Welcome everyone to our OER on Mobile Games and English language learning (ELL).
In our technology-forward world, users can access mobile games, engaging in enjoyable learning, anywhere and anytime. We believe that mobile games offer exciting possibilities for language learning and that the future of mobile technology will integrate gamification in incredible ways. Our project not only explores the very best options for mobile ELL games but also considers the future possibilities and the challenges it could present to students and teachers.
In an effort to be respectful of time, we tried to keep our information as concise as possible while offering opportunities to explore different mobile games. The embedded activities are meant to be fun and simultaneously thought-provoking, priming the user to consider how they might implement mobile games into their pedagogy, professional, or personal practices.
We look forward to feedback on what was most helpful and interesting as well as any thoughts or questions about the mobile game experiences and OER. Specifically, the OER contains surveys and discussion boards for reflection after taking part in the page activities. If you would prefer to talk one on one with our team, feel free to use the chat feature. Group members will be interacting and engaging in discussions throughout the week and we’re excited to hear your valuable feedback and look forward to your professional collaboration.
With all that said, let’s jump in!
The link below will take you to our home page and from there you are free to explore at your own pace. We hope you have fun while learning!
Click here —> Mobile Games and ELL OER
Done by: Ana, Feras, Tegan, Asha and Steve
Once you have explored the OER, think about the affordances and facets of mobile gaming for ELL. We encourage you to reflect upon any personal experiences with ELL and mobile games as well. In the discussion below, please share your thoughts and critical views on the subject matter.
Great job on this OER, Mobile Game Team! The site was engaging all throughout and the information was relevant and straight to the point. My first-ever educational mobile game experience was on a NIntendo DS with the game Brain Age that offered different educational games around English and math skills; my parents didn’t allow me to play other NDS games until I played at least a half hour of Brain Age, and I still like to carry elements of that game in the classroom because I found it fun and effective. It’s exciting to see how much mobile gaming has increased in both quality and accessibility. I think it’s also worth mentioning that many games that don’t aim to be educational still offer informal learning environments; Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda series, for example, has gained a cult following and immense popularity, one of the reasons being the many puzzle quests throughout that demand critical thinking skills to complete.
Hi Tasneem.
Thank you for your reply. Your parents’ strategy with the Brain Age game before other NDS games was smart! And how impressive that it had such influence on you, that you have carried it forward into teaching elements in your classroom. We agree games serve a multitude of purposes (whether they are directly “educational” or not). Thank you for contributing to the discussion and emphasizing that “play” in itself offers much value.
I appreciate your engaging and thoughtful presentation! The Mario Ted Talk reminded me how important motivation was in designing learning. Gaming is a powerful way to reach out ELL learners. I help filter that apps for our district and I find it disheartening when the apps requested for devices are essentially supplementing a worksheet. Your presentation gives me hope and I look forward to more engaging and thought provoking gaming for language learners as we move through the evolution of gaming for learning,
Hi Grace. Thank you for the nice words. The problem is that the gaming culture is either frowned upon by traditional educators or used secondarily in formal reaching settings. The potential of GBL is huge, but sadly the approach has been marginalized because it has mostly been perceived as entertainment or distraction. The serious play concept is getting a wider acceptance these days, and statistics shows that the new generation is having more digital mutual grounds with the old one than the previous one did. The efficacy of Mobile gaming in educational contexts has proven valid to create a positive attitude towards learning and even improve the academic achievement of the learners. On top of that, much learning can take place through the gaming culture and its pertaining communities.
Great Job team on this informative and amazingly interactive page!
Indeed gamification and ELL seems to be all the rage these days, and as you’ve shown, has a lot of potential for motivating learners to improve their language skills. I was particularly intrigued by your Futures section where you outline a few trends that will likely affect the future mobile games and ELL. Most notably your section on Mixed Reality & AI. I could see many applications of a mixed reality situation – including having a face to face component that could also incorporate peer-to-peer learning. Like for instance, a mobile game to that can be used at international conference to promote peer-to-peer language learning. The game could ask participants to use automatic translation to interact and “play” together with language.
A really fascinating topic! I look forward to seeing what the future holds.
Sage
Hi Sage. I agree with you that there is massive potential for ELL games to improve the motivation of the students and provide entertaining opportunities for academic growth. To be honest, we can read the market and observe the emerging technologies, but it is hard to accurately predict the future of mobile GBL because of the insane acceleration of innovation in that field. However, studies show that mied reality will become mainstream soon because the technologies will be more polished and optimal. I like the way you envisioned peer-to-peer language learning in the future, and I am excited to see how emerging technologies will support that concept in game-based settings. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the subject matter.
Great job on the website team! I asked my mom what she thought about mobile games for ELL, because she taught ELL at Douglas College for 25 years. She noted that mobile games are great for enforcing grammatical rules in writing or to learn some basic phrases if you’re going on vacation, but there is a significant lack of social communication that’s vital to fluency in language learning. I’ve seen it myself as well when students have tried to speak some French after using Rosetta Stone for a few months, but anything learned on the program was not practiced in a natural conversational way. I think that students and teachers alike should be wary about the limitations of language learning without conversational practice. I saw that Olivia mentioned the possibility of VR conversations, which I think would be an intriguing venture forwards into the possibilities of online language learning.
