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CASLS Assistant Director Stephanie W.P. Knight, former CASLS InterCom Editor Lindsay Marean, and CASLS Director Dr. Julie M. Sykes' chapter "Gaming and Informal Language Learning" was recently published in The Handbook of Informal Language Learning by Wiley-Blackwell.

In the chapter, Knight, Marean, and Sykes explore the informal gaming landscape and the rich, diverse environments that have the potential to inspire meaning making and language development through play. They begin by providing a brief overview of contemporary research related to learner/player-directed gameplay. Next, Knight, Marean, and Sykes establish the extent to which informal gaming has the potential to foment language learning, particularly considering the relative influence of commercial, game-like apps. Finally, they discuss future steps needed to address the popularity of these apps and additional research questions related to deepening the understanding of how games facilitate communication and learning.