Gamification in Foreign Language Education:

Fundamentals for a Gamified Design of Institutional Programs for

Chinese as a Foreign Language

Dissertation

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University

By

Cong Li, M.A.

Graduate Program in East Asian Languages and Literatures

The Ohio State University

2018

Dissertation Committee:

Galal Walker, Advisor

Mari Noda

Charles Quinn Copyright by

Cong Li

2018 Abstract

Gamification is an increasingly popular strategy applied to many aspects of our lives to optimize our experiences—including language learning. However, current educational applications of gamification are mostly directed to the surface level.

There, people try to motivate learners by piling up various game elements. Although game elements can enhance short-term motivation, they are not effective in sustaining the motivation of adult learners if not appropriately integrated into the curriculum.

The chapters in this dissertation discuss the fundamentals of applying gamification to the context of foreign language learning with a focus on Chinese as a Foreign

Language (CFL) programs in post-secondary institutions.

Chapter one revisits the concept of game because it requires a clear understanding of the connection between learning a language and playing a game to determine which game elements can synergize with CFL programs to optimize the learning process. The definition of gamification and noteworthy problems of CFL programs are also addressed in Chapter one.

Chapter two to Chapter five each focuses on one problem, respectively. Chapter two discusses the relationship between language, culture, and game. The concept of game is viewed as a psychological reality that organizes human behaviors, because

i we attach different value or meaning to the same behavior in different games.

Therefore, we can conceptualize the action of using language as recognizing the game being played and playing by its rules, which should be the core content of CFL programs. Chapter three focuses on the program goals and proposes to attach more importance to encouraging learners to pursue their individual goals, provided program directors expect to increase learners who can reach advanced levels. Chapter four explores how emotions can be elicited to enhance the learning experience based on examples from electronic games where emotion has been demonstrated to be an influential factor in the formation of memory. Chapter five revisits the challenges arising from the discussion in previous chapters and uses two sample designs to illustrate how gamified learning tools can help overcome challenges. The last section of Chapter five touches upon the learning environment and visualizes how the technology of virtual reality (VR) can be exploited to build a second-language learning environment for CFL programs.

ii Dedication

Dedicated to my supportive parents, Bing Li and Jing Xia

iii Acknowledgments

The life as a graduate student at the Ohio State University is an absolutely fantastic experience for me. I want to thank all the people who have helped, supported and inspired me. Without them, writing a dissertation would have been an impossible mission.

I owe my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Professor Galal Walker, who has taught me that scholarship is about discussion rather than persuasion. It is never easy to propose new theories, which almost certainly entails controversy, but talking with people who have different opinions can often help us make progress. Despite the fact that Professor Walker is not a fan of games, he still encourages me to follow my passion and write a dissertation on the idea of game; otherwise, the writing of dissertation would not be as enjoyable for certain.

I am also sincerely grateful to my other committee members for their generous sharing of knowledge and eye-opening insights. Professor Mari Noda helped me establish an overall structure for my dissertation. Professor Charles Quinn seems to have an endless list of references in his mind. Most importantly, they both gave me very detailed and insightful comments which are extremely valuable to my revision.

iv Besides my committee members, I have also received tremendous help from many professors, instructors, and graduate students in the Department of East Asian

Languages and Literatures. I am indebted to our program coordinator, Debbie Knicely, who helped me solve so many problems regarding visa, registration, and future plans.

I learned a lot from the Japanese senior lecturer Yuko Kuwai and Chinese senior lecturer Steve Knicely, who not only have abundant experience in language teaching, but also encourage me to explore new methods in my own classes.

A group of close friends I met in the graduate program will always have a special place in my life. Zhini Zeng and Junqing Jia contributed a lot of ideas to my writing of dissertation. Their research topics, domain expertise and motivation, are very inspiring and become crucial components in my dissertation. Hui Yao shared her precious writing experience and techniques with me, helped me consolidate the overall structure of my dissertation, and reviewed my first chapter for unclear places, which turned out to be extremely beneficial when I wrote the following chapters.

Crista Cornelius gave me constructive feedback when I rehearsed a job interview which is based on the content of my dissertation. I would also like to thank Sha Huan,

Qianqian Zhang, Qingyang Lin, Yang Yang, Mengling Wang, and Wenting Zhao for all the enjoyable and productive time at our lounge during my last year in DEALL.

Finally, I must thank my wife, Xin Zhang, for her unconditional love, immense contribution to this dissertation, and companionship at every stage of my life in the past ten years.

v Vita

July 19, 1988...... Born - Nanjing, P.R. China

2006-2010...... B.A. Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language,

Shanghai International Studies University

2010-2012...... M.A. Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language,

Shanghai International Studies University

2013 to present ...... Graduate Teaching Associate

Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures

The Ohio State University

Fields of Study

Major Field: East Asian Languages and Literatures

Area of Specialization: Chinese Language Pedagogy

vi Table of Contents

Abstract...... i Dedication...... iii Acknowledgments...... iv Vita...... vi Table of Contents...... vii List of Tables...... x List of Figures...... xi Chapter One: Introducing Gamification to Chinese as a Foreign Language Programs...... 1 1.1 Dual Senses of the Concept of Game...... 4 1.1.1 The Playing Field Provides an Exclusive Zone for a Game...... 7 1.1.2 The Scoring System Provides a Measurement of Performance...... 9 1.1.3 Rules Regulate Players’ Behaviors while Encouraging Creativity...... 10 1.1.4 Game is a Psychological Reality...... 12 1.2 Application of Game Elements and Mechanics in Gamification...... 13 1.2.1 Gamification is a Strategy...... 13 1.2.2 Gamification is not Game-Based Learning...... 15 1.2.3 Gamification Requires an Evaluation of the Purpose...... 18 1.3 Gamification in Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) Programs...... 21 1.3.1 Institutional Programs as Distinguished from Digital Programs...... 21 1.3.2 Using CFL Programs as the Target of Gamification...... 24 1.3.2.1 Accounting for the Difficulty of Learning Chinese...... 24 1.3.2.2 CFL and CSL distinction under scrutiny...... 27 1.3.3 Five Areas for Gamification in a CFL Program...... 30 1.3.3.1 Content as Situating Language in the Culture...... 30 1.3.3.2 Goal as Guiding Students to Discover their Domains...... 31 1.3.3.3 Teaching Format as Individualized and Customized...... 31 1.3.3.4 Assessment as Key Events in a Game...... 32 1.3.3.5 Learning Environment as Virtual Reality...... 33 Chapter Two: Language learning as Learning to Become Capable Players...... 34 2.1 Game and Language: From a Metaphor to a Psychological Reality...... 34 2.1.1 Wittgenstein Draws the Analogy with the Concept of Language-game...... 34 2.1.2 Performed Culture Approach Situates Game in Language Learning...... 35

vii 2.1.2.1 Learners Assume Various Roles in the Cultural Games...... 38 2.1.2.2 Learners Make Deliberate Moves to Attain Their Goals...... 43 2.1.3 Conceptualizing Game as a Psychological Reality...... 45 2.2 Learning Languages is Learning to Play by Rules in the Games...... 49 2.2.1 Rules Are Agreed-upon Conventions...... 49 2.2.2 Observation is a Crucial Step for Learning Rules...... 51 2.2.2.1 Wittgenstein: Analogy between Chess and Language...... 51 2.2.2.2 Malinowski: Observation as an Anthropological Tradition...... 54 2.2.3 Rules as a Dynamic and Adaptive System...... 56 2.2.3.1 Rules are Subject to be Violated...... 56 2.2.3.2 The Dynamic Grammatical Rules: A Linguistic Perspective...... 58 2.3 Conclusion: Pedagogical Implications and Player Theory...... 59 Chapter Three: Learning Goal as Anticipating the Future Domain...... 63 3.1 Introduction: Enrollment at Advanced Levels in CFL Programs...... 63 3.2 Domain: A Pathway to Personalized Learning Goals...... 69 3.2.1 A Domain Consists of Activities...... 70 3.2.2 Motivation Theories Related to Personal Goals...... 73 3.2.3 OSU’s Chinese Flagship Program and Domain-oriented Courses...... 77 3.2.3.1 Self-driven Domain Study...... 77 3.2.3.2 Personal Tutoring Sessions...... 80 3.2.3.3 Weekly Presentations...... 81 3.2.4 The Possibility of Introducing Domain at an Earlier Stage...... 82 3.3 Anticipation: Preparing for the Future...... 84 3.3.1 Preparation as the Defining Characteristic of Anticipation...... 86 3.3.2 Two Levels of Anticipation: Examples from Competitive Games...... 89 3.3.2.1 Local Anticipation: Every Second Makes a Difference...... 91 3.3.2.2 Global Anticipation: A Chain of Plans...... 94 3.3.3 Anticipation in Verbal Communication: Pedagogical Implications...... 98 3.3.3.1 Local Anticipation in Communicative Events...... 99 3.3.3.2 Global Anticipation is Related to Domain...... 102 Chapter Four: The Creation of Emotion in Language Learning...... 105 4.1 Introduction: the Interaction between Memory and Emotion...... 105 4.1.1 Language Learning Requires Memory Formation...... 105 4.1.2 Emotion Enhances Memory...... 108 4.2 The Creation of Emotions in Electronic Games...... 111 4.2.1 Emotions in Single-player Games: Meaningful Choices...... 111 4.2.1.1 Inhabitable Avatars Ground the Emotions...... 113 4.2.1.2 The Non-player Characters Complement the Game World...... 120 4.2.1.3 The Freedom in an Open World...... 121 4.2.2 Emotions in Multi-player Games: A Virtual Society...... 125 4.2.2.1 Coordinated Action Elicits a Sense of Responsibility...... 126 4.2.2.2 Social Avatars and Social Situations...... 128

viii 4.2.3 The Ultimate Goal: Creating the Flow experience...... 131 4.3 Individualized Instruction: a Potential for the Optimized Experience...... 137 4.3.1 Advantages of I.I.: the Fully-engaged Learning Experience...... 139 4.3.2 Deficiencies: the Inevitable Problems of the Current System...... 141 Chapter Five: Designing Gamified Assessment and Domain-development Tools...... 144 5.1 Three Genres of Game and Applicable Elements...... 145 5.1.1 Action Games Require Physical Skills...... 147 5.1.2 Strategy Games Emphasize Plan-making...... 148 5.1.3 Role Play Games (RPG) Establish Emotional Attachment...... 148 5.1.4 An Explanation of Game Sub-Genres...... 150 5.1.5 A Summary of Three Genres...... 152 5.2 Sample Design: Game Point System...... 153 5.2.1 Past Research on Using Gamification to Boost Motivation...... 155 5.2.2 Self-determination Theory as the Framework...... 157 5.2.2.1 Autonomy...... 160 5.2.2.2 Competency...... 161 5.2.2.3 Relatedness...... 164 5.2.3 Beyond Motivation: from Boosted Experience to Domain Development...... 166 5.3 Sample Design: Journey in China...... 169 5.3.1 Lack of Accuracy in the Current Assessment System...... 169 5.3.2 Journey in China as an Assessment System in CFL Programs...... 172 5.3.3 Potential of Journey in China for Overcoming Pedagogical Challenges...... 180 5.3.3.1 Journey in China Immerses Learners in Visualized Contexts...... 180 5.3.3.2 Journey in China Facilitates the Development of Anticipation...... 181 5.3.3.3 Journey in China Enhances the Learning Experience...... 182 5.4 A Peek into the Future: Creation of SLLE with Virtual Reality (VR)...... 184 5.4.1 Virtual Reality is Completely Synthetic...... 185 5.4.2 Difference between AR and VR for Educational Purposes...... 186 5.4.3 Advantages of Introducing VR to CFL Programs...... 191 5.4.3.1 VR Situates Learners in Immersive Environments...... 191 5.4.3.2 VR Accommodates Different Learning Styles...... 192 5.5 Conclusion and Future Directions...... 195 References...... 201 Appendix A: Glossary of Game-related Terminology (Alphabetical Order)...... 210

ix List of Tables

Table 1.1. The Differences between Gamification and Game-Based Learning...... 17 Table 1.2. Differences between Digital and Institutional Language Programs...... 24 Table 2.1. Goals, Potential Risks, and Necessary Knowledge of the Six Roles...... 42 Table 3.1. Comparison of Introductory and Advanced Undergraduate Language Course Enrollments, 2013...... 65 Table 3.2. Comparison of Introductory and Advanced Undergraduate Language Course Enrollments, 2009...... 66 Table 3.3. Comparison of Introductory and Advanced Undergraduate Language Course Enrollments, 2006...... 66 Table 3.4. Difference between Expectation, Prediction, and Anticipation...... 89 Table 3.5. Three Levels of Local Anticipation...... 102 Table 4.1. Game Elements and Relevant Emotions...... 130 Table 5.1. Problems and challenges in CFL teaching and learning...... 145 Table 5.2. A Summary of Three Genres of Games...... 152 Table 5.3. Sample quests with “Chinese movies”...... 168 Table 5.4. A list of themes and skills in the first semester of Level 1 at OSU...... 175 Table 5.5. Skills of different frequency and common topics...... 176 Table 5.6. Differences between a CFL program involving JiC and other CFL programs...... 180 Table 5.7. The five dimensions of learning styles...... 193

