The Investigation of the Relationship between Online Games and Acquisition of Turkish Vocabulary

This study examines the relationship between online games and Turkish vocabulary acquisition. It adopted the sequential explanatory design of the mixed methods research. The quantitative data were collected through cluster sampling technique from 225 students studying in two secondary schools. The qualitative data were collected through the criterion sampling technique of the purposeful sampling methods from 20 participants. While vocabulary knowledge assessment form was used to collect quantitative data, a semi-structured interview form was used for the qualitative data. According to quantitative findings, whilst there was a significant difference between the scores in vocabulary knowledge test and the duration of the game, experience in playing the game, and time spent in watching broadcasts, there was not a significant difference between vocabulary scores and following League of Legends on media or social media. The experience of the participants in playing games, the weekly hours of playing games, and weekly hours spent watching broadcasts significantly predicts the scores in the vocabulary test. Whereas the qualitative findings revealed the relation of watching broadcasts and playing League of Legends to learn words of foreign origin with its reasons, there was not a significant relationship between following social media and acquisition expressions of foreign origin.