By Sean & Felix
For some of those teachers who have used or even tried to design their own digital “edutainment” programmes in the hope that they can help improve students’ speaking, listening, reading and/or writing skills, their experience might have been rather unsatisfactory, as they would likely end up being frustrated by the low relevance of the existing programmes to their teaching goals, as well as the programmes’ low interactivity and flexibility and failure to satisfy advanced learning needs, or by the programming knowledge required to develop one on their own.
An interesting paper titled Commentary: You’re not studying, you’re just… by R. Purushotma may help address some of the myths around edutainment. It looks at how it might be possible to integrate some originally entertainment-focused digital practices into language learning without or with only minor modifications, along with a review of some promising advancements. Such practices range from gaming to web browsing, listening to music, using popular media forms and so on, with the emphasis on gaming. Thanks to these developments, one may no longer have to bother with those “edutainment” products. Admittedly some of the practices the author mentioned may have been outdated or not particularly useful, but it does seem to open a new door to what we can make of digital technologies to enhance language learning both in and outside the classroom.
The paper examines some possible applications of video games or other software for different learning purposes. It suggests that for the purpose of vocabulary building, adapting the language display of some simulation games like The Sims could be of help if learner-players are allowed to read the pop-up instructions as well as information about different items and character features in their L2 or the L1 and L2 in parallel (see below the pictures taken from the paper). In this process, words can be picked up naturally by role-playing as a member of the family. In the case provided in the paper, such language adaptation was made possible by open-source language package editing, which allows any developer to insert L1 texts from the L1 version of the game into its L2 version, so the L1 text serves as an authentic translation of the L2 text within the L2 version. In this way the course designer can have the autonomy to embed the L1 into the game for instructional purposes.
Such a practice looks quite desirable, for users can have exposure to authentic texts related to their daily life in a simulated environment with abundant cuing resources. However I wonder if it would take the designer quite some time to familiarize with different settings available with the language files when deciding to which extent the L1 is to be used as the instructional, or, in the author’s words, “scaffolding”, language. There also are those “flashcard” systems adapted from the “throbber” panel of Web browsers. A throbber is an icon which is usually located on the upper right corner of a web page and animates when the page is loading. In the adapted version of the throbber, different words are shown in an animated way while the page is loading (see Fig. 3). Indeed such a development could be helpful for remembering words. It makes full use of the fragmentary time that would otherwise be wasted when the page or ad is loading, and can be customized to the needs of learners at different levels given the free replaceability of vocabulary. These days, however, we may need to figure out some new ways to enable similar flashcard features, as throbber seems to be obsolete and has been replaced mostly by all sorts of pop-ups; alternatively, we may consider incorporating a flashcard system in the educational value-added apps installed on students’ mobile phones.
Fig. 1 Pop-up instructional message interface in an language-adapted version of The Sims
Source: Purushotma 2005, p.82
Fig. 2 Character status display in an language-adapted version of The Sims
Source: Purushotma 2005, p.83
Fig. 3 A flashcard system adapted from the throbber feature of a web browser
Source: Purushotma 2005, p.89
The paper also illustrates how some digital technologies can help learners understand and produce correct grammatical structures. Some websites mentioned in it, like The Online Spanish Tutorial and about.com German, offer various sentence patterns for students to memorize and imitate. There also are a number of apps that provide an authentic learning environment through music or other audio media. The algorithm helps select what suits the learners` taste of music best. Students will learn words and structures through the lyrics when listening to songs. Moreover, the audio materials can be carried about so that students can immerse themselves in the target language environment wherever they go. For English learners, social media such as Twitter and Facebook provide them with an authentic platform where they can connect with and learn from English users from around the world. On top of that, learners can search for different hashtags to find online communities bringing together like-minded people.
