Article Review

Purushotma, R. (2005). Commentary: you’re not studying, you’re just… Language Learning & Technology. 9(1). P 80-96. Retrieved on March, 2008, from http://llt.msu.edu/vol9num1/purushotma/default.html

This commentary examines how to use and modify entertainment-focused games for language learning. Purushotma discusses the educational advantages of many existing video gaming innovations, including The Sims, Everquest, Operator’s Side, etc. The author concludes that a successful language-learning video game should have the following properties: 1) the ability to easily edit international language files; 2) MMOG (massively multiplayer online games); and 3) speech interface.

In this commentary, Purushotma proposes the concept of “edutainment”, which means merging educational goals with entertainment content, by providing natural and rich contextual language learning environment into entertaining video games.
By doing that, learners are involving in a much more relevant, interactive, attractive and effective environment to acquire language than in the traditional teaching approaches.

There are many theoretical grounds to support learning language through gaming and simulation. For example, Al-Seghayer (2001) indicates that images and videos created for glossing reading passages can enhance incidental vocabulary acquisition better than can text-only glosses. Moreover, learners are able to guess the meaning of vocabulary in contextualized gaming environments. Huckin & Coady (1999) report that a gaming environment can provide learners with personally relevant tasks, thus highly motivating learners. In addition, Purushotma (2005) indicates that MMOGs provides learners to communicate with native L2 speakers from all over the planet.

The implication of this commentary is that the classroom teachers should bring new technologies, including gaming and simulation, into the language learning process, in order to motivate and facilitate their learning.

However, the author does not talk anything about teachers’ role in guiding learners to fully make use of the advantages of new technologies. Video games definitely will require more cognitive demands than traditional print-based texts, because of its multi-semiotic features, such as color, graphics, symbols and sounds, and because of the way to construct knowledge from a nonlinear, hypertext navigation. Therefore, researchers emphasize that the teacher needs to scaffold learners to develop these new skills, and support their progress toward autonomy (e.g., Murray, 2005). Although this seems to be beyond Purushotma’s focus, it might be another valuable area for other researchers to look at how teachers can facilitate students’ language learning in the gaming environments.

My other concerns are: what are the relationships between traditional classroom language teaching and this kind of new gaming language teaching? Is it OK to completely neglect the traditional classroom teaching? If not, how to balance these two approaches for language learning?”

References:
Al-Seghayer, K. (2001). The effect of multimedia annotation modes on L2 vocabulary acquisition: A comparative study. Language Learning & Technology, 5(1), 202-232. Retrieved March, 2008, from http://llt.msu.edu/vol5num1/alseghayer/

Huckin, T., & Coady, J. (1999) Incidental vocabulary acquisition in a second language. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 21(2), 181-193.

Murray, D. E. (2005). Technologies for second language literacy. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 25,188-201.