During the long Presidents' Day weekend, I had a thought when I was playing some video games. Wouldn't learning be more fun if it didn't seem like learning? I guess I should preface this by saying I was playing Dragon Quest, a role-playing game, in Japanese. I don't live in Japan anymore and I don't use Japanese as much as I used to either. So these games enable me to read Japanese and even provide real consequences in the event that I misinterpret something, such as a clue from a townsperson, a clue found in a treasure chest, or even a dialogue in a cut scene.
Playing video games in Japanese has been far more educational for me than sitting in front of a textbook. Not only am I learning, I'm learning with context and meaning. This makes me a bit more interested in assessing how games enhance learning. We'll study this in LING 797 a bit later. My class presentation will be about gaming, actually. It really wasn't my first choice, but now that I think about it, I think I'll enjoy the topic.
One of the readings mentioned how younger learners liked to explore and try a new product out without reading the instruction manual first. I think I fall into this category, as is evidenced by the way I approach the Dragon Quest games. How could I make learning more like Dragon Quest without having to program an entirely new game?
I guess when I think about it more conceptually, learning is more fun for me when it's active. I don't like sitting in classes and taking notes. I like learning by doing. I'm a kinesthetic learner, and games are a kinesthetic activity. That's what makes CALL such an intriguing field of study. While the technology is still being refined, I think its potential is quite great. It could have implications for classroom management, students with ADHD, maintaining student interest, and even giving students a greater sense of ownership regarding their own learning.
About the author
- Anthony Palmer
- Columbia, South Carolina, United States
- I am currently a doctoral student at the University of South Carolina studying mass communication with a concentration in American politics. My tentative dissertation title is The Portrayals and Perceptions of Black Republicans in Television. My career goal is to become a political analyst or political commentator for CNN or MSNBC. I am also interested in teaching mass communication as a university professor. And in case my wanderlust gets the best of me, I would be happy to work for the Foreign Service in Japan or as a journalist at CNN's Tokyo bureau. Someday I may run for political office, but for now I'm content as a political observer.
2 comments:
I'd like to see a more developed question about gaming. In thinking about your topic/question, you might explore / research such topics as "simulation" and "virtual reality", as well as "gaming". 10/10
Some things to check out:
http://language.la.psu.edu/~thorne/Thorne_2008_GamingInternetL2.pdf
http://www.castleconversations.org/2007/02/julie_sykes.html
Anthony I think this is a really interesting topic and I can't wait to hear about the final product!!
Like we've talked about in class, it is good to get students involved by things they are interested in and I def. think your game would do the trick!!
The only thing I would caution is that it is important it is appropriate to the age level because I think if it is too overwhelming for students they might get more frustrated and the game would lose its enjoyability.
Great ideas!
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