Teachers and Learners’ Perspectives about the Integration of Video Games in Speaking Classes: The Case of Departments of English in Algeria

Abstract

The dissertation in hand aims to investigate Algerian university teachers’ and students’ perspectives about integrating video games as a teaching tool in an English as a foreign language context, namely speaking classes. To conduct the research, the two following assumptions have been formulated: the first assumption implies that university teachers of English in Algeria have positive perspectives about the playing of video games in speaking classes as a means to improve the speaking skill. The second assumption indicates that university students of English in Algeria have positive perspectives about the playing of video games in speaking classes as a means to improve the speaking skill. In order to verify the two assumptions, the researchers used, as research tools, a questionnaire that they administered online to 210 students from different departments of English in Algeria, and an interview that they shared online with 26 English language university teachers. The results of this research show that even though Algerian university students and teachers are not fully familiar with video-game play, they are not actually opposed to its use as a strategy in English as a foreign language classes in general and in speaking classes in particular. Based on these results, the research assumptions are supported and some recommendations are proposed on the basis of the findings of the research.