x List of Figures

Figure 1.1. The Company Description of Conundra...... 14 Figure 3.1. Chinese Language Enrollments at OSU, Academic Year 2013-2017...... 68 Figure 3.2. Two Types of Instruction (Walker, 2010, p.61)...... 79 Figure 3.3. The Introduction of Domain in the Flagship Program...... 83 Figure 3.4. The Introduction of Domain to Lower-level Students...... 83 Figure 3.5. Summoner’s Rift, the Map of Standard LoL Games...... 91 Figure 3.6. The Screenshot of a Deciding Moment in a Small-scale Fight...... 92 Figure 3.7. KT Trying to Take Down a Turret...... 95 Figure 3.8. KZ Trying to Take Down Baron Nashor...... 95 Figure 3.9. KZ’s Siege on the Mid Lane...... 96 Figure 3.10. KZ Took Down Two Turrets on Two Lanes...... 97 Figure 4.1 Cycle of Second Culture Compilation (Walker & Noda, 2010, p. 32)...... 105 Figure 4.2. The Human Amygdala (in blue) and Hippocampus (in green)...... 109 Figure 4.3. A combat scene where pressing “B” triggers a critical hit to the enemy...... 114 Figure 4.4. A combat scene where a long-range weapon is used...... 115 Figure 4.5. The options in the conversation with the reporter...... 116 Figure 4.6. The protagonist and three companions...... 116 Figure 4.7. Customization of age, name, gender and other personality...... 118 Figure 4.8. Customization of physical appearance...... 118 Figure 4.9. Customization of body and outfit...... 119 Figure 4.10. Customization of aspiration and traits (top-left corner)...... 119 Figure 4.11. The attraction of landmarks based on their sizes...... 123 Figure 4.12. A panorama of the game world, with triangular objects highlighted...... 124 Figure 4.13. The recruitment post of a guild in WoW...... 130 Figure 4.14. A diagram of flow experience (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990, p.74)...... 132 Figure 4.15. The ideal in-game flow experience (Chen, 2006, p.10)...... 134 Figure 4.16. Players encountering negative emotions (Chen, 2006, p.10)...... 135 Figure 4.17. Different players and flow zones (Chen, 2006, p.10)...... 136 Figure 4.18. Active flow adjustment through choices (Chen, 2006, p.13)...... 137 Figure 5.1. The onscreen interface of My Quests in the GPS system...... 160 Figure 5.2. Learner’ points and instructors’ feedback...... 162 Figure 5.3. Level (the silver frame) and Title (Chengyu Master)...... 163 Figure 5.4. The interface of My Zone...... 165 Figure 5.5. Events in a sample storyline of the intern in JiC...... 177 Figure 5.6. Real desk with virtual lamp and two virtual chairs in an AR setting...... 186 Figure 5.7. Screenshots of BARETA showing different views of the ventricle...... 187 Figure 5.8. A screenshot of catalytic reactions occurring inside a catalyst pore...... 188 Figure 5.9. The virtual classroom in VEC3D...... 189

xi Chapter One: Introducing Gamification to Chinese as a Foreign Language

Programs

The technological development in the 21st century has provided both challenges and opportunities to people who learn and use more than one language, with globalization, technologization, and mobility as three interrelated driving forces (The

Douglas Fir Group, 2016). The development of technology has pushed globalization beyond international transportation of human beings and physical commodities to the realm of information exchange. With the major tool of communication evolving from telephones to the Internet, we have constructed an ever-expanding network of information which integrate diverse data sources from every corner of the world. As the mobile technologies become sophisticated, such an information-rich network is accessible with unprecedented convenience. It has transformed the ways in which language learners gather information and make meaning. For example, in addition to traditional spoken and written texts, people are becoming accustomed to integrating graphic and audio patterns of information, such as emoji, in their daily conversation on electronic devices. It is also convenient for people to discover and join various online communities which have their unique discourse for the discussion in their respective fields. As a result, learners need and want to use the target languages in

1 heterogeneous ways, many of which are facilitated by the application of emerging technologies, such as the smart-phone and gamified learning tools. As a response to learners’ needs, educators of foreign languages should actively investigate new approaches involving the implementation of new technologies which break the boundary between the language classroom and learners’ daily life. Thus, learners can acquire more opportunities for learning languages because it will become inseparable from their daily lives.

Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) programs are also under the influence of technology (Ruan et al., 2016). Program directors should evaluate their program design with reference to research findings of language pedagogy, sociolinguistics, cognitive science, psychology and other relevant fields. Instructors can creatively utilize the power of technology to enhance the learning experience and promote learners’ performance across diverse contexts. There are several issues worth reflecting on:

 How to integrate the classroom experience with out-of-classroom encounters and

create a “complex communicative space” (The Douglas Fir Group, 2016) in

language classes?

 How to construct communities in which learners can develop a profound

awareness of their identity and agency based on language-mediated social

actions?

 How to deal with the continually changing norms of language use while

2 instantiating the diversified language choices in a pedagogical material?

Gamification can be a potential answer for all of these issues through enhancing the learning experience with appropriate application of game elements in CFL programs. For example, a gamified program can consist of a series of tasks for learners to accomplish after class through the communication with native speakers, while the in-class experiences serve as pre-task tutorials and post-task reflection. The tasks resemble games in that they both contain possible moves and provide the context within which moves have significance. Moreover, in a consistent gamified learning environment, learners can maintain a role throughout the whole program, which enables them to experience, in a controlled environment, how their presumed identity and agency are constructed based on their interaction with the world.

To address the urgent problems of CFL programs, it also requires a re-conceptualization of language-mediated communication and, consequently, language learning. Culture is a valid concept, as it frames the behaviors that can be recognized and understood by people sharing with us the common background of the target culture (Walker & Noda, 2010). Language learning, then, is learning to perform in the target culture to communicate meanings in a culturally appropriate way.

However, culture is a loaded and misleading term to many language teachers, especially in the context of teaching Chinese as a foreign language, because they tend to treat culture as static cultural artifacts that cannot be performed (Scrimgeour and

Wilson, 2009). As a result, teachers’ misconception of culture leads to the fact that

3 they only get pieces of culture across to the learners.

As an alternative, game can be used to conceptualize language-mediated communication in ways that retain and operationalize language—and behavior-relevant aspects of language, which is similar to how culture frames the use of language. A game is a psychological framing device that assigns meaning to specific human behaviors in specified contexts. When we know what game we are playing, we thereby know our potential goals, actions, and those actions’—or moves’—significance and consequences vis-à-vis the goals, short-term and long. For example, when we perceive a certain human behavior as situated in a soccer game, we would think it is justifiable to kick the ball; when we perceive a behavior as situated in a basketball game, then kicking the ball would be a foul. The difference can be as salient between two games of using Chinese. When we encounter a stranger in the elevator, we would think it is inappropriate to address them because neither side expects to have further communication; when we encounter a friend in the elevator, it would be expected to address them to avoid causing damage to the relationship.

Game constrains and gives value to the moves that constitute it. In this way, learning to communicate with a language is learning how to play a game so as to achieve favorable results through one’s chosen moves in the target language.

1.1 Dual Senses of the Concept of Game

When speaking of games, different people have totally different images. The

4 development of electronic games as an industry has expropriated an image associated with the concept of “game”, especially among the generation born after 1990. For soccer fans, the meaning of “game day” more likely involves watching a match of the team they support rather than playing a game. People in Las Vegas are likely to visit casinos and play games that risk wealth. Although using the same deck of playing cards, the games people play in family gatherings are regarded more as board games rather than as gambling, because the participants only risk self-esteem, mostly playful.

The concept of game has various human presentations. From playing cards, and soccer balls to DVDs, human imagination and technology cooperate to continuously create tools and media that can be used to play games. However, even if the tools are the same, two groups of players can be observed in entirely different activities if the rules they play by are different. With the same deck of playing cards, people can play

Blackjack with professional gamblers in the casinos, or Old Maid with children in family gatherings.

In this study, the concept of game is discussed in two senses. In the narrow sense, it refers to the activities that people engage in and commonly address as games, ranging from field games or board games to electronic games. Games in the narrow sense will be addressed as explicit games in the following discussion. The analysis of the elements and the mechanics of existing games can shed light on the creative application of “game” in other contexts. Game elements are properties and interpretations that provide the overall gaming experience to the players: rules, goals,

5 characters and objects in the game world (e.g., trees, buildings, treasure chests, nets, bases, goal lines, etc.). Game mechanics are methods players can utilize to interact with the game, but they cannot go against the rules1 set by the game designers or assumed by the players (Sicart, 2008). For example, a player’s avatar in an electronic action game can jump from one platform to another to change a position, but it is impossible to stay in the air if the avatar does not have such a predetermined ability.

Some researchers discuss the concept of “context mechanics” (Sicart, 2008; Adams &

Rollings, 2007), which refers to mechanics that are triggered by both players’ input and the context of their presence in the world of the game. For example, if a game allows the players to open treasure chests, but there is no chest in the given context, then pressing the button of “open” would trigger no interaction with the game. In

Chapter 3, I will revisit the concept of context mechanics, which can be used to analyze how players interpret information in the games.

In the broad sense, game is viewed as a psychological reality that organizes human behaviors, which makes many of our daily-life activities as implicit games.

Games are recognized and understood based on its playing field, evaluative system—with “score” as a major type of representation—that assesses the participants’ performances, and agreed-upon rules within which the participants can set their own goals and adopt their own strategies. The different components of this definition lead to a further explanation below from 1.1.1 to 1.1.4 as we explore the

1 The concept of rules will be defined and discussed in 1.1.3.

6 concept of game in the broad sense. Since the explicit games conform to this definition and usually have obvious playing fields, evaluative systems, and game rules, examples from explicit games will be used to help illustrate the three main components of a game.

1.1.1 The Playing Field Provides an Exclusive Zone for a Game

Games have their predetermined spaces or playing fields. To play a game of soccer, players need to find a soccer field or define one with at least goalposts. For gambling, people go to a special place, either legal or illegal, where, in most types of games, they agree to win or lose something. Each “playing field” is specifically imagined or designed for a game because all the elements have designated meanings.

For example, the lines on a basketball court all have their functions. Inside the big quadrangle is where the game should be played. The arc marks where players can shoot for three points. The baskets are also indispensable; otherwise the players would be unable to score points. Board games reduce the required space to “a board”—physical or imagined. The portable feature of board games permits us to observe them being played in the park or even on the train. Many board games are provided with gaming boards that are customized to support all the specific activities of those games. These gaming boards can be viewed as non-interchangeable playing fields of particular board games. Nobody plays Monopoly on the Scrabble board because the gaming pieces have no designated locations. Thus, board games

7 exemplify how specific playing fields serve exclusive purposes for certain games.

Despite the fact that most playing fields are designed for specific games, human beings can abstract the critical elements of a playing field and project them onto another space, thus rendering them “concrete” again—which enables us to relocate our play to wherever we find available space. When space is limited, players of different games share the same playing field, such as playing volleyball on a basketball court. The original lines on the basketball court mean nothing to the volleyball players, so they draw temporary lines to mark their territory and help themselves perceive the borders for play. The volleyball players in this example create their own playing field. Suppose some basketball players enter the basketball court and see a group of people playing volleyball. The basketball players are confused, but also curious about this game. If they want to learn more about the game, they have to recognize the existence of a different game zone, where the basketball rules are no longer applicable. For example, it is not appropriate to shout to the players “Catch that ball and shoot!” They need to observe and learn the rules, but they can leave the court at any time if they lose the interest. Though it is still a basketball court, it has been temporarily transformed into a volleyball zone, in which only those who know volleyball rules can play the game.

In sum, the zone created by players can be observed whenever a game is in process. It is exclusive to the participants who acknowledge the validity of its rules. It causes no confusion when the playing field is specifically configured for the target

8 game. If it is not, the participants simply need to re-configure the playing field to fit their intended game.

1.1.2 The Scoring System Provides a Measurement of Performance

Games have their own conventional scoring systems to provide a measurable evaluation of players’ performances. Games that are sports competitions have explicit ways to count scores to determine the winner of a specific game; these ways are clearly known as rules. It can be actual scores achieved by the players as in basketball games or the seemingly subjective ones given by the judges in gymnastic games.

Generally speaking, whoever gains more points wins. Similarly, the user’s guide of board games usually tells the players how a game is finished and points counted. The agreed upon scoring system is the defining factor that distinguishes a game from a performance (Walker & Noda, 2000). Without a scoring system that measures the performance, the participants care more about the process than any result.

The scoring system is mostly an evaluative feedback system, which provides players with a clear understanding of their performance in a game. The scoring system is not always explained in detail, especially in electronic games, which have various ways of giving the feedback. It can still be expressed by points or grades, but these are generated by the behind-the-scenes algorithms, the criteria of which most players only have a vague idea about (e.g., the clear time, hit combo, and remaining health points).

However, in many cases, the game tells the players nothing more than whether you

9 have passed the level or not. Even though the final result still relies on generated points, it is tactfully concealed so that the players only receive self-explantory feedback. For example, in order to win an action game, players need to deal more damage to their enemy than the amount of damage they suffer. While in a racing game, players need to complete a circuit of a track more quickly than opponents do, or within a specified time limit. In addition to the final result, players can constantly gain direct feedback throughout the whole process whenever they make a decision and perform an action. This allows the players to monitor progress and make adjustments accordingly towards obtaining a favorable result.

1.1.3 Rules Regulate Players’ Behaviors while Encouraging Creativity

Rules are a set of arbitrary conventions set by the game designers to constrain players’ behaviors. As mentioned above, the rules are one of the essential game elements. They comprise the foundation for players to create their own playing fields and to obtain prompt feedback based on the scoring system. People who comply with the rules can stay in the playing field, whereas those who violate the rules become open to sanction, such as the yellow and red cards in soccer games. Basically, accepted rules ensure a smooth process of the games.