All in all, this paper sheds light on how digital technologies can help language teachers and learners move beyond the conventional notion of “edutainment” to enable learning in an entertaining way. Notably all these approaches mentioned above attempt to strike a balance between entertainment and education, making games more educational or education more “gameful.” For young or beginning learners, a lot of games or other digital applications hold the potential for attracting their attention to learning the daily use of language. However, in more serious academic settings, how to find balance between education and entertainment may deserve further exploration.
Please feel free to leave your comment if you have anything to say about your personal experience with digitally enhanced learning or what technology can do to facilitate learning while maintaining learners’ interest, especially for advanced learners.
I am a stan of The Sim series and I totally agree that video games can to some extent be conducive to language learning. In the Sim, players are responsible for managing the whole life of virtual characters, and there are tons of opportunities to learn the language while playing, such as reading the walkthroughs to complete the characters’ life goals, reading the recipes to monitor cooking, going through the job descriptions to find a dream job for the characters, and etc. In this sense, learners can practice reading through the task descriptions and comprehending the language through watching the characters’ movements. For example, I remembered I let a character do a new year’s resolution on New Year’s Eve, but I didn’t know what “new year’s resolution” means then. After I clicked the button, the character started to toast in the air, and say something like new year’s wishes in motion, then I understood the word immediately and left a great impression on that word.
Thank you for sharing the experience. Before I started on this blog, my views towards games were negative because I was not a game person and I think games are distractions for students. However, with more research and readings, I gradually realized that games are not as worrying as they seem. Even myself have used games to facilitate language learning without noticing. Once learners` motivation has been turned on, the learning efficiency is more desirable than in a traditional teaching environment,
To be honest, I played Chinese version video games more than English version games before in my learning experience so maybe I cannot give many examples about language learning through digital gaming. While I did hear a puzzle game before about reading for information and find some clues to unlock a room or complete the plot of a fragile story. Through this game I think the players can accumulate some vocabularies about the clues and also some words to describe plots. Probably, for advance learners, teachers can help create gaming platforms with content suitable for them. Thus, “edutainment” can be better realised.
That sounds very interesting, the puzzle game. I know some of theses games are hugely popular among youngsters, and I myself have played some, mostly in Chinese. Playing the target language version of these games does offer alluring potentials for developing L2 learners’ reading skills. As for gaming platforms for advanced learners, I suppose the main point the author is trying to make is perhaps not for teachers to create gaming platforms on their own, which we think is too demanding, or to simply adopt those existing “edutainment” products, which the author has somehow criticized for being too simplistic. Rather, the main point is to look at some possible ways to integrate some originally entertainment-focused digital practices into language learning without or with only minor modifications. Anyways, I think you are right to suggest that the term “edutainment” is still viable today and not to blame or be abandoned. What we desire to do is move beyond the simplistic notion of edutainment to strive for more sophisticated and helpful integrations of education and entertainment.
Yeah, I agree that creating platform is not applicable for teachers, while implementing some of the elements in language learning environment would probably give learners motivation and further their self-learning. Indeed, in order to integrate education and entertainment, some other complexities in both areas still need to be researched. Thanks for the further illustration of the term “edutainment”!
It sounds very interesting to learn a foreign language through playing digital games. Actually, I have experienced learning English from a popular game called Pokemon Go recently. As an advanced learner, I can still learn some new words and informal expressions from the instructions and dialogues in the game. To be sure, young learners will gain more knowledge and fun from this new form.
As for maintaining interests of advanced learners, I recommend watching comedies or talk shows. Actors and hosts always speak in a fast speed, which can practise learner’s listening ability. More importantly, learners can benefit a lot from such authentic conversations or monologues. And the humorous contents of these TV programmes will certainly make the learning process enjoyable.
I totally agree! I have played that game too both in Japanese and English version. By doing that, I also improve my English and Japanese. One more interesting thing is that the name of a Pokémon usually combines two English words such as Beedrill, Ivysaur and Potion. Apart from playing games, comedies or TV series are also recommended because I used shadowing to prentice my oral English, which is more authentic and enjoyable like you said.
