The Choices We Make: Game Design to Promote Second Language Acquisition

Prior research about games designed to promote Second Language Acquisition (SLA) typically involves one of two perspectives: 1. an overview of the gaming system and its architecture; or 2. an evaluation of the gameplay experience and its impact on students' SLA. Less is known about why certain game design decisions were made or how these decisions support or inhibit SLA. Thus, game designers and Second Language (L2) educators miss opportunities to learn from each other and to collaborate effectively in the game design process. This case study outlines the design process of a mobile game that promotes Spanish proficiency and reflects on this experience to understand how specific game design decisions influence certain aspects of SLA. Results reveal the correlation between design specifications and SLA.

[1]  Jesús García Laborda,et al.  Digital Games in Language Learning and Teaching , 2013 .

[2]  Brumfit Christopher.  Communicative methodology in language teaching , 1984 .

[3]  Mark Warschauer,et al.  Affordances for second language learning in World of Warcraft , 2012, ReCALL.

[4]  Julie M. Sykes,et al.  Chapter 4. Multiuser virtual environments: Learner apologies in Spanish , 2013 .

[5]  Stephen Krashen,et al.  Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition , 1982 .

[6]  Yolanda A. Rankin.  Diversity by Design: Female Students' Perception of a Spanish Language Learning Game , 2016, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[7]  Rebecca W. Black,et al.  Second Language Use, Socialization, and Learning in Internet Interest Communities and Online Gaming , 2009 .

[8]  R. Dekeyser,et al.  Practice in a Second Language: Perspectives from Applied Linguistics and Cognitive Psychology , 2007 .

[9]  Karina Collentine,et al.  LEARNER AUTONOMY IN A TASK-BASED 3D WORLD AND PRODUCTION , 2011 .

[10]  R. Kominski,et al.  Language Use in the United States: 2007 , 2010 .

[11]  Tracy Fullerton,et al.  Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, Third Edition , 2014 .

[12]  Mark Peterson,et al.  Massively multiplayer online role-playing games as arenas for second language learning , 2010 .

[13]  Scott R. Klemmer,et al.  Where do web sites come from?: capturing and interacting with design history , 2002, CHI.

[14]  Hayo Reinders,et al.  Talk to Me! Games and Students’ Willingness to Communicate , 2012 .

[15]  Alice Chik,et al.  DIGITAL GAMING AND LANGUAGE LEARNING: AUTONOMY AND COMMUNITY , 2014 .

[16]  Julie M. Sykes,et al.  Leveraging Mobile Games for Place-Based Language Learning , 2011, Int. J. Game Based Learn..

[17]  Pia Sundqvist,et al.  World of VocCraft: Computer Games and Swedish Learners’ L2 English Vocabulary , 2012 .

[18]  Bruce Gooch,et al.  User centered game design: evaluating massive multiplayer online role playing games for second language acquisition , 2008, Sandbox '08.

[19]  Bruce Gooch,et al.  Time will tell: in-game social interactions that facilitate second language acquisition , 2009, FDG.

[20]  Victor Leathers.  On Teaching Vocabulary , 1947 .

[21]  Ben-Gao Huang,et al.  The Effects of Prior Knowledge for Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition on Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game , 2014, ICWL.

[22]  W. Lewis Johnson,et al.  Tactical Language and Culture Training Systems: Using AI to Teach Foreign Languages and Cultures , 2009, AI Mag..

[23]  Joe Pereira,et al.  Video game meets literature : language learning with interactive fiction , 2018 .

[24]  Matthew Kam,et al.  Improving literacy in rural India: cellphone games in an after-school program , 2009, 2009 International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD).

[25]  Dongwan Ryu,et al.  Play to Learn, Learn to Play: Language Learning through Gaming Culture , 2013, ReCALL.

[26]  Mark Peterson.  Computer Games and Language Learning , 2013 .

[27]  Ataollah Maleki,et al.  Techniques to Teach Communication Strategies , 2009 .

[28]  S. Thorne.  Transcultural communication in open internet environments and massively multiplayer online games , 2008 .

[29]  J. Sykes,et al.  Conceptualizing Digital Game-Mediated L2 Learning and Pedagogy: Game-Enhanced and Game-Based Research and Practice , 2012 .

[30]  Robert DeKeyser,et al.  Practice in a Second Language: List of contributors , 2007 .

[31]  Frederik Cornillie,et al.  Between learning and playing? Exploring learners’ perceptions of corrective feedback in an immersive game for English pragmatics* , 2012, ReCALL.

[32]  Jenny A. Thomas.  Meaning in Interaction: An Introduction to Pragmatics , 1995 .

[33]  Diego Zapata-Rivera,et al.  Interlanguage pragmatics with a pedagogical agent: the request game , 2010 .

[34]  James Coady,et al.  第二語言詞彙習得=Second language vocabulary acquisition : a rationale for pedagogy /James Coady, Thomas Huckin編 , 1996 .