"Gamification" of EFL learning is often discussed, but contests in which there is a winner and losers may be different from the kind of game in which students compete against their own previous scores.
For example, does participation in a "spelling bee" improve EFL learning? Does it promote integrative motivation? Or is it an outside instrumental influence that can reduce motivation for students who do not "win"?
Interesting question Michael,
I reckon gamification of teaching can rarely lead to long term tenacious integrative motivation, It is simply a technique for promoting learners' instrumental motivation, it has some positive effects like increasing students' self regulation, fun, differentiated learning based on learners' diverse learning strategies, reducing learners' stress and anxiety, etc. It is in line with learner-centered humanistic teaching practices and this is probably its most tenable appealing and theoretically solid background.
It must be treated it with kid gloves though , unbridled unduly free atmosphere might change the classroom environment into a noneducational setting replete with chaos and huge hilarity.
What's more , i think is appropriate for lower level of teaching and concrete tangible concepts ( correct me if I am wrong) and for higher level of EFL teaching and abstract convoluted phenomena it might not be effective .
good luck with your research
a.
Dear Michael,
Incorporating gaming elements in EFL/ESL teaching / learning contexts can result in unexpected benefits, especially in the case of younger learners. However, as you have stated, sometimes win/lose techniques can act against the purposes for which they have been designed. Besides, placing one's whole capital on a single tactic may not be fit for those learners whose preferred learning styles are opposed to the predictions of gamification . Therefore, like you, I think the true benefits of the technique must be studied in terms of learners' personal attributes such as gender, age , and other demographic particulars.
Faithfully yours,
R. Biria
My students do debates. The whole class participates with different role assignments. Team assignment is random, not by student's choice. There are winners and losers. The activity helps them to organize thoughts, speech, and use vocabulary very effectively.
Gamification can be very effective, if in EFL the game is structured such that:
Feature#1: Students play as individuals, but ranked relatively against peers (e.g. single player arcade game)
Rationale#1: Winner does not take all; nor does loser lose all- every game will result in some net gain- either as a "personal best" or "global best". This minimizes the negative instrumental effect The game of learning becomes engaging because it is adequately challenging.
Feature #2: the game contains rewards that are credible/convertible (e.g. bragging rights, grade points)
Rationale#2: the exercise is much more than just a distraction. Economists would call it an endowment effect and loss aversion. The game of learning becomes addictive.
Feature #3: the levels in the game should ideally be centered around language-games of the type discussed by Wittgenstein, and family resemblances. That language is intrinsically "gamified" and not trivial.
Rationale #3: Especially so since English, like French, does not have a completely standard orthography so that ultimately students are made aware or are motivated by the intrinsic "gaming" elements of English in use, and are not fixated instead on the game play, and the possibility of "rigging". For instance games get a bad reputation for "distancing" their players from real life and numb their engagement to reality. Especially violent games. The gamification of EFL should in other words focus on the contextual aspects that will enhance the integrative motivation. Students actually learn and are not side-tracked into the medium or the frills and thrills.
Possible implementation of feature #3 as a chatbot feature...
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236679415_Assessing_chatbots_for_EFL_learner_use
Conference Paper Assessing chatbots for EFL learner use
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Psychology
- Cognitive Science
- Mind