Language at Play Digital Games in Second and Foreign Language Teaching and Learning

by Sykes, Julie E; Reinhardt, Jonathon; Liskin-Gasparro, Judith E.

• ISBN13: 9780205000852
• ISBN10: 0205000851
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-12-06
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

How digital games can inform, enhance and transform L2 pedagogy The potential of digital games in the second and foreign (L2) classroom is enormous but harnessing their potential for application in the L2 classroom, however, presents complex challenges. In Language at Play: Digital Games in Second and Foreign Language Teaching and Learning ,Sykes and Reinhart combine research from a variety of perspectives in applied linguistics, educational gaming, and games studies, and structure their discussion of five major concepts central to these areas: goal, interaction, feedback, motivation and context. While theoretically grounded, the volume's audience is primarily practicing L2 professionals with classroom experience. Intended for current and future foreign language teaching professionals, volumes in the Theory and Practice in Second Language Classroom Instructionseries examine issues in teaching and learning in language classrooms. The topics selected and the discussions of them draw in principled ways on theory and practice in a range of fields, including second language acquisition, foreign language education, educational policy, language policy, linguistics, and other areas of applied linguistics.

Author Biography

Julie M. Sykes is an Assistant Professor of Hispanic Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition at the University of New Mexico. Her research interests focus on the acquisition of second language pragmatics related to a variety of mediated and non-mediated contexts, with special attention to emerging digital spaces. Her current projects entail collaboration on the design, implementation, and evaluation of place-based mobile games (Mentira, ¡Discúlpame!) to engage language learners in a variety of non-institutional contexts (with Dr. Chris Holden). She and Jon Reinhardt also serve as co-directors of the Games to Teach project, a four-year grant to guide K-20 educators in digital game-mediated L2TL. The project is sponsored through CERCLL (Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language, and Literacy), the University of Arizona’s National Foreign Language Resource Center. Julie has also published on lexical development and web-based, self-access instruction for learners, in addition to L1 Spanish research in the areas of phonology and translation. At the University of New Mexico, Julie teaches in the Hispanic Linguistics program and is the Coordinator of the Spanish as a Second Language program where she mentors Graduate Teaching Assistants.  When not at work, Julie loves to play games, travel, eat great food and spend time with her husband and little girl.

 

Jonathon Reinhardt is an Assistant Professor of English Language/Linguistics at the University of Arizona, where he is Director of the MA in TESL program, affiliate faculty in the interdisciplinary PhD program in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching (SLAT), and co-director of the Games to Teach project at CERCLL with Julie Sykes. His research interests focus on socially-informed approaches to technology and L2 pedagogy, specifically digital gaming, digital L2 literacies, social networking and new media, and technology-mediated interaction. He has taught EFL in Austria and Japan, ESL in Chicago and Pennsylvania, and received his Ph.D. in 2007 from Penn State University. When not teaching, writing, or exploring new game-mediated worlds, he enjoys technology-free hikes in the Sonoran Desert.

Table of Contents

1.      Introduction - Reflecting on purpose and topic

2.      Goal - Understanding the importance of activity, task type, and quests

3.      Interaction - Examining negotiation, competition, and cooperation

4.      Feedback - Developing through fail states and assessment

5.      Motivation - Analyzing the significance of engagement and affect

6.      Context - Exploring stories, environments, and identities

7.      Conclusion - Looking at the future of digital games in language learning

   Appendix I. Glossary
   Appendix II. Guide to Game Types
   Appendix III. Game Evaluation Guide
   References
   Subject Index