Video Games and the Improvement of English Learning: University Students Perspective

People say that video games give bad influence to people, especially young generation. However, with the development of technology all over the world, almost all people – from young to old – are playing games with their gadgets: a notebook, a computer, a tablet or smartphones. It means that playing games are the activities which cannot be separated from the gamers (mostly students). The good effect is video games that use English as the means of communication can help students of non-English natives to learn English. The purpose of this study is to get students perspectives about video games that relate to English learning. The participants are 35 Binus University first semester students majoring in Cyber Security, who love video games very much. The methodology used is descriptive qualitative. The students are asked to write in English their opinion about playing video games that relate to their English learning. The results prove that all of them (100%) declared that they improve their English from playing the video games. Besides the good things, 80% of the students admitted that video games either on-line or off-line give bad impacts, like addiction and wasting time. To avoid the negative influence of video games, the students suggest the gamers manage their time effectively. In addition, parents need to have a control to protect their children from bad effects of online games. Keywords: Video Games; English learning; Students perspectiv