Al Hoorie2022GamifyingLanguageLearningSLIDES

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.
net/publication/365161759
Gamifying Language Learning
Conference Paper · November 2022
CITATIONS READS
0 441
1 author:
Ali H. Al-Hoorie
Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu
146 PUBLICATIONS 2,105 CITATIONS
SEE PROFILE
Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:
Open Science View project
Student Engagement View project
All content following this page was uploaded by Ali H. Al-Hoorie on 06 November 2022.
The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Gamifying
Language
Learning
Ali H. Al-Hoorie
Saudi TESOL Association
3rd International Symposium

on Applied Linguistics Research
5 Nov 2022
Misconceptions (before we start)
 Games are always non-serious X

 play vs. serious
 social stigma
 Games are only (digital) video games X

 can include no-tech activities (role playing, storytelling)
 Video games can cause health problems X

 Too much of everything is bad
Outline
 Terminology
 Characteristics of engaging games

 Why makes games exciting?
 Types of games in education

 Game-based teaching
 Game-enhanced teaching
 Game-informed teaching
Terminology
Terminology
 Gamification
 applying game design elements to activities not traditionally considered
a game, like learning or working
 not only “digital” games or “video” games
 Serious games
 games whose primary purpose is not entertainment, like education,
advertising, political campaigning, or social justice awareness raising
 to overcome societal bias of games as entertainment only
 Game vs. play

 game is more a more structured activity, e.g. with rules
Terminology
 Gameful
 oriented toward achieving goals, trying out different strategies, and taking on
new challenges
 Learnful
 disposition towards finding learning opportunities in activities not explicitly designed for
learning, like games.
 Hard fun
 emotions from facing and overcoming meaningful challenges
Terminology
 Ergodic
 branching text, nonlinear, interactive, different outcome every time
 vs page turning or clicking to move forward in the story
 Pedagogical mediation
 scaffolding comprehension, focus attention on language
 wraparound activities: to make games learnful with supplemental exercises
 game journaling: to describe what they did & learned in a journal
 debriefing: to reflect on, discuss, and evaluate their experiences
 (Reinhardt, 2019)
Characteristics of engaging games
 Satisfying basic psychological needs (Przybylski et al., 2010):
 autonomy
 competence
 relatedness
 Appropriate level of difficulty

 options to adjust difficulty
 progressively challenging tasks
 chance to improve skill
 like spiral curriculum
 Goal-directed activity
 clear what they need to achieve
 goals evolve, not monotonous
 Instant feedback
 players know exactly when they fail & why
 Constructive, critical feedback
 Sheltered practice
 failure not threatening
 can repeat without limit
 Time on task
 more time, more learning (everything being equal)
 voluntary exposure to language
 Uncertainty of outcome
 excitement from not knowing the result. The motivation of near miss
 dopamine release in the brain
 Task-based language teaching

 “The fundamental precept of TBLT, that L2 instruction should be conceptualized in
terms of goal-oriented tasks, is basically game-informed” (Reinhardt, 2019, p. 176)
 collaborating on goal-driven, real world, authentic tasks
 (see also Eichenbaum et al., 2014)

Types of games in education
Types of games in education
 Games-based teaching
 games intentionally designed for education
 Game-enhanced teaching
 games not originally intended for education
 Game-informed teaching
 applying gamification principles in everyday instruction
Games-based teaching
 Building video game for specific curriculum
 or a lesson
 Expensive, hard
 outsourced to commercial companies
 May not interest students

 tastes change over time
 Example study: Al-Hoorie and Al-Bijadi (in preparation)
 Smartphone app: Words & Monsters

 by Lexxica R&D (Japanese company)
 Utilizes educational principles

 e.g., placement test, paced repetition, uncertainty
 Study design:
 83 experimental participants
 102 control participants
 vocabulary pre-test
 played the game (1 month) during free time
 post-test (1 month)
 delayed post-test (1 month)