It is interesting to know about your observation of the Pokemon’s names. Indeed, we may learn English unintentionally when playing games!
Advance learners have basic knowledge about vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. What interests them more may be the practical usage of language. I notice that Youdao, a language learning app, provides some immersive authentic settings for language learners to practice the target language. The settings are all based on daily life, for example, from home to office, from private friends parties to public situations. The app creates a simulative immersive environment for learners to practice their target language, which somehow benefits language learners, especially those who have rare opportunities to use the target language in their daily life. I guess advanced learners would be interested in this function.
Great to know that Youdao provides such an interesting platform for language learning in the authentic environment. So could you explain a bit more about how it works? Does it involve interaction with real people, or you simply talk to a bot which responds to you with a limited range of pre-programmed sentences? If the latter, is it possible that the dialogue will always end with a close-end, formulaic answer within several turns, in a way that precludes other potentially more meaningful patterns of conversation? Or worse, could it be that you simply read out the prewritten lines taking turns with an imaginary interlocutor whose lines are pre-recorded? I’d really like to know that, since I agree it could be helpful for practicing English speaking, if the app does get learners to practice listening and speaking in the “real world” setting.
Actually, I just happened to watch the advertisement Youdao posted on TikTok and I haven’t got a chance to explore this function myself. According to the advertisement, the player would be put into some simulated situations and asked to produce some sentences themselves when encountering these situations. And then some possible utterances recorded already would be provided later for players to learn or for reference based on the same situation. I suppose that no instant communication and interaction would be realized with this function because the machine can not predict what the players would say in every situation. I believe that interaction with real people would be much more interesting while that requires more advanced technology to realize it.
I don’t have some experience in English learning from digital games because I hardly play any games. But I heard that English can be used for communication in some online games that players’ L2 is enhanced unconsciously during games. It can be an interesting way to practice speaking and listening.
And I have some experience in teaching beginners by using digital games–they are playing games, competing with each other by practicing words and sentences. Students really enjoy the course and they finally remember the new words and sentences.
Indeed it remains a great challenge or even aversion for many teachers to consider integrating informal online gaming experience with instructed classroom teaching. Obviously doing this might be associated with some problems such as addiction and exposure to improper language use. The low relevance of some vocabulary and language forms specific to the gaming community to the realistic teaching goals could be another challenge. Anyways, with the constantly emerging digital media and related practices that take up a large part of young students’ everyday life today, it would probably be insensible for teachers to turn a blind eye to these developments in considering their teaching approaches.
I myself seldom played video games as an adult, but I did learned about that we can apply video games to English learning. I remembered my teacher told me that we can use League of Legends to learn English, but I forgot whether she meant we can learn some English terms or expressions from it as outsiders or as players. Moreover, I learn about that we can create some small and simple video games to teach students English in classroom. For example, we can create some games, like matching vocabularies and pictures, and ask 2 students to play the game by touching the teaching screen placed in the front of the classroom. In this activity, students have small competition and those who win can receive the praise or awards from the video games. It is really interesting to do so and I believe that most of the students will like this kind of class.
(Supplement) Teachers create this kind of small and simple video games and students play the video games and choose their answers by using the touchable screen placed in the front of the classroom.
In the digital age, there are various interesting ways for English learning. I am not a fan of playing the game, but learning English through English vlogs or videos published online on social platforms is effective. Vlog records everyday life, and the language it uses is useful. When you watch some Vlog made by your interested native-speaker, you are unconsciously involved in the English input. And for advanced learners, making your vlog in English is a way to make the output. During this process, learners would be motivated to practice more for receiving audiences’ comments.
Indeed! Vlogs, YouTube or other social media could be of help when it comes to language learning. Not only will we be exposed to a huge amount of input, but our drive to learn will be motivated. Through different social media, there are teachers you can turn to for help, shows you can spend your time on, and friends you can make friends.