At the same time, a game’s rules also allow players to make creative performances. Rules are normative and mainly function as guidelines for performative game mechanics, which refer to the actions players can take to change the situation of

10 the game. Due to the difficulty in predicting human creativity, it is difficult for game designers to exclude all possible loopholes for players to exploit in the rules.

Therefore, the content of rules is usually a description of normal processes and the absolutely unacceptable actions. In other words, the players can do anything that is not prohibited by the rules and make novel acts part of their strategy. It actually leads to the evolution of techniques. When the basketball slam dunk was first used, it was viewed by defenders as a personal affront because basketball is primarily a shooting game. However, since the action of directly putting the ball through the basket is not banned by the rules, the slam dunk has become the highest percentage shot and a fan-favorite offensive move.

The rules also have clearly stated goals for the players, yet it does not mean everyone needs to play to reach such goals. For example, basketball players only use one ball during a match. But during practice, they can use as many balls as possible to increase the times of shooting within a limited period of time. The rule is temporarily and knowingly violated because players are in the pre-game state and their purpose is improving their abilities instead of winning a game. Similarly, the goals stated in the rules are for serious players who are particular about the orthodox format of a game, whereas casual players simply aim for having fun. An official basketball match uses the full court and lasts 40 minutes in total. The team scoring more points becomes the winner. But for casual players, a half court would suffice, and the aim may become getting ten goals before the rival team. When people play board games at home

11 parties, there are veteran and novice players. The acceptable goal is comprised of winning the game to prove competence, familiarizing novice players with the game, and merely participating in a group activity with friends. The difference of goals also invokes diversified strategies. For example, players who try to win a game conceal valuable information, such as what cards they have in hand, while those who prioritize helping novice players would reveal that information. The interrelation between rules, goals, and strategies determines the gaming experience for each player.

1.1.4 Game is a Psychological Reality

Psychological reality, standing in contrast to physical reality, is what happens to us beyond our concrete contact with the world. We perceive physical reality with our senses, but psychological reality cannot be observed because it is constructed of psychological factors like meaning, emotions, and motives. It is the underwater part of an iceberg, hard to discover but functioning as the basis of what we do and see.

As a way to organize complex and unpremeditated human behaviors, “game” affects our behaviors unconsciously or subconsciously through manipulating our recognition of the working rules and mechanics. Suppose we are familiar with the rules of volleyball and basketball, then once we recognize the “game” based on visual cues, or physical realities, such as the field layout and the number of players, we immediately know what to do. It does not require any verbal explanation or observation of an ongoing match. Therefore, the concept of game can be viewed as an

12 underlying psychological reality. It prompts us to distinguish one context from another, together with the appropriate behaviors in those contexts. The relationship between game as a psychological reality and language learning will be further discussed in Chapter 2.

1.2 Application of Game Elements and Mechanics in Gamification

1.2.1 Gamification is a Strategy

Gamification now refers to a problem-solving strategy which employs game elements and game-design techniques in traditionally non-game contexts (Werbach &

Hunter, 2012), but the term had a different connotation when it was used for the first time. Nick Pelling, a British game developer, coined the term “gamification” in 2003 when he established a short-lived consultancy company, Conundra Ltd. (Werbach &

Hunter, 2012). Based on the description of Conundra in Figure 1.1, his vision seems to be designing games for electronic devices, which can function as entertainment platforms and enhance the user experience.

13 Figure 1.1. The Company Description of Conundra2

Unlike Pelling’s idea of “gamification”, this study emphasizes on the exploitation of game elements rather than games.

Although “gamification” as a term has been used for only 15 years, the concept behind it is not a recent idea. In 1908, the Boy Scout movement was founded. The scouts could earn badges as a recognition of their achievement in various areas, which is a commonly-used element in current games to set clear goals for the players and motivate them to get the achievement. In 1981, American Airlines released

AAdvantage, the world’s first frequent flyer program, which allows the travelers to gain points that can be exchanged for rewards, such as free air tickets. It resembles the

“earning and trading” system in many games, and is also the model for the loyalty

2 http://www.nanodome.com/conundra.co.uk/, last accessed March 16, 2018.

14 programs of retailers, restaurants, coffee shops and alike. Charles Coonradt, labeled as

“the grandfather of gamification” in a Forbes article (Krogue, 2012), published The

Game of Work in 1985, where he applied game principles in business contexts and suggested that fun-and-games might help improve employee engagement. Krogue

(2012) summarizes five core principles of gamification on the basis of Coonradt

(1985):

1. Clearly defined goals 2. Better scorekeeping and scorecards 3. More frequent feedback 4. A higher degree of personal choice of methods 5. Consistent coaching

The five principles are all frequently used features in games. Coonradt has taught corporations like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, AT&T and Wendy’s to address their problems of employee engagement with an approach emphasizing more on applicable game elements rather than actual games. Gamification as a strategy motivates the participants through alternating their mindset, perceiving work as a rewarding activity instead of drudgery.

1.2.2 Gamification is not Game-Based Learning

Gamification and game-based learning are two popular approaches in education and training, but confusion still exists regarding what each term means (Isaacs, 2015).

15 Game-based learning relates to the use of actual games to enhance the learning experience and meet learning outcomes. The games are necessary components of the curricula, and the learning comes from the experience of playing the games. For example, Civilization, one of the most famous strategy games, is used in North

American high schools to “engage students in critical thinking, and experiment with the causal/correlative relationships between military, technology, political, and socioeconomic development” (Carpenter, 2016). Researchers have also been experimenting with utilizing popular games like World of Warcraft in language education (Newgarden et al., 2015; Zheng et al., 2015). When thoughtfully incorporated into the curriculum, commercial games can become powerful learning tools because they are highly engaging and closely related to students’ daily life after school. However, commercial digital games are not the only options. The criteria for determining the suitability of a game are whether the chosen game fits the learning goals of a curriculum.

Unlike game-based learning, gamification relies on the creative application of game elements rather than actual games. Gamification systems like Rezzly, formerly known as 3D GameLab, and ClassCraft aim to cover the existing course infrastructure with a quest-based game layer. The content being taught remains the same but reorganized by the instructors as quests with the help of gamification systems. In lieu of a traditional grading system, student work on the quests, either individually or collaboratively, earn experience points and badges as the recognition

16 of their progress and achievement. Isaacs (2015) reports an extremely positive experience of using gamification in his course. The student engagement is satisfying, as the students would spend more time experiencing the knowledge of this course than that of other courses, even though there is no assigned homework. In this way, the learning process is extended beyond the classroom.

Gamification and game-based learning are two different approaches, but they can co-exist in the same course. A course utilizing gamification systems can still incorporate actual games as an organic component. In summary, the differences between gamification and game-based learning in the context of education are listed in the table below.

Gamification Game-Based Learning A game-like appearance on Necessary components of the The Role of Games top of existing curriculum curriculum Applying appropriate game Using existing games that fit The Use of Games elements the goal of learning The Goal of Using To enhance motivation and To learn through experiencing Games encourage positive behaviors games May be substituted by May rely on students’ The Grading experience points and progress in the games System level-up system expressed as a scoring system World of Warcraft, MinecraftEDU, Examples Rezzly, ClassCraft, ClassXP CivilizationEDU, World Peace Game

Table 1.1. The Differences between Gamification and Game-Based Learning

17 1.2.3 Gamification Requires an Evaluation of the Purpose

Gamification is fundamentally a problem-solving strategy, which means there is always a clear purpose for utilizing gamification. McGonigal (2011) concludes that most of the gamification practices share the same formula. They have a purpose first, and then they use various game elements to make the process appear more interesting, such as visualizing the progress, setting short-term goals, and rewarding the achievement of those goals. Gamification is not a simple aggregation of game elements. Successful practice of gamification requires a careful selection of game elements that fit the context and cater to the target users. The badge system is enticing, but it does not mean everyone cares about collecting badges. More importantly, gamification requires an evaluation of the purpose.

There are two general purposes for implementing gamification. The first one is enhancing the existing users’ experience. Most gamification practices fall into this category, and achieving this purpose does not require a creative design. Adding the regular earning-and-rewarding system suffices in most cases. For example, Nike + is an activity tracker device. The core function is recording the distance and pace of the users’ walk and run, but it also features a trophy system which allows users to unlock trophies based on their achievement, compete with their friends and enjoy their success. It is a popular program, as the number of users has already reached 28 million by the end of 20143. Another popular gamification practice is the membership

3 “Nike+ Fuel Lab Launches in San Francisco”

18 program of Starbucks. It is a loyalty program that allows customers to earn free drinks through continually making purchases at Starbucks. In both examples, only a few game elements are applied to the gamified programs. They serve the purpose of enhancing user experience well enough because the users are already interested in the target activity (i.e., exercising or drinking coffee). The success of gamified programs helps the companies strengthen the loyalty of customers and potentially claim a more significant share of the market.

The second purpose is expanding the target group of users, which means attracting people who do not engage in the target activity regularly. To achieve this purpose, it requires a thoughtful design with the core activity subtly concealed and appearance more attractive. It is difficult for Nike + to cultivate new runners.

However, compared to the tremendous number of mobile fitness applications on the market, Pokemon GO probably achieves significantly more regarding motivating people to exercise, especially those who traditionally favor staying at home. The basic idea of this game is that you need to walk in the real environment to encounter magical creatures called Pokemon and try to catch them. Coordinated with Google

Map, the GPS function on the smartphone can precisely locate where the players are, which determines the type of Pokemons the players can encounter. This mobile game became a phenomenon soon after its release. The fans of the original Pokemon franchise definitely contributed a lot, but there were also a considerable number of http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nike-fuel-lab-launches-in-san-francisco-2014-04-10?reflink=MW_news_stm p. Retrieved August 4, 2017.

19 players who had no prior knowledge about Pokemon. They were attracted by this novel way of playing a game that blurs the line between real and virtual world. It also offers a unique possibility of hanging out with friends and family members while exploring new areas together, which led to a booming increase of visitors to local parks.

Pokemon Go can be viewed as an example of successfully gamifying the process of conducting physical activities, with the fundamental goal outshined by others, such as collecting different kinds of Pokemon. Encouraging people to leave home and explore the world is undoubtedly one of the purposes of developers. Otherwise, the game would have been designed in another way. For example, the egg-hatching system requires players to walk either 2km, 5km or 10km to hatch an egg and get a guaranteed good Pokemon. If the measurement is switched from distance to time, then players would not bother to walk more.

Thus, if the purpose of using gamification is to expand the size of a target group, then it is necessary to create a comprehensive system which offers a more attractive experience for all the potential users. As in the example of Pokemon GO, the physical activities do not appear to be the fundamental purpose, but a tool the players can use to achieve their goals. It does not imply that gamification practices for the second purpose are superior to those for the first one. The point is that different purposes call for diversified methods of designing gamified programs.

20 1.3 Gamification in Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) Programs

1.3.1 Institutional Programs as Distinguished from Digital Programs

To learn a foreign language, we usually seek help from an academic program, either an institutional or a digital one. There are some fundamental differences between the two kinds of programs.

A common meaning of “program” is a plan or system under which actions can be taken to achieve a certain goal4, which fits some of the essential characteristics of institutional language programs. First, the institutional programs have detailed agenda for the courses and required learning materials. Hence, it is the most convenient way for language learners who have access to resources provided by educational institutions. It is also significantly helpful that in such programs, there are instructors who guide the learners through the process of learning by designing classes and giving feedback. Second, in academic institutions and commercial training institutions, the language programs usually have their own specific goals. Some programs have their goals more clearly stated than others, but it is always necessary to have a stated goal in order to justify pedagogical decisions. The commercial institutions belong to the group of clear goals, because they usually serve the purpose of helping learners pass certain exams or tests. Some training institutions even make bold statements promising that their learners can reach certain scores in the target exam. Otherwise, they return the tuition. As for academic institutions, the goals reflect the teaching

4 The common definitions of terms in this dissertation are partly based on Merriam-Webster online dictionary (http://www.merriam-webster.com). Same as below.

21 philosophy of program leaders. The long-term objective of the Chinese program at the

Ohio State University is to gain “the ability to be somebody—someone who moves easily and effectively—in the culture and society you're studying, by means of the language you're studying”5. The Brigham Young University has more specific objectives like “speak and comprehend Mandarin Chinese at the ACTFL (American

Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Advanced-Mid level”6. With diversified goals, the programs choose materials and teaching methods which fit their own needs. They also carefully design schedules and make sure the limited time can be efficiently used to cover everything necessary for learners to reach the goals.

However, the result is that learners do not have the luxury of setting their own learning pace. They need to follow the schedule and fulfill the requirement strictly.

The digital program refers to a sequence of coded instructions that can be run in compatible devices, such as computers and smartphones. The technological development gives rise to an increasing number of digital foreign language learning programs, from the state-sponsored Rosetta Stone to the wildly popular Duolingo.

According to a report in 2017, Duolingo has been downloaded over 100 million times just in the Google Play Store. The number of users has reached 200 million (Smith,

2017). The fact that such programs can be used on portable devices and flexible enough to cater to users’ different needs contributes to the trend of choosing digital

5 “Chinese Language at OSU: Objectives and Means”. https://deall.osu.edu/programs/undergrad/chinese/objectives-and-means. Accessed March 20, 2018. 6 “Chinese”. https://catalog.byu.edu/humanities/asian-and-near-eastern-languages/chinese-ba. Accessed March 20, 2018.