I agree with your comment. Games are wonderful for grammar and vocabulary, however when applying pedagogy we need to be mindful that we’re still engaging learning through relationship and social connection. The trick as educators is to balance both.
Hi Liam and Grace. I totally agree with you that mobile games can aid/support/supplement the language learning process, but it is far from replacing the mainstream of formal or continuing education with all the social discourses that they provide. Language learning is a dynamic experience that entails much human interaction and lively communication, and because it is skill-based for the most part, it should be practiced effectively with others rather than studying at home. We discussed with our peers how hard it is for a mobile game is simulate real-life situations with all the micro-features that facilitate healthy language development. The productive skills, speaking and writing, are usually poorly addressed in mobile games, and they require professional feedback from instructors rather than a bot. Unfortunately, due to the fluidity of speech and written products, it is challenging for software to detect all the errors on different levels of communication the same way that a professional instructor would do. Plus, how do you learn a communication medium without communicating with others?! So, owing to the nature of language learning as a field, GBL is a tough equation, but the future is promising with the help of AI technologies.
Hi, Mobile Game Team well done! I enjoyed your OER so much, specifically the gamified presentation. I think it’s an awesome way to engage students with the learning content, and some of the problem forms, like close and word search, are common practices that teachers would use to teach ELL students. Therefore, I think that it was a great example of game-based learning for teaching languages. From my own experience of language learning, I’ve been viewing gamified language learning apps as a helpful supplement in addition to class instructions. It’s a motivating way to keep students practicing targeted vocabulary/grammar structure repetitively without feeling bored. However, I feel that most language learning apps do not replicate the authenticity of real communications, therefore it is hard for me to picture someone mastering a language by merely using a language learning app. Hopefully, future technology development would result in more gamified language learning apps that incorporate dialogistic practice.
Hi Trista. I am glad that our presentation appealed to you. Research shows that humans now have the shortest attention span in history, which explains instant media like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. Consequently, designing a mobile game should take into consideration that students get bored easily and lose enthusiasm in no time, so the challenge is to design educational games that facilitate serious play and foster commitment and engagement for longer periods. That’s not always easy to do because of many reasons, some of which are that using mobiles entails the temptation to check other notifications and apps and the fact that programming the app to be addictive is a hard task. I agree with you that ELL mobile games are mainly designed to support intermediate and low-level students, but it is hard to find GBL apps that challenge advanced-level students linguistically. That’s a field to work on for the future, indeed.
Hey team! Great OER! As someone who has worked developing mobile games for English language learners in China for the past few years, I found your analysis of the subject intriguing and have come across many of the problems you identify firsthand. One of the problems I often encounter is managing customer expectations and ensuring mobile games don’t overdeliver in marketing messaging and communications. Many mobile language games oversimplify the language learning process, giving users false expectations, which leads to their motivation quickly dissipating and application usage ending. Did you find this in any of the mobile ELL games you researched? Did you find the promises being made might oversimplify the process of language learning?
Regarding the future of ELL mobile games, I wondered what your thoughts were regarding the expansion of VR? One major problem with mobile ELL games is that they lack language immersion to experience language in their natural environment. With VR options like Mondly (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.atistudios.mondly.vr.languages&hl=en) entering the space, do you think the microlearning techniques we see currently implemented in the space significantly change?
Hi Graham,
We’re so glad you liked it and found it useful! We definitely had a similar experience in terms of finding games that worked well for language learning and went back to the drawing board multiple times in trying to find ones that met the needs of language learners, delivered on what they promised and were engaging. It was also challenging because we had a wide range of learner we were trying to support in the spectrum of K-12 and language learning looks vastly different through this age range. We did find that the promises being made definitely oversimplified the process of language learning and the games that we felt were the most beneficial were mostly created or designed by teachers so I think that there is a gap between the game designers and actual educators in terms of content that is being loaded into these games. I think as you pointed out that the combination of VR expansion could be hugely beneficial IF the correct design team is in place to make an immersive experience. You need educators who are experts in language acquisition helping to guide these experiences and who have a solid understanding of how language is acquired in order to create VR experiences that aren’t only entertaining and engaging but also educational. We do also think that the microlearning techniques will be a big influence moving forward as we know that much of language learning is what they call ‘extramural english’ that learners pick up in other experiences outside of language lessons and that it is those other experiences (music, videos, games etc) that contribute signifcantly to their language learning. Great questions!
Graham,
You’ve asked some great questions! I’m also interested in the role VR will take in this evolution. Positioning language learners in VR to learn provides multiple facets of quality learning. The problem I see. and struggle with, is access to devices to engage with such learning. There becomes a social divide between those that have and those that don’t. Another obstacle, which I encounter often, is educating others about the power of such tools so they’re not seen as ‘add ons’ or ‘fluffy.’ How might we make quality gaming in learning valued in a system that is still very traditional?
Team Mobile Games, thank you for a well-designed, interactive and thoughtful presentation. I appreciated the multimedia approach to keep the content engaging and provide different perspectives from people who have utilized mobile gaming for learning. The Mario example was a great reminder of why people enjoy playing games and the fact that we can be resilient when faced with challenges and the resulting focus we can have when working to beat a level (my son learned to have me stay in a bubble after I had lost all my lives). While focusing on ELL, I wonder what your thoughts are in using mobile games for those with learning disabilities or how games could be brought into the corporate world for employee training?
