Purpose: This study aimed to explore the semantic structure of esports as perceived by stakeholders in school physical education and to examine its educational acceptability within the context of school physical education Methods: Data were collected ...
Purpose: This study aimed to explore the semantic structure of esports as perceived by stakeholders in school physical education and to examine its educational acceptability within the context of school physical education Methods: Data were collected through an online open-ended survey administered to 788 stakeholders in school physical education, including students and teachers. The collected textual data were standardized and refined using Textom, followed by keyword frequency and TF-IDF analyses. To examine the semantic structure among keywords, a co-occurrence matrix was constructed and degree centrality was calculated. In addition, semantic network analysis was conducted using NetMiner 5.0.
Results: The perceptions of stakeholders in school physical education toward esports were classified into three dimensions.
First, in terms of positive perceptions, the keywords fun and sport emerged as central terms and were linked with such keywords as cooperation, strategy, and ability, indicating that esports was perceived as a strategy-based sport. Second, in terms of negative perceptions, the keyword addiction appeared as the central term and was connected with such keywords as game, health, vision, and academic performance, suggesting that esports was perceived as a game that threatens everyday life. Third, in terms of improvement-oriented perceptions, the keyword equipment functioned as the central term and was linked with education, teacher, student, environment, and operation, reflecting the recognition that both physical infrastructure and an educational operating system are necessary for the effective use of esports in school physical education.
Conclusion: The educational use of esports is determined less by the characteristics of the activity itself than by institutional conditions such as the educational environment, operational system, and instructional agents. Accordingly, the value of accepting esports within school physical education depends on how its educational meaning is structured and implemented.
These findings provide a practical foundation for the inclusive expansion of school physical education in the era of digital transformation.