Review of Literature on Teaching English Vocabularies Through Games to Young Language Learners

In the last two decades, learning English has become a popular activity in Iran (Sadeghi & Richards, 2015). There has been a remarkable increase in the number of private language schools in the country. In Iran, interest in English has risen due to the status of the language as a lingua franca and its necessity for technical, scientific, and economic developments. Meanwhile, vocabulary is deemed as one of the most crucial aspects of learning a language. Currently, vocabularies are taught through traditional methods; therefore, young learners lose their interest over time. This paper aims to substantiate that games are profoundly effective in teaching vocabularies and affect young learners’ motivation and engagement with the language. This paper presents a review of literature on teaching English vocabularies through games to young English language learners in Iran. It discusses the practical instructions of games and how games could be taught more effectively. It describes the suitability and implication of games and how they should be selected and implemented by teachers. Three games are introduced for teaching vocabularies and followed by a discussion on the inherent challenges of teaching vocabularies through games.