Farzad Parsayi

In the study of film, Nöel Carroll (2001) coined the term the “paradox of suspense” to refer to a situation in which rewatching a film continues to invoke suspenseful feelings. According to the paradox, the tension associated with anticipation and uncertainty persists even though the spectator definitely knows what will happen (Carroll 2001). Many of the articles on the paradox and suspense examine the narrative events shaping spectator or player knowledge (Branigan 1992; Gerrig 1997; Ortony, Clore, and Collins 1988; Prieto-Pablos 1998; Smuts 2008; Yanal 1996), however, this paper takes a slightly different approach by addressing factors that contribute to the feeling of suspense irrespective of the awareness of specific narrative events. By examining videogames, we also shift the frame of reference from narration to gameplay and the way players prepare for suspenseful events. We argue that videogames require a particular attitude manifest in the gameplay that continues to foster suspense even in the replaying of a game.

Vocabulary is deemed as one of the most integral constituents of a language. It is common knowledge that the more vocabulary one knows, the better one can express oneself. Language learners mostly express their unwillingness to learn vocabulary because it is deemed a laborious task. However, video games are regarded as one of the tools with which students can expand their repertoires of vocabulary. In the context of meaningful learning the study's focus on video games sought to explore students' perceptions of their vocabulary learning through their experience playing video games as a pass time. Language learners involved in playing video games on a regular basis are typically introduced to contexts and tasks that require them to acquire a bulk of new vocabularies to be successful in the game. Thus, the content and challenge presented in video games can motivate players to learn the vocabulary necessary to be able to accomplish each level of the game and gradually increase the breadth and depth of the language involved. With this in mind this study explored seven Iranian, English as a foreign language, learners' perceptions of whether video games played a crucial role in expanding their repertoire of vocabulary. Being experienced in playing video games as a stimulus for the research they were asked to play the specific game, Hitman Absolution (2012), after which they were interviewed about the experience. The analysis of interview data indicated that the students believed that the experience of playing video games provided a deeper learning experience in terms of acquiring the vocabulary involved and that their learning of the vocabulary was implicit to playing the game. Recommendations are made for extending the research.