei 2001, p 30) was also important for
him, as he could earn the approval of his peers and teachers by being good at the subject.
Extrinsic motives, like language certificates were also important for him, because it is
usuallythe key of getting into universities in Hungary.
Balzs Lay regarded learning English as a worthy and difficult task, because he saw
that his mother had tried her best and failed learning the language. He did not take much
pleasure in learning languages however. He even remarked, that he had to learn how to study
17

something that he was generally not interested in. Extrinsic motives, like language certificates
were the main motivational factors for him at this time. Aside from these, some of his hobbies
also motivated him to use English. He likes surfing the internet for example: I really liked
that if you can ask it, if you can ask it well, then you are going to find the answer on the
internet. But you have to learn English damn well for this.
To summarize, the participants language lessons this far have not been very
motivational. Most of their motivation come from extrinsic sources, like from their
encouraging families. Balzs lveczky and Balzs Lay also wanted to perform well at school,
thus they aimed to get an English language certificate. At this time, they mostly met English
on the Internet and in songs liked. Additionally, all three participants were introduced to
roleplaying games at this time, but I am going to discuss their motives and experiences related
to the hobby later.

18

3.2 Post-secondary language learning

Studying at the university changed the relationship between English and the three
interviewees. The specialized English of their chosen disciplines became a central part of their
lives. This change in priorities can be directly observed in Blint vegess case. He has a
daily connection with English as a part of his job. As a PhD student and assistant researcher,
he has to read and write publications in English. It is remarkable that he did not have any
specialized English course during his university studies. He told me that because the common
language of science is English, they did not need any extra training. They heard many Latin
loanwords and English phrases at every lesson, so they became familiar with most of the
terminology that could appear in publications.
Hungarian universities have many foreign students, and the interaction and
intercultural communication can help improve each partys language skills, too. Although
Blint did not have much contact with foreign students, he had the opportunity to attend
conferences abroad. These real communicative situations have helped him to achieve great
fluency.
Blint: [] at the end of the day, or after two or three days I feel like Im at a
near native level. OK, not native, but you see Everyone talks in English and
after the second or third day it becomes totally natural that you talk in English
too.
Blints overall fluency is contrasted by Balzs Lays case, who feels insecure, when
he has to talk about professional matters in English. As he explains:
Balzs L.: [] I learned the terminology related to my profession in German in
the end. Because of this, during job interviews it is somewhat awkward that in
English, I can only talk about myself. English is the language I can speak on a
conversational level, although I didnt have to practice it. I picked it up here and
there. But I can speak about my profession in German competently [] The
main reason is that I never had to talk about the things I read in English. They
expected me to comprehend those things.
This strange dichotomy characterized Balzs L.s university studies. In his first year he
enrolled in a specialized English course, which was disappointing for Balzs, because it was
19

aimed at very beginners. They did not learn anything that contributed to their professional
life. During this rudimentary English course, it became clear for Balzs that professional
language is merciless. You needed to learn English for programming immediately. My
programming teacher [] used to say that you have a week to learn English. Balzs
personally did not have much difficulty with programming, but many others had.
Programming was a filtering course at his university, which means that many people failed
the BSC program if they could not complete it and English knowledge was a key to success.
Although Balzs L. took this challenge successfully, he still dropped out after two
semesters. By this time he realized that most of the available learning material would be in
English in the future. The following year he was exceptionally motivated to improve his
English skills, because I had to do well, because I wanted to get back to the university, and I
didnt want anything to depend on this again. That is why he applied to a vocational school,
which offered a promising English course. At the end of the school year he easily took his
first English language exam.
This English course was a milestone in his language learning history. Balzs mainly
attributes this success to the teachers efforts, who was a terrifically thorough person and
he worked with a huge amount of printed material. We had a course book, which we used for
ten minutes at the beginning of the lesson, then we went on. Here, Balzs enthusiastically
and vividly described a great amount of creative, complex, communicative tasks. He tended to
focus on collaborative story-writing and when I asked whether there were any roleplay
activities, he admitted that indeed there were and they were very effective and memorable for
him. It is obvious how this English course is contrasted by the language lessons of Balzss
secondary school education, which was book-heavy and monotonous.
Although Balzs was not especially interested in the specialized language of logistics,
he took the course seriously. He attributes his language learning success to this course, which
is [] further tinged by the fact, that I didnt only learn the English I met during this course,
but I was actively playing and reading too. This combination of extrinsic and intrinsic
motives led to great success in Balzss case. I also believe that his engagement in the lessons
were also boosted by the fact, that collaborative story-writing and roleplaying are parts of his
hobby. His teachers methodology coincided with Balzss preferences and schemata, which
made it easier for him to acquire the language and learn with greater motivation.
After he returned to the university, he did not even bother to enquire about formal
English courses there. The negative experience he had had the first time made him skeptical
about the usefulness of such programs. He was very enthusiastic about learning the
20