Thank you for your post Nicole. We also enjoyed the Mario connection… and we are grateful for the ability that good speakers have to summarize important concepts! ha. As for your direct ELL and mobile game questions, personally, I have used mobile games for students with learning disabilities. If anything, there is more buy-in from atypical learners (as they often don’t find conventional teaching styles particularly effective). Prodigy math is a great example of a mobile game that students enjoy, likely because of the narrative. In our “future section” the youtube video we shared speaks about several innovative ELL mobile games that we were all interested in (as they have more complex narratives, similar to Prodigy). While we haven’t tried the latest and greatest in our own classroom, we were excited to see where ELL mobile games are headed. The same goes for the corporate world and employee training. Actually, the futures video touches on a very good example of a mobile game based on a real-life situation (essentially, not being fluent in a language and trying to help a coworker on a job site – without understanding the language, the player is not able to help their coworker/ complete the taste). With XR and AI, we believe the future of mobile language learning games is going to more immersive, authentic, and effective.
Hi everyone!
A quick suggestion for all groups. As we are creating OERs, you may want to add a Creative Commons License to your project. Depending on the license, this gives other educators the ability to use your materials (while still crediting you for your work). For example, if a future etec 523 student reviews your project and feels this would be a good PD topic for their school but feel it would require a few tweaks for their audience, if the license is CC-BY, they can update the materials to work for their context as long as they explain that they have adapted your work.
You can learn more about the different licenses here – https://creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses/ or if you have specific questions, I’m happy to answer them as best I can.
Great suggestions Megan! Having the OERs licensed will bring more viewers to our platforms, will enable others to build off the research, and create opportunities to contribute to the fields of interest. Thank you 🙂
Well said, Megan, as this essentially signals to other educators that this is an OER. With this people will of course also want to make sure that they are using their own imagery or images that are Creative Commons Licensed or in the Public Domain.
Thanks for this reminder!
While I am not an ELL teacher, I do love word games and have experimented with language learning apps like Duolingo. So far with the language learning apps, I find for me they fall short when it comes to teaching me how to actually string words into sentences and speak. I almost find too much focus gets put on the gaming aspects, and not enough on conversation. For this reason, I love the idea of VR immersive language games and experiences, but for me it would need to be with natural rather than robotic voices to follow the flow of natural speech. I also for this reason love the idea of getting students to use narrative game design / interactive story building platforms, like Twine, Inklewriter (https://www.inklestudios.com/inklewriter/) and Elementari (https://elementari.com/) to build their own narrative games / interactive stories as a part of their language learning.
Yes, those are two other great story-building platforms! Thank you for sharing with everyone. We agree that the prospects of VR creating immersive learning games are quite exciting!
Thanks for the varied, interesting, and interactive OER this week.
A few notes, for when you go to make your revisions to this, this coming week:
– There are a couple of spelling mistakes (which I am pointing out simply as your focus is on English language learning): 1) on the Home Page under Activities ‘below’ is spelled ‘bellow’ 2) In the Twine after choosing the right door, ‘faces’ is missing the ‘c’.
– Is there a way that the QR Code at the bottom of the Current Status page can take people directly to the interactive presentation? At present it takes people to an advertisement / spam baiting site.
– The second line in the Autumn Crossword Puzzle is misleading as leaves don’t grow on trees, but rather are a part of a tree. I mention this, as science inaccuracies are a huge pet peeve of mine in educational games and as in this case this is also an English language inaccuracy.
– I like the fact that you’ve added in a Twine as a game that teachers themselves can build or get their students to build, but as the twine in question lacked any sort of cohesive story and was all over the place, it was confusing, and I suspect would leave students perplexed. Perhaps this was the point that you were trying to make, as this Twine is in the Challenges section, so this could have been purposefully done to get us reflecting on the need for vision and goals in utilising games in ELL.
– I don’t know if you recorded your interview with Ahmed Alshamaly, but if you did, that would make for an interesting addition to the Futures section.
Hi Erica, thank you for your concrete suggestions, particularly spelling mistakes on an ELL OER! We all edited the site multiple times, it is interesting that the mind sees what you want it to see and errors are still missed! Agh! We will look into removing the QR advertisement but because we are using free versions of the QR and EdApp, we aren’t sure we can fix the loop. The spelling changed to “below” had been made, but “fa[c]es” on the Twine exercise has been left as is. The intent of the Twine was for a site viewer to interact with it and leave the “gamified” experience unsatisfied with their learning. Our entire OER is based on teaching the user what makes an effective ELL mobile game; just because something is played on mobile and has language aspects does not make it a good learning tool. On the challenges page, our goal was to stress the importance of finding/creating valuable mobile games, and have visitors of the site question mobile games: just because games have more “buy-in” than learning from a textbook, does that mean all mobile games enable enhanced learning? Does the learner understand the point of the game, was there a clear beginning and end, is there a goal, etc.? What aspects did make it valuable? What could be done differently? The Twine exercise is meant to be thought-provoking, so it is okay to have more questions than answers. We will discuss prefacing the discussion prompt more clearly! Again, we really appreciate your concrete suggestions. Thank you for taking the time to critically analyze the site and provide feedback 🙂
It’s easy to miss spelling mistakes when you are close to the content, especially when on a deadline. I do it all the time, and always appreciate when others catch those spelling mistakes for me.
