| Summary: | Abstract. The use of technology has a growing importance in Finnish schools. Examples of this development are electronic learning materials and exams, among others. However, a versatile technological medium that is already familiar to many students, namely video games, is largely missing from schools, despite the evidence of their positive effects on learning. A justification for their use can also be found in the sociological and ecological views on learning, to which the current Finnish national core curricula are based on. Therefore, this master’s thesis examines the use of video games in English language learning in Finnish schools, focusing on the following two research questions: 1) what kind of views are preventing and enabling the use of video games, and 2) what kind of affordances can video games offer for English language learning? The data for this thesis was collected from an English language learning experiment that took place at an upper secondary school in northern Finland. The experiment consisted of a gaming session, in which four second-year students played two short chapters from the video game Detroit: Become Human (2018), and a group interview in Finnish. The recordings from the gaming session and interview were transcribed, and then analysed with content analysis. This study revealed that although the participants were avid gamers and had noticed the video games’ positive impact on their English skills, they viewed them as belonging primarily to the free time and named challenges for their use at school. These challenges included for example the distinction between free time activities and school, and technological and language skills required for playing. However, the participants saw also possibilities and potential for the use of video games, for example using them as a basis for a written assignment, or a part of a multidisciplinary module combining English with another subject. Affordances that became visible during the gaming session, were for example, the authentic language ...
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