specialized language however. He took a number of courses in English, which presented more
of a challenge for him. We had to perform seriously well on many different levels at the
same time. I was successful. Accordingly, Balzs [] knew that it wont turn out bad at the
end, if I learn real specialized language in English. Throughout the interview it became
obvious that for Balzs, his professional performance is of vital importance. I do not wonder
that he took everything very seriously, that could mean his later success in his chosen field.
It is important to mention that during his university years, no one expected Balzs to
talk about his specialty in English and he never bothered to study the structure of the English
language. He chose to immerse himself in the language his profession offered, very much like
in the case of language courses offering total immersion. During the courses he took in
English, he also had the opportunity to practice English with foreign students. He was also a
part of a prestigious study group, which motivated him to do his best. Social motivation and
the need to communicate also played a role in his successful language learning. Add
something on motivation. Connect a little bit your findings with the lit. review to add
cohesion.
Balzs lveczky has been learning English for the longest period of time among the
three participants. English is not only his first foreign language, but he also decided to do his
BA in English Studies. His story is also complicated like Balzs Lays. The first time he
started his university studies, he was discouraged from language faculties, because his sister
had had bad experiences as a student majoring in German Studies. But even though Balzs
finally chose to study Aesthetics, he followed through with his original plan and picked
English as minor. When I asked him for his reasons, he could not explain them well:
Balzs .: The thing is, it did not really have It didnt really have a real
reason I was good at English and I could do it, so it seemed kind of natural
that I should be an English major. It did not have any special reasons. [] But
when I chose it for my minor, it was important for me to practice the language
again, and also it was something I knew well. And I havent regretted it at all.
According to him, the main benefit of his decision was that he started reading classic
literature in English, and also he was introduced to literary and cultural studies. These
disciplines have had a great impact on his motivation and now his ambition is to work in the
counterculture, in the culture that is being born and he wants to form international
relationships as a part of this professional activity. For him, this disciplinary orientation has
21

become an essential part of his language learning motivation. Due to his studies, Balzs has a
deep understanding of his own language proficiency. He also knows which skills he wants to
improve and how he can do so. In conclusion, he is the most conscious language learner of all
the three participants.

22

3.3 Language learning motivation and RPGs

My theory is that roleplaying games can help enhance players motivation and improve their
English skills, even though players tend to use their native language during the game. It is
difficult to spot this phenomenon, because onlookers and the players themselves do not make
a direct connection between the game and English practice. Codeswitching usually occurs,
mainly because some of the terms the game uses are difficult to translate, or it is easier to use
them, because they were introduced to the players vocabulary in English. Blint veges
regarded the idea, that his hobby has had a huge impact on his language learning success, with
the most skepticism. Especially because during the game he does not use a lot of English
loanwords.
However, Blint admitted that the hobby has been a source of motivation for him,
although he felt obliged to clarify that it [learning English] is not only for playing RPGs in
another way, or in a better way. Also, he never felt the need to directly work on his English
by taking extra lessons, or doing grammar tasks, because of role-playing, although I did not
suggest him that anyone would sit down to study solely for the reason to be able to pursue a
hobby. There might be people who have this kind of willpower and dedication, but this is not
the case when it comes to the participants of my research. Their motivation came from many
other sources and it would be unwise of me to simply account it for the influence of
roleplaying games. That is why I analyzed the participants language learning experiences and
other sources of motivation before turning my attention to the benefits of this particular
hobby. In the following I am going analyze the impact of RPGs on the participants
motivation and language learning. Based on the interviews, I will also investigate the
advantages of other activities that can be related to this hobby.

