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For many adolescent language learners, the suggestion of playing an edutainment software title unfortunately conjures up images
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of simplistic space invader games, reprogrammed to solicit foreign vocabulary, before being able to shoot at a screen of sketchily drawn aliens.
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For students only in a because of a mandated requirement, the temptation to forgo all educational value for a modern title designed solely to be entertaining, is far too enticing.
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At a closer look, however, some of these same entertainment focused titles poses a lot of the same basic content desired in an educational title.
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Before continuing with video games, lets take a moment to explore the current practices used in foreign language classrooms today.
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One popular activity is to have students read a play from the target language through the aid of an annotated reader. For example, many German classrooms use this version of the play “Der Besuch Der Alten Dame.”
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Here the contents of the play appears on the right, in German. With the English annotations appearing on the left to help readers with any unfamiliar words.
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As this is a common practice in many classrooms, much work has gone into exploring the ways in which it can be improved.
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The first finding is that adding pictures improves students retention of vocabulary, and videos or animations even moreso. Unfortunately, trying to adapt a media format designed to be purely textual, such as a book, to include images or animations can prove challenging.
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When using simple, concrete nouns, this can fit ok.
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However, the elegance rapidly breaks down as complex nouns, or abstract adjectives are introduced. Verbs are even more difficult.
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Besides introducing images and animations into a book, other properties shown to improve retention such as learner involvement, interaction and personalization can prove even more difficult to incorporate.
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The natural solution, would be to begin with a media form inherently strong in animations, interactivity and personalization – and then add annotations to that.
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Unfortunately, many people have the impression that video games are locked down in computer code, unable to be modified in the same manner one can simply pick up a pen and scribble on top of a piece of paper.
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However, since the emergence of the Internet, a core component of many modern video games has been the ability to interact with and modify a virtual world.
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For example, using the medieval dungeon game “NeverWinter Nights” the MIT Comparative Media studies Education Arcade team was able to build
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A virtual recreation of the Virgina town Colonial Williamsburg, as it was, in the Spring of 1775. While game modification has been used for a number of educational disciplines, it's ironic how little has been tried with foreign language learning
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Due to the multinational export markets of most commercial games today, game developers go through extensive lengths to keep their language data fluid and easily modifiable.
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In the Sims 2, one can change the language used in the game by changing a single windows registry setting.
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Whats more all the text used in the game can be easily edited and annotated using freely available tools.
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All formatting and layout of added annotations, is then automatically managed by the game.
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Annotated readings, however, are certainly not the only media employed in foreign language classrooms today.
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Generally, students are presented with a series of structured textbook activities. Which are then followed by practice homework activities and games to re-enforce the knowledge. With extended annotated readings then provided to enrich student's language exposure.
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Using a game like the Sims 2, we are able to blend each of these activities together.
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For example, many foreign language textbooks include a chapter such as this one, taken from one of the best selling German texts, where the goal is to familiarize students with various parts of the house and its furnishing.
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In class, students are then to complete a series of activities. In this case, the first activities involves interviewing fellow students as to which rooms they feel various pieces of furniture should go in.
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For homework, they then complete activities such as filling in blanks for which furniture items appear in a picture.
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Students then systematically repeat this model for each discrete aspect of everyday life that a student needs to learn. Such as, learning colors, finding colors and learning parts of the body.
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When playing The Sims 2, however, players not only need to manage all the aspects related to the everyday life of a simulated family, simultaneously, but they must make meaningful and well though out decisions about how each of the aspects they are learning about inter-related to one another, by conducting lengthy analysis of all the content pieces they are trying to learn. Furthermore, students have the opportunity to become personally invested, by creating their own world.
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The way many textbooks are structure today, characters used in the books are generally anonymous, or generic, with very little character depth. As students progress, they are then asked to write their own story, however, only superficial prompts are provided – that have no connection to the rest of the textbook. The result is a highly artificial writing assignment, that students quickly see through as means of simply checking their retention, rather than an activity allowing for depth and engagement.
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In The Sims 2, the characters players themselves create while learning about the body, colors and relationships, is then the same character who's life is then played out during the course of the game, through the choices a player makes.
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Combined with the extensive in-game tools for creating and sharing stories, the end result is an environment where players naturally feel compelled to tell lengthy stories about the lives of their characters.
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Without it ever being assigned. This can take the shape of anything, from a simple annotated scrapbook collection,
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to a full fledged video narrative.
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