Comparison of English Vocabulary Mastery Between Computer-Gamer and Non-Gamer Indonesian Students

Abstract

Game has been a part of teenagers’ lives. The advancement of technology has led to the development of computer
games. The vocabularies from games could give ample exposure to those who play them. The present study reports
the difference in English vocabulary mastery of the computer-gamer and non-gamer Indonesian students and the
correlation between frequency of playing computer games and the English vocabulary mastery. The research designs
employed were comparative and correlational studies. The participants, 72 eleventh grade students of SMK Negeri 1
Bangil Pasuruan majoring Multimedia Engineering, were divided into two groups, 36 computer-gamer students and
36 non-gamer students. The data were collected by utilizing a demographic data collection and a free completion test
of English vocabularies. The collected data were then analyzed statistically using SPSS 20. The results revealed that
there was no statistically difference in English vocabulary mastery between computer-gamer students and
non-gamers for the -value was 0.589. The result of Pearson correlation which was used to answer the second
research question showed that there was a positive but very weak correlation between frequency of playing computer
games and the English vocabulary mastery. It could be inferred from the result that playing games does not really
support the vocabulary acquisition of the students and the amount of time spent to play games barely improve their
vocabulary mastery.