Five Video Games for ESL and Language Development

Kathy Sargent, outgoing editor for TechEdge, (who is a great editor and has done a remarkable job over the years as Director of Communications for TCEA) recently accepted my article on “Virtual ESL” for the next issue. This post expands on the article with games suitable for ESL and the ongoing development of English skills. Certain video games are particularly well-suited to language acquisition and development, a point I made here a couple years ago. There is a heavy dollop of personal opinion in the assertions below, and I welcome dissenting views. Some of these suggestions are relatively expensive, some are free, and all but one are available online.

1. Second Life
   Second Life has a long history of educational adaptation, and the idea of using the environment for ESL purposes was adopted early. Like many efforts with no external motivations however, some formal ESL initiatives have fizzled over time. One still going strong is the Second Life English Community. Founder Kip Boahn had a nice article profiling his work in Forbes a while back. Players from almost 100 different countries regularly gather for such online ESL activities as phonetic treasure hunts through SLEC.

   The global reach, open nature, and ease of use offered by SL, (not to mention the fact it’s free), have helped academics around the world key in to the platform for language training. Since avatars can type or talk over a simple computer connection, engaging native speakers in an interesting 3D environment that is not overly taxing to most hardware results in an ideal environment for language learning.
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2. World of Warcraft.
   Of the millions of players frequenting the popular MMORPG, you might be surprised to learn there are some engaged in educational activities amidst all that medieval fantasy action. The most famous group devoted to exploring pedagogy in WoW is the guild Cognitive Dissonance, run by Lucas Gillespie and Peggy Sheehy. Lucas’ blog EduRealms follows his educational efforts in the game.

   It is very easy to start up groups and guilds in WoW, and while Asian gold farmers have annoyed North American players in the past, Dr. Edd Schneider over at SUNY-Potsdam gained considerable attention in 2007 for suggesting WoW was a promising platform for ESL in Asia, provided stateside supervised guidance was included.
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3. My Word Coach
   Although available for the Wii, the DS version of My Word Coach offers players an easier time writing, with its included stylus and touch screen. Plus, the “DS factor” makes it more portable and affordable for classroom or after-school use. It’s not promoted as an ESL product, but the vocabulary training couched in a gaming environment works just as well for non-native speakers.
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4. Webkinz
   The popular children’s game tied to collectible plush dolls offers a restricted communications feature. “Kinz chat” uses basic sentence elements for players to communicate. While Webkinz probably is not suitable to older ESL students, for the younger crowd it offers a fun and relatively painless way to introduce English. It’s also offered in 12 other languages, so gamers can play in their native tongue as well as the Queen’s.
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5. Whyville
   Whyville is the free online world designed for children learning, and it has an impressive pedigree with corporate and government sponsorship stretching back several years. Although its strengths lie in STEM games and activities, one of the key features of Whyville appealing to teachers is the sanitized chat feature where cursing is automatically edited out.

In the process of investigating the many mini-games out there, a couple of nifty titles rose to the top. The advantages to using online mini-games for ESL include the fact that teacher supervision is not as heavily needed as it is for the above examples. On the other hand, mini-games typically focus on a much narrower skill set, and kids may tire of them quickly.

A couple of my favorites in the mini-game category included Word Frog, which is a neat way to drill antonyms and such, ala Number Crunchers. I also enjoyed Grammar Ninja,which drills identifying parts of speech in a playful way.

Slay a Dragon, Learn a Language

I’ve long felt MMORPGs can provide the sort of immersive environment that is so conducive to learning a foreign language. The military apparently feels the same way, and the DARPA-funded Rapid Tactical Language Training System, developed by USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering’s Center for Research in Technology for Education (CARTE) paved the way for advanced MMORPG use in language and cultural acquisition starting in 2004.

Now, other universities have professors conducting research on the benefits of using MMORPGs for second language acquisition. Since some of the biggest MMORPGs, like World of Warcraft (WoW), already have English as their default language, some of the most intriguing research derives from efforts to help Asians learn to speak English while playing in these MMORPGs.

John K. Waters, a freelance writer in Palo Alto covering high tech developments and Silicon Valley, wrote the cover story for the most recent issue of THE Journal. Waters discusses various efforts to offer ESL and language learning within modern MMORPGs. He begins by discussing the work of Dr. Edd Schneider over at the Dept. of Information and Communications Technology at SUNY Potsdam, and grad student Kai Zheng, who has designed games and written for videogame magazines in China.

Dr. Schneider notes, as I have previously, that Asian parents in general and Chinese parents in particular strongly dislike videogames. They are seen as a waste of time, and generally disruptive to the well-being of children. On the other hand, acquisition of English speaking skills is seen as desirable. Consequently, combining MMORPGs and their “forbidden” (and therefore appealing) aspects with language acquisition may well make for a winning pedagogical formula in Asian countries. Dr. Schneider’s key quote: “I really believe that if Blizzard [WoW’s parent company] started an ESL server of English in China, they would make a fortune.”

Additional academic research covered by Waters in the article includes work by Dr. Bruce Gooch while at Northwestern (he is now at U. Victoria over in B.C.), with grad students Yolanda Rankin and Rachel Gold, using MMORPGs for ESL. The team used EverQuest II, which offers more text labeling and more scripted audio feedback from NPCs than WoW, in a pilot study exploring potential benefits. The key quote from Dr. Gooch: “We know that learning is accelerated if we have an emotional response to the learning. We believe that’s what might be going on in the game. I want to defeat an opponent. I’m worried, I’m scared, I’m excited—I’m interested. You tend to remember things that strike you this way.” How true; this emotional aspect to learning in MMORPGs may well provide a rich field of research in the future.

Dr. Gooch plans to continue work at U. Victoria; Yolanda Rankin plans to continue work at Ole Miss. One key benefit uncovered in their preliminary efforts was the fact that mistakes were perceived as being made by the students’ avatars, not the students themselves. This allowed a measure of face-saving that evidently is deemed important by Asian students.

In a sidebar, Waters also notes efforts at language studies in Second Life. He brings up a research project at non-profit SRI International’s Center for Technology in Learning called Lakamaka Island in SL. Efforts are spearheaded by PIs Valerie Crawford and Phil Vahey from the Institute. “Learning Technology Engineer” John Brecht has a key quote: “Rather than running students through exercises in the abstract, practicing words and phrases from a textbook, the virtual world allows you to engage students in a virtual role-playing exercise.”

Finally, John Nordlinger from the Microsoft Research Group is given wrap up comments. One potential argument, that language learners might pick up various sword and sorcery terms in these medieval fantasy worlds that are not commonly used in everyday English, is countered by Nordlinger. He notes that such uncommon terms in everyday usage are also rampant in popular English literature such as the Harry Potter novels.

Nordlinger surmises that MMORPGs will not completely supplant foreign language teachers, but may well offer powerful supplemental vehicles for language acquisition. This is an assessment with which I heartily concur.

References:
Waters, J. K. (2007, October). On a quest for English. THE Journal, 34(10). 27-32.