23

3. 4 Benefits of role-playing and related activities on English learning

The main benefit of the hobby is that it motivates people to seek out authentic language
material, because many popular RPGs have never been translated from English to Hungarian.
It is noteworthy that people who do this, read these materials from their intrinsic curiosity and
not because of the extrinsic motive of wanting to learn the language. According to the
reviewed studies, intrinsic motivation is often stronger than extrinsic, and I believe this case is
a good example of this theory.
Many of these RPG books feature specific game rules, which may contribute to
language acquisition, but the most beneficial parts are the poems and short stories which are
used to create atmosphere. Blint said that he liked the quotes from Werewolf very much
I always liked that very much that chapters started with quotes and I think, sometimes I
looked up entire poems in English because of them. Although Blint uses the Hungarian
word idzet, which can only be translated to English as quote, he actually means the short
pieces of literature that are featured in the books.
Werewolf is one of Blints personal favorites. He bought several books in English
during his secondary school years and he read them from cover to cover. His enthusiasm
piques attention as he notes that: I have read all the books, but we never, ever played
Werewolf during secondary school for example, even though It seems that even the
promise of playing the game motivated him to read authentic English books which, in the case
of the core rulebook span as many as three hundred pages in length. It must be admitted, that
he had some help in this case though, because another game that operates with the same rules,
titled, Vampire: the Masquerade, is available in Hungarian, too and Blint could use the latter
as reference in some cases.
During his university years Blint took reading English language fiction as well. His
books of choice mostly include fantasy novels, which is entirely related to his hobby.
Interviewer: How did you get to know this genre? How did your enthusiasm
begin?
Blint: It came together with roleplaying. Obviously, when I started roleplaying,
obviously, we started reading novels in our favorite worlds with our favorite
characters, etc., etc.
As in the case of RPG books, sometimes only just a few novels of fantasy series are
translated to Hungarian. Blint, who is on an advanced level of reading comprehension, often
24

finds Hungarian translations to be of bad quality. For example he chose to read an entire
trilogy due to the following reason: Well I saw how they translated one of the characters
name and I thought that I would rather read this in English. I was not disappointed, because it
was a very good novel.
Nowadays the feat, that Blint can read books, like these is entertainment itself. He
has also become enthusiastic about discovering rare and curious items of vocabulary. He adds
that it is very good, because [the book he is reading] uses very special words in this archaic
way and lotsof Usually I read it with a dictionary on my phone, and if there is something I
dont know I look it up immediately, because I want to enjoy things to one hundred percent.
This thoroughness comes from a genuine interest and it is something that makes Blint
practice and incidentally learn English, even though he does not consider this activity learning
at all.
Unlike Blint, Balzs lveczky did not read English RPG books originally. His first
contact with English related to roleplaying came in the form of computer games. During his
secondary school years, reading books in English seemed like a quite distant thing, while
engaging in role-playing games on the computer, the activity involved him in a rich and
interactive narrative, not unlike his previous roleplaying experiences with his gaming group.
His favorite is Baldurs Gate 2.
Balzs .: Baldurs Gate 2 is a big, big classic. And a great love. It took a
long time for me [to finish it], I have played it many times I spent lots of
hours playing it. There, it was a bit more complex You had to understand a
story.
Interviewer: Did you have to understand the whole narrative?
Balzs .: I had to understand a whole narrative, yes. And that helped me quite
much in terms of vocabulary and in terms of comprehension too. So, well []
The first real, big narrative I read in English was basically Baldurs Gate.
Interviewer: What was it like to have this adventure in English?
Balzs .: Sometimes I missed a few tiny details, because of my lacking
language skills, but the story made up for it with its epic proportions and with its
great, likeable and loveable characters []
Interviewer: So it never discouraged you that you did not understand everything?
Balzs .: Absolutely not. It did not discourage me, not at all.
25

