Serious Games for English Language Learning: A scoping review

Abstract

There is a growing need to learn English motivated by international communication, being serious games an educational resource that can contribute to respond to this need. Thus, the aim of this study is to know the current state of the literature on the use of serious games for English language learning considering the formal environment. Thus, a scoping review has been carried out, in which scientific articles published between 2020-2024 have been included and searches have been performed in the databases and repositories Scopus, Web of Science, IEEE Xplore, ERIC, ProQuest, ScienceDirect and ACM Digital Library. Thirty publications were selected after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results indicate a decrease in the number of publications per year until 2022, after which there is a stabilization. Likewise, the variety of authors, the presence of more studies in Higher Education, and the preponderance of certain journals in the publication of these studies can also be highlighted. The study allows us to advance in the research on the use of serious games for teaching English, gathering publications from any educational stage, as well as from the last five years, allowing us to know the current situation of this field of study.