Faoi Gheasa an adaptive game for I rish language learning (2022)

Abstract: In this paper, we present a game with a purpose (GWAP) (Von Ahn 2006). The aim of the game is to promote language learning and ‘noticing’ (Skehan, 2013). The game has been designed for Irish, but the framework could be used for other languages. Irish is a minority language which means that L2 learners have limited opportunities for exposure to the language, and additionally, there are also limited (digital) learning resources available. This research incorporates game development, language pedagogy and ICALL language materials development. This paper will focus on the language materials development as this is a bottleneck in the teaching and learning of minority and endangered languages.

## introduction the primary aim of the research is to develop a game which learners (players) will want to continue playing for enjoyment which will also improve their vocabulary and grammar skills through noticing, reading and writing in a novel and fun way. from our point of view, the language learning aspect is paramount, but from the player's point of view it should appear to be a side effect of playing the game, rather than the purpose of the game. therefore the 'game' narrative and game 'world' are of utmost importance. the inspiration for this game is the cipher game @xcite which was developed to find errors in english corpora through 'game with a purpose' (gwap) methodology and crowdsourcing. in the process of annotating errors in text some players remarked that they felt this would be an effective way to learn a language. this current research seeks to test that hypothesis. to do this, we create a game environment that is conducive to language learning, where the learning challenges and trajectory conform to sound pedagogical principles and where the learner experience is adapted to the individual learner's needs. we also strive to make the game culturally relevant, and complementary to the school curriculum. in this paper we describe the game, the linguistics challenges and the material development challenges. ## game aspects the game world is a magical one in which ancient evil spirits are attempting to deny access to the ancient mythological tales by placing them under a spell, to cause people to lose their memory of their past. the player's challenge is to decipher these spells in order to restore the tales before they are sealed and lost forever. there are many different spells (ciphers) and stages before all the evil spells can be lifted and the story is restored. players accumulate points when they correctly identify ciphered words and lose points when they fail to spot a ciphered word or incorrectly identify ## pedagogical aspects this game employs the pedagogical technique of using storytelling as a means of language learning. according to harris, ó néill, uí dhufaigh, and ó súilleabháin (1996:9:9) it is important that authentic materials be used, and that stories, songs, poems, and proverbs are of particular importance as they have cultural and traditional value. they also state that when suitable authentic material is not available then there is no alternative but to compose irish versions of materials that children enjoy. @xcite cited in (mhic 1 https://fiosfeasa.com/ mhathúna, 2004) also recommend listening to familiar stories in the second or foreign language. regarding the difficulty levels of stories, @xcite remind us that young learners who are acquiring irish as a second language are still in the process of acquiring their first language. therefore, they are generally not concerned about understanding every word they hear (in their first or second language), as long as there are sufficient hints in the context to allow them to get the general meaning. @xcite recommend that rather than focusing on simplifying the language, it is more important to provide a sufficient quantity of language input with the necessary contextual clues. they also suggest that the input needs to be challenging to provide opportunities for learning. furthermore, they caution that over-simplification of written texts can result in stories that are somewhat bland and unnatural, and that there is scope for using more complex language particularly in the context of stories which are already familiar to the learners. we believe that these principles can also apply to written language in our game where learners will be familiar with some of the stories. in relation to classroom teaching @xcite ) say that in order to cultivate a positive attitude to the learning of irish, the teaching materials should be attractive, interesting, funny and that game-playing should be part of the process. we believe that our faoi gheasa game fulfils these criteria and that it can complement both classroom and non-classroom based learning. it leverages aspects of noticing @xcite , consciousness raising @xcite , research on error correction @xcite and incorporates elements from games with a purpose @xcite . ## materials development as the game centres on stories which have been made unreadable by an evil spirit and which must be restored, an important requirement of the game is a bank of suitable stories. we decided on the theme of magic and mythology, for several reasons. firstly, we hope that it has universal appeal to both young and old -all generations can enjoy a good story. secondly a mythological theme can be made culturally relevant in different language settings, which should make the stories more interesting and significant for learners. thirdly, some folklore stories can raise learners' cultural and heritage awareness which can motivate learners through reconnecting to the spirit of indigenous languages @xcite . a culturally responsive approach to learning is usually discussed in the context of marginalization e.g., @xcite , but it is relevant in all learning contexts, including irish. finally, we prefer stories and tales which are free from copyright restrictions. we require the materials with difficulty levels ranging from beginner level to more advanced language learner levels. for younger children (6 to 8 years) who are just beginning to read, we use simple stories based on well-known fairy tales that they will be already familiar with in english. for more advanced learners we use more complex mythological stories and folk takes. for older children (10-12 years) we use simple versions of irish mythological tales, and for the higher levels we use folk tales and legends with more sophisticated language constructions and vocabulary. this levelling of texts is currently a focus of our pilot study. initially we have four levels of text difficulty: beginner, improver, intermediate and advanced. these are similar to cefr levels a1, a2/b1, b2 and c1. when players sign up to play the game, they are asked for their age (we include the category 18+ for adults) and their school class/year and school type. based on this information we assign them to an initial level, and they will move up or down levels depending on their performance in the game. adults (18+) start in the improver category initially. ## conclusions and future work in this paper we present a language learning game which will help players to improve their irish language noticing skills and encourage reading for fun. the game is currently being piloted in a small number of primary and secondary schools and initial reactions are positive (74% of players who have filled in the survey questionnaire to date are interested in improving their language skills while playing a game). we are currently seeking new sources of material and fine-tuning the game adaptivity based on user feedback.