Thanks for the clarification on the Twine. Given the section it was in, I thought that might be the case, and it does a good job in getting across the point that not all games make for a positive / quality learning eperience.
My pleasure. I know that Dr Vogt has people reflect on edits to their OER after the week of its ‘beta release’, so I figure part of our job as the ‘beta testers’ is to give constructive feedback to help that week’s group make their projects even stronger before they are graded.
We appreciate it! 🙂
Thanks Erica for the feedback, it’s always helpful to see your project through other people’s perspective. Interesting point about the Autumn crossword puzzle and I see what you are saying and it’s interesting because as a person who did not grow up speaking English but rather learned it through going to school, that made more sense to me so I wonder if other people who learned English would see the context differently or at different age ranges? I think it raises a good point about semantics and I agree with you that when using language learning games it is critical to ensure that they are accurate in terms of the content information.
Hi Mobile Games Team, Great work on your website! I appreciate that you narrowed your topic, creating a meaningful and specific resource for ELL games. I have seen ELL games used in two ways in a classroom setting. First, a French teacher used game time as a class reward for good behaviour; students would receive points for good behavior, and once they obtained a certain amount of points, they would be allowed 20 minutes of class time to play on the educational games. Second, as a substitute teacher that knew little French, I was told to have students play duolingo for the hour class. The students were mostly engaged in playing the game for the first 30 minutes, but by the second half they had lost interest. Coming from an educator perspective, I am curious about the various classroom applications. Do you believe that ELL apps should be used in a secondary ELL classroom, and if so, to what extent?
Hi Katherine. Apologies for the late reply. The point you mentioned here about losing interest after some time of play is true, and cannot be denied. However, this issue is universal and has more to do with the nature of most educational games than only ELL ones. I have been reading some studies about using games in a classroom setting to promote social interaction and change attitude to learning, and I noticed that most of the studies point out the same issue: although students show great interest and overall change of attitude to learning through gameplay, the engagement level drop with time, and the wow effect fades away. Here, it is important to note that the gamification features play a huge role in keeping the students engaged and committed. For example, a mobile educational game is more effective in terms of engagement when it has a reward system, competition, progressive difficulty, unlocking content, power-ups, hidden elements, notifications, multiplayer mode, etc. Therefore, the application of gaming principles and persuasive technology plays a huge role in the success of the app, perhaps more than the content itself. Perhaps that explains why most people enjoy playing casual games more than educational ones. So, your question is vital, and the answer would be: it depends. All the studies we have examined in preparation for this OER show that using games in class definitely enhances the learning experience in terms of engagement and even performance. However, this use should be regulated and monitored in to ensure that the entertainment aspect does not overshadow the educational one. On a different note, research suggests that immersive serious play and full participation are even more effective than guided gaming for explicit educational purposes. Left alone, students create their own learning bubble and benefit from trial and error and interaction with peers, engaging in serious play. Sadly, our education system is not built to provide affordances for such learning approaches, but GBL is making its way to be recognized as a powerful method in and off class.
Hello Team,
What great work you did! It was a pleasant experience navigating your site and trying the activities you suggested. I enjoyed the variety in your OER and I learned several things. I only missed a short analysis of the games you provided as examples of mobile ELL games. I would like to know more about them, other than the “commercial” description.
Great work!
Hi Deisy. We are glad to know that our OER has been informative and interesting for you. There are many ELL mobile games that are worth exploring out there. Our attempt was to group them into categories, but we noticed a repeated pattern in terms of design and functionality. We also noticed that currently, there are more language learning apps that incorporate gamified assessment tools, but the ELL games usually tackle vocabulary learning for the most part with little emphasis on the productive skills of language: speaking and writing. Perhaps the reason behind that is that feedback on productive skills is usually more subjective than automated, which makes it difficult for AI in ELL games to measure.
