Rice (2007) states that one of the barriers of using video games in schools is the time constraint of class periods. This barrier made me wonder if students can play video games for learning purposes at home with the help of parents.
Many studies report that students spend the great amount of time on TV and video games, but just for relaxing, even resulting in the decline in school performance. If parents could intervene in playing video games with their children, selecting the appropriate video game and guiding their children to learn (content subjects or language learning) by playing together, on the one hand, children’s leisure time might turn good learning outcomes out; on the other hand, games could bring family closer together. In terms of language learning, studies (e.g., Lao, 2004) show parents’ language attitude and behavior is major factor of children’s language acquisition.
However, the problem is whether or not parents could accept the form of video games to learn language. One stereotype perspective was in my mind: parents are always strongly against video games, which are considered as a waste of time and bad cultural and behavior influences on children. In order to test if it is true, I searched online and found a survey result from ESA (Entertainment Software Association).
To my surprise, results show that “(s)ixty-one percent of parents with children under the age of 18 say that computer and video games are a positive addition to their children's lives”. Moreover, “(n)inety-one percent of parents surveyed who have children under the age of 18 said they monitor the content of the computer and video games their children play”. This is a good thing. Parents are willing to select appropriate video games for their children. If they want their children learn foreign languages through the game play, they could choose some video game that researchers recommended for language learning, such as the Sims.
In terms of parent involvement, “(f)orty-nine percent of parents say they play computer and video games with their children at least once a month”. The report said the Top four reasonsparents play video games with their children
Because they are asked to (79%).
It's fun for the entire family (75%).
It's a good opportunity to socialize with the child (71%).
It's a good opportunity to monitor game content (62%).
Since children like playing video games with parents together, parents could have the chance to utilize the video game as a learning tool for foreign/second language acquisition or other subject matters. When they see the positive learning outcomes of video games, the extent of the acceptance of video games will be increased, and those who refused video games might change their attitudes. Additionally, school could get the support from parents in terms of using video games in the classroom. Parent involvement solves the problem of short class periods in schools as well. More importantly, I believe more strong parent-school association/communication would be established.
As discussed above, we can see many positive education potentials of involving parents in playing the game with children together at home. However, those are just my assumptions and my dreams. There must be some challenges in practice. I would like to shift my attention a little bit to “parents and games” in the future study.
References:
Lao, C. (2004). Parents’ attitudes toward Chinese-English bilingual education and Chinese-English use. Bilingual Research Journal, 28(1), 99-121.
ESA (2006). Parents and games. Facts and Research. Retrieved April 18, 2008, from http://www.theesa.com/facts/parents_games.php.
Rice, J. W. (2007). New media resistance: Barriers to implementation of computer video games in the classroom. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 16(3), 249-261.
Many studies report that students spend the great amount of time on TV and video games, but just for relaxing, even resulting in the decline in school performance. If parents could intervene in playing video games with their children, selecting the appropriate video game and guiding their children to learn (content subjects or language learning) by playing together, on the one hand, children’s leisure time might turn good learning outcomes out; on the other hand, games could bring family closer together. In terms of language learning, studies (e.g., Lao, 2004) show parents’ language attitude and behavior is major factor of children’s language acquisition.
However, the problem is whether or not parents could accept the form of video games to learn language. One stereotype perspective was in my mind: parents are always strongly against video games, which are considered as a waste of time and bad cultural and behavior influences on children. In order to test if it is true, I searched online and found a survey result from ESA (Entertainment Software Association).
To my surprise, results show that “(s)ixty-one percent of parents with children under the age of 18 say that computer and video games are a positive addition to their children's lives”. Moreover, “(n)inety-one percent of parents surveyed who have children under the age of 18 said they monitor the content of the computer and video games their children play”. This is a good thing. Parents are willing to select appropriate video games for their children. If they want their children learn foreign languages through the game play, they could choose some video game that researchers recommended for language learning, such as the Sims.
In terms of parent involvement, “(f)orty-nine percent of parents say they play computer and video games with their children at least once a month”. The report said the Top four reasonsparents play video games with their children
Because they are asked to (79%).
It's fun for the entire family (75%).
It's a good opportunity to socialize with the child (71%).
It's a good opportunity to monitor game content (62%).
Since children like playing video games with parents together, parents could have the chance to utilize the video game as a learning tool for foreign/second language acquisition or other subject matters. When they see the positive learning outcomes of video games, the extent of the acceptance of video games will be increased, and those who refused video games might change their attitudes. Additionally, school could get the support from parents in terms of using video games in the classroom. Parent involvement solves the problem of short class periods in schools as well. More importantly, I believe more strong parent-school association/communication would be established.
As discussed above, we can see many positive education potentials of involving parents in playing the game with children together at home. However, those are just my assumptions and my dreams. There must be some challenges in practice. I would like to shift my attention a little bit to “parents and games” in the future study.
References:
Lao, C. (2004). Parents’ attitudes toward Chinese-English bilingual education and Chinese-English use. Bilingual Research Journal, 28(1), 99-121.
ESA (2006). Parents and games. Facts and Research. Retrieved April 18, 2008, from http://www.theesa.com/facts/parents_games.php.
Rice, J. W. (2007). New media resistance: Barriers to implementation of computer video games in the classroom. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 16(3), 249-261.
3 comments:
Hey Jiao,
I think the involvement of parents with their children in video games does assist in family bonding and allow children to express confidence and a sense of subject mastery in areas that parents may be unfamiliar or apprehensive. This unique perspective, at least when I was playing games as a kid to now, allowed me to interact and develop language skills just by sharing my experiences with my parents.
Also, the exploration of new environments in games for children increase spatial development and reasoning skills often to solves puzzles or advance to new levels. The idea of competition in games serves a purpose to strive for goals and achieve victory or success.
Its also nice to see that parents keep track of the content of games for their kids to maintain cultural identity or balance with games and studies. I love stats as well and notice that the majority of parents view gaming as a positive experience overall which I would have expected to be contrary to the point.
Best,
ben
Hi Jiao,
The statistics, I must admit, were surprising! I too thought that most parents had negative attitudes towards the gaming.
It is not a wonder that parents (I suspect more fathers than mothers) play games with their kids because they are certainly engaging and entertaining.
I look forward to hearing about research on this.
:) Garnette
Hi Jiao,
This is very interesting information. Yes, the resut is somewhat surprising! Sometimes, we should not take everything for granted.:-) Data say something.
My only concern is about "educationalize" games. Based on my communication with gamers, they hate to have "edutainment." They tend to play for fun rahter than for learning. But as the quote in my post last week, the student still prefer "edutainment" when s/he is asked to choose between games for learning and other class activities.
This topic is really interesting.. I really hope to hear more of your research on the topic.
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