22 programs over traditional textbooks among self-learners. Moreover, research has also proved the efficiency of Duolingo in learning Spanish (Vesselinov & Grego, 2012).

However, although such digital programs have been utilized in some educational institutions, it is widely believed that they cannot replace the traditional language classes (Ohm, 2016). Therefore, the user group mainly consists of self-learners. Since the goal of a digital language learning program is usually listed as teaching languages, which is the task itself, there is no objective as clarified in institutional programs. The program designers can certainly recommend some periodical goals, but ultimately, the users have the choice of setting their own goals. It is an advantage for many learners, especially the casual learners, as they have control of their own learning pace and content they want to learn. They do not have an obligation to use the program every day. If they have no interest in certain content, they probably can choose to skip it, depending on how the programs are designed. The disadvantage is that once a digital program is delivered, the designers do not have a continuous impact on the way people use it because they can only release updating patches to fix problems that go against their intentions. In other words, the learners who use digital programs have more freedom, but they may get lost in their journey due to a lack of specific goals and someone who can give advises along the way.

The digital and institutional language programs have their respective advantages and disadvantages. The differences between them are summarized in the table below.

23 Digital Programs Institutional Programs Basic A series of coded instructions A plan or system Attributes Helping learners to pass tests Created to teach languages. No Goals or gain abilities to fulfill specific learning goals. specific tasks. Learners can control their own Learners need to follow the learning pace and choose the schedule and finish assigned Flexibility content if allowed by the tasks, usually within a designers. pre-specified time frame. Interference of No direct impact from the Supervising the program and program designers in daily learning able to interfere at any time. designers procedures. The instructors and learners Media Electronic devices usually need to meet within the same space.

Table 1.2. Differences between Digital and Institutional Language Programs

1.3.2 Using CFL Programs as the Target of Gamification

This dissertation focuses on the implementation of gamification in CFL programs because gamification can help address two issues arising in CFL programs.

The first one is that on top of the unique linguistic characteristics of Chinese, the unfamiliar cultural assumptions cause more trouble for native speakers of English to learn Chinese. The second one is the urgent need of learners in CFL programs to seek local Chinese communities and interact with native speakers of Chinese.

1.3.2.1 Accounting for the Difficulty of Learning Chinese

Chinese has traditionally been classified as one of the most challenging languages for English speakers. The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) of the Department

24 of State compiles language learning timelines7, which describe the difficulty level of various languages based on the average length of time for an English native speaker to reach “Speaking-3/Reading-3” on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale.

A person at the level of “Speaking-3/Reading-3”, also labeled as “Professional

Working Proficiency”8, is described as follows:

 able to speak the language with sufficient structural accuracy and

vocabulary to participate effectively in most formal and informal

conversations on practical, social, and professional topics

 can discuss particular interests and special fields of competence with

reasonable ease

 has comprehension which is quite complete for a normal rate of speech

 has a general vocabulary which is broad enough that he or she rarely has

to grope for a word

 has an accent which may be obviously foreign; has a good control of

grammar; and whose errors virtually never interfere with understanding

and rarely disturb the native speaker.

FSI lists Chinese, both Mandarin and Cantonese, as Category IV languages along

7 FSI's Experience with Language Learning. https://www.state.gov/m/fsi/sls/c78549.htm. Accessed March 26, 2018. 8 The Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) Scale (Language Proficiency Assessment). http://casemed.case.edu /registrar/pdfs/Scale_ILR.pdf. Accessed March 26, 2018.

25 with Arabic, Japanese, and Korean. These exceptionally challenging languages require approximately 88 weeks, or 2200 class hours, for the learners to reach the

“Speaking-3/Reading-3” proficiency level. In comparison, the Category I languages

(e.g., Danish, French, Spanish etc.) only require 24-30 weeks.

As a general guideline for people to have a preliminary understanding of how hard learning each language would be, the FSI timelines have at least two limitations.

First, the ILR scale explains the abilities learners can expect to acquire in a vague way

(e.g., in most conversations, with reasonable ease, quite complete etc.). It is also the problem of the level description of other proficiency tests. Consequently, learners cannot form a clear picture of using the target language after weeks of learning.

Second, the FSI timelines are compiled only based on observation of students’ performance in the past. They admit the fact that the actual time spent to achieve proficiency depends on factors including students’ aptitude and prior language-learning experience, but there is no hypothesis of the possible reasons.

The difficulty of learning Chinese is usually measured through analyzing its linguistic characteristics, whereas the cultural factors are less recognized. A National

Security Agency (NSA) report9 points out that Chinese is not as difficult as either

Japanese or Korean because Chinese has no morphological system, and there exist similarities between the syntax of Chinese and English. The difficulty of Chinese mainly derives from the enormous number of non-alphabetic written symbols.

9 Foreign Language Learning: A Comparative Analysis of Relative Difficulty. https://www.nsa.gov/news-features/ declassified-documents/cryptologic-spectrum/assets/files/foreign_language.pdf. Accessed March 26, 2018.

26 Interestingly, the authors consider the stylistic differences when evaluating the difficulty level of a language, such as the level of politeness in Japanese. However, the stylistics of courtesy in Chinese is simplified to a matter of vocabulary, with the contrast between ni and nin as an example. The daily-life situations are much more complicated. For example, “ 你 叫 什 么 名 字 ” is a commonly-used inquiry of the interlocutor’s name, while “您贵姓” is an option for situations that require a higher level of courtesy. The politeness is conveyed in three layers: “您” (more polite than

“你”), “贵” (similar to “honorable” in English), and the fact that only “姓” (the family name) is being inquired. Since the stylistic choices of Chinese in different situations rarely involve morphological and syntactical changes, the learners must have a deeper understanding of the underlying culture to recognize the subtle differences. As Walker

(2010) points out, “culture is the source of meaning and conversations in a particular language require communication in the frame of a particular culture.” (p.10) Culture is the “game rules” that constrain the use of language in various contexts, which can be presented more intuitively through gamification. The relationship between culture, language and gamification will be further discussed in Chapter 2.

1.3.2.2 CFL and CSL distinction under scrutiny

Although both CFL and CSL (Chinese as a second language) programs have

Chinese as the content of instruction, there is a fundamental difference between them.

Learning CSL is within a culture where Chinese is spoken natively, which is basically

27 learning Chinese in China. On the other hand, learning CFL is within the environment of one’s native culture with limited opportunities to use the target language, such as an American learning Chinese in the United States (Brown, 2007).

However, the current trend of establishing Chinese communities in various countries mitigates the clarity of identifying a “CFL” context. Take the United States as an example, the Chinese immigrants have become the third-largest foreign-born group, only after Mexicans and Indians. The number of Chinese immigrants from mainland China in the United States reached 2.1 million in 2016, with California and

New York being the most concentrated states (Zong & Batalova, 2017). China sends the most international students to U.S. colleges and universities, “with Chinese students accounting for 31.5% (328,547) of all international enrollments (1,043,839) in the U.S., according to the Institute of International Education (IIE)” (John, 2016). A study compiled by IIE has also revealed that Chinese students lead the growth of international enrollment at high schools in the United States (Fuchs, 2017). Therefore, it is much easier for Chinese learners to talk to native speakers of Chinese, at least theoretically.

Though it can be beneficial for learners to get immersed in Chinese immigrant communities, it does not mean they can easily acquire the experience of learning CSL, mainly for two reasons. First, the Chinese immigrants have adapted to American culture. For example, although the waiters in restaurants are Chinese, they have been accustomed to serve guests who only speak English, which is a rare situation in China.

28 They also expect tips, which never happens in China. Second, being populated with

Chinese people does not mean those areas are isolated from other districts of the cities.

On the contrary, they have strong connections with the surrounding areas, including transportation means and architecture styles. Flushing, a neighborhood in the New

York City borough of Queens, is one of the largest ethnic Chinese enclaves outside of

Asia, but people can easily get there without prior knowledge of the Chinese language.

The intensity learners feel in CSL programs is much higher than that in CFL programs because the learners must survive in a foreign culture and entirely depend on the target language for communication.

Undoubtedly, the existence of Chinese immigrant communities provides a rich opportunity for CFL programs, which can be utilized to extend the experience of learning CFL to learners’ daily life. It offers a broader range of selection for extracurricular activities, but the program designers have the responsibility to find out how such activities can be effectively incorporated into the programs. For example, taking students to a Chinese restaurant is an exciting experience, but urging them to order food in Chinese would be more challenging and helpful, especially when relevant content has just been covered in class. The problem is that not every institution has the resources to bring students to Chinese communities on a regular basis. Gamification can be a solution to this problem, which will be further discussed in Chapter 5.

29 1.3.3 Five Areas for Gamification in a CFL Program

Using the Chinese program at the Ohio State University (OSU) as an example, this dissertation identifies five areas that are worth attention of program designers, corresponding to five fundamental questions that need to be answered before the establishment of a program. Gamification can be a tentative solution to the problems observable in those five areas, namely content, goal, teaching format, assessment and learning environment. The following part briefly discusses the five areas, based on which this dissertation is structured. In each section, a question and a problem will be raised.

1.3.3.1 Content as Situating Language in the Culture

Question 1: What should be taught?

Problem 1: Language (text) and culture (context) are separate in class.

Although the pedagogy of CFL program at OSU emphasizes on the connection between language and culture, whether it is reflected in language classes depends on the teaching philosophy of each instructor. Chapter 2 reviews the necessity of situating language in its underlying culture in language classes. Scholarly works from philosophy, linguistics, anthropology, and pedagogy will be drew upon to discuss how meaning is created and conveyed through the use of language. The concept of “game” is used mainly in its broad sense in this chapter.

30 1.3.3.2 Goal as Guiding Students to Discover their Domains

Question 2: What is the goal of the program?

Problem 2: The students can neither identify with the program goals nor find their own goals.

Many CFL programs set their goals as helping students reach a particular proficiency level, which, as discussed before, only has a vague description of the abilities students are expected to acquire. As a result, it is difficult for the students to visualize what they can do with the language in the future. Chapter 3 argues that the program goal should be set as guiding students to discover their own domains in which they can gain expertise. The advanced-level classes at OSU have domain-related content, but it can also be extended to lower-level classes. As a crucial concept in this chapter, “anticipation” helps ensure learners’ success in both speech acts and the entire journey of learning Chinese. The concept of “game” is used mainly in its broad sense in this chapter.

1.3.3.3 Teaching Format as Individualized and Customized

Question 3: How should students be taught?

Problem 3: The students have an imbalanced learning experience in class, depending on their aptitude and prior experience of learning languages.

31 It is a prevalent problem in language classes that the exact same content can be challenging to some students while exceptionally easy to others. OSU has the

Individualized Instruction (I.I.) program as a solution to this problem. Based on the individualized model, chapter 4 draws upon elements of explicit games to examine how the program can create emotions for the learners, thus enhance the effectiveness of learning.

1.3.3.4 Assessment as Key Events in a Game

Question 4: How to set the levels and conduct placement tests?

Problem 4: Students can automatically reach the next level provided they obtain a passing score.

Problem 4 is closely related to Problem 3. Since students can advance to the next level with only a passing score, the discrepancy between successful and struggling students becomes increasingly salient and problematic for the instructors. Chapter 5 proposes a design of gamified supplementary system that can be used to assess students’ performance and determine whether they can move on to the next level.

Traditional quizzes and exams are presented as key events, which the students have to finish before they proceed to the next one. Elements of explicit games will be extensively utilized in the design.

32 1.3.3.5 Learning Environment as Virtual Reality

Question 5: What is the language environment?

Problem 5: Foreign language learning environment (FLLE) can help students prepare for second language learning environment (SLLE), but FLLE has its limitations.

It is commonly accepted that learning a language in SLLE is beneficial for the learners equipped with a linguistic foundation of the target language, but not so much for absolute beginners. On the other hand, many students who have already built the foundation do not have enough resources for them to study in SLLE. Chapter 5 also proposes to create SLLE in CFL programs with the help of virtual reality (VR) technology. Minimal support will be provided to assist students in surviving in a strange environment. It is a gamification project which aims to expand the target group of Chinese learners. Therefore, the desired product should be a comprehensive system which is compelling enough to make the process of learning Chinese less conspicuous but more effective.

33 Chapter Two: Language learning as Learning to Become Capable Players

2.1 Game and Language: From a Metaphor to a Psychological Reality

2.1.1 Wittgenstein Draws the Analogy with the Concept of Language-game

In Philosophical Investigations (2009) Wittgenstein conceptualizes the act of using language as language-games, which refers to the whole activity which involves the use of language (PI10 7). He mentions that the speaking of language is not just about the exchange or repetition of words, but part of a “form of life”, as opposed to

Augustine’s idea of every word representing an object and sentences being combinations of object names (PI 1). In a primitive form of language, he suggests, when someone calls out the words, someone else acts accordingly to fulfill the communicative purpose of the speaker’s use of that language. For example, if a builder calls out “block” to an assistant while building a house, the assistant is expected to bring the block-shaped stone to the builder. The language, in this case, functions as the signal that elicits certain actions as the result of a predetermined agreement before the event. The instruction of foreign languages also involves such mechanistic ways of using language, as when students repeat certain words or

10 Short for Philosophical Investigations. The same below.

34 expressions after their instructor. However, even this activity is more complicated than it appears. The students need to have a clear understanding of their role as language learners and the context of a language class to recognize the intention of the instructor asking them to repeat. Otherwise, the students would be confused about the expected response when the instructor calls out a word—imagine, for example, a clerk in a store speaking the same word to you. In other words, since both sides recognize this model-and-repeat sequence as part of the language-game of learning a language in a classroom setting, they can coordinate their behaviors and accomplish this classroom activity.

