Playing a new game—An argument for a teacher‐focused field around games and play in language education

Abstract

The Challenge Research on game use in language learning is narrowly focused on game design and games as stand-alone learning environments. Few studies have investigated the role and impact of teachers in this field. Thus, we explore why teachers have been left out, why they are needed, and what teaching with games looks like.

Videogames in and beyond the L1 classroom

“…Furthermore, despite the vast research interest in games and literacies, researchers (cf. Arnseth et al, 2018;Hanghøj, 2013;Staaby, 2021;York et al, 2021) have stressed the need for more detailed descriptions of what happens when teachers effectively integrate videogames in the classroom. This call for more detailed accounts of the practicalities involved when enacting games in the L1 classroom include, but are not limited to, preparation time, system requirements for installing and running videogames, teachers' level of game expertise, and teachers' integration, facilitation, and/or evaluation of specific gamerelated literacy activities.…”

The Multimodal Affordances of Commercial-off-the-Shelf Video Games That Support Vocabulary Learning

“…Digital games, similar to their analog counterparts, can vary in the number of players that can engage in play (Reinhardt, 2019;York et al, 2021). Video games can be played alone (i.e., single-player games), played with multiple players (i.e., multiplayer games) or, unlike analog games, played with thousands of others in a shared game environment (i.e., massivelymultiplayer online games [MMO]; Dixon et al, 2022, p. 3).…”

“…On the other hand, the latter example is a part of a problem-solving encounter where the player encountered a riddle that needed to be solved by having two separate bells ring simultaneously for a secret passage to open. These ludic activities are tasklike in that they could involve a hypothetical language learner engaging with the target language to complete a goal (York et al, 2021). These task-like interactions could aid learners in identifying gaps in their present interlanguage by having learners implicitly engage with potentially unknown words similar to a structure-trapping task (Skehan & Foster, 2001).…”

“…There is an unfortunate trend of technological determination in DGBLL that research into the efficacy of video games as self-guided language learning tools has seemed to exclude teachers from the learning process (York et al, 2021). In their review of DGBLL literature, deHaan (2020, as cited by York et al, 2021) indicated that less than a quarter of research papers neglected to mention "interactions with students during or after gameplay, teaching materials, or practical advice" (pp. 1168-1169).…”

“…1168-1169). Research into DGBLL has largely emphasized game design aspects that are studied in the lab-based contexts over how games can be used in the classroom and beyond to facilitate language learning (York et al, 2021). This trend may be a by-product of research being conducted by language-teaching researchers instead of language teachers themselves (York et al, 2021).…”