Impact Analysis of Sakura School Simulator Game on Language Acquisition of 7-Year-Old Children

This study investigates the impact of the smartphone game Sakura School Simulator on language acquisition in 7-year-old girls in Wajak village, Wajak sub-district, Malang district, East Java. It also investigates the understanding of language development in children, including the biological and social aspects that influence the process. The purpose of this study is to understand the extent to which the Sakura School Simulator game can influence language skills in 7-year-old children, with a focus on the use of English. The method used in this study was based on a descriptive qualitative approach and included observation of children playing the Sakura School Simulator game by listening and taking notes. The results showed that children who played the Sakura School Simulator game actively used various English terms in the game, understood instructions


Introduction
The process of language development in children begins before they utter their first word, occurs during the last trimester of pregnancy and through learning experiences that influence human speech.According to John L. Locke in his language, humans are very active creatures in speaking.Meanwhile, the development of the rules of the English phonetic language system notes that for example, the ability to produce sentences by a person, the distinction between words, and the order of names in syntactic structures can be found in primate with each other.(Fauziyah & Dwi Aprila, 2023).
Language acquisition is an important aspect of psycholinguistic research that examines the extent to which a child naturally learns his or her native language.(Zataqiah, 2023).This process is related to learning a second language after a child has acquired his or her first language.As a result, language acquisition focuses on a person's first language, while language learning is related to the second language learned afterward.(Syahid, 2015).
Language acquisition in children is a process that continues to develop with age, starting from acquiring a letter, word, phrase, to forming a sentence.Children's expertise in acquiring language from their age stages is the focus of research, paying attention to how children master language as they grow older.Initially, children acquire language for the first time, namely mother tongue, which is acquired naturally after birth.A child does not immediately have a complete understanding of the rules of grammar, but rather goes through the natural process of learning his or her first language.As he grows, a child will acquire a second language through interaction with the environment, both at home and in his school environment, both through formal and informal education.This process of second language acquisition is not always natural as it often involves deliberate learning in everyday life.(Silianti & Yulianto, 2022).
There are two main factors that help children acquire language skills, namely biological factors and social factors.In addition, other supporting factors that help children acquire language skills include gender, environmental, intellectual, motivational, and socio-economic factors.Environmental factors can be seen from human behavior towards the surrounding environment.And an example of one of the behaviors that children do today is playing games online through gadgets or smartphones.(Hafifah dkk., 2022).
One of the online games available on smart phones is the Sakura School Simulator game.This game is an exciting simulation game that presents the experience of school life in a fun and creative format.In this game, players can explore a vast school environment with a variety of activities to do, from studying, interacting with friends, to undergoing exciting adventures.With attractive graphics and exciting gameplay, the game manages to create an enthralling virtual world, allowing players to experience the thrill of school life filled with adventure and excitement.This Sakura School Simulator game not only affects adults, but also children.If played excessively, the negative influence is not impossible to be felt by children.
However, on the positive side, it is often found that children tend to be smart because they often play and imitate what is in this Sakura School Simulator game (Kurniati & Nuryani, 2020).Language development at the age of 6 or 7 years here children begin to be able to have good conversations and ask questions with their friends.According to Piaget in Kholilullah ( 2023) that means that a child who is 6 years old can already communicate with children of the same age.
Previous studies in this study include research by Arifin et al., (2023) entitled "The Impact of Spongebob Movies and Online Games on the Second Language Acquisition of 6-Year-Old Children", the results of this study show that 6-year-old children can speak Indonesian (in the form of sentences) although there are some diction that leads to things that are less polite.On the other hand, 6-year-old children can use Indonesian (in the form of sentences) even though the sentence structure is still incomplete.Similar research was also conducted by Kurniati & Nuryani (2020) entitled "The Effect of Youtube Social Media on Children's Language Acquisition 3-4 Years Old (Study on Speech Delay Children)", which found that Youtube social media has a significant influence on children's language acquisition, especially for speech delay children.Further research was conducted by Silianti & Yulianto (2022) with the title "Indonesian Sentence Acquisition of 7-Year-Old Children: A Functional Linguistic Study", which found 41 utterances showing that interrogative sentences and subject-predicate (S-P) sentence patterns tend to be used by children in communication.Research on this subject was also conducted by Hafifah et al., (2022) entitled "The Impact of Online Games on Children's Second Language Acquisition", and obtained the results that children have recognized new vocabulary from English and know their meaning, among the English vocabulary obtained are error, lag, battle, build, room, by one, cheat, shoot, and others.Therefore, it is important to conduct this research to provide a more in-depth and comprehensive understanding of the positive and negative impacts that the Sakura School Simulator game may have on the language acquisition of 7-year-old children.With this research, it is expected to produce a more detailed guide that can provide benefits to parents and teachers.The aim is for parents and teachers to understand and manage the influence of the Sakura School Simulator game more effectively, and to have a positive impact on children's language development at the age of 7. Therefore, this will certainly help in the learning process and language development of these children.

