ne of interviewee said “Usually I read about some description of the heroes in the game, so I know a bit about vocabulary, some new vocabulary in their lore, or their story of the heroes in the game. From that, I learn some vocabulary knowledge from the game”. Players are forced to understand English words according to their functions, thus expanding their vocabulary contextually without feeling like formal learning in school or college. This learning process is very important because it is motivated bye one’s own interests.
In addition to vocabulary, listening comprehension even pronunciation are also honed through character or hero dialogue and voice line in the game. Each hero has a series of quotes that are spoken during the game as well as in the battle lobby or hero selection, such as the hero Odette, one of which is “You become what you believe in” during the game and “Love outshines the golden crown” during hero selection.
MLBB also provides voice lines during the game that are useful for providing notification such as “Victory!”, “Enemy has slain lord”, “Double Kill”, “Maniac”, and many more are always spoken in English. As found by Kobis & Tomatala (2020), about students’ perceptions of MLBB as a tool for learning English Listening and English speaking or pronunciation.
The research results show that 19 out of 31 student respondents or around (61.3%) agree with the statement that says “I understand all English instruction that I listen while playing MLBB”, In addition, 14 students (45.2%) agree with the statement that says “Playing MLBB makes my ability in English better than before I played it”. Then in the pronunciation aspect, it shows that 17 students agree and 8 students strongly agree with the statement “Playing Mobile Legends makes me know the way to pronounce English words that I heard while playing that game”.
One student said that when the hero he uses attacks, he will say a phrase and the student starts to imitate the pronunciation of his hero so that he trains his pronunciation to be better. This makes gaming sessions not only fun but also a beneficial auditory experience for English language development.
In short, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is not just a game that aims to entertain; it can be a powerful informal English learning medium. Through understanding communication between teams using the available features, getting a lot of vocabulary from the available from the various elements, and it is very useful for improving the listening skills and also the pronunciation of English from the players.
This phenomenon proves that learning English or learning other language can not only be done traditionally or formally in class, but can also be done through fun activities and in line with personal interests. With the increasing popularity of Mobile Legends or other English games, the potential utilizing technology in the form of entertainment media as a bridge to mastering English is increasingly wide open, showing that the Land of Dawn is the Land of English for many people.
Writer: Muhamad Fahril, Student of Al-Ihya Islamic University, Kuningan
