By Students for Students: Game Design as Social Pedagogy for Language Learning
Lead Author: Sebastien Dubreil
Additional authors: Stephan Caspar
Timetable: Thursday Session 8: 16:15-17:00, Terrace Room
Description:
Abstract:
Games play an important role in human cultures and, as such, offer complex and nuanced insights into the values of a society. Yet, they are rarely envisioned as legitimate cultural objects in the foreign language (L2) classroom (unlike literature or cinema). In a multi-level French course entitled “jeux de culture et culture du jeu,” intermediate- and advanced-level students used commercially available French boardgames as windows into the French language and culture and as springboard for their language studies. I chose games that were (1) designed by French studio, (2) often had won award, and (3) are popular in France. The idea was to have games that both had been recognized as good games by the industry and spoke to French people so as to be relevant for our discussions. In the course, students first explored several game genres (party games, escape games, and roll & write games) and analyzed them for (1) language and cultural content, (2) game mechanics, and (3) affordances for language and culture learning. Students then created their own games in these specific genres with an intentional focus on designing games that could be used for educational purposes in (or outside of) language courses to facilitate language and culture learning. These efforts included the creation of pedagogical guides at the attention of teachers and the creation of print-and-play files housed on an online, publicly available archive. In other words, from the outset, students are forced to envision their learning as inscribed in a trajectory that takes into account (1) real-world problem (in this case, language learning) and (2) a real audience (L2 teachers and learners). This approach purposefully positions students as authors of understanding rather than recipients of information (Salen et al., 2011). In this presentation, we will replicate the students’ trajectory in the class by playing some of the student-designed games, discuss their potential for L2 learning, evaluate their positionality as cultural objects, and envision the benefits of designing such learning environments that dovetail play/playful learning (Whitton, 2018), (transformational) game design (Culyba, 2018; Schell, 2019), social pedagogies (Bass & Elmendorf, 2011; Dubreil & Thorne, 2017), multimodal L2 pedagogy (New London Group, 1996; Walsh, 2010), and maker culture (Halverson & Sheridan, 2014) especially as it related to L2 learning (Lord & Dubreil, 2021). I will also present the ongoing efforts to curate and project these games via an online archive entitled “Games for French” (https://bit.ly/G4French)
Program description:
In a mixed-proficiency-level French course, students were tasked with designing board games (and accompanying pedagogical materials) for French learning. In this presentation, we will examine student-designed games, evaluate their potential for classroom use, and discuss the development of social pedagogical learning environment centered on playful approaches and maker culture (including in domains outside of second language education).
References, web links and other resources:
Bass, R., & Elmendorf, H. (2012). Designing for difficulty: Social pedagogies as a framework for course design. Retrieved from https://blogs.commons.georgetown.edu/bassr/social-pedagogies/
Culyba, S. H. (2018). The Transformational Framework: A Process Tool for the Development of Transformational Games. ETC Press.
Dubreil, S. (2020). Using Games for Language Learning in the Age of Social Distancing. Foreign Language Annals, 53(2), 250-259.
Dubreil, S. & Choi, E. (in progress). Games for French. Available online at https://bit.ly/G4French
Dubreil, S. & Thorne, S. L. (Eds.) (2017). Engaging the World: Social Pedagogies and Language Learning. Cengage.
Halverson, E. R. & Sheridan, K. M. (2014). The Maker Movement in Education. Harvard Educational Review, 84(4), 495-504.
Lord, G., & Dubreil, S. (Eds.) (2021). Innovation & Creation: The Maker Movement. CALICO Journal, 38(1).
New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66, 60-92.
Salen, K., Torres, R., Wolozin, L., Rufo-Tepper, R., and Shapiro, A. (2011). Quest to learn: Developing the school for digital kids. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, M.A.: MIT Press.
Walsh, M. (2010). Multimodal Literacy: What Does It Mean for Classroom Practice? Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 33, 211-239.
Whitton, N. (2018). Playful Learning: Tools, Techniques, and Tactics. Research in Learning Technology, 26.
