From an ecological perspective (van Lier 2004), affordances for gameful L2 learning (Reinhardt 2019) are contingent on a number of variables aligning that relate to player behavior, the context of play, and the design of the game. While a game title usually shares some common mechanics with other titles in its genre -- for example, engaging in dialogues, doing multiplayer quests, building, or collecting resources -- it is designed as a unique combination of mechanics, and each time it is played, different mechanics interact with player action to result in different dynamics, which may include engagement, social interaction, language use, and language learning. Therefore, generalizing the implications from the study of L2 gameplay using one title to other titles, even if they are in the same genre, may be risky. A better approach is to focus on the features of the game that can be directly associated with player behaviors, that is, the mechanics themselves (Dixon, 2021; Reinhardt, 2021).
The purpose of this talk is to clarify understandings and advocate for a design-informed, ecologically sensitive approach to the analysis of L2 learning in gameful contexts. This approach not only considers the ecological context and player actions in gameplay, but also the designed elements within games that can be associated with L2 learning as directly as possible. First, I will detail the issue at hand, that associating learning outcomes with genres or titles rather than specific mechanics is based on a faulty understanding of game design. I will argue that to avoid this misstep, research should take a design-informed approach in complement to description and evaluation of the player experience. Referring to past and recent research that takes this approach, I will then describe it in detail, focusing on its main advantage, that it allows for the alignment of design features and the L2 learning affordances and can be sensitive to gameplay ecology.
- Dixon, D. (2021). The Linguistic Environments of Digital Games: A Discriminant Analysis of Language Use in Game Mechanics. CALICO Journal. DOI: 10.1558/cj. 20860
- Hunicke, R., LeBlanc, M. and Zubek, R. (2004). "MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research", Proceedings of the AAAI Workshop on Challenges in Game AI (Vol. 4, No. 1)
- Reinhardt, J. (2019). Gameful Second and Foreign Language Teaching and Learning: Theory, Research, and Practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave-Macmillan.
- Reinhardt, J. (2021). "Not all MMOGs are created equal: A design-informed approach to the study of L2 learning in multiplayer online games". In Peterson, M., Yamazaki, K., & Thomas, M. (eds.), The State of Play: Digital Games and Language Learning: Theory, Development, & Implementation, 69-88. London: Bloomsbury.
- van Lier, L. (2004). The Ecology and Semiotics of Language Learning: A Sociocultural Perspective. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