Role-playing games, tabletop and computer ones alike can present engaging and
enrapturing narratives and fantasy worlds. It is easy to lose oneself in the game, similarly to
the phenomenon Csikszentmihlyi named flow (1990). If the player is having enough fun, it
does not matter after a while if the language is not his own.
Balzs is especially interested in the settings of the role-playing games he plays. When
he first started reading about them in English, he was interested in the lore: any background
knowledge that told him about his favorite fantasy worlds. Fantasy novels further add to this
lore, making the player want to seek out these books, even though most are is only available
in English. It is very interesting that initially, he was much more interested in these fantasy
worlds and cultures, than in real-world cultures. Before his university studies, the perspective
to get in contact with the target language culture did not really motivate Balzs to learn
English.
Interviewer: It seems that you are very interested in how other cultures are seen.
Have you ever been as interested in the culture of England as in fantasy cultures?
Balzs .: Now, I already am. I started taking up a deep interest in the last few
years.
This interest is not to be confused with Gardners integrative motivation (1985), which
I already mentioned in the literature review. It seems, that in TEFL finding and pursuing
hobbies and topics, that intersect with the language learners schemata can be much more
motivating than identification with the target language population and its culture. In Balzss
case for example, his interest came much later, when he already reached a very high level of
English proficiency and after having developed an interest for cultural studies in general.
Another hobby, which Balzs lveczky has taken up in relation with role-playing, is
fiction writing. He writes in Hungarian and English as well. Originally, he wanted to publish
his stories on social media websites and this is the reason he started to write in English.
Notwithstanding he has put aside this aspiration since then, but he continues to write in these
two languages. On the one hand, he does it for the benefit of practicing his writing skills. On
the other hand, he writes in a foreign language, because he likes the challenge. Also, the
fantasy settings he uses were originally created by English speakers.

26

Balzs .: These worlds I work with No matter how much I like to dissect and
break them down [to their core elements], they are not my own. It is only natural
that I use their terms and vocabulary in English.
Interviewer: Why?
Balzs .: [..] you can write a story in any kind of fantasy world in Hungarian.
Why couldnt you? But all fantasy worlds have their names, especially names
And phrases too, which can be very difficult to translate well, if they can be
translated at all.
Balzs shares this infatuation with English names and phrases with Blint, who is also
motivated to read, because he does not like the Hungarian translations. In both cases, this
preference might be fueled by the fear of losing information. It is interesting to see the matter
from the viewpoint of the writer, who chooses to write entirely in English, because of the
names the world of his fiction uses.
Balzs Lay gave the most thorough and information-rich responses of the people I
interviewed. Most of the topics he mentioned have already been discussed in Blints and
Balzs lveczkys case. I left Balzs Lay for last, because his account of activities, like
reading RPG rulebooks, or playing computer based video games, adds further colors to the
picture the other two participants have presented. First of all, he was introduced to reading in
English by his roleplaying group:
Balzs L.: The very first thing I learned in English, I can remember it even
today, is connected to one of the RPGs. They were the expansions of Dungeons
and Dragons. This is strange, because when I got involved in this, all these were
available in Hungarian, in print, we [the group] had them, we could throw them
at each other, but they did not give it to me. It did not hurt me, because I did not
realize than that it was a very mean thing to do, but it is certain that I started to
read these books in English.
Balzs has read a lot of books related to this and by this, he means roleplaying
games, but for him, reading and interpreting these was more like a group activity. He said that
there was a game [] we tried to find as much extra material on the internet as we could, all
kinds of character sheets we have not seen yet.. []We could find out many things from these
27

