View Content #20403

By Ben Pearson, CASLS Digital Technologies Associate

Using analog games in the classroom is one potential solution that language teachers can take advantage of when trying to motivate their students to speak. Schell (2008) defines games as “a problem solving activity, approached with a playful attitude” (p. 37), which is appropriate when we apply such a definition to a classroom setting. Several studies report that using games in the classroom lowers the “affective filter” of students and raises their willingness to communicate (MacIntyre et al., 2001; MacIntyre et al., 1998; Yashima, 2002; Reinders and Wattana, 2015). Unsurprisingly, students often enjoy it when teachers set class time aside to play a game of some sort.

One of the strongest features of using games in the classroom is how they can be used to motivate students and make them willing to communicate. The use of games is not a new idea to teachers, who use them as an attention grabbing exercise or activity for fun, or as a change of pace. Some would argue that this time spent playing games could be much better used, making students feel like they are not wasting their time with trivial pursuits. However, the effectiveness of a game in a classroom setting relies on the way in which a teacher uses it.

For example, the game Hanabi involves a great deal of cooperation and strategic language use. Players will take turns giving each other hints about what cards the other players are holding, playing cards from their hand based on color and numerical sequence, or discarding cards to draw replacements. Players are allowed a certain amount of hints and if they make four mistakes, the game ends and the score is calculated. Composed of a simple deck of cards with five different colors (six for the advanced game) and values from one to five, the game is a simple, cost-effective way to practice declarative statements, word prominence, and/or adjective use in an authentic, didactic way.

One Night Ultimate Werewolf is another game which could be used for teaching strategic language use. Players are assigned a hidden role where they are either a villager or a werewolf. The villagers are trying to figure out who the werewolves are and the werewolves are trying to convince everyone else that they are villagers. Players are given a time limit to discuss and decide who to vote out. The villagers win if they vote out a werewolf and the werewolves win if they vote out a villager, so persuasion and/or bluffing are key. The game also presents the teacher with some opportunities to introduce language features like declaratives, conditionals, and indirect speech.

These are only a few examples of how a teacher could use analog games for teaching, and if you are interested in getting more information on this topic, write to us at info@uoregon.edu, follow us on https://twitter.com/CASLS_nflrc, or like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/casls.nflrc.

References

MacIntyre, P. D., Baker, S. C., Clément, R. and Conrod, S. (2001). Willingness to communicate, social support, and language-learning orientations of immersion students. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 23(3): 369–388.

MacIntyre, P. D., Dörnyei, Z., Clément, R. and Noels, K. A. (1998). Conceptualizing willingness to communicate in a L2: A situational model of L2 confidence and affiliation. The Modern Language Journal, 82(4): 545–562.

Reinders, H. and Wattana, S. (2015). Affect and willingness to communicate in digital game-based learning. ReCALL, 27(1): 38-57.

Schell, J. (2008). The art of game design. Burlington, MA: Morgan Kauffman Publishers.

Yashima, T. (2002). Willingness to communicate in a second language: The Japanese EFL context. The Modern Language Journal, 86(1): 54–66.