I once played a guessing game. It contains many famous American and British TV dramas such as Two Broken Girls, Throne of Games, the Vampire Dairies and so on. It usually displays a short conversation (about 20 seconds), then users need to listen carefully about what speaker said and choose between A or B. I think this guessing game is pretty fun cause users can enjoy many short video clips of famous dramas. The listening skills of advanced learners will be improved greatly when they are paying attention to authentic conversations.
My only concern is I cannot make sure of that we define guessing game as traditional online game, but it is a new form of digital enhanced learning game. In this game, users will not focus on whether they win or make the correct option, they will dive into the authentic conversations and get greatly motivated.
I am also a beneficiary of that kind of games. By leaving out some words in the subtitle, I am required to recognize what the speakers are saying, which seems like a traditional listening practice. But, the materials I was listening to was interesting rather than some dull conversations from textbooks. Like you said, without the stress of tests and boring materials, the whole experience was fun and enjoyable.
Frankly speaking, apart from formal schooling, I acquire my English solely on video games for around 20 years. I believe gaming can significantly enhance one’s English capability despite the fact that there are concerns for the addiction on gaming as it seems to be detrimental in studying.
Throughout this 20 years, the genre of game I have been playing is mostly RPGs. This kind of game usually offers the players with a number of NPCs of different personality. In some games such as The Witcher, there will be differences in accent or style in terms of NPCs’ use of English. In this sense, it enables/forces the player to be familiar with the context through multimodal clues in order to progress through the game.
Most of the time when a player reaches an impasse, the player would seek help online either in a forum or Youtube for walkthroughs. In this regard, the process of problem-solving allows player to assimilate language across the internet and apply it in the game.
It’s really impressive that you’ve made conscious effort to learn language through gaming for such a long time! I agree that the abundance of COTSs and MMOGs today does provide rich possibilities for social development and language learning through gaming, both in the in-game text environment and through interactions with other players while playing the game or in game-external communities, despite some potential drawbacks you have mentioned. Admittedly it’s really hard to reverse the negative attitude that formal educational institutions have long held toward the role that playing video games could play in helping with students’ language learning or their overall academic performance, especially given the tough reality that most East Asian students face. Anyways, some of the practices you have mentioned could be informative for those forward-looking, open-minded educators who are truly concerned about capitalizing on the pervasive new literacy practices including gaming.
I once saw my cousin communicate with other players in a game in English. Although the game is not designed for language learning, players have opportunities to read and write in English in each round of voting in the game to find the “killer” together.
As for my own experience, I learn English from YouTube videos. I enjoy watching videos of other people sharing their lives, and thus I can learn many daily expressions and colloquial English while watching something that I am interested in. When I come across words or expressions that I have never seen, I would look up their meanings. And it is relatively easy for me to memorize and use these expressions since I learn them in context.
Yes I suppose your success in learning language in the digital media context provides some evidence for the usage-based learning theory.
I don’t have too much experience of playing games in English. But I do see some vloggers put their gameplaying videos on Bilibili and use English to communicate throughout the process which I suppose facilitates his English speaking. And I assume this can help learners practice their English in a community that they are interested in and in a less stressful environment.
Personally speaking, chatting with foreign friends online does help L2 learners practice their English because they have an information gap that makes them curious about each other’s culture and things happening around them. Interacting with others verbally or through texts can maintain learners’ interest in using the language.
Social media has indeed provided an easy access to local community where the majority of speakers are speaking the language you are practicing. Since I cannot speak Cantonese, I make my local friends mainly through English both online and offline. There are also games which require you to response innately by chatting. Sometime I will be assigned to my nearest players by algorism. Through this way, I start to involve myself in the local community, which is an unexpected surprise through online games.
One thing that I am concerned about is that whether L2 students can only learn individual words or more comprehensive language use through digital gaming. L2 students may be more familiar with some words or phrases when they are exposed to digital games, but they still do not know exactly how to use them in their real life.