By Students for Students: Game Design as Social Pedagogy for Language Learning
Lead Author: Sebastien Dubreil
Additional authors: Stephan Caspar
Timetable: Thursday Session 8: 16:15-17:00, Terrace Room
Description:
Abstract:
Games play an important role in human cultures and, as such, offer complex and nuanced insights into the values of a society. Yet, they are rarely envisioned as legitimate cultural objects in the foreign language (L2) classroom (unlike literature or cinema). In a multi-level French course entitled “jeux de culture et culture du jeu,” intermediate- and advanced-level students used commercially available French boardgames as windows into the French language and culture and as springboard for their language studies. I chose games that were (1) designed by French studio, (2) often had won award, and (3) are popular in France. The idea was to have games that both had been recognized as good games by the industry and spoke to French people so as to be relevant for our discussions. In the course, students first explored several game genres (party games, escape games, and roll & write games) and analyzed them for (1) language and cultural content, (2) game mechanics, and (3) affordances for language and culture learning. Students then created their own games in these specific genres with an intentional focus on designing games that could be used for educational purposes in (or outside of) language courses to facilitate language and culture learning. These efforts included the creation of pedagogical guides at the attention of teachers and the creation of print-and-play files housed on an online, publicly available archive. In other words, from the outset, students are forced to envision their learning as inscribed in a trajectory that takes into account (1) real-world problem (in this case, language learning) and (2) a real audience (L2 teachers and learners). This approach purposefully positions students as authors of understanding rather than recipients of information (Salen et al., 2011). In this presentation, we will replicate the students’ trajectory in the class by playing some of the student-designed games, discuss their potential for L2 learning, evaluate their positionality as cultural objects, and envision the benefits of designing such learning environments that dovetail play/playful learning (Whitton, 2018), (transformational) game design (Culyba, 2018; Schell, 2019), social pedagogies (Bass & Elmendorf, 2011; Dubreil & Thorne, 2017), multimodal L2 pedagogy (New London Group, 1996; Walsh, 2010), and maker culture (Halverson & Sheridan, 2014) especially as it related to L2 learning (Lord & Dubreil, 2021). I will also present the ongoing efforts to curate and project these games via an online archive entitled “Games for French” (https://bit.ly/G4French)
Program description:
In a mixed-proficiency-level French course, students were tasked with designing board games (and accompanying pedagogical materials) for French learning. In this presentation, we will examine student-designed games, evaluate their potential for classroom use, and discuss the development of social pedagogical learning environment centered on playful approaches and maker culture (including in domains outside of second language education).
References, web links and other resources:
Bass, R., & Elmendorf, H. (2012). Designing for difficulty: Social pedagogies as a framework for course design. Retrieved from https://blogs.commons.georgetown.edu/bassr/social-pedagogies/
Culyba, S. H. (2018). The Transformational Framework: A Process Tool for the Development of Transformational Games. ETC Press.
Dubreil, S. (2020). Using Games for Language Learning in the Age of Social Distancing. Foreign Language Annals, 53(2), 250-259.
Dubreil, S. & Choi, E. (in progress). Games for French. Available online at https://bit.ly/G4French
Dubreil, S. & Thorne, S. L. (Eds.) (2017). Engaging the World: Social Pedagogies and Language Learning. Cengage.
Halverson, E. R. & Sheridan, K. M. (2014). The Maker Movement in Education. Harvard Educational Review, 84(4), 495-504.
Lord, G., & Dubreil, S. (Eds.) (2021). Innovation & Creation: The Maker Movement. CALICO Journal, 38(1).
New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66, 60-92.
Salen, K., Torres, R., Wolozin, L., Rufo-Tepper, R., and Shapiro, A. (2011). Quest to learn: Developing the school for digital kids. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, M.A.: MIT Press.
Walsh, M. (2010). Multimodal Literacy: What Does It Mean for Classroom Practice? Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 33, 211-239.
Whitton, N. (2018). Playful Learning: Tools, Techniques, and Tactics. Research in Learning Technology, 26.