Gameful Second and Foreign Language Teaching and Learning

Theory, Research, and Practice

Jonathon Reinhardt

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9783030047290
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Linguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

This book offers a comprehensive examination of the theory, research, and practice of the use of digital games in second and foreign language teaching and learning (L2TL). It explores how to harness the enthusiasm, engagement, and motivation that digital gaming can inspire by adopting a gameful L2TL approach that encompasses game-enhanced, game-informed, and game-based practice. The first part of the book situates gameful L2TL in the global practices of informal learnful L2 gaming and in the theories of play and games which are then applied throughout the discussion of gameful L2TL practice that follows. This includes analysis of practices of digital game-enhanced L2TL design (the use of vernacular, commercial games), game-informed L2TL design (gamification and the general application of gameful principles to L2 pedagogy), and game-based L2TL design (the creation of digital games purposed for L2 learning). Designed as a guide for researchers and teachers, the book also offers fresh insights for scholars of applied linguistics, second language acquisition, L2 pedagogy, computer-assisted language learning (CALL), game studies, and game design that will open pathways to future developments in the field.

© The Author(s) 2019

Jonathon ReinhardtGameful Second and Foreign Language Teaching and LearningNew Language Learning and Teaching Environmentshttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04729-0_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction

Jonathon Reinhardt¹

(1)

Department of English, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

Jonathon Reinhardt

Email: [email protected]

End Abstract

When you are playing a good digital game —a computer, video, or mobile game —a lot is going on. You are learning to play by playing—practicing and perfecting skills, acquiring bits of knowledge , setting goals and achieving them. You are deeply engaged, which means your attention is focused on playing at the cognitive, emotional, and perhaps social level. As you achieve your goals, you are highly motivated to keep learning whatever it is you have to—new game rules , stories, language—to keep playing.

1.1 Theory, Research, and Practice

Many second and foreign language (L2) educators are envious that an activity like digital gaming seems to have such power to engage and teach, and rightly ask themselves whether they might harness some of that capacity for teaching language. Many students these days play digital games—some are truly avid gamers—and if we could just transfer a bit of that gaming enthusiasm, engagement, and motivation to language learning, we just know it would be easier and more effective. But how? A clue is in the above scenario, in that the player is motivated by play, and they learn incidentally in order to play. This concept, “learning to play ”, is sometimes contrasted with “playing to learn ”, where the learner plays in order to learn, a mindset that sometimes drives educational uses of digital games and leads to their failure (Arnseth 2006; Sykes and Reinhardt 2012). So how can we avoid this trap? How can we teach L2s with games, while making sure learner-players (a better term than just ‘learner’ or ‘player’) develop and retain a ‘learning to play ’ mindset ? How can we design games that promote this gameful attitude (e.g. McGonigal 2016; Reinhardt and Thorne 2016; see Sect. 1.2.4), without the game becoming drudgery? And if the goal is play, how can we be sure that learning is happening?

Since digital games appeared in the 1970s, L2 educators and researchers have engaged in praxis to answer these questions. Praxis is an integrated approach to engaging theory with research and teaching practices, so that theory is informed by practices and vice versa. The assumption that theory is opposed to practice, that thinking is opposed to doing rather than integrated with it, has led to a misunderstanding by some that the two are disconnected and don’t really have much to offer one another; they may believe that the theoreticians come up with abstract ideas and research them, and the practitioners work in the trenches of teaching, sometimes referring to theory and research, but usually figuring things out based on their own experiences. However, from a praxis -informed perspective, theory to research to teaching is not a one-way street, but rather, a dialogic back-and-forth between action and reflection grounded in reasoning and experience (Freire 1970; Bernstein 1983). Neither is research the only way theory connects to teaching, because teaching is a rich space for research and theory development. In short, the concept of praxis recognizes that both research and teaching are informed by, and inform theory. In teacher education a praxis -informed perspective is recognized as a productive model for teacher professional development (Fig. 1.1).

Fig. 1.1

Relationships between L2 learning theory, research, and L2 teaching practice

Praxis is a good way to explore the use of gameful L2TL (second and foreign language teaching and learning) because most successful games are designed in a very grounded, practice-oriented way, that is, not simply by applying a design theory-informed plan to create a product, but by dialoguing with game players to continually develop it in a process called “design-based research”. A digital game designer may consider game design theory when creating a game , or they may borrow and adapt themes and mechanics from games of a similar genre , but often their ideas are grounded in their own game playing practices; ask any gamer for game design ideas and they’ll have at least a few. Every game goes through iterative cycles of prototyping and playtesting before it is officially launched and made publicly available.

The idea of praxis also reflects a tried and true approach in CALL (computer-assisted language learning) since its beginnings in the 1970s. L2 teachers develop principled ways of using commercial technology for L2 teaching, build their own educational applications, test them out with their own students, and share what they find. Their experiences with teaching and learning ground research and application. In gameful L2TL, gaming is another key practice on which to draw, and playing games allows the teacher or researcher to situate their work in practice. Most readers of this book will have practical experience in gaming , in L2 learning, and/or in L2 teaching which can be drawn on when interpreting theory and research and developing new practices, in short, the makings of their own gameful L2TL praxis . First and foremost, this means reflecting on one’s practices as a teacher, learner, and gamer , and thinking about how theoretical concepts of play, games, L2 learning, and L2 pedagogy are (or are not) reflected in the gameplay experience. If a game seems to afford, or facilitate L2 learning, exactly how does it do so? If it does not, why not, and how could it be better designed to do so? What do you know from your own experience that can help make sense of it? When it then comes time to designing a truly gameful L2 learning experience , the design is situated in praxis .

1.1.1 Games in CALL

Games have been studied in a variety of academic fields from many different theoretical and methodological perspectives. Educational games may be studied in education, educational technology, or in the corresponding educational field of what is being taught (e.g., science or math). Games are the primary object of study in games studies , which is the study of the theory, research and practice of the play and design of all and any games, digital and analog, educational and entertainment-focused. Games studies scholars tend to be in cultural and media studies, or in social sciences like sociology and anthropology, while game design is often studied in media arts, software development, and computer programming, which may be sub-fields of computer science and engineering. To generalize, games studies focuses on theory and research, while game design focuses more specifically on development, but the fields borrow concepts, theories, and practices from one another and are both highly interdisciplinary. Developing an educational game is a truly interdisciplinary undertaking; Crookall (2010) defines simulation / gaming as encompassing “an array of methods, knowledge , practices, and theories, such as simulation , gaming , serious game , computer simulation , computerized simulation , modeling, agent-based modeling virtual reality , virtual world , experiential learning, game theory , role-play, case study, and debriefing ” (p. 899).

When a game is educational as opposed to vernacular, besides to entertain it ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Learnful L2 Gaming
• 3. Play
• 4. Game
• 5. Gameful L2 Learning
• 6. Game-Enhanced L2TL
• 7. Game-Informed L2TL
• 8. Game-Based L2TL
• 9. Researching Gameful L2TL
• 10. Conclusion
• Back Matter