2.1.2 Performed Culture Approach Situates Game in Language Learning

While Wittgenstein reflects on the fundamental characteristics of language itself with the concept of language-game, the Performed Culture Approach (PCA) to foreign language pedagogy situates game in the context of language learning and cross-cultural communication, so game is closely related to the concept of culture. By conceptualizing culture as the framework for human behaviors, PCA defines the pedagogical goal of language learning as learning to perform and “establish intentions in a foreign culture” (Walker, 2010, 12). The learners are expected and guided to acquire the ability to communicate their intentions through speaking and behaving in culturally appropriate ways that can be recognized and understood by the natives of the target culture. In other words, utterances and related behaviors are decided on,

35 performed and understood in a context of cultural expectations. For a given event, the proper behaviors in the learners’ base culture can be interpreted as rude in the target culture, and the learners should become fully aware of such a risk. For example, in

American culture, it is polite to say “Thank you” as a recognition of kindness expressed by the compliment. However, in Chinese culture, replying “xiexie” (usually translated as “thank you”) to a compliment can be a sign of arrogance, especially to someone with an assumed higher social rank. The two seemingly identical events—compliment and responding to the compliment—actually constitute two distinct contexts, which constrain action by entailing different performances to communicate the “same” intention: to express appreciation politely. To perform appropriately in any given context, foreign language learners must follow “sets of institutionalized conventions” (Jian & Shepherd, 2010, 102)—the rules, which is one of the pillars supporting the analogy between game and cultural performance.

PCA defines game as “cultural performances with agreed-upon rules (recognized parameters that are associated with and which constrain a particular activity) and shared goals” (Jian & Shepherd, 2010, 102). It is also characterized by a scoring system which recognizes successful and unsuccessful performances (Walker & Noda,

2010; Jian & Shepherd, 2010). For example, in the related but different games of

“complimenting” played in American or Chinese culture, one of the common shared goals between participants is deepening their relationship. The scoring system can be a matter of the impression created as a consequence of the act. That is, a response that

36 is favorably accepted constitutes an “impression score” and a better relationship is understood to obtain. According to the rules, if A compliments B, B will grant a higher impression score to A if the compliment is perceived as sincere. B, in turn, will politely express appreciation to earn a higher score from A, but the politeness in each turn—complementing and responding—is embodied in different behaviors: directly expressing the gratitude in American culture, while refusing a compliment suggests humbleness (or the lack of arrogance) in Chinese culture. The differences between a superficially similar game played in two cultures can be as salient as those between similarly labeled moves in two different sports games. Take “kicking” for an example.

Kicking the ball in a basketball game does not produce a desired outcome as it does in a football or soccer game. Similarly, the American rules for “accepting” do not apply the same way to a game played in Chinese culture. Playing by the rules of a certain communicative game permits someone to join the social group playing that and related games, which is the first step toward choosing one’s role and setting individual goals in a game.

With the game metaphor, we can view participants as “intentional agents with shared goals and recognized means for achieving those goals, and all behaviors are definable in accordance with the game” (Jian & Shepherd, 2010, 104). The concept of

“agent” can be analyzed into two aspects: the participants’ chosen roles and the moves they make in the games.

37 2.1.2.1 Learners Assume Various Roles in the Cultural Games

Participants’ roles depend on their levels of participation. There are six basic levels of participation: observers, spectators, fans, commentators, players, and shareholders (Walker, 2010; Shepherd, 2005), with the observers being the least involved in actual games and shareholders the most. However, shareholders participate in games at a different level because they invest in the games and their wealth hinges upon the outcome. They do not play the games as players, but watch the games as spectators or fans. Although language learners can become shareholders in Chinese-related games, such as company founders in China, most CFL programs equip learners with skills which help them become players at best. Therefore, the discussion below will not cover the role of shareholders in the context of language learning and cultural games.

A higher level of involvement requires higher degrees of competency and different sets of knowledge, and language learners as participants can go through multiple levels through social engagement and practice. For any specific type of game, the competent learners can choose their roles according to given situations and individual interests. Professional soccer players do not play in every soccer game.

They can spectate their rivals’ games, or behave like fans when more celebrated players are present. The participants choose their roles in a game, or cultural performance, then set appropriate goals and act accordingly to achieve those goals. I will draw on the examples of basketball games and the cultural game of eating to

38 discuss the difference between the five roles.

Observers are participants who only know the existence of a certain game. They have the capability of observing the process of a game but have little or no emotional investment. For example, the observers of a basketball game can see the players throw or pass the ball, but they have no interest in understanding the reasons for doing so and may not distinguish a practice session from a game. Language learners at this level remain detached from the target game, with the goals, if any, being observing the surface-level behaviors. As a result, they can tell their friends about remarkable stories related to Chinese, such as “Chinese people do not use flatware and they eat unrecognizable things.” Most learners at the initial stage of learning Chinese are observers because they are not sure whether Chinese is intriguing, useful, or just foreign. The exotic cultural acts and facts are more attractive to them than any underlying cultural value.

Spectators are participants who know a few basic rules of a particular game.

Compared to observers, they have more interest in drawing a correlation between rules and surface-level behaviors. For example, throwing the ball into the basket gains points in a basketball game. A spectator is likely to invest in a ticket to watch a game and, perhaps, read an article in the sports pages of a newspaper or website. Language learners can become spectators after investing more time in the learning process or experiencing the language from a closer vantage point. They may have dinner at a

Chinese restaurant, but rely on their Chinese friends or more experienced friends to

39 order the dishes. Although the spectators cannot play the game, they can decide whether it is worth devoting more time to expand their limited understanding of the rules, whereas the observers rely on their instinct or analogies with other games for understanding.

Fans are spectators who engage in a certain game on a regular basis. They have the special interest in one or more aspects of the game and are willing to invest time or money in appreciating it. People become fans of basketball for its constant intensity throughout the whole game and are eager to invest time and money to watch their favorite teams. Some basketball fans are fascinated by the personal charisma of certain players and collect items related to those players, such as basketball jerseys with their signatures. Fans are more emotionally attached to the game than observers and spectators, so they risk experiencing emotional turbulence when their favorite teams lose a game. They may not be capable enough to play the game, but they can be inspired by their models and imitate their behaviors in private. Language learners at this level may have their favorite dishes at a Chinese restaurant or even try to cook

Chinese dishes at home, yet they still feel uncomfortable ordering food in Chinese by themselves. However, their fondness for those dishes can encourage them to spend more time learning the correct pronunciation of dish names and prepare for future performance.

Critics or Commentators have enough knowledge about a particular game to describe the game and comment on the performance of players. In addition to

40 explaining the rules, they can also make educated guesses about players’ strategies based on their prior knowledge. They are perceived as authorities whose opinions draw the attention of spectators and fans, but they also take the risk of losing credit if they make wrong predictions. Therefore, the recognized commentators on basketball games always follow the latest news in the field and gather data to build a solid knowledge foundation for their predictions. No matter how respected commentators are, they either do not qualify as players or have no intention to become players of the target game. Language learners at this level have abundant knowledge about the culture but do not have confidence or willingness to perform as a player due to a lack of practice. They can probably describe how Chinese people order food and explain how each dish is cooked, even write recipes or cookbooks, but they would use English to do all of that.

Players are equipped with a sufficient level of knowledge and skills for them to deliver a performance in the target game. Although the players do not necessarily possess as comprehensive the repertoire of explicit knowledge that commentators may display, they are competent at dealing with in-game situations that are constrained by the rules and evaluated by the scoring system. A basketball player can be good at scoring points, but terrible at making a declarative explanation of an effective shooting posture. The player role is what PCA targets for language learners. The players take the risks of losing the game for violating the rules or displaying insufficient skills, which is precisely the risk language learners should be aware of.

41 On the contrary, if the learners can play by the Chinese rules with appropriate behaviors, they have a better chance of being accepted into the social group playing the target game. For example, learners who order food in Chinese are more likely to receive an “authentic” menu prepared for Chinese customers. If the learners can propose to share the food, it reduces the burden of accommodation for their Chinese friends, which increases the odds that they will go out to dinner again in the future.

Foreign language learners are not expected to become natives; instead, they can set the goal as being accepted by the native speakers as competent players complying with the same game rules.

To conclude, the table below summarizes the goals, potential game-related risks, and necessary knowledge each role has in a cultural game.

Necessary Roles Goals Potential Risks Knowledge To observe the No risk Knowledge from Observers behaviors of players observation To understand the basic A waste of time Spectators rules To have a deeper Emotional turbulence understanding of the Fans Declarative game / imitate the knowledge models To describe the game / A loss of credit after Commenta make educated guesses making wrong comments tors at possible outcomes repeatedly To attain favorable Losing the game (e.g., Performative Players results leaving a bad impression) knowledge

Table 2.1. Goals, Potential Risks, and Necessary Knowledge of the Six Roles

42 2.1.2.2 Learners Make Deliberate Moves to Attain Their Goals

No matter which role language learners assume in a particular cultural game, they all make deliberate moves, which refer to the behaviors orchestrated to attain their respective goals. Game rules constrain the moves, and each move must have its specific purpose, the realization of what leads learners closer toward the attainment of final goals. For those who assume the roles other than players, they make less interactive moves, such as observing and imparting. For example, the observers reach their goals only through observation, and the commentators only talk about their understanding of the games to other non-native speakers. The unidirectionality of their moves implies that they do not need to consider the following moves after the initial one. If the learners maintain such a mindset when they have become players in the cultural games, they will encounter problems like communication break-down.

Since PCA aims to help learners become players, it is more important to discuss how players make moves in games.

For the learners assuming the role of players, any move they make in games is based on a constant evaluation of the environment. As demonstrated in the example of repeating words in language classes, even a simple behavior as repetition requires a series of cognitive processes before its completion. Will other people be upset if I say this? Is this the right time to say it? We think about such questions all the time, and it can be incredibly salient when we are placed in a brand new context that we have never dealt with before. However, with an accumulation of knowledge and experience,

43 the learners can gradually develop automaticity until finally reaching the stage of conducting the whole cognitive process unconsciously and deeming it completely natural. The learners do not hesitate to repeat words after the instructors in class because they have had similar experience before. Similarly, a professional basketball player does not review the rules before making the decision of dribbling the ball because it has become an automatic behavior after years of practice. Then the pedagogical goal of language classes should be facilitating the development of automaticity. One of the viable approaches is helping learners form memories of performing in various communicative events through creating authentic contexts in which learners can practice playing the target cultural games (Walker & Noda, 2010).

However, the difficult part of playing a cultural game to achieve predetermined goals is planning moves in a progressive way, but be prepared to adjust the original plan according to actual situations. For example, when meeting an important client as the representative of a company, it involves a series of moves consisting of greeting, shaking hands, self-introduction and exchanging name cards. It is a standard procedure that learners can prepare for, but it would be necessary for them to adjust their moves if unexpected coincidence happens, like running out of name cards.

Successful planning and flexibility ensures a smoother communication and makes the goal more attainable. It requires the ability to anticipate, which will be further discussed in Chapter 3.

44 2.1.3 Conceptualizing Game as a Psychological Reality

Psychological reality refers to particular concepts that frame domains in which physical realities (i.e., everything we can see, hear, smell, taste or touch) are assigned different meanings. In the context of language use, psychological realities determine how we make meaning out of the written symbols we see and vocal sound we hear.

Sapir (1949) argues that the concept of phoneme (the minimal unit of sound that distinguishes meaning in a particular language) is a psychological reality and it is what naive speakers hear, instead of phonetic elements. In other words, our perception of phonemes frames conceptual domains in which certain sounds rather than others have an influence on the process of meaning-making when we speak or hear a language. For example, /θʌm/ (thumb) can be distinguished from /sʌm/ (sum) for

English native speakers, because /θ/ and /s/ are two phonemes in English. Many

Chinese-speaking listeners of English cannot hear the difference, thereby have to rely on the context to distinguish one meaning from another to comprehend the intent of speaker. Tone is a phonemic feature of Chinese, which assigns different meanings to sounds like mā and má, but it is difficult for English native speakers to recognize the difference and use it as a meaning-making device. Turner (2009) discusses the fundamental role of conceptual domains, based on which we perform conceptual integration and understand linguistic expressions. It allows us to talk about the unlimited events in the physical reality with a small system of grammar. For example, we can project anybody to the conceptual domain of kinship and talk about their

45 relationship with others (e.g., Sally is the mother of John, Mary is the mother of Ben, etc.). The conceptual integration also makes it possible for us to transcend time and space and describe something beyond current physical realities. With the same conceptual domain of kinship, we can say failure is the mother of success. Instead of interpersonal relationship, it describes the connection between two types of events categorized as failure and success, which usually have a time interval in between for a single person. It is also a sentence generalized enough to be applied to anyone’s experience. With conceptual integration, we create more such sentences to convey our perception of the world, which also contributes to the creation of culture that frames our ideas and behaviors. Along the same line, PCA treats culture as a psychological reality. Aside from cultural artifacts, culture also encompasses everything we do and the worldview that guides our behaviors. Therefore, different cultures entail conceptual domains in which the same action can be interpreted in different ways. For example, greeting a stranger in the elevator is a friendly gesture in American culture, but it is an abnormal and even unsettling behavior in Chinese culture. Therefore, if intend to create a good impression on others, we would choose to greet others if we interpret the current situation to be in American culture, and not to do so if the physical or psychological location of the event is Chinese culture.