that we have not known yet. It is clear that his group has motivated him to pursue this
research. Aside from this social motivation (Drnyei 2001), I believe roleplaying as a social
and group activity also contributed to Balzss high motivation, at least by holding the group
together. This game that Balzs told me about was highly beneficial according to him, and
the research was followed by complex language-related tasks.
Balzs L.: It was only the beginning that we found these materials, we also had
to analyze them. All of us had to understand it, so someone had to sit down and
read them properly, make notes and present what he found. It sounds very
scientific now, and it seemed something trivial back then [], but now I know
that this is a totally reasonable task at language exams and they call it
compression.
At this point, it is worth comparing Balzs L.s and Blints memories of the same
thing. They have played in the same gaming group since their secondary school years, but
when I asked Blint about this game he did not understand what I was talking about. It is
interesting to see the differences between conscious and unconscious language learners. It
seems that either Balzs has given much more thought to his learning through RPG materials
than Blint, or he considers this learning much more significant. When I asked Blint what he
learned from these books, he could only think of terms and names that were obviously
English.
Balzs also emphasized that the interpretation of vocabulary items, and vocabulary
acquisition was an important benefit of this hobby, but the story of their game also suggests
a complex learning activity, which involved reading comprehension and language acquisition
based on Krashens comprehensible input theory as well. By reading all these materials, they
did not only learn specific words: they also acquired vocabulary items and grammatical
structures in the form of unanalyzed chunks.
Additionally, it is important for language learners to encounter words in various
contexts, because this way they can remember them better and they can learn additional
aspects of the word like secondary meanings, pragmatic information, etc. The RPG
terminology the participants have learned is only the tip of the iceberg, they must have
benefited much more from their hobby, which is proved by their high level of English
competence.

28

Spoken English only rarely appears during gameplay. Code-switching is the most
common phenomenon, because it is problematic to translate terms from the rulebooks and the
games settings. All three participants agree on this. Balzs Lay told me however, that for him
at least, it was always important to include accent in his acting. He also liked using English as
a secret language too: [] if we want to keep something a secret from a third party,
sometimes we simple switch to English if he is not paying attention. He even states that
English is a companion language in roleplaying for them.
Naturally, it would have been much more beneficial if they had used the English they
learned throughout actual game of role-play, too. It must be noted though, that roleplaying is
not a conscious language learning strategy for them. It would be interesting to see how much
they could improve, if they could be persuaded to play in English.
Even though all three participants played in Hungarian, and because of this, they could
not improve their English speaking skills only by playing the game, their communication
skills could benefit from the hobby. According to Balzs:
Role-playing helps [] to be better at improvisation than other people. I admit
that I could never test whether this is true for foreign languages too, but I hope
that it is in my case, and I consider it more probable even as I am talking about it
right now. If you take the ability to talk, regardless the speaking context or the
language, you have to learn it, it is a skill which improves with time [] and I
think it is the same with English too.
Although Balzs Lays responses were sometimes confusingly intricate, when we were
discussing this idea, he clarified that role-playing can help reduce conversational anxiety and
make one ready to express himself. I tried to pinpoint this phenomenon by asking them about
their memories of roleplaying activities in English lessons. Blint vegess memories were
hazy regarding this matter, but Balzs lveczky admitted that he was much more ready to
engage in such activities after he had taken up the hobby of roleplaying. He is unsure about
the connection though.
Roleplaying activities in language classrooms can be stressful on the students, because
they have to pay attention to what they say, how they say it and they also have to improvise.
Often they have to do so in front of other people. Shy students, or those who are not used to
this kind of activity may feel debilitating anxiety, which can prevent successful task
completion. The relative similarity between the roleplaying hobby and roleplaying tasks must
29