The concern is shared! Before doing the vlog, I also worried that the exposure to English through games is limited or focuses on certain genre. However, there are different kinds of games students can choose or teachers can choose for them. If you are a beginner, the SIMs mentioned in the blog is a great way to start, If you are an advanced learner trying to better your oral English, Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow is highly recommended. This game is about persuading others to believe what you are saying. In the process, you may use all kinds of communicative strategies and words in order to make you convincing. So, for a broad sense, learners may acquire daily use of language. But if we are talking about improving English in an academic level, games still have a long way to go.
The online game can develop learners’ communicative competence, which focuses on contextualized meaning rather than grammatical and lexical correctness of standard language forms. Short utterances, such as greetings and expressions of appreciation, can be gained in games. However, commonly, non-standard words and phrases are dominant in games; I am concerned how many of the online game community can be used in formal contexts, like academic?
Indeed the relevance of the language resources available in gaming communities to the academic setting is questionable ; it could be a problem of both formality and scope of vocabulary/learning area. The actual point is perhaps more to motivate intentional independent L2 learning that is more socially situated that in formal classroom setting.
Thanks for letting me know this. Frankly speaking, I have not been aware of it before, like those “throbber” things. I have no relevant experience in digital games, but I do have some experience in English learning on Instagram. The magical computational algorithm enables me to keep my interest in the platform cause it can always recommend postings that I give a “like”. Consequently, I can pick up some slang and authentic expressions unconsciously. But, generally speaking, I don’t notice much more examples that perfectly integrate entertainment into education, especially for academic education. Maybe the educational systems and personal preferences can explain a little bit.
That is an interesting sharing! You picked up some words and phrases through Instagram. Because this app is mainly for sharing pictures, maybe next time you can try twitter or Facebook to have a larger exposure of English. Believe it or not, we are actually leaning something by social media without noticing.
I rarely play online computer games as I am not interested in playing them. However, I did have played an online game once in Chinese version and we have talk with each other through communication. As other teammates are Chinese and Taiwanese, I should speak in Chinese for mutual understanding and easy communication. This also provides me a chance in speaking and practising Chinese in a more casual and comfortable environment.
In general, I think there are advantages in playing and chatting with foreigners online because this would narrow down the distance and information gap between each others. This case applies the same as writing letters to a pen friend. Instant interactions would increase L2 learners’ interests in no matter L2 learning and speaking aspects. Not only playing games but other digital learning could also bring the same results to L2 learners as well. Thus, I do support using mobile and digital learning help enhance language learning.
Interesting! I also used social media to practice my oral English before. When I was in high school, I made some foreign friends through twitter and Facebook. Because, oral English wasn’t attached great importance in mainland (the GAOKAO doesn’t have speaking part) my skills in speaking are far worse that my reading and listening. Social media actually made up as a compliment for my speaking.
I don’t have much experience of playing games, but recently I read an article about game-based translation, which can be a good way for informal language learning. Since some students are big fans of games, they may have the interest in translating the L2 embedded in games into the L1. One benefit is to develop their online identity and reach more audience, the other is to acquire new vocabularies during the whole process of translation.
I’ve experienced an entertaining game called Word Link in my high school. The teacher shows the sequence of students’ names on the screen and writes down a word on the blackboard first. Then students are asked in sequence to continue the link by writing a word whose first letter should be the same as the last letter of the previous word. If someone fails to finish the task within 15 seconds, there will be a little punishment for him, such as singing a song. I enjoy this game because it is challenging and encouraging, motivating us to remember more vocabulary. And I can also learn some new words by watching my classmates’ answers.
Recently, I have been playing the English version of Twisted Wonderland, a Japanese mobile game inspired by Disney Villains. Firstly, it can help me know more vocabulary. When I read the in-game text, I met so many unfamiliar words about a specific domain, magic: the game background. Next, by playing the plot automatically, I can know whether my reading speed is enough to follow it. Besides, because it does not have a Chinese version, I can only get official information, fan fiction/pictures, comments in English or Japanese (I do not know it). Therefore, I have more motivation to read and communicate with other players in English.