Similar to culture, in different games, the same action can be assigned different meanings. For example, hitting the ball beyond the boundary of the playing field is considered a good thing in baseball games, which rewards the batter with points or at

46 least another opportunity to hit. However, the same action results in losing a point to the players in tennis games. Therefore, game can function as a psychological reality rather than merely an analogy that helps explain human behaviors. As Jian &

Shepherd (2010) states, “because games are the primary means with which we create shared social reality, we tend to organize the world in terms of games. The rules of the games we are playing ground us by providing an interpretive framework, and by providing the means to and reasons for maintaining social relations” (p.103). It explains the feasibility of conceptualizing game as a psychological reality. From this perspective, we can view the so-called life goals (e.g., gaining promotion, getting married, running for the presidency) as game goals, which require us to recognize the game situations and conduct appropriate moves toward achievement. Thus, foreign language education can be viewed as training learners to be capable players in specific social games.

Compared to culture, using game as the organizing unit of human behaviors has at least two advantages in the context of CFL. First, culture is a loaded concept which has distinct connotations for different people. Walker (2010) mentions Hector

Hammerly’s three categories of instructional discourses on the target culture: achievement culture (e.g., the Great Wall), informational culture (e.g., China has 56 ethnic minorities), and behavioral culture (e.g., Chinese people do not greet strangers).

Most instructors choose one or more of these discourses to talk about in their classes, usually displayed as cultural facts and not integrated with the language practices.

47 Thus, “performing in the target culture”, the goal of PCA, is also misunderstood as writing Chinese calligraphy or singing Chinese songs, with a focus on the activity itself without considering the reasons for conducting such activities. On the contrary, the concept of game has limited connotations. Regardless if it is sports game, board game or electronic game, “playing the target game” always involves context-based behaviors. It prompts instructors to think of each expression as a move in the target game and pay extra attention to the underlying reasons and expected results of that expression.

Second, many language learners are reluctant to conform to the expectations of another culture because they are uncomfortable with their default concepts being challenged and identity endangered (Walker, 2000; Turner, 1991). A Chinese learner at the superior level once told me that she never stepped out of her home to see her guests off. Although she is fully aware of the fact that it is the expected behavior in

Chinese culture, she refused to do so because it endangers her identity as an American.

If learners perceived their daily life interactions as various games, they would be able to maintain their cultural identity and assume the role of a player. Learning a foreign language and performing in another culture, then, is playing a new game based on the agreement on its rules. Language learners can choose to persist in the default concepts of their native language and culture, as long as they realize the risk of losing points in the target game.

48 2.2 Learning Languages is Learning to Play by Rules in the Games

Since game is a psychological reality that frames our behaviors11, we must comply with the rules of the target game to make sure the behaviors are acceptable to other players. Thus, the capability of learning rules and playing by them is of vital importance for any player, i.e., language learner, in the context of learning to communicate in that language. As discussed before, rules consist of a series of arbitrary statements that regulate players’ behaviors in a game. Whether set by the game designers or negotiated among the players, the rules is a necessary component of any game. In this section, I will continue to examine the characteristics of rules and the corresponding pedagogical implications.

2.2.1 Rules Are Agreed-upon Conventions

One of the crucial characteristics of the rules is being commonly agreed upon within a community. Wittgenstein makes a relevant comment in Philosophical

Investigations: “the word ‘agreement’ and the word ‘rule’ are related to one another, they are cousins” (PI 224). In basketball games, the rules are agreed upon by players, referees, coaches, as well as audience and other participants. For example, players cannot dribble the ball out of the boundaries of the court. The audience cannot throw water bottles into the playing field. The rules are often explicitly written out and designed to make sure games can be conducted smoothly. In the context of social

11 To differentiate from the concept of language-game, in which “game” is used as a metaphor, the daily-life activities framed by “game” as a psychological reality will be addressed as social games hereafter.

49 games12, the rules are usually implicit but recognized and generally followed by everyone participating in them. The International Basketball Association has the authority to draft official rules for basketball games, but no organization has the authority to issue rules of social games. Chinese people do not greet strangers because it is convention passed down over time rather than something learned from a rulebook.

They learn it either through the instruction of more experienced players (parents) or their own observation. This will be discussed later in 2.2.2.

In the context of language learning, conventional expressions and behaviors can be viewed as rules of the social games because they both leave limited space for improvisation. Conventions are used as convenient solutions for “recurrent coordination problems” to ensure normalized communication (Clark 1996, p. 336), thus function as rules. For example, in a soccer game, the referee flips a coin to decide which team kicks off the game. It is demanded by the rules so the players do not waste time on working out a solution. Similarly, in Chinese business settings, shaking hands and exchanging name cards have become conventions for a first-time meeting.

It saves time by foregoing a self-introduction every time. If someone decided to break the pattern and used high-fives instead of shaking hands, it would only confuse others and lead to a communication break-down. As for linguistic expressions, it is also a convention to use “nice to meet you” in English or “ 幸 会 (xinghui)” in Chinese during a first meeting. Such expressions are conventionalized and widely accepted so

12 Ibid.

50 that people can rely on them without the necessity to create new ones.

Therefore, learning to play social games by their rules largely depends on the recognition, acquisition, and utilization of conventions. When we play social games in our base culture, we have abundant conventional expressions stored in our brain. They are usually stored in chunks and retrieved as a whole unit, which enables us to finish an entire verbal production instantly compared to premeditating the structure of an utterance from scratch. Even if we cannot analyze the syntactic structure of those conventional expressions, we have no problem using them as long as we correctly recognize the social game we are playing. However, even native speakers are not born with all the conventions. Babies have no way of knowing the necessity of shaking hands in a business setting, but sooner or later they will acquire the knowledge through observation and imitation. Language learners face similar situations, and they should be trained to observe how native speakers play the social games, but with considerably less time efficiency.

2.2.2 Observation is a Crucial Step for Learning Rules

2.2.2.1 Wittgenstein: Analogy between Chess and Language

Before playing a game, we are used to learning the rules first, but such a sequence seldom yields satisfactory results. In Philosophical Investigations,

Wittgenstein draws the analogy between chess pieces and linguistic items multiple times (PI 31,49,108). Suppose we plan to introduce the rules of chess to someone in

51 order to start a chess game, and the two sides are addressed as the “teacher” and the

“learner”. The teacher usually starts with “This is the king”, “This is the queen” and such, which is naming the chess pieces, and then proceeds to explain how the pieces can be moved to win the game. However, after the rules are fully explained, and the game finally begins, the learner often looks confused and asks extremely frustrating questions like “So what does this piece do again? How can I move it on the board?”.

The reason is that unless the learner has already understood the rules except for the shape of the king, the name “king” does not have a solid foundation to ground its meaning in the process of learning this game. Therefore, after all the lengthy explanations, it is difficult for the learner to make accurate connections between all those names and their functions.

Similar problems exist in the context of language learning. In the example above, the teacher is trying to implant an association between a name and a chess piece in the learner’s mind, which serves as the basis for the explanation of rules. Many language learners are accustomed to “naming” a concept in their base culture with a word in the target language. With that as a foundation, they begin to learn all the related grammatical rules. It leads to a dangerous consequence as in the example of chess.

After learning the usage of several words, especially similar ones, the learner gets confused and fails to remember the links between linguistic forms and their respective usage. One may argue that after a certain amount of practice, the learners can gradually recall and consolidate the grammatical rules, and finally become ready to

52 use them. But if that is the case, it would be meaningless to spend time on explaining the rules before the trial run. Moreover, with the unlimited possibilities of a chess game, being able to move the chess pieces according to the rules does not imply the ability to deal with a real chess game. Similarly, being able to use a word in mechanical drills cannot guarantee the ability to use it in real situations.

The answer Wittgenstein comes up with is through observation (PI 31, 54).

Learning a game as complicated as chess requires prior knowledge, which we acquire through the experience of either playing simpler games or observing others play chess.

If two-year-old children learn how to play chess, it is highly possible that they do not know the chess pieces are meant to be moved on the chess board. Instead, they may toss the pieces around. However, if they have learned simpler games growing up, the knowledge of basic mechanics across most of the board games can be acquired. Thus, before learning to play chess, they would have been aware of facts like chess pieces should remain on the board, and players need to take turns to play. Once a learner is equipped with the fundamental knowledge about a game, it would be possible to gain more while observing the target game. The players usually do not have time to teach an observer rules and techniques, but the observer can speculate on the rules in the process of observation. Moreover, it is possible to distinguish players’ mistakes from correct moves through observing the feedback from other participants in the game.

For example, when a particular move prompts the referee to pause the game or brings a smile to the opponent’s face, the observer can realize that it is not a good move. The

53 goal of observation is acquiring the knowledge of rules and how to behave in the game accordingly.

Observation has similar effects in the context of language learning. While growing up, we continuously encounter social games with increasing difficulty levels, with the simpler ones being the foundation of higher-level ones. To learn how to play a complicated social game, we can observe how other people behave when playing it.

For example, toasting in a Chinese business banquet can be a very complicated game even for native Chinese speakers. No persons can confidently claim to be masters of the toast before attending one. However, a successful learner knows how to observe others’ performances in this context, and grasp the rules through observing the feedback in the forms of words, behaviors, or facial expressions. Thus, when being placed in the position of making a toast, the learner can perform appropriately, even if nobody has ever taught him or her explicit rules. To learn new rules, we often master the games first, of which they are a part, and reflect on the rules afterward (Hintikka

& Hintikka, 1986).

2.2.2.2 Malinowski: Observation as an Anthropological Tradition

Learning a new language shares some common features with conducting anthropological research. In both cases, it is a necessary step to gain access to the target community and observe the behaviors of the natives. Malinowski (1992) argues that the vital premise of doing ethnographic work is retaining close contact with the

54 natives. It can be risky, and very likely uncomfortable, but it gives the researcher opportunities to merge into the target community and practice close observation.

More specifically, Malinowski summarizes three avenues of doing field work in order to study the target community and culture. First, forming the skeleton through statistical learning or accurate and statistical documentation. It does not mean sitting in the library and reviewing works of high repute. It is convenient to accept the generalizations made by famous scholars, but without knowing the actual experiences based on which the conclusions are made, they are better left as reference points. On the contrary, the truly beneficial documentation still stems from concrete evidence.

Each phenomenon should be studied as thoroughly as possible, with an exhaustive survey of details. It is better to reduce all the information into charts, which can help the researchers produce a clear outline of the native’s culture.

Second, to add flesh and blood to the skeleton, the researchers need to observe and record the “imponderabilia of actual life and of typical behavior” (p. 18), referring to the important phenomena that have to be observed repeatedly, rather than learning from the documents. An example can be the manner of eating food, which is performed by the natives every day (hopefully) but often neglected precisely because of its mundaneness.

Finally, the natives’ views and opinions should be recorded as the spirit.

Malinowski reports that he gradually changed the language from English to the native one when he was taking notes because he recognized that some significant

55 characteristics could often get lost during translation. Such records are not only for the researchers themselves but also for others who may have a better mastery of the language.

All three approaches, as well as the proper condition of isolating oneself in the target community, work towards the final goal of grasping natives’ point of view, through which their culture can be perceived. Learning a language can follow a similar sequence. To learn a new social game played in the target language, the learners can start from observing the general patterns of players’ behaviors and summarize some basic rules. With the rules as a foundation, the learners can observe more closely what moves players make to deal with different situations and analyze how their moves are influenced when the situations change. It gives learners a more extensive repertoire of events to draw experience from. Finally, the learners should try to play the target games by themselves or talk about the games with players in the target language, which can help them gain a deeper understanding of the rules.

2.2.3 Rules as a Dynamic and Adaptive System

2.2.3.1 Rules are Subject to be Violated

The procedure of explaining grammatical rules prior to practical exercises seems to work on the premise that rules are absolute and inviolable, but it is not true in real situations. Wittgenstein compares rules to sign-posts (PI 85). The signs give clear directions, but it is our own choice to trust them or not. Even if the majority of people

56 are not as skeptical, it is still our personal choice to follow it or not. Players of a game can be fully aware of the rules but at the same time intentionally violate them. The function of rules is mainly providing a general model of expected behaviors in an ideal situation, but nobody can force the players to obey the rules. For example, in a basketball game, the players would receive a penalty if shoving an opponent to the ground, but they can still do that to achieve a certain goal, like preventing an easy goal. Even if the players regret violating the rules afterward, it cannot change the fact that rules failed to prevent it from happening. If the violation of rules becomes so severe that it significantly changes the nature of a game, the rules have to be modified.

For example, there was no time limit in the original rules of basketball, which means the leading team can waste time by passing the ball around. It seriously affected the spectator appeal of basketball games, so the basketball associations have to set time limits for the offensive side.

The rules of social games have the same flexibility. First, they also change over time as a response to players’ behaviors. For example, there are multiple ways of greeting people in Chinese in different contexts, but twenty years ago, nobody could have anticipated that using an English greeting “Hi!” would be one of the acceptable forms. Second, knowing the rules does not mean abiding by them strictly. The chance of violating the rules, either intentionally or unintentionally, can be high. As for the consequences of such violation, they are usually left for the language users themselves to find out. However, if the instructors can give feedback as ordinary

57 native speakers, it can reduce the chance of learners being embarrassed in real situations because they are already aware of the consequences of going against the rules.