Thanks for a really engaging and well-designed presentation. I taught IELTS test preparation for over ten years and found the ELL focus of your project very interesting. Nailing an IELTS band score at 7 (CLB) or higher is crucial for permanent residency and post-secondary applications as well as, increasingly, CVs. It’s a barrier almost every immigrant has to overcome at some point. Because there are so many people focussed on this goal, I’ve always suspected that some the biggest and best gains to come from mobile (game) learning might be with adult professionals using these apps to upgrade language skills and would love to see m-learning game apps that target adults who are testing for IELTS, CELPIP, TOEFL and so on but have never come across any. The structured nature of the band scores (0-lowest, 9-highest) could easily represent the different levels in a game. Typically, university admission requires a 6, PR requires a 7, for example, and these could be the rewards for reaching each level. The developer would need to consult with the British Council to ensure that each game level corresponded to the appropriate language competency on the test. If there are any app developers in our class, this might be a good market niche
Hi Gary. I can highly relate to what you mentioned about proficiency tests and their implications in GBL contexts. I have been teaching IELTS preparation for more than 3 years, and I know how crucial it can be to pass the test with flying colours. The seriousness of the matter adds another motivation and commitment level to the candidates whose studies and residency depend on their band scores. Now, your suggestion about gamifying the content for such tests sounds appealing, but I argue that it might not be fairly feasible. We already know that language acquisition, which takes place in indirect ways such as play and natural exposure, is more prevalent than language learning, which takes place in intentional focus and studying. Naturally, IELTS preparation classes include less entertaining activities and more drills and skill practice as students usually have limited time for social interaction and indirect language building. I wonder if Game-based mobile learning can address that properly. Potentially, GBL can assist formal learning as supplementary and may serve as an additional self-learning tool, but I am not sure if it suffices. Plus, it is very challenging to draw fine lines between band scores and their related content. Perhaps learning vocabulary to enrich lexical resources can be gamified in categories, but little can be done to accurately organized reading, listening, or speaking skills in band levels as you suggest. I love the idea, and I know that the market is hungry for such a venture, but the nature of the test and the fluidity of the scores make it hard to manifest such a design, in my view. Therefore, given the fact that you are suggesting a game-based app rather than a gamified learning source, I think your idea is amazing but requires much work on content and collaboration with the British Council. Inspiring! Thank you.
Hi Feras, you make several good points here. The value offered by games for learning in contrast to gamified learning might be relevant here. I think I agree that GBL will probably only ever be supplementary for high-stakes tests and the main reason is the one you identified, that is, the progression from level to level. This is important in giving the game a sense of overall purpose and maintaining interest and motivation, however, I also work as an IELTS writing and speaking examiner and can affirm that, in practice, neither the British Council nor IDP Australia are likely to give a developer enough detailed knowledge about band level distinctions to make an app credible. Worse yet, if one were made without those language competency specifications being clear, it might mislead users into thinking they were at a higher level than they actually were. Still, the idea is intriguing.
I cannot agree more, due to the fluidity of language skills, it is hard to accurately label the competencies as much as it is hard to be sure about the language proficiency of the candidate based on his one-time performance. Evidently, the same candidate may take two IELTS tests in two consecutive weeks and has completely different band scores. So currently, it is rather ambitious to design a mobile game that can accurately assess the 4 main skills and promote them equally without risking the reliability of the tool. Alternatively, the idea can be twisted a bit to provide an open entertaining adventure that improves the learner’s skills within an IELTS framework without rating the player’s performance against the band descriptors. Much of Adaptive AI technology would be employed to measure productive skills as well, that’s for sure.
Great work, team! I thoroughly enjoyed Mark Rober’s TEDx Talk about sticking to a task to learn more. “Focus on the Princess and not the pits” is a great life learning message. Interestingly, I hear this message frequently in my organization, particularly in innovation, where teams consistently test new ideas, fail and learn from failures. Taking the negative spotlight away from losses is critical for learning success, particularly when it comes to problem-solving.
The common elements between kids playing the Mario Brothers and designers creating a new product are they are both engaged and interested in the task at hand to achieve the goal (be it the game prize or a working product). Despite the setbacks, they stick with the journey because it is enjoyable and or fulfilling. The challenge with games in education is that it’s challenging to make them fun and engaging enough that kids stick with them.
I do agree with you that mobile games offer exciting possibilities. In particular, an opportunity for kids to make mistakes in a safe environment, learn and move on. The challenge will be keeping them hooked!
Thanks for your post Elizabeth! It is so important for children to feel safe in their learning. In my elementary classrooms I often have students use a whiteboard with an erasable marker. The overall participation is significantly higher than pencil and paper activities because the whiteboard can quickly be erased. Mobile games offer similar feelings of safety, especially in a classroom where mistakes and the learning process are celebrated and encouraged. We believe the balance between educational benefit and engagement will steadily, if not exponentially, improve as more and more brilliant minds are working together in this important field.
Yes! I also loved Mark Rober’s TEDx Talk; it’s such a powerful message around growth mindset! I agree with your statement about children needing to feel safe in their learning as well. Keeping activities low-stake while they are learning skills and concepts better allows students to remain accessible instead of having their “safety brains” on. Some mobile games do this really well, though some really don’t and can be triggers for students.
Hi Kendall, Analesa and elizabeth,
I somehow missed this TedTalk on my first cruise through the OER but these comments made me go back to find and watch it. Focus on goals and a healthy relationship with failure are both things I struggled with throughout k-12 and even my first post-secondary degrees so this is an important conversation in many respects. Another point I took away from Rober’s talk was his thought experiment near the end, where he reframed the mario starting instructions to show what they might look like when stripped of visuals, fun and whimsy. This was a great analogy for what schooling has often done to topics that should (or could) be fun- even learning a new language. To this point, I was super intrigued by the in-production game ‘Abjad Polis’ where you explore a city to learn arabic. This sounds like the kind of game I could waste many hours playing, and (potentially) experience significant language learning at the same time.