have made the participants of my research more comfortable when doing these tasks. It is
because roleplaying is a part of their schemata.
I further explored the similarity between the task type and the hobby in my interview
with Balzs Lay. He had a great English learning experience while during a vocational course,
and roleplaying activities were a central part of this course. Balzs found the idea of
resemblance original, but shortly after that he admitted that: For example, that vocational
course with special English training was exactly about this, though it was successful due to
the teacher, not the topic. Balzs then continued to describe roleplaying activities in great
detail. This attention to detail, in contrast with his and the other participants blurred
memories about their formal English learning, shows how memorable these activities were for
him. His conclusion of the topic was that even though he would not call the teacher in this
situation a game master as in RPGs, but the teacher was successful at controlling their
attention.
Just like in Balzs lveczkys case, Balzs Lay also played computer-based
roleplaying games. He highlighted his experiences with World of Warcraft, which is a
massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG). MMORPGs feature an online
community who play the game in mostly fantasy or sci-fi settings. These online games are a
great place to find English-speaking conversational partners. While playing this game, Balzs
Lay joined a gaming group (a guild), in which the members mainly communicated with each
other in English. Another benefit of this game in terms of English learning is that it provides
massive amounts of English language texts. For example, the tasks (quests) a player has to do
is usually presented in the form a short narrative that explains the context and importance of
the task. Balzs L. is fond of these narratives that tell players about the setting of the game.
He explained his reason for reading these in detail in the form of a brief anecdote:
In World of Warcraft I always had to read the quests that a character gave me. I
didnt know that there was an option to skip them with a specific keyboard
button, so for a year [] I read everything and I did not even realize that it took
me time, because I enjoyed what I was doing. And I stuck with it. There games I
play especially because of the lore, because of the living [world] someone
bothered to create. [] When you are playing a game, you can become fixated
on the story and at this point, the language really does not matter anymore. [] I
have never stopped playing a game, because I did not understand it.

30

The last important activity Balzs Lay pursues in relation with roleplaying is reading
of course. This topic however has been explored in depth previously. Because of this, I only
present here what Balzs could add in comparison with the other two participants
experiences.
First, Balzs L. feels extremely at home, when he is reading science fiction, probably
because of his profession. I feel very close to this [genre], because I can analyze most of the
techno language Surprisingly, I can do it much better in English. Second, he made an
important remark considering his motivation to understand everything. He told me about it in
relation to the motivation he felt because he wanted to develop professionally.
The real change in terms of motivation was connected to my personal life.. [] I
did so much dictionary work, that I think I never did in secondary school. Even
when I was reading technical texts, I did not bother to understand each and every
word [] But when you are reading about a landscape, which is not even a
real landscape, but a fantasy or science fiction one, then you really, really want
to imagine what it is like.
I consider this remark a proof that in his case, Balzss intrinsic motivation was much
greater than any other motivation, which came from other sources.

31

3. 5 Effects of role-playing and related activities on various language skills

In conclusion of this part, roleplaying and its associated activities did help these learners
achieve substantial vocabulary improvement. They have learned specific language, which is
related to the fantasy and science fiction genres, like the vocabulary of medieval weaponry
and science. Less obviously even for them, they must have acquired other vocabulary items
and grammatical structures due to extensive reading. Reading comprehension is a skill, which
could also improve due to their hobby.
The impact of roleplaying on listening comprehension and productive skills is much
less significant. Although all the participants told me that they can understand everything they
hear, the development of this skill is most probably due to other factors, like participation in
international conferences, or university training. The same is the case with speaking
development and pronunciation.
It must be noted that when I asked the participants about their skills, Blint veges
and Balzs Lay told me that their pronunciation was the weakest of the four skills. This must
be due to the fact, that they have spent much more time reading English, and they did not
create the opportunity to learn the pronunciation of all the words in their extensive
vocabulary.
Writing skills are special, because only one of the three participants took up creative
writing as a hobby in relation with roleplaying. Most probably if I had interviewed more
people, I would not have found many more writers among them. In Balzs lveczkys case
however, I consider it spectacular that he writes in a foreign language, and I think that his
university training as an English studies major also encouraged him to do so.

