View Content #20734

By Julie Sykes, CASLS Director

As someone who studies digital games and language learning, I am often asked about motivation and the power of games to motivate students in the classroom. The impact cannot be denied. People are motivated to play games, especially the best-selling commercial games. However, the more I read and the more data we look at, the more and more convinced I am that, with or without games, motivation is the result of compelling experiences, and not the reason to consider a new tool or technique.  A learner’s desire to continue is highly dependent upon a number of factors, and undoubtedly connected to the intrinsic and extrinsic variables described by experts in this area (see, for example, Dörnyei 2005, 2009; Gardner & Lambert, 1972). Yet, even the most challenging learners can be motivated to change their language learning path after a neighborhood visit or the most motivated can be discouraged from a less-than-exciting assignment.  Three transformational learning behaviors, borrowed from digital games, have the potential to result in the motivation we seek through transformational experiences in, and out, of the classroom (Sykes and Reinhardt, 2012).

1)    Goal-orienting behavior provides learners choices in their own learning process. This does not sacrifice the intended learning outcomes, but rather creates an environment in which learners themselves drive the pathway to the intended outcomes. For example, instead of being asked to memorize a list of pre-determined foods, learners can be asked to generate their own core list and then add to it three or four from a previously selected list. Much like a player who chooses between a variety of quests to get to the next level, learners can be empowered to take control of their own learning through choice and the promotion of goal-oriented behavior.

2)    Individualized, just-in-time feedback, balanced with goal-orientation, allows the learner to immediately know their own level of expertise. Utilizing fail-states, digital games use just-in-time feedback (i.e., dying, having to restart a level) to let the player know exactly the moment they did not reach the intended skill threshold. The result of this type of feedback is the immediate desire to try again, often twenty or thirty times until a player gets it right.

3)    Interaction, through and around games, is both natural and authentic. Players talk when they need to and for a large variety of reasons. Creating scenarios in which this type of intense interaction can happen, regardless of the learning context, offers a great deal of potential for those wanting to “get students talking." This can involve games, but doesn’t have to include something digital. For example, interactions can be created through scavenger hunt experiences, puzzles, trials, and other real world simulations. When connected with learner choice, opportunities for learner-directed interaction can add a great deal of authenticity to any scenario.

Regardless of the place of digital games themselves in the classroom, goal-orientation, just-in-time feedback, and authentic interaction have a strong motivating impact on learning experiences in, and out, of the classroom.

References

Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Dörnyei, Z. (2009). The Psychology of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Gardner, R. C., and Lambert, W. (1972). Attitudes and Motivation in Second Language Learning. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

Sykes, J. & Reinhardt, J. (2012). Language at Play: Digital Games in Second and Foreign Language Teaching and Learning. Series on Theory And Practice In Second Language Classroom Instruction, J. Liskin-Gasparro & M. Lacorte, series eds. Pearson-Prentice Hall.