Thank you, Team Mobile Games, for your presentation! There were excellent examples of apps and interactive lessons that kept me engaged and learning. I found it very interesting and applicable as a teacher who often has ELL students in my classroom. As a division we have purchased an online language learning program to support our ELL students, however, I would now definitely consider recommending ELL apps for my students. One of the points of concern that I’m addressing in my own assignment about mobile math games is finding a good balance between the engaging, gaming piece and the educational content of GBL apps. There is a definite spectrum as well as a sweet spot that makes some apps much better than others. If we are asking our students to use them, teachers need to be critical consumers. I also love how you showed the microlearning graphic, and how mobile games can afford users to “steal” time for learning opportunities. I haven’t personally tried to learn a new language in my adulthood, but I do know that I would turn to an app first, and you gave me a lot to consider. Thank you!
Thanks Kendall! Your point about educators needing to be critical consumers is valid! Some widely used online programs such as Mathletics and Reading Eggs can be effective learning tools if the students are continuously monitored and there are specific parts of the program that they are working on which align with their learning journey development. Conversely, I have also walked into classrooms where students are on these programs without any structure or guidance. They may be changing their avatar for 30 minutes to avoid doing any “work”. Regardless of the game or app being used, students still need guidance and support to ensure optimal learning experiences.
Hi Mobile Games Team,
Fantastic job on your OER! I found the website very easy to navigate and found it had a very natural progression through the various topics. One aspect of your project that really stuck out to me and made me reflect on my own gaming experiences was when you mentioned that, “Rarely do we find games that have a sophisticated plot, main characters, or learning through full participation or immersive play.” I have limited experience with mobile gaming, but from that experience I can comfortably say that you are absolutely correct. It seems there is a significant lack of “meaningful” educational gaming experiences available on mobile devices. It reminds me a section from an article in a previous course that discusses how some games are designed to be educational but often fail to create the desired learning outcome because they are not engaging enough to keep the participants attention. Conversely, games that are more immersive or story-driven that have learning experiences inherent in their development, rather than being overtly educational, tend to promote learning in a much more constructive way (Kafai, 2006). When I think back to my own experience learning through games, apps such as Duolingo never really held my attention for very long but games that were more story driven, such as roleplaying games, both held my attention and significantly improved my reading comprehension, vocabulary, and creativity. Recently, to improve both my Spanish and my French, I have been playing through some old-school RPGs with the language settings changed and have found it to be much more effective than purely educational apps. Mobile games certainly have the capacity to promote learning, but I think there is still a significant amount of room for improvement in regards to the manner in with content is presented.
An interesting app to check-out is the Prodigy math program. It is a fleshed-out world where players explore the world and solve various Math problems. It is more story driven yet is still focused primarily on providing an educational experience. It seems to have found that difficult balance between providing a fun yet also educational experience.
Kafai, Y. (2006). Playing and making games for learning: Instructionist and constructionist perspectives. Games and Culture,1(1), 36-40.
Hi Benjamin, thank you for your comments and insight. While doing our research, we certainly found a lack of mobile games with sophisticated plots. The youtube video shared on our future page examines how language game developers are recognizing the demand for more sophisticated games – with story lines and main characters to create a more immersive experience. They refer to few emerging games where the players’ avatar “battles” with language (opposed to weapons) to defeat opponents. The video also talks about the idea of playing RPGs in different languages (similar to what you mentioned) to increase buy-in from the learner and holding attention for longer periods of time. Their criticism for this method is that it does not take the gamer long to figure out what they have to do in RPG games to move ahead (winning battles, jumping over obstacles etc.), and they eventually stop paying attention to the written or spoken language in the game (while they suggest this type of language learning is not ideal, they do note this method is on the right path). Much of our team’s excitement about ELL mobile games came about when researching XR and IA technologies. Some of the immersive predictions are pretty incredible – with the intent to deliver the immersive “plot-driven” gaming experiences that you suggest 🙂
Hi Ana, Feras, Tegan, Asha and Steve! Your team created such an inviting OER. The current status tab was a great way to introduce your subject with hard hitting statistics. Your site provided a wide-range of games that were easy to access and explore. The combinations of images, videos, text and activities throughout the different tabs kept the site interesting and engaging. The Challenges tab provided key elements that we should be aware of when integrating games. Also, Let’s chat is a unique feature to connect with the users of the OER you created!
Hi Joelle. We are glad that you find our OER equally interesting and informative. In our design, we tried to create a thematic variety of content and activities to manifest our mission and illustrate our findings. Thank you for your kind words.
Hello Mobile Games Team, I really enjoyed your OER and am already brainstorming how I may use the many resources you all shared. The activities that your team created were very helpful in experiencing the functionality and purpose of the resources. I did have a few thoughts as I went through the site, the first being about the intended age group for some of the apps. As a middle school teacher, I often find that a lot of the apps are either too juvenile or too adult for students of a middle school age learning English. Are you aware of any resources that are tailored to this age group or am I alone in this feeling? The second thought I had is that often ELL apps are great for learning the basics, but I am not aware of many resources that could be tailored to specific subjects and students. Perhaps the Personal Learning Environments (PLE) mentioned could work for this. But, it would be great if there were apps that could be customized to allow for teacher input of core subject vocabulary to enhance and assist student learning once foundational language has been acquired. I’m just trying to imagine how this could be effective in say a push-in situation supporting ELL students in a mainstream classroom.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and touching upon two main concerns that open doors for a valuable discussion. When you think of age groups and language acquisition/learning, you realize that learning a second language is a life-long process, and age has little to do with the proficiency level of the learner. Notwithstanding, we see the education system assigning students based on age. We all know that some middle school ESL learners may be at pre-intermediate levels or even below. So, I guess the real question here is if there are mobile games that support advanced ELL. Our research has shown that the answer is likely to be no. Sadly, there are no mobile games that provide a rich learning experience for those preparing for IELTS, OET, CELPIP or other proficiency tests, for example. The reasons for that may vary, but I believe that advanced ESL learners can actually benefit from CoP games that are not educational in nature, for their linguistic competence is strong enough to elevate their learning to benefit from exposure to non-educational experiences, such as playing GTA, watching movies, or reading novels. But is there a gap between what GBL offers and what advanced learners need? Yes, a huge one.