p = .896 p < .001 p = .039
Game-enhanced teaching
 Utilizing an existing game not developed for education
 SecondLife, The Sims, Minecraft, Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty,
Shadow of the Colossus, Fortnite, World of Warcraft, Grand Theft Auto
 Game in the target language
 Wraparound activities:
 assigning roles (team leader, time-keeper)
 language focus (vocabulary, speech acts)
 practice speaking (e.g., from home)
 Example study: Bytheway (2015)
 Qualitative design
 6 learners playing World of Warcraft
 15 vocabulary learning strategies:
 noticing frequency of words
 recognizing knowledge gaps
 selecting words for attention
 equating images and actions to words
 giving & receiving explanations & feedback
 observing players
 using words to learn words
 reading in-game information
 using Google
 Considerations
 under-researched
 may require a license ($$$)
 appropriate game (student age, culture)
 interaction with strangers

Game-informed teaching
 Narrative, role playing, simulation
 Time limit
 Symbolic rewards
 points, challenges, badges, trophies, levels, boards
 Competition vs. cooperation

 best with both cooperation & competition (Sailer & Homner, 2020)
 Example study: Al-Hoorie (2021)
 Motivational stories
 Warm-up activities
 success stories of famous figures:
Albert Einstein, Bill Gates,
Stephen Hawking, Colonel Sanders,
Thomas Edison, Walt Disney,
Henry Ford, Roman Abramovich,
John Baird, and John Griffin
 Study design
 129 experimental participants
 141 control participants
 first 10–15 minutes of class
 for 1 month
 Results: Post-study questionnaire

 Significant reduction in anxiety
p = .001, d = 0.41
To reiterate
 Gameful does not mean non-serious
 to challenge the bias that learning is necessarily laborious

and that we inherently don’t want to do it
 good teachers have always gamified learning
 (Reinhardt, 2019, p. viii)

“do not keep children to their studies by compulsion but by play”
—Plato
References
 Al-Hoorie, A. H. (2021). Storytelling motivation: Creating role models with inspirational stories.
Journal of Research in Language & Translation, 1(1), 1–16.
 Bytheway, J. (2015). A taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies used in massively
multiplayer online role-playing games. CALICO Journal, 32(3), 508–527.
https://doi.org/10.1558/cj.v32i3.26787
 Eichenbaum, A., Bavelier, D., & Green, C. S. (2014). Video games: Play that can do serious
good. American Journal of Play, 7(1), 50–72.
 Przybylski, A. K., Rigby, C. S., & Ryan, R. M. (2010). A motivational model of video game
engagement. Review of general psychology, 14(2), 154–166.
https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019440
 Reinhardt, J. (2019). Gameful second and foreign language teaching and learning: Theory,
research, and practice. Palgrave Macmillan.
 Sailer, M., & Homner, L. (2020). The gamification of learning: a meta-analysis. Educational
Psychology Review, 32, 77–112. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-019-09498-w
THANK YOU
@Ali_AlHoorie
[email protected]
www.ali-alhoorie.com
View publication stats

Al Hoorie2022GamifyingLanguageLearningSLIDES

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Al Hoorie2022GamifyingLanguageLearningSLIDES

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Al Hoorie2022GamifyingLanguageLearningSLIDES

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

Gamifying Language Learning

Conference Paper · November 2022

Open Science View project

Student Engagement View project

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

3rd International Symposium

 Games are always non-serious X

 Games are only (digital) video games X

 Video games can cause health problems X

 Characteristics of engaging games

 Types of games in education

 Game vs. play

 Appropriate level of difficulty

 Task-based language teaching

 (see also Eichenbaum et al., 2014)

 May not interest students

 Smartphone app: Words & Monsters

 Utilizes educational principles

 102 control participants

 played the game (1 month) during free time

 delayed post-test (1 month)

 Game in the target language

 may require a license ($$$)

 appropriate game (student age, culture)

 interaction with strangers

 Competition vs. cooperation

 Results: Post-study questionnaire

 Gameful does not mean non-serious

 to challenge the bias that learning is necessarily laborious

 good teachers have always gamified learning

 (Reinhardt, 2019, p. viii)

You might also like