Gaming for Language Learning

The idea of using gaming (actual games, game or game-like environments, or even principles of game design) is an increasingly popular topic in education, and language education is no exception.  While I am very interested in how games teach and reinforce skills in particular, I am somewhat unfamiliar with the larger field of using gamin in language learning.  I haven't taught in a game environment (or even a virtual 3D environment), and I am hesitant to do so until I understand the technical issues a bit more.  

I am interested, however, in anything that can promote communication and learning in a classroom.  In particular, I've been thinking about the potential for interactive mobile games and apps that can be used to get students exploring and teaching.  One of the most interesting mobile tools for learning I've seen is the ARIS project at UW Madison, which allows you to design your own GPS/QR Code-based interactive games (think location-based choose-your-own-adventure).  The potential is quite staggering, and there have already been exciting language teaching projects, such as Mentira at UNM in Albuquerque.  

Another application I've been thinking about is a decidedly un-pedagogically focused game called SpaceTeam.  SpaceTeam is a very simple cooperative game that requires players to interact with their devices (iOS devices) but also to verbally interact with each other by giving commands (players have to be in the same room).  My wife and I have been playing a round or two after dinner every couple of nights, and it's a fantastic bit of silly fun (maybe a 10 minute game), but what I really like is the in-person spoken interaction required by the game.  Since it's a frantic game, you end up yelling commands at one another, which brings up so many issues of language use (pronunciation, pragmatics, imperatives).  It would definitely be a fun activity for language learners, but I think it would require some careful planning to really be a valuable language learning tool.  

Collaboration in EAP language testing

Something that we've been talking about in our CALL group (last week, to be precise, but I am just getting this post up now) is the issue of using technology in language assessment.  From an administrative (and even pedagogical) sense, there are a lot of good practical reasons for using computer-based testing:

1. Better record of student production
2. More consistent administration (possibly)
3. Possibility of using adaptive instruments
4. For writing-based tasks, using a computer is likely more realistic than using paper and pen.

But there are some challenges that Dooey (2008) outlines as challenges to using computers in testing, primarily that this may provide unequal footing for learners who are not familiar with technology, meaning that they are not just being tested on their language abilities, but also possibly on their technological literacy.  In general, in our class discussion, there was some agreement that this can still be an issues (and there were several examples given by teachers in both ESL and EFL contexts).

On the other hand, there were also several student who put forth the argument in the 4th item above: that having pen and paper writing tests would actually be a less authentic task for EAP students than a computer-based writing task.  This was not as clear when we were talking about speaking assessments, however; while there is value in having a recorded version of the test-takers production for evaluation purposes, it seems that more meaningful and realistic speaking tasks should (ideally) involve interaction with another speaker.  Interaction in speaking assessment integrates both speaking and listening and in part tests the unplanned speaking abilities of the learner.

I wonder if interaction is increasingly going to become something we are interested in for writing as well, as there are many important areas of higher education (especially undergraduate) where writing is collaborative.