DOI: https://doi.org/10.14710/parole.v16i2.57-76

Beyond the Dice: Developing Sociolinguistic and Pragmatic Competence through the Language & Society Board Game

1Prodi Pendidikan Bahasa Jepang, Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Indonesia

2Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Indonesia

Received: 18 Jun 2026; Revised: 28 Aug 2026; Accepted: 6 Oct 2026; Available online: 26 Oct 2026; Published: 1 Oct 2026.
Open Access Copyright (c) 2026 PAROLE: Journal of Linguistics and Education under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.

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Abstract

This study develops and evaluates an educational board game, Language & Society, designed to enhance sociolinguistic and pragmatic competence in higher education. Unlike existing language learning games that predominantly focus on vocabulary or grammar, this board game explicitly integrates sociolinguistic variables (power relations, social distance, and levels of formality) into gameplay mechanics, offering a non-digital, classroom-friendly medium that simulates contextualized social interactions through role-based and scenario-driven tasks. It employs a Research and Development (R&D) approach adapted from Borg and Gall’s ten-stage model into six essential phases: needs analysis, product design, expert validation, design revision, small-group testing, and final evaluation. The study aims to develop the board game and to evaluate its feasibility, acceptability, and perceived benefits. It does not aim to test the game’s effectiveness in improving sociolinguistic or pragmatic competence. The game integrates contextbased scenarios, pragmatic tasks, social role interactions, and challenge-based activities. Expert review and small-group testing with university students were conducted using perception-based instruments (expert review checklists and student response questionnaires) with data analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results indicate high perceived feasibility (approximately 85%), categorized as feasible, with students reporting perceived increases in engagement, reduced communication anxiety, perceived enhanced metapragmatic awareness, and greater self-reported confidence in using contextually appropriate language. This feasibility score reflects expert judgment and student perceptions of the product, not evidence of improved pragmatic competence. These findings indicate that a systematically designed board game can be feasible and acceptable as an instructional medium in a single institutional context and that it has the potential to support the bridging of grammatical accuracy and appropriate language use. However, given the small purposive sample (N = 32) from one institution, these findings should not be generalized to broader populations without further research. This study is positioned as a research and development (R&D) and feasibility/validation study, not as an effectiveness study; therefore, it does not claim to demonstrate measurable improvement in pragmatic competence. This study contributes to innovative instructional media development and offers a replicable model for integrating pragmatic instruction into game-based learning.

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Keywords: pragmatic; sociolinguistics; game-based learning; educational board game; communicative competence
Funding: Universitas Negeri Jakarta

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Section: Research Article
Language : EN
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