Teaching and learning English through digital game projects

Digital games are receiving increasing attention by researchers and practitioners in education; however, most of the theory and pedagogy focus on general education or language and literacy development of native speakers. There are very few investigations of game play or game culture and second language development. Language teachers and institutions must know more about games to use the media effectively. Two completed extracurricular projects, based on constructionist learning and media literacy theories and practices, are described in this paper: game design and game magazine creation. The action research projects aimed to guide students towards a better understanding of games' formal features and technologies through their active creation of games and game-related media, and to improve their spoken and written English language skills. In general, students learned and practised a variety of language and technology skills with the design projects. The projects motivated the students, challenged the students, and provided many opportunities for authentic discussions in the foreign language. Various suggestions, based on the teacher and student experiences of these projects, are made for other language teachers interested in conducting creative game-based projects with their students. Keywords: Digital games, game des ign, game journal i sm, pro jec t -based learning, second language acquis i t ion Digital games have been very popular for several decades; the Entertainment Software Association (2010) reported that 67 percent of all Americans play digital games. Digital games are receiving increasing attention by researchers and practitioners in education; however, most of the theory and pedagogy focus on general education (e.g. Squire, 2006) or language and literacy development of native speakers (e.g. Gee, 2007; Steinkhueler, 2007). Effective second language teaching and learning with games is more likely to occur if practical conclusions can be drawn from empirical evidence. Second language teachers, students or media designers may not be especially helped by general posits for digital games’ support of second language acquisition that focus on the benefits of playful learning (Hubbard, 1991; Prensky, 2001), motivation, (Baltra, 1990; Carrier, 1991; deHaan, 2005a; Hubbard, 1991; Li & Topolewski, 2002), rewards (Li & Topolewski, 2002), or positive affect (Garcia-Carbonell, Rising, Montero, & Watts, 2001). Understanding how language learning may happen with digital games is “more than just the fact that language is involved in the play” (Hubbard, 1991, p. 221– 222). It is easy to “blindly accept something as valuable for language learning simply because it involves language and problem solving and students enjoy it . [M]edia selection should be done on the basis of . whether it really promotes language learning” (Hubbard, 1991, p. 222). Evidence of language learning outcomes from the use of digital games is somewhat mixed. deHaan (2005b) reported one Japanese as a foreign language student’s experience of playing a Japanese baseball game for one month. Although anecdotal positive learning outcomes were documented (Kanji character reading improved 57% on the post-test from the pre-test), the participant reported that his attention was divided between playing the game and listening to and reading the Japanese (“I can hear them talking, but I’m concentrating on hitting the ball . I’m not listening to them” and Teaching and learning English through digital game projects “I’m trying to listen [to what the announcers are saying] . . . I’m not paying attention to pitching” p. 284) and he could not focus on both at the same time. Fujii (2010) studied the effects of an adventure puzzle video game. An EFL (English-as-a-ForeignLanguage) Japanese university student participated in this project and played the English game for one month. Fujii found that the adventure puzzle video game improved the subject's English skills only slightly, but that the game's repetition and pausing feature assisted the language learner. deHaan, Reed and Kuwada (2010) compared 40 players and 40 watchers of an English-language rhythm game. Both the players and the watchers recalled second language vocabulary; however, the players recalled significantly less vocabulary. The digital game's interactivity seemed to have prevented the players from noticing and recalling vocabulary. Investigations have also been made of second language learning in multiplayer games. Piirainen-Marsh and Tainio (2009) studied small groups of players interacting with (i.e. repeating, analyzing, and using language from) a console roleplaying game, Sykes, Oskoz, and Thorne (2008) described meaning-making and pragmatic development among players in massively multiplayer online games, and Zheng, Young, Brewer and Wagner (2009) found that language learners’ attitude and self-efficacy towards their second language improved through the use of tools to communicate with native speakers to complete quests in a game-like virtual world. While various projects have investigated the efficacy of students learning language directly from a digital game, there are very few descriptions or evaluations of integrations of digital games or game-related activities in the language classroom. Students' hobbies and personal interests and experiences are often foundations for classroom activities, so it seems likely that some students and teachers may be interested in discussing games, or having instruction centred around games. Indeed, some (Arnseth, 2001; Squire, 2002) have argued that the power of games for educational purposes may not reside in the games themselves (i.e., a language student trying to learn the second language from a digital game), but rather in the context and activities related to and extending from play. Jordan (1992) discussed activities that can be done with games and pairs or small groups of language learners: note taking and reporting with sports games, problem-solving and negotiating with text adventure games, decision making and negotiating with resource management programs, and interpreting clues, negotiating, discussing, and retelling with branching story simulations. Carrier (1991) similarly described the integration of games in the classroom as collaborative, communication-fostering activities. Taylor (1990) stressed the importance of choosing an appropriate game or simulation for language learners, as fantasy games can be too unrealistic, text adventures and branching story games can be too difficult, and simulations or resource management games can require a great deal of teacher planning or require a lot of student prior knowledge in business or politics. Taylor described the incorporation of Maxis’ 1989 game Sim City (a city planning simulation) into the language classroom, not only with a student playing the standard game individually, but also by groups recreating cities at a certain historical period (this required student research, planning, map-making, negotiating, writing, and reporting skills). Taylor mentioned the usefulness of sharing identical Sim City files among an entire class, or between schools or pen pals, and then posting and discussing reflections on gameplay on an Internet site. Coleman (2002) described another use of a commercial digital game—Sim Copter (Maxis, 1997)—in a second language classroom. The author used the different perspectives in the game (from the cockpit of a helicopter and from the view of a person walking around the same city) to teach the importance of considering audience in writing (in this case, of directions). Reinders (2009) suggested seven ideas for teaching writing using computers and games: having students investigate game characters and stories, having students describe their online game characters, having