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Conclusion and further research

Although most of the participants formal English learning experiences proved to be lacking
in many respects, all of them have reached a high level of English proficiency that they can
comfortably use in their professional and private lives and they are mostly satisfied with their
current level. To a great extent, this is the result of extended exposure to authentic English
texts in the form of RPG rulebooks, RPG-related literature and computer-based roleplaying
games. They were also motivated to engage in various English-related tasks while pursuing
their hobbies, e.g.: reading complete narratives, extended vocabulary learning, translation and
fiction writing. This is clearly the result of a high level of motivation, because they love their
hobbies and they need to use their English skills to be able to further pursue them. In the
literature this kind of extrinsic motivation is called identified regulation, and in the case of the
three people I interviewed, it was stronger than any kind of motivation that came from
language lessons. I still maintain the idea however, that both their hobbies and their formal
education contributed to their current level, because role-playing and its associated activities
mainly improved the participants receptive skills and the vocabulary. Their overall high
proficiency could not have come solely from their pursuit of their hobbies, but from instructed
language learning, too.
It is a fortunate coincidence that these three interviewees interests and likes are so
tightly connected to each other and that all these activities led these people to practicing
English and improving their language skills. By enlisting all the benefits of these hobbies, I
am not saying that English teachers must incorporate roleplaying games and fantasy elements
into their lessons. Obviously, it could be beneficial for some students, but boring and
uninteresting for others. Even making the learning process entirely dependent on the common
interests of all group members may be difficult, or nearly impossible in most Hungarian
schools, where teachers are already overburdened and lack significant support.
The main conclusion of this research is that even if teachers cannot bring their lessons
closer to their students for some reason, they should consciously direct their students towards
meaningful activities, which involve English. Balzs Lay, Blint veges and Balzs lveczky
came upon roleplaying by chance, but many other students never find a reason to use English
for a personal reason. For these students, awareness-raising and teacher guidance could mean
an introduction to a new world and to great perspectives in self-improvement. This guidance
should not only mean empty advice such as read a book in English or watch the news in
English, because these are too vague and too meaningless for most people. Meaningless
activities easily become a burden and they only alienate students from wanting to learn or deal
33

with the foreign language in their free time. Balzs Lay who originally turned to the fantasy
genre, because he had to read the youth classic Pl utcai fik so many times for literature
class that he felt he had had enough of it. He argues that if I had started reading an anatomy
album at that time, maybe I would have learned Latin and become a doctor now. This clearly
shows the power of motivation at work. English teachers could use this special kind of
extrinsic motivation, and they should be able to recognize the benefits extracurricular
activities and direct their students towards them. This way, the enthusiasm students have
towards an activity, which they find highly rewarding and useful, (identified regulation,
Drnyei 2001) could be harnessed during language lessons, if for example teachers created
opportunities for students to bring the English they learned outside the classroom into the
classroom.
Another interesting result of my research is that in an EFL context, it cannot be taken
for granted that students are motivated to learn the language, because they especially like and
identify with the target language community (Gardner 1985). I do not say, that cultural
information is useless in EFL teaching, but based on the results of this research, pieces of
English culture should be carefully selected based on the schemata of the learner group. In the
case of the three participants of this research, RPGs and fantasy literature proved to be
cultural products, which had an incredible effect on language learning.
Further research could be aimed at teachers view on the phenomenon I studied in this
work what perspectives they see in it, what its limitations are, how they could use it in the
Hungarian context for example. Another research topic I would follow up on is the
applicability of roleplaying game elements into English lessons. I consider it extremely
relevant, because of the uprising of the fantasy and science fiction genre in general, thanks to
bestsellers like Harry Potter, The Song of Ice and Fire and popular fantasy and superhero
movies, too.
In the future, I would also expand the scope of this research. This time, I only
interviewed male participants who became motivated to pursue their hobby in English.
However, there are people, who avoid English material even though they love the roleplaying
hobby and their personal stories could add further depth to the results of this research. It
would be also worth knowing how many people of the Hungarian roleplaying subculture
share the experiences of my interviewees. An online quantitative research could show us how
widespread this phenomenon is.