On the bright side, there is remarkable proliferation of gamified assessment tools that can be customized to bear educational items which assist teachers in evaluating the students’ comprehension or reviewing some key vocabulary in class. These apps exist and they offer a wide range of assessment and practice tools competitively. Unfortunately, there is a notable discrepancy between the quality of educational games and commercial ones. Since our middle school students are teenagers, I supposed they are used to playing video games that have wow features and graphics; so, they would not feel satisfied with the gamified tools presented in education settings. Do you agree?
Hi Feras,
I definitely agree that pleasing middle school students may be a greater challenge than other age groups since they are accustomed to more dynamic and engaging commercial video games. I also agree with you that there are benefits to ELLs playing commercial games especially ones that are language-based as it can increase exposure and immersion when learning a language. I suppose it’s also about leveraging what a commercial game can offer. Maybe it’s not solely about the actual game itself as a tool to learn the language but instead the opportunity to have discussions or activities based around the games offline.
Hi Ana, Feras, Tegan, Asha and Steve,
Exceptional work, I truly enjoyed the learning experience that this had to offer. Quite visually stunning too. As someone who went through the ESL journey twenty-some years ago, I can attest that the pedagogical beliefs were quite traditional back then, both from the learning perspective as well as the assessment viewpoint. Mobile games certainly offer new possibilities for language learning. In fact, recent literature confirms that mobile technology is heading towards the direction of gamification due to the increased performance/productivity, and the fact that its less conscious, in particular when it comes to ESL. Thank you.
Thanks very much! I agree with what you are saying as a French immersion teacher and a Francophone I have found that mobile games offer a lot of new possibilities for English language learners especially in the elementary stream where you can use the visual cues, immersive experience of a game and ‘rewards’ for incentives with younger students. One of the first things I have done at two schools where I worked on starting up a French immersion program was to work with the board IT dept to remove the old apps available on Ipads for students to learn French or English and replace them with apps that have more gaming options because I found that students are far more engaged and pick up the language faster. I think as you said, it can lead to increased performance and productivity and as a teacher who is always looking for new ways to teach students another language I think mobile games offer a great new world of possibilities.
I agree with you that the wheel of gamification is accelerating, especially that the number of casual gamers is dramatically increasing. Today, many gamers are not actually gamers, but rather explorers who enjoy the show. Language learning and ESL are special in that regard, as the language required a great deal of social interaction and constructive feedback. However, there has not been a remarkable improvement on the side of engaging the students effectively when it comes to productive skills and subskills of speaking and writing. We noticed that language practice is given in bite-size segments that are fairly gamified, but not in an immersive manner. Today is definitely better than yesterday, and tomorrow is promising, thanks to the unprecedented acceleration of emerging technologies and the integration of AI algorithms. In short, there is a universal interest and embrace of game-based learning, and the mobile device is providing experiences that benefit the learners immensely.
Having tried to learn a few languages using mobile “gaming” apps, I can attest to the challenges users encounter using these apps. I enjoyed the “games” but despite success in the game, it didn’t seem to translate (pardon the pun) into real-world proficiency.
I enjoyed your thorough presentation, and it prompted me to undertake a search on some counter-arguments to gamification within education.
In particular, this is an interesting study on the negative effects of gamification in educational contexts: Toda, A. M., Valle, P. H. D., & Isotani, S. (2018). The dark side of gamification: An Overview of negative effects of Gamification in education. (pp. 143-156). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97934-2_9
An, Y., Zhu, M., Bonk, C. J., & Lin, L. (2021). Exploring instructors’ perspectives, practices, and perceived support needs and barriers related to the gamification of MOOCs. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 33(1), 64-84. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-020-09256-w
Sam, thank you for your insightful comments and for sharing your research. It is important that people visiting our OER recognize we are promoting the use of mobile games in learning. Because it is certainly true, that while our research described the benefits of mobile games for learning, there is research out there reminding educators and users to be cautious and mindful of negative associations. If it is an educator supporting mobile games for learning, they should always be doing their due diligence of investigating the pros and cons for using those tools and make an informed decision on whether on not the implementation is valuable. We hope our OER acts as a guideline for those interested in using mobile games to support ELL, recognizes there are still shortcomings. We are quite excited about what MR and AI have in store for the effectiveness of ELL mobile games in the future!