2.2.3.2 The Dynamic Grammatical Rules: A Linguistic Perspective

While the discussion of game rules emphasizes on moves and strategies in social games, grammatical rules are more concerned with linguistic items that players can use as tools, but they both function as dynamic systems. When learning a foreign language, adult learners are inclined to rely on grammatical rules explained in their native language. Although grammatical rules can guide language use, they are not absolute rules that dictate the meaning and usage of words. In fact, to demonstrate the mastery of a sentence, the learners do not need to analyze the syntactic structure of it, but to use it or react to it appropriately in specific contexts. Such propositions echo with the tenets of the usage-based theory, which suggests that “a grammar is more than a list of constructions” (Ibbotson, 2013, 2), namely pairings of linguistic form and meaning. Rather, a usage-based theorist would hold the opinion that “grammar is the cognitive organization of one’s experience with language” (Bybee, 2006, 711). In other words, instead of memorizing grammatical rules taught by others, the language users form their own grammar through the process of encountering events that require language use, categorizing the experiences, and storing them in memory as exemplars.

It also involves “analogical generalization over the stored memories” (Bod, 2007, 2).

58 The accumulation of repeated instances of language use leads to generalized grammatical rules, which have been proved to be applicable in particular contexts.

Moreover, each linguistic form is not just stored by itself as an exemplar, but together with comprehensive information on its occurrence, such as the social context. To be more specific, when and where it is used; who are the interlocutors; who are the audience, and so on. With such information available, it is easier for us to decide which exemplar to access and retrieve when we use the language. Due to the availability of such rich memory, we can also recognize certain word sequences as conventionalized patterns and remember them as chunks. Therefore, it permits the difference among individual grammar systems of the learners. For example, “Subject

+ 被(bei) + object + verb” is a unique grammatical rule in Chinese, which is often confused with the passive tense of English among Chinese learners. The bei structure has the connotation of an unsatisfactory situation, but merely telling this to the learners cannot provide enough assistance. As discussed before, the best approach for the learners is to observe how native speakers use this structure, generalize a rule from the observed examples, and verify their assumptions in applications. It can help learners summarize their own grammatical rules of bei structure, which ensures they can use it appropriately in contexts they often encounter in their daily life.

2.3 Conclusion: Pedagogical Implications and Player Theory

We can conceptualize game as a psychological reality because it frames our

59 activities in the daily life and assigns meanings to our behaviors in the activities. Such activities which do not manifest themselves as sports games and alike can be labeled as “social games”. The main content of language learning should be learning how to play by the game rules to achieve the best possible results. Therefore, the instructors can apply the following principles to their classes to facilitate the process:

1. Encouraging learners to observe native speakers’ behaviors in particular social games and integrating their results of observation into the curriculum. To be more specific, the learners can have opportunities to report on their findings and discuss with the instructors or other native speakers. It serves as a foundation for learners to deepen their understanding of useful expressions and rules of the target game, as well as future participation in the games as players.

2. Treating rules as agreed-upon conventions. On the one hand, it necessitates observation and imitation of native speakers conducted by learners. On the other hand, it requires learners to memorize linguistic items as applicable chunks that can be directly retrieved from memory, as well as contextual information of games in which those chunks can be used. In other words, the learners should be trained to recognize the social games and practice conventional patterns in those games, which consist of a sequence of moves leading to a certain result.

3. Recognizing the dynamic and adaptive nature of rules, both game rules and grammatical rules. Since rules are constantly changing, it is necessary to dispel learners’ illusion of learning the rules once and for all. Instead of teaching prescribed

60 rules on a specific textbook to the learners, instructors can present authentic models of social games to the learners, especially those demonstrating the versatile functions of individual expressions, and ask learners to analyze the difference. For example, presenting videos of Chinese college students who say goodbye to their teacher with

“laoshi zaijian” (usually translated as “Bye, teacher”), but to their friends with

“baibai” (transliteration of “Bye-bye”). It reflects not only the different language choices in distinct contexts while expressing the same thing, but also the change of

Chinese as a result of communicating with other languages.

We propose the player theory to describe the main task of foreign language education: the content of foreign language education should revolve around training learners to become capable players of social games conducted in target languages and cultures. Although game is supposedly a psychological reality which governs the way we engage in different activities in our daily lives, it requires sufficient training for the learners to recognize the different social games in another culture. Basketball players cannot switch the gear and become capable volleyball players immediately when they have no prior knowledge of volleyball, and before playing volleyball, they have to accept the fact that basketball rules do not apply to volleyball games. Similarly, learners growing up in American culture must recognize the fact that they are playing a different game when they communicate in Chinese. Therefore, they must press the

“reset” button and temporarily clear the data of themselves communicating in English.

Only when learners position themselves as players of social games conducted in

61 Chinese can they avoid mistakenly applying prior knowledge of American culture to new Chinese contexts.

Recognizing a new game is only the first step for someone to become a player of that game. The next step is learning how to play that game as a capable, or even skilled player, which requires guidance and assistance provided by more competent players to achieve. Instructors, who usually have a higher level of competency than learners as players of the target social games, should help learners realize the importance of setting their own goals in a game and playing by the rules to achieve them. Without goals, the moves players make in a game will be disoriented and pointless. Thus, the concept of goal is worth a more in-depth discussion, and goal will be the keyword in Chapter 3.

62 Chapter Three: Learning Goal as Anticipating the Future Domain

3.1 Introduction: Enrollment at Advanced Levels in CFL Programs

The goal of a CFL program determines the curriculum design and learning outcomes students can expect to achieve. Unlike course goals which focus on isolated courses, program goals take into account the connection between and sequence of various courses. If the goal is helping students reach certain levels in proficiency tests, such as ACTFL-OPI (Oral Proficiency Interview), the courses will center around test content and test-taking techniques. If the goal is training students to engage in business deals with Chinese people, the courses would need to cover useful vocabulary and expressions in the domain of business, as well as valuable skills like managing the interpersonal relationship.

To attract more students, the programs describe their goals in a way that applies to as broad a group of the audience as possible. Below are two examples of program goals listed on the website of Brigham Young University (BYU)13 and the Ohio State

University (OSU)14:

(BYU) Program Outcomes: Oral Proficiency (Speaking and Listening):

13 Retrieved from https://catalog.byu.edu/humanities/asian-and-near-eastern-languages/chinese-ba 14 Retrieved from https://deall.osu.edu/programs/undergrad/chinese/objectives-and-means

63 Speak and comprehend Mandarin Chinese at the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Advanced-Mid level, demonstrating both an ability to negotiate face-to-face interactions in linguistically, socially, and culturally appropriate ways (direct measures 1 and 7) and an ability to listen to and comprehend the main points of spoken Chinese including television and radio news broadcasts at an advanced level (direct measures 2 and 7). Reading and Writing Proficiency: Read a variety of formal and informal genres of writing at the ACTFL advanced-mid level (direct measure 3) and write notes, correspondence, and short essays at the ACTFL intermediate high level while demonstrating an awareness of literary Chinese writing conventions (direct measure 4). Analyze Chinese Culture, Literature and Language: Be able to analyze and discuss core aspects of Chinese civilization including classical Chinese language and literature, modern and contemporary Chinese literature and film, Chinese culture, and the Chinese language. (Direct Measures 5 and 6 and Indirect Measure 2)

(OSU) Objectives: Long-Term Objectives: The ability to be somebody -- someone who moves easily and effectively -- in the culture and society you're studying, by means of the language you're studying. Over the long run, this will come about as you use the language in developing friendships and lasting associations with people who live in that culture and language. But for this to happen, you need to develop a capacity to express yourself in a culturally coherent manner, and to understand the intentions of people who live there, as they express them. For now, the surest step you can take in this direction is to prepare carefully for your next language class, using your ears, eyes, imagination, and intellect as fully as you can, and to make this a habit. Short-Term Objectives: These will be addressed in introductions to each course, and are also stated as what you are to prepare for every class hour, in every language course.

Both BYU and OSU have general descriptions of the abilities students can expect to acquire after graduating from the programs. BYU gauges the outcome with the ACTFL scale and gives descriptions based on the four skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing; OSU focuses more on the cultural sensitivity and divides the

64 objectives into long-term and short-term ones. In either case, the program goals intend to depict a general picture of the students’ futures, but the problem is how many students can persist through the whole program and realize the projected future.

The answer is less than 20% of the total enrollment. According to an MLA report on the enrollment in foreign language programs in United States institutions of higher education (Goldberg, Looney & Lusin, 2015), among the 2,696 postsecondary institutions they contacted during the fall semester, 2013, Chinese is one of the few languages that have over 20% of the total enrollment in advanced classes. The result is displayed in Table 3.1 below.

Table 3.1. Comparison of Introductory and Advanced Undergraduate Language Course Enrollments, 2013

(Goldberg, Looney & Lusin, 2015, p. 40)

Compared with the numbers of 2009 and 2006, as displayed in Table 3.2 and 3.3 respectively, the percentage that advanced enrollments account for is slightly but

65 steadily increasing over the years, from 18.5% in 2006 to 21.9% in 2013.

Table 3.2. Comparison of Introductory and Advanced Undergraduate Language Course Enrollments, 2009

(Goldberg, Looney & Lusin, 2015, p. 41)

Table 3.3. Comparison of Introductory and Advanced Undergraduate Language Course Enrollments, 2006

66 (Goldberg, Looney & Lusin, 2015, p. 42)

However, the percentage occupied by undergraduate students who can finish an entire four-year program is definitely below 20% because the report defines

“advanced enrollments as those in third- and fourth-year courses” (Goldberg, Looney

& Lusin, 2015, p. 7). For the purpose of a nationwide survey, the researchers chose to disregard the different definition of advanced courses among various institutions and use years of study as the only standard. Because not every student enrolled in third-year courses can devote another two years in learning Chinese or meet the requirement of following courses, the final number of students who can achieve the expected program outcomes would certainly drop below 20%. Figure 3.1 illustrates the enrollment status at OSU, which defines “advanced courses” as the fourth-year course and everything above, including graduate-level courses.

67 Figure 3.1. Chinese Language Enrollments at OSU, Academic Year 2013-2017

As shown in the pie charts, the advanced enrollments account for no more than

19% of the total enrollments in any single academic year from 2013 to 201715. If the graduate-level courses are excluded, the number would be even lower, which is in accordance with the MLA report. That is to say, when we welcome a new group of students to our first-year Chinese courses, at most 10-15% of them can reach the finishing line and achieve the long-term objective introduced to them at the outset.

15 The CFL program at OSU defines “intermediate courses” as second- and third-year Chinese courses, which means students taking third-year courses account for 15-20% of the total enrollments. Therefore, if measured by the MLA standard applied in Table 3.1 to Table 3.3, which defines “advanced courses” as those beyond second-year, the advanced enrollments at OSU will account for approximately 30-35% of the total enrollments.

68 For the rest of the students, the short-term goals presented in each course syllabus and agenda are more immediately pertinent.

In any CFL program, despite our desire to bring more students to the advanced-level courses, there exist several constraining factors. One of the uncontrollable factors is the time constraint. If a student starts to learn Chinese in the junior year, it will be impossible to finish a four-year program without intensive courses. Another one is the resource constraint. Since introductory courses are always the prerequisite for advanced ones, CFL programs must allocate enough teaching resources (mainly human resources) to the introductory courses. As a result, the programs which have limited funding to employ instructors can only neglect advanced courses. The third constraining factor is students’ lack of motivation to continue learning. As program designers or instructors, we must work with students to maintain or improve their motivation if we aim to expand the size of advanced courses. Motivation is a complex concept and influenced by a wide range of factors, but this study will focus on two factors in the context of learning Chinese: learning goals, as discussed later in this chapter, and learning experience, which will be discussed in more details in Chapter 4.

3.2 Domain: A Pathway to Personalized Learning Goals

As discussed before, most students in a CFL program stop learning Chinese before entering advanced courses, thereby it is difficult for them to relate to the final

69 outcomes. Even if they read in the program outcomes that they will be able to understand Chinese radio news broadcasts, it would still be meaningless if they cannot envision themselves doing that for a particular reason, such as keeping informed about China (whether living there or not), or doing media-related research.

Moreover, it is unrealistic for Chinese learners to assume that they will understand every news broadcast after finishing a four-year Chinese program. The vocabulary employed in sports news, for example, is different from military news. Therefore, such expertise will be more achievable if learners can develop an interest in specific domains and gain expertise within those chosen domains, which significantly narrow and focus the scope of required knowledge, compared to achieving general proficiency across many domains. If incorporated in introductory courses, the idea of domain also helps learners set personal goals which can be achieved by continuing to learn Chinese, thus motivating them to enroll in advanced courses. It is important to note that non-native speakers can surpass the capabilities of most native speakers if the communication is limited to a specific domain.

3.2.1 A Domain Consists of Activities

Expertise theory holds the view that experts can only have superior performance within specific domains (Zeng, 2015). Michael Jordan is a legendary basketball player, but he did not perform well as a professional baseball player. Occupations such as the basketball or baseball player can be regarded as domains, but domain is actually a

70 more comprehensive concept than those. Kawamura & Noda (2006) defines the concept of domain as “an entity that is constituted by a set of activities that are definable by certain types of knowledge and objectives” (p.192). They identify three types of domains: academic, occupational and social. A single individual is typically active in multiple domains during the same time period. For example, a Chinese linguist can be an active member in the academic domain of linguistics, the occupational domain of Chinese instructors, and the social domain of a research field.

