World of Warcraft: A setting for L2 use and development

As a result of the growing role and importance of Internet mediated communication there has been a shift into virtual space that has not yet found its way into the classroom. Many researchers argue that videogames offer a productive means to close this gap. This calls for a serious consideration of the pedagogy and design principles of video games. In light of this, this study examines the massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft (WoW). Principle findings suggest that WoW is a promising L2 environment for European players because it presents a diverse linguistic environment with abundant exposure to English. However, the amount of in-game exposure to and interaction in the L2 strongly depends on the agency of individual players and what they wish to achieve in the game. What does not seem to be subject to individual playing styles is the use of game-external web-based resources, which are used with high frequency. They are best understood as a fully integrated aspect of regular game play. These external resources are comprised of complex and technical genres of the English language, and thus, in addition to in-game texts and player-to-player communication, provide additional and quite promising resources for L2 development.