Thanks Sam for this other point of view and our team did discuss both the pros and cons of mobile game use for language learning and I think you raise some very valid points. As we continue to learn more about how to use mobile games effectively, it is imperative to also be aware of the dark side of gamification and I would also add to that the age appropriateness of certain language learning mobile games. In doing our own research, it was often focused on older students and the impact of using mobile games for language learning and I think you raise very valid points in your post and in the articles you included in terms of the negative effects it can have. In continuing to learn about how mobile games can help with language learning, I think it’s also important to continue to learn and be aware of the dangers it can pose and be looking for ways to create mobile games that increase learning opportunites while also decreasing the negative effects of gamification especially when using it with younger students, do you think there is an age group that is more or less susceptible to the negative effects of gamification?
Hi Sam,
I appreciate the balancing comment you left because there are, indeed, both pros and cons to gamification in education. Again, I think that educators need to be purposeful and critical when directing their students to a mobile game. Thank you for including that study as well; I’m going to take a look at it as this meshes with my own assignment topic!
KJ
Hi Team! This is a great presentation with valuable details. I love playing games on my phone. I think this is a great resource to share with parents during parent-teacher conferences. Not sure how parents feel about allowing their children playing games, but if they are open to the idea, I think allowing their children playing mobile games while learning English is great. At least parents know that their children are learning while playing a game.
I really enjoyed this presentation! I really appreciated the variety or text, gaming and video within your presentation. It was very well done and easy to navigate around the site. I did have a bit of a difficult time with the language game that was included but I quickly figured out I needed to scroll down, well done on including an example of OER. I agree with your presentation that this is an exciting field of exploration as our world becomes more and more interconnected and we seek new and researched backed ways to learn a second language in a fun and efficient manner. It’s fascinating to imagine how technology will expand and grow our language learning and combine these gaming platforms with virtual simulations that was mentioned previously. I really enjoyed your presentation and it will be exciting to see how our teaching and learning develops as we include more opportunities to learn in fun and dynamic ways.
Hi Miguel, thank you for your feedback and we are glad that you enjoyed interacting with our OER. Using games in learning a second language could enhance the motivation of learners. As you mentioned, globalization helped researchers and educators to collaborate with each other to bring an effective language learning environment. We have similar thoughts with your suggestion that with the development of technologies, such as VR/AR, AI, 5G, language learning could potentially be integrated into a fun and enjoyable way for both teaching and learning.
Ana, Feras, Tegan, Asha, and Steve – You created a great OER and learning experience- congratulations! I really enjoyed the mix of text, video, and mini games throughout your site. It was very engaging and informative. I was wondering if there is any research to show that these kinds of games actually work (and/or work better than in class activities) for learning English or other languages? I was an ELL instructor many moons ago and I am skeptical that these games actually help with learning a language, especially beyond learning basic vocabulary. I am also skeptical that these games are adequate for higher level learners (beyond beginners). Personally I tried brushing up on my Polish with Duolingo but I lost interest after a couple of weeks. It was just too repetitive and I didn’t feel like I learned anything. I think the future of these games is what is really intriguing. It would be amazing if students could put on VR headsets and run through realistic simulations where they could hold a discussion with others in various scenarios like shopping in a store or having an intellectual conversation. Creating authentic experiences where students can put their skills to the test and receive immediate feedback was always the ultimate challenge for me as an ELL instructor.
Hi Olivia, we are so glad you enjoyed engaging with the variety on the OER – variety was something we were aiming for! As for your questions regarding whether or not these kinds of games work, everything on the OER is based on current research. We (and the research) agree with you that there is still plenty of room for improvement when it comes to language learning games. However, much of our focus was based on the research, maintaining that mobile games are more engaging and therefore more effective than traditional learning methods. In mobile language games, the learner is motivated to understand the input, because paying attention to the language will help them win a game. We agree with you that it’s the future of mobile games that is going to be particularly exciting in the world of ELL. Breakthroughs in Extended Reality and Artificial Intelligence off game-based learning will create fully immersive experiences for ultimate engagement and enjoyment. We imagine something similar to your suggestions, where the mobile technology allows the learner to “travel” to a country speaking the native language and the success of their trip (the game) would be based on their ability to engage in meaningful conversations (using AI for voice recognition and error detection). Neuroscience studies show that learning happens more quickly when it is done in context – which is exactly what these types of games would be able to create.
What an excellent OER Mobile Games crew.
I love that this presentation walked us through the whole gamete of gamification from the basic serve and respond type memorization game all the way up to discussions about AI and machine learning integration.
In my personal experience with ELL students and integrating them into my discipline of Robotics, I find that your comments about engagement being the top priority ring true for me. If I get students into a good gamified environment (like a Robotics competition), that engagement tends to drive the learning which make everyone’s experience better.
Mitchell, thank you for the feedback and for sharing your experience with ELL students. You are certainly on the mark, for language learning, engagement and buy-in are where mobile games have an advantage over traditional teaching/learning styles. We were particularly excited when researching the advancements in MR and AI technology and look forward to what they will bring to mobile games. The research also showed that, as billions of users engage with mobile games, developers are ambitious to get into the market; we hope the race for the best software (for developers to make their money), means a speed-up in higher quality language learning games getting to the market.