#empiricaldata

[traceymhawk]

Cats love circles. Baci hates circles. Baci is not a cat. #logic #empiricaldata #proof #altrnativefacts

[gamesandpragmatics]

Using a 3D online game to assess students’ foreign language acquisition and communicative competence

This study focuses on generating empirical evidence of the educational potential of digital games, and investigates how participation in online games impacts students’ interactive and communicative competencies in the L2, which factors influence these competencies and their expressions in communication with other players, and whether gaming affects accuracy and fluency in the target language.  In a departure from previous studies investigated for his collection, the study’s authors have chosen not to use virtual worlds or MMORPGs in order to have more input in task design and ease of play.  The authors justified this choice by identifying the learners in the study as CEFR level A1 users (denoting low-beginner level students), resulting in a need for more controlled activities.

The instructors used cooperative learning framework to design the course and game, which grouped the students into teams.  Students were Spanish speaking learners of German, and the tasks were built around directional instructions requiring the use of specific preposition forms and use of the dative or accusative case.  To employ these forms, students played multiple levels of a game in which scaffolded tasks: level one was a matching activity, and level two was an info gap activity which prompted cooperative play by giving one student control of the controller, and another student control of a view of the room layout needed to complete the task.  Students then must work together to rearrange the objects in the room to match the view provided. This cooperation was facilitated by text-based chat.

For the study, the authors selected twelve students from this group (six most active, and six less active in gameplay) and organized them into teams.  They grouped the students according to their activity levels within the game and demonstrated WTC in in-class interactions, and analyzed their in-game interactions via transcripts of their chat logs.  The authors also gave students a pre- and post-test in order to determine impact on communicative competence.  When analyzed, the texts showed reduced accuracy, but increased use of the target language to communicate, particularly on the part of students previously identified as having low WTC. The authors posit that WTC may not necessarily relate to accuracy.  Because the sample size is so low, the authors suggest further research is necessary in order to replicate the results.

Berns, A., Palomo-Duarte, M., Dodero, J. M., & Valero-Franco, C. (2013). Using a 3D online game to assess students’ foreign language acquisition and communicative competence. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 8095, 19-31.

[gamesandpragmatics]

Foreign ludicity in online role-playing games

This research article discusses virtual language learning environments, language play in varied social contexts, EFL students’ interactions in online RPGs as viewed through a language play framework, gains in “foreign lucidity” from using Second Life, and potential applications for pedagogy in EFL contexts.  These virtual spaces allow learners opportunities for pragmatic gains through interaction with native speakers mediated by the environments, but also with non-native or multilingual players through the co-construction of affinity spaces within the game framework.  In their discussions of CMC interactions within virtual environments, the author references “quasi-anonymity with reduced cues [which] may encourage adults to use language for rehearsal” (p.456) a potential tool upon which to capitalize in building learners’ WTC, though they later qualify this by discussing impeded communication abilities in learners as a result of reduced nonverbal cues absent in non-face-to-face interactions.

The author frames the study as investigating the extent of language play engaged in by EFL students in Second Life, as well as the extent the in-game support facilitates the production of ludic conversation for language learning.  The participants in this study were eleven English majors at a university in Taiwan.  The study functioned as their final course projects, insuring motivation from the students.  They co-constructed a narrative for their characters based on the comic book Fung Wan, which participants then role-played using their assigned characters.  Gameplay was captured via Camtasia, and students sent all chat transcripts to the author.  The author coded student data based on the main kinds of language play in addition to their subsets, then investigated it turn by turn.  As evidenced in the chat transcripts, players produced complex “utterances” where they displayed language play through humor, repetition, comic subversion, code switching and grammatical parallelism.  The study suggests that the following supports be implemented with online role-playing environments in order to facilitate language play:  environmental resources (such as tutorials and guides), virtual characters (to develop identities within the game), hybrid codes (used in the environments to facilitate play through imitation and integration of pop culture elements), and collaborative activities (as adapted to student characteristics).

Liang, M. Y. (2012). Foreign ludicity in online role-playing games. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 25(5), 455-473.

[gamesandpragmatics]

Between learning and playing? exploring learners' perceptions of corrective feedback in an immersive game for English pragmatics

This study was designed to look specifically at corrective feedback (CF) in a digital game environment for language learners targeting what kind of feedback was used and how it was perceived by learners. The study put together an RPG game that utilized realistic audio and visual techniques to create an interesting format for learners. The authors incorporated both intrinsic and extrinsic feedback in order to find out which kind of feedback students preferred, if any at all.

Learners greatly perceived explicit feedback to be both useful and necessary for a positive learning experience. But when learners ran across intrinsic feedback they found these areas to be more ‘fun’, it also felt realistic, immersive, and the students adjusted quickly to this input. What was especially interesting was that the study also concluded that the learner’s opinion over which kind of feedback is more useful might actually determine which kind would be most useful to them. Much like learning styles there is also a feedback styles element in learning.

Cornillie, F., Clarebout, G., & Desmet, P. (2012). Between learning and playing? exploring learners' perceptions of corrective feedback in an immersive game for english pragmatics. ReCALL : The Journal of EUROCALL, 24(3), 257-278.

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0958344012000146

[gamesandpragmatics]

To game or not to game: Teaching transportation planning with board games

This study looked at the utilization of board games in university level transportation engineering classes. The researchers found that all students have varying learning styles and that research has shown that using knowledge actively is far better for retention than passive knowledge. For our field of study this can be thought of as output and input respectively. The study incorporated multiple board games relative to their field and measured knowledge through offering the same tests as was normally given in that class without board games being utilized.

The results were that intake and application of the goals of the class were higher and confirmed their beliefs that use of board games could improve retention and understanding of the knowledge that the class was trying to teach. The study did suggest that transport engineering students had a tendency to be more visual learners and that this was a possible reason for the success of the study. The authors also noted that there are limitations to board games and conscious thought needs to go into which games to use with specific focus on the amount of time it takes to learn a game and how much time goes into explaining a game.

Huang, A., & Levinson, D. (2012). To game or not to game. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2307(1), 141-149. doi: 10.3141/2307-15

[gamesandpragmatics]

Digital Game and Play Activity in L2 Teaching and Learning

In this literature commentary, several key articles are brought to the fore and cited for their relevance in terms of digital game and play activity in L2 teaching and learning. These articles are organized into three different categories of L2TL research: game-enhanced, game-based, and game-informed. Game-enhanced research involves studying the ‘use of vernacular, off the-shelf games (i.e., games designed for entertainment purposes),’ essentially taking real, authentic materials and applying them to suit a pragmatic purpose in language learning and teaching (p. 3). Game-based research, on the other hand, revolves around the ‘use of educational or learning-purposed games (i.e., synthetic immersive environments)’ (p. 3). Unlike the issues that revolve around game-enhanced learning – where pedagogical mediation could potentially interfere with the learner’s level of engagement – game-based research ‘acknowledges that the design of a game is key to learning, and games are clearly designed objects’ (p. 4). Game-informed research essentially studies the usage of game and play principles ‘outside the confines of what one might typically consider a game’ (p. 3). This is where notions of ‘gamification’ come into play, where students gain ‘experience’ and ‘level-up’ instead of receiving a letter grade. The idea is that students will be more motivated to complete classroom tasks and assignments in order to progress onward and upward, rather than turning in assignments and being graded down for errors. All three areas of research represent how complex and diverse digital games are in this regard, and encourage the further study and implementation of this medium in the classroom.

Reinhardt, J., & Sykes, J. M. (2014). Digital Game and Play Activity in L2 Teaching and Learning. Language, Learning & Technology, 18(2), 2.

Link here