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35

References:
1. Clement R., Drnyei Z. and Noels K. A. (1994): Motivation, self-confidence and group
cohesion in the foreign language classroom. Language Learning 44: 417-48
2. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990): Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper
Perennial.
3. Drnyei, Z. (2001): Teaching and researching motivation. Harlow: Pearson Education
Limited.
4. Drnyei, Z. (2005): The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in
second language acquisition. L. Erlbaum.
5. Drnyei, Z. (2007): Research methods in applied linguistics. Oxford University Press.
6. Gardner, R. (1985): Social psychology and second language learning: The role of attitudes
and motivation. Edward Arnold, London
7. Grouling, J. (2010): The creation of narrative in table-top role-playing games. Jefferson:
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers.
8. Krashen, S. (1982): Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Pergamon
Press Inc.
9. Rubin, Herbert J. & Rubin, I. (1995): Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data.
Sage Publications.
10. Saldana, J. (2009): The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers. Sage Publications.
11. Schank, Roger C. & Abelson, Robert P. (1995) Knowledge and Memory: The Real Story.
In: Robert S. Wyer, Jr (ed) Knowledge and Memory: The Real Story. Hillsdale, NJ.
Lawrence ErlbaumAssociates. 1-85.

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NYILATKOZAT a szakdolgozat eredetisgrl

Alulrott .(nv)
..(EHA kd), a PTE Blcsszettudomnyi Karnak hallgatja
ezennel bntetjogi felelssgem tudatban nyilatkozom s alrsommal igazolom, hogy
...
...
cm szakdolgozatom sajt, nll munkm; az abban hivatkozott nyomtatott s
elektronikus szakirodalom felhasznlsa a szerzi jogok nemzetkzi szablyainak
megfelelen kszlt.
Tudomsul veszem, hogy szakdolgozat esetn plgiumnak szmt:
sz szerinti idzet kzlse idzjel s hivatkozs megjellse nlkl;
tartalmi idzet hivatkozs megjellse nlkl;
ms publiklt gondolatainak sajt gondolatknt val feltntetse.
Kijelentem, hogy a plgium fogalmt megismertem s tudomsul veszem, hogy amennyiben a
benyjtott szakdolgozat srti a szerzi jogokat, gy a dolgozat minstse elgtelen (1),
tovbb velem szemben a szakfelels fegyelmi eljrst kezdemnyez a dknnl a
Tanulmnyi s Vizsgaszablyzat 59. (14) alapjn.

Pcs, 20______ v __________________ h _________ nap

____________________________________
hallgat alrsa

37

Appendix:
Question list:
These are the questions I based the interviews on. While conducting the interviews themselves
I took the opportunity to alter the wording and the order of these questions to better integrate
them into the conversations.
1) Milyen lmnyeid vannak az angol nyelvtanulssal kapcsolatban?
2) Milyen tapasztalataid vannak az intzmnyes angol tanulssal kapcsolatban? Mennyire
rdekeltek az iskolai angol rk? Mennyiben motivltak tged?
3) Milyen kls tnyezk motivltak tged az angol nyelv tanulsra?
4) Milyen elvrsaid voltak magaddal szemben az angol nyelvtanuls tern?
5) Milyen iskoln kvli tnyezk segtettk az angol nyelvtanulsodat?
6) Hogyan jelent meg az angol nyelv a szerepjtkos hobbidban?
7) Mennyiben motivlt az angol nyelv tanulsra a szerepjtkos hobbi?
8) Milyen ms tevkenysgek ktdnek a szerepjtkhoz, amik segthettek az angol nyelv
elsajttsban?
9) Mennyiben motivlnak ezek a tevkenysgek arra, hogy foglalkozz az angol nyelvvel?
10) Hogyan rtkelnd a sajt nyelvtudsodat? Mik lehetnek az erssgeid s a gyengesgeid?
11) Mit gondolsz, mely aspektusait fejlesztette a szerepjtk, s a hozz ktd
tevkenysgek az angol nyelvtudsodnak?

38