About ten years ago, I used to sign up for professional development courses offered by tertiary education organizations in the UK via the Moodle e-learning platform. Moodle is similar to CANVAS. Some affordances of using Moodle were that it enabled the organization to take on overseas students (and customers like me) and offer specialist courses which were otherwise unavailable in Hong Kong. Moodle also provided me with the flexibility to plan my studies around my work schedule so that I could access the e-learning modules, instructor’s guidelines, Powerpoint presentations and reference materials at my own pace and convenience, irrespective of time zone differences. Assignments were submitted electronically, and feedback was returned through the same channel by the instructors. So another affordance of Moodle was that our assignments were never missed in the mail or penalized for late arrival. One thing worth noting is that Turnitin was not in place at the time when I used the said platform, so it was probably more time-consuming for the instructors when it came to validating the students’ written assignments. But I wouldn’t be surprised to find Turnitin being incorporated into the platform by now. Last but not the least, Moodle’s group chat was one of the functions I liked best. I still remember how my instructors were so keen on taking the initiative to break the ice by having each student (who came from different parts of the world) introduce him/herself via the group chat. By interacting virtually with one another, we were able to establish our student as well as group identity, and it felt so delightful knowing that I was surrounded by like-minded peers who were looking forward to sharing and exchanging ideas and comments about the day’s topic and discussions.
When it comes to ways of using technology to facilitate learning and maintain interest in advanced English learners, I have found some apps to be quite useful, interactive, less intimidating and also fun. Reading A-Z is an online reading program that I use with my beginning and more advanced student readers on a daily basis. The program offers leveled texts of different genres such as adventure, mystery, folktales, poetry, pourquoi tales and biography as well as a range of subjects like English, art, music, math, science and social studies. The books can be printed or projected on the computer screen for easier readability, and they can also be read aloud at the touch of a button. The range of levels and subjects enable me to select resources which can accommodate to my students’ interests and abilities. At the personal level, I am an active user of this online reading program too. Many of the leveled texts are designed in a multilingual mode to serve English, Spanish and Polish student users, so I often take advantage of the Spanish versions of the texts to learn Spanish… Haha!
Your post on “edutainment” reminded me of a digital game that I and my more able students play to reinforce spelling, brush up our “world” knowledge and expand our word bank. It’s called “Text or Die”, available on both the App Store and Google Play. The game can be played by up to five players at the same time, and you may be playing with gamers who come from different countries (as each player is distinctively labeled by his/her own country flag). Players read the English questions posed by the game and they answer each question as best as they can. Answers can vary, as long as they address the question. Ideally, the player who can come up with the word (answer) that contains the most letters is at a more advantageous position, because the tower he/she is standing on will rise from the water level accordingly based on the number of letters in the word. So advanced learners will likely feel a bit challenged yet at the same time thrilled when they can come up with more complex words, make their towers rise higher up above the water, and beat their opponents until they are the only survivors. I highly recommend this game. Give it a try!
Actually, I think video games will not only support language learning for advanced leaners, but also beginning leaners.
My previous kindergarten has promoted digital “edutainment” project for our students since last year. Due to the pandemic, we found it was difficult for us to make interactions with our students both in F2F (Wear mask) and online teaching (Ask 4 years old children to stay focused on the screen over 20 minutes). At that time, our team has decided to incorporate video games (Very simple one) into the classroom. For example, they needed to match the correct words with corresponding pictures. Overall, we have received many positive feedbacks from our parents and students.
Before this project, we also struggled to conduct monthly assessment with our students via zoom because they might reject to give response or parents might provide answers for their children. Then, we changed it to be game-based assessment, so they could be more relaxed to finish the assessment by themselves. It is also interesting that some of them committed to the game-based assessment and ignored the answers from their parents^^