Game-based Learning

As anyone who’s ever watched – or been – a kid playing a video game could tell you, games are engrossing. Gamification is the process of applying the theories and ideas of game design to other activities -- in this case, academic ones -- in order to make those activities more engaging, perhaps even entertaining. Games tap into our intrinsic motivation, which is why understanding how they work and how we can apply game-based learning to language learning is important. As Stephan J. Franciosi explains in his article A Comparison of Computer Game and Language Learning, “[digital game-based learning] is not a revolution in the understanding of how people learn, or what content should be taught, but it does offer a fresh perspective on, and powerful tools for dealing with an important, but perhaps somewhat neglected, aspect of foreign language education—intrinsic motivation.” 

Using an escape the room game, such as Polleke’s Blue Room, with language learners would provide a fun, game-based way to practice some basic vocabulary and reinforce location prepositions. The simple phrases and questions about the rooms and objects are great for reading comprehension. Depending on the ages and language levels of the students, I think that rather than using a walkthrough to help the students solve the game, I would give them several questions or hints to guide them.  In terms of assessment, the students would then use the information they gathered to write a walkthrough (or fill in the blanks on one, depending on language level) – or we could all write one together as a class after the students worked through the game in pairs or small groups, depending on access to computers. A game like this one would be particularly fun with ipads or anything with a touch screen rather than a desktop computer.

               

Tackling more complicated issues using a game-based approach gives students a chance to problem-solve and explore topics that might not typically seem relevant to them at first. The Garbage Dreams game, for example, provides some perspective on class and environmental issues while requiring the use of math skills and strategic problem solving in relation to economics and investments. Having to pay a fee for trash that can’t be recycled and having penalties for incorrect sorting of goods can also promote consciousness about recycling and bigger picture environmental concerns in ways that are tangible to students, perhaps causing them to think twice in real life before tossing a plastic bottle in the trash instead of the recycling. I played this game several times, trying different strategies each time – and I was hooked.

Garbage Dreams is not specifically geared towards language learners, but I could definitely see using it in a foreign language classroom to meet ACTFL’s Connections and Culture objectives. Using a game that links to environmental issues and economic/business topics would reinforce what students learn about in other disciplines, and talking about ways that different countries and cultures approach trash/recycling and environmental issues is also important. Possible activities related to the game that would specifically involve language could be having the students track their families’ trash/recycling related habits for a week and blogging or journaling about them; having the students create a template for what this game would look like if it were set in Buffalo – breaking it up into neighborhoods, figuring out what areas would have which kinds of recyclables, using current pricing to come up with figures for what it costs to recycle glass, plastic, how much it would cost to buy a truck to haul things, etc.; creating a website (or writing a paper) explaining what can be recycled in our area and how or where, why certain things (like paper contaminated with organic matter) cannot be recycled, how composting works and where people can take organic matter to be composted or how to do it at home, etc.