Methods
The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative.Qualitative descriptive method is a research approach that aims to describe and explain certain phenomena or situations in detail without using numbers or statistics (Waruwu, 2023).This method focuses on collecting data in the form of words, and analyzing them narratively.The descriptive qualitative method explains the language acquisition that children acquire while playing the Sakura School Simulator game.
The data collection technique was carried out by observing 7-year-old children who like to play the Sakura School Simulator game in the RT 02 RW 04 area of Wajak Village, Wajak District, Malang Regency.The process of data collection and analysis was carried out by recording and grouping data.The type of data that researchers encountered was in the form of new vocabulary obtained by children when playing the Sakura School Simulator game.

Result & Discussion
From the results of direct observation or observation of children who are playing the Sakura School Simulator game, researchers found English word terms that are often spoken, including:

New Game
The implication of the sentence while playing is: "Here, click new game first if you want to play".The meaning of the word new game is a new game, which functions to start a new game from the beginning.

Attack
The implication of the sentence while playing is: "There are many enemies, keep attacking so that they all die".The meaning of the word attack is to attack, which in this game functions so that the character played attacks the one in front of him by hitting, kicking, and shooting.

Action
Here, the researcher tries to test the children who are playing related to the "Action" button in the game.The researcher tried to move the character to an object, in this case a car, then asked how this character could do something to the object or get into the car.Then the child immediately said, "click this action, let him get in the car".

Park
The implication of the sentence while playing is: "Just move to the park, there are lots of children and people playing, lots of rides too".The meaning of the word park is park, which is an area in the game in which there are children's rides, adult rides, roller coasters, selling places and trees.

Hospital
The implication of the sentence during play is: "There are only a few lives left, go to the hospital to get well".The meaning of the word hospital is hospital, which is one of the places in the game that serves to heal the game character.
Not only that, researchers also found the fact that children who play the Sakura School Simulator game in which the whole game uses English, understand and understand the various texts that exist along with their functions.This can be seen from when the child plays the game by always tinkering according to his wishes.Some of these menus include: hide attack button, follow speed, funny mode, character edit, props, weather, mission, status, and many others.This phenomenon indicates that by playing the Sakura School Simulator game, it indirectly makes children learn English without realizing it.This will certainly have a positive impact on the language acquisition and development of the child coupled with a sense of fun and no burden when playing.So that the child will learn something with a calm heart and without any coercion, which results in something easier to learn and understand.
With further guidance and direction from parents, schools or the environment, a child will be able to maximize their potential to learn a language better.Starting from learning each word, followed by sentences, to paragraphs of a language.
Based on the observations that have been presented, there are several theories that support this phenomenon.One of the relevant theories is the second language acquisition theory.This theory suggests that children can learn a second language in a natural and unforced way, through social interaction and direct experience with the language (Nurlaila, 2021).
In the context of playing the Sakura School Simulator game in English, children engage in interaction with texts and instructions in the language.They actively interact with the menus and features in the game, which enables them to understand the meaning and function of each text.In this process, children are indirectly engaged in learning English without feeling burdened or forced.
In addition, motivation theory can also explain this phenomenon.Playing the Sakura School Simulator game gives children a sense of fun and enjoyment, so they are more motivated to continue interacting with the English language used in the game (Albab, 2019).High motivation can increase children's engagement and perseverance in language learning, which in turn improves their language acquisition.
In the context of language learning, cognitive theory is also relevant.This theory emphasizes the importance of information processing and knowledge construction in learning (Isna, 2019).In this case, playing the Sakura School Simulator game gives children hands-on experience in using English to understand and manipulate the various menus and features in the game.This process allows them to gradually develop their understanding and mastery of the language, from words to sentences and paragraphs in English.
However, keep in mind that while playing Sakura School Simulator games can be an effective tool in learning English, it is important for children to still get proper guidance and direction from their parents, school and neighborhood.Good guidance will help them optimize their potential in learning the language in a more thorough and structured manner.

Conclusion
This study has some interesting findings regarding the impact of the Sakura School Simulator game on language acquisition in 7-year-old children.Based on observations, children who actively play the game seem to be familiar with English quite often.Several English terms were actively used in the context of the game, such as "New Game", "Attack", "Action", "Park", "Hospital".The children also showed that they understood the English instructions in the game and were able to complete the related tasks and challenges.Another interesting phenomenon was that the children appeared to be able to understand and use the various menus and options in the game and all the terms were in English.
Despite its positive impact, the study cautions that the use of online games, including Sakura School Simulator, can have negative impacts if overused.Possible negative impacts include a lack of politeness in language use, especially if children are too focused on the expressions of the game.Based on these findings, it can be concluded that the use of the Sakura School Simulator game can contribute to language acquisition in 7-year-old children, especially regarding the use of English.However, it is important to be aware of the limitations and potential risks and provide appropriate guidance and direction so that children can positively benefit from the Sakura School Simulator game experience in children's language acquisition.This study provides a basis for a deeper understanding of the relationship between online games and children's language development.Therefore, this study is important in providing guidance for parents and teachers to effectively manage the influence of games to positively impact language development in 7-year-old children.