The prerequisites for performing in those domains is sharing the domain-specific knowledge and observing the domain-specific objectives. If that Chinese linguist does not teach language classes, he or she does not participate in the occupational domain of Chinese instructors. Likewise, even if a native Chinese speaker wants to identify with the occupational domain of Chinese instructors, that is not possible without sharing the requisite knowledge of teaching Chinese, such as grammatical and cultural rules of Chinese.

Domain is a useful concept in the context of language learning because it denotes a restricted scope of activities that people need to manage within a culture (Kawamura

& Noda, 2006). As discussed before, it is extremely challenging for a CFL learner to understand every news broadcast in Chinese. For newcomers to the target culture and its language, it will be less overwhelming if the learners can limit the scope of their communicative activities to a few particular domains. For undergraduate students learning Chinese in a CFL program, their academic majors can provide a starting

71 point for them to establish an academic domain in Chinese. For example, students majoring in business can accumulate the relevant vocabulary that enables them to conduct a discussion with native speakers in a shared domain. In the business domain, listening to Chinese news broadcasts would also become a meaningful activity because the students need to acquire first-hand information. The association with

Chinese experts in the business domain can lead to the creation of a social domain, in which students need to manage the interpersonal relationship with their Chinese friends or business partners. If the students find business-related jobs in China or

Chinese companies after graduation, it would then open up an occupational domain.

The knowledge acquired and activities conducted in the academic and social domains can provide a solid foundation for the students to work on in the occupational domain.

But in certain regards, it is also an unfamiliar territory that poses challenges including honing negotiation skills and analyzing company strategies.

In fact, the concept of domain resembles games, as they are both characterized by human activities constrained by knowledge (or game rules and the varieties of moves with which domain “players” “follow” them) and objectives. Domain is an explicit manifestation of game as a psychological reality that organizes our behaviors.

When we claim something as our domain, we are declaring it to be a field of play on which we can deliver competent performance.

72 3.2.2 Motivation Theories Related to Personal Goals

The goal-setting theory of Locke & Latham (1984) argues that an individual’s conscious goals motivate him/her to deliver higher-level performance. The goals must be clear and moderately challenging. For example, in the workplace, setting a clear goal like “finish the report within two hours” is more effective than telling someone to

“do your best”, because clear goals of this sort give employees a reason to apply their potentiality. On the other hand, a two-hour time-limit may be too challenging for an employee who usually spends five hours on such an assignment, which will cause anxiety and demotivation. To encourage that specific employee to perform at a higher level, the manager might therefore modify the goal as “finish the report within four hours”, and still demonstrate the efficacy of setting personal goals.

A team leader can certainly set personal goals for each subordinate employee, but in the long run, it is more effective to teach the employees how to set appropriate personal goals based on their strengths and weaknesses. Feedback is crucial in the process of learning to set, alter, pursue and achieve personal goals. Employees should seek feedback from others, especially more experienced people, to acquire evaluation of their progress, and adjust their goals accordingly. After gaining some experience of goal-setting, the employees are also better equipped to measure their own progress.

For example, an employee who usually spends five hours on a report sets the personal goal as “finish a report in three hours”. While monitoring his/her progress, that employee can choose to extend the time-limit to four hours when otherwise, the

73 quality would be sacrificed. Such a self-monitoring experience can also provide a solid foundation for better initial goal-setting in the future.

This kind of goal-setting theory also applies to language learning. A program’s instructors function as team leaders who set explicit goals for learners in the course agenda: particular texts to memorize, vocabulary and its uses to learn and review, the

Chinese characters to learn, and so on. The learners, on the other hand, can gain motivation to learn more if they have personal goals such as memorizing ten supplementary vocabulary (including typical uses) every day. The problem is that learners who have personal goals are already motivated learners because they have long-term objectives, and the language course is just part of their learning experience.

However, for most learners, the language course will be their whole learning experience, and they therefore lack any incentive to add such an extra burden on top of the coursework. Hence, the goal of program designers and instructors should be guiding these “aimless” learners to discover domains that interest them and thereby motivate them to set personal goals. Once they have done so, they gain reasons to continue learning to achieve their personal goals.

Having a vision is crucial for learners to discover future domains. From the cognitive-situated perspective, Muir & D|rnyei (2013) define vision as “the mental representation of the sensory experience of a future goal state (involving imagination and imagery)”(p.357) and argue the necessity of incorporating vision in the second-language pedagogical design to motivate long-term learning behaviors. For a

74 Chinese learner, such a vision is closely related to the possible selves one might become in the future. To be more specific, learners’ visions should represent

“individuals’ ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become, and what they are afraid of becoming” (Markus & Nurius, 1986, p.954). Such images of possible selves provide direction and incentives for future behaviors, either approaching (in one’s thoughts and deeds) the ideal ones or avoiding (similarly) the unappealing ones. Our possible selves stem largely from our past experiences, but they are not entirely based on personal interests. They can also derive from previous social comparisons to a learner’s models. For example, a video of successful learners speaking Chinese effectively can serve as a model and motivate lower-level learners to make choices that will lead to the same level of proficiency. If the learners’ parents tell them about business opportunities that they expect will become available in China in the future, it can help create a possible self, such as a successful businessman who can speak Chinese fluently. Muir & D|rnyei (2013) also argue that more detailed images of possible selves and process-oriented images can be even more motivating, because they make the end goal appear more achievable.

To conclude, as program designers and instructors, we want to bring more students into advanced-level courses; thereby we can have more students who graduate with a Chinese major, and more students who can actually “be an effective somebody” in Chinese, provided it is in their chosen domains. A possible solution is helping students envision possible selves in which Chinese is involved in their futures.

75 In the process, students can discover domains that interest them in which learning

Chinese is an organic component of their future career or other life goals. In these ways, students can find the motivation to continue learning. To demonstrate the motivating power of vision and domain, I would like to quote a graduate of the

Chinese program at OSU16:

On top of pursuing an undergraduate degree in journalism at OSU, I decided to further cultivate myself by studying kung fu. Later, an academic advisor recommended taking classes in Mandarin. Although Chinese isn't easy to learn, it still intrigued me. I accepted the advice, because I figured at least it would help my understanding of kung fu. Also, I imagined myself in the future writing news about China.

When he mentions his reason for taking Chinese classes, he describes a vision of at least two possible selves that motivated him to make that decision: a self who has a deep understanding of kung fu, and one who writes news about China. The first one is related to his interest in Chinese kung fu, and the second one derives from his academic major. Unlike “aimless” learners who study outside the context of such envisioned selves, this student has a clear vision of using Chinese in certain domains even before he started learning Chinese, which indeed became a sustained motivation for him.

Domain, then, is a keyword in this solution, and the example below can illustrate how domain is incorporated in a CFL program and becomes the organizing focuser of the curriculum.

16 2010-11 OSU Chinese Flagship Program Team, https://chineseflagship.osu.edu/alumni/teams-2010-15, retrieved on July 10th, 2018.

76 3.2.3 OSU’s Chinese Flagship Program and Domain-oriented Courses

The Midwest US-China Flagship Program (aka Chinese Flagship Program) at

The Ohio State University trains American students to function well in professional domains in Chinese language and culture. Program participants are typically college graduates with a Chinese major, and the two-year master’s program comprises two major parts: during the first year, students take classroom-based training at the U.S. campus, followed by an intensive year-long study-abroad experience at a Chinese university. The students also have internship opportunities in Chinese organizations during the second year. The program is domain-oriented because it is designed to assist students in acquiring the ability to function well in professional domains in

Chinese cultural environments. The students also need to complete a domain-based thesis project to earn their master’s degrees. The first-year courses prepare students for the future internship and thesis project. The discussion below will focus on a course that plays a guiding role: the domain-based research and methodology development course. The course has three main characteristics: self-driven domain study, personal tutoring sessions, and weekly presentations by students on their research progress.

3.2.3.1 Self-driven Domain Study

Upon entering the Flagship Program, the students need to decide on a

77 Chinese-related domain in which they have a demonstrable passion and would love to conduct research. Their chosen domains have ranged from marketing, international relations, and environmental protection, to Chinese linguistics, arts, and media.

Ideally, the domains will be related to their future career, so that they can engage in career-relevant research in China during the internship period.

The students mainly depend on themselves while doing the domain study, both when they are at the U.S. campus and in China. Each week, the students as a group meet once with the professor to report on their research progress in Chinese. Except for the feedback students get after the presentation, the research process happens entirely after class. Walker (1989 & 2010) presents two types of instruction: learning model instruction (LMI) and acquisition model instruction (AMI), as illustrated in

Figure 3.2. The rectangle represents the Foreign Language Learning Environment

(FLLE), in which CFL programs are functioning. The upward pointing triangle represents LMI; the downward triangle, AMI. The rectangle is divided into four levels for the convenience of discussion, which represents the range from elementary to advanced courses in a CFL program.

78 Figure 3.2. Two Types of Instruction (Walker, 2010, p.61)

LMI is concerned with increasing students’ inventory of items, including not only vocabulary and grammatical patterns but also appropriate behavioral choices in particular contexts. LMI plays a dominating role in the elementary courses because students rely on instructors to accumulate knowledge and skills. On the other hand,

AMI focuses more on the strategies and tactics for solving problems with existing

Chinese skills. AMI is the exclusive model of instruction in the most advanced courses, and the ultimate goal is “to train learners to be independent of the learning environment, to give them the ability to increase their skills themselves by exploiting the redundancy in the macro- and microsystems of the language and culture” (Walker,

2010, p.59). In other words, the transition from LMI to AMI as students climb up the ladder to more advanced courses signifies a shift of training goals from learning the language to learning in the language. As students who have graduated from an undergraduate Chinese program and face the immediate pressure of living and

79 researching in China, Flagship students should be able to handle an AMI course with content constrained by self-chosen domains.

3.2.3.2 Personal Tutoring Sessions

For students who are not experienced in self-managed domain study, searching for learning resources and utilizing them efficiently is a big challenge. To help them overcome the challenge, the Advanced Chinese Language and Culture Program arranges domain tutors to provide guidance. The students meet with their tutors at least once a week. Ideally, the tutors are experts in the target domains. For example, a student who chooses Chinese linguistics as his/her domain can be assigned a tutor who is a graduate student majoring in Chinese linguistics. Aside from explaining the domain-specific concepts, the experts can also direct students to useful resources.

When an expert in a certain domain cannot be engaged, such as Chinese wine culture, the program will invite visiting scholars from China to be the tutors. Although they do not have the precise domain expertise, their rich experience in teaching usually makes them qualified domain tutors for two reasons. First, instead of explaining the meaning of specific words, they can direct the students in processing documents and related materials by themselves using autonomous tools, e.g., online dictionaries. The

Flagship students are not expected to understand every word of the authentic materials such as newspaper articles, news broadcasts, and blogs. Instead, they should be able to extract main ideas from the resources and discuss them with native speakers, which

80 is one of the things that experienced teachers from China are typically good at.

Second, the visiting scholars usually have less desire to improve their English than study-abroad students from China do. Therefore, they bring the advantage of continuously engaging the Flagship students in Chinese.

3.2.3.3 Weekly Presentations

After conducting domain-based research with the help of domain tutors, the students need to prepare for weekly presentations on their progress. The presentation session reflects the core objectives of this domain-based course—training the students to convey their understanding of a narrowed-down topic in the chosen domain and negotiate with the audience to construct a meaningful discussion. Among the audience are other Flagship students, professors, domain tutors and anybody else who is interested in their research. While being confident in themselves as experts in respective domains, the Flagship students must pay attention to presentation manners that make sense to the Chinese audience. For example, it is polite to extend gratitude to professor, tutors and all the audience at the beginning of a presentation. The Q&A session after a presentation is also challenging for the students because they cannot be fully prepared for it. They need to negotiate with the audience to transform the Q&A into a meaningful discussion, especially when they do not know the direct answer.

The presentation sessions provide opportunities for the students to gather feedback which can be used to improve their research in the future. For example,

81 many students plan to interview Chinese people during the second year when they move to China and use the resulting data as a significant source for their conclusions.

To prepare for that, they can report on the interview questions they have designed, or even interview some Chinese native speakers living in the United States as a trial run.

In the presentation sessions, the audience can help students revise their interview questions if they consider the questions to be too broad or possibly offensive, or to analyze why they failed to collect expected responses.

3.2.4 The Possibility of Introducing Domain at an Earlier Stage

The domain-based course in the Flagship Program provides a model for incorporating the concept of domain in a CFL curriculum, but the Flagship Program itself is not the answer we seek for the problem described previously: how can we motivate learners to continue learning Chinese and enroll in advanced courses. The

Flagship students have already demonstrated advanced “proficiency” before they enroll in the program. In other words, the concept of domain is introduced to them as an essential component of CFL program after they have demonstrated their motivation to learn Chinese, as illustrated in Figure 3.3.

82 Figure 3.3. The Introduction of Domain in the Flagship Program

To realize the proposed solution of utilizing possible selves and domains to motivate learners to continue learning, we need to introduce the concept of domain at an earlier stage, as illustrated in Figure 3.4.

Figure 3.4. The Introduction of Domain to Lower-level Students

The domain-based curricula in the Flagship Program is effective in facilitating

83 the transition from learning the language to learning in the language, but several difficulties prevent it from being implemented at the elementary and intermediate phase of a CFL program:

1. Students have not compiled sufficient items to conduct domain-based research by themselves and report on their progress.

2. The elementary-level students comprise a much bigger group, so it is difficult to provide personal tutors to them.

3. Instructors do not have sufficient resources to help each student find a possible domain.

To solve the issues above, we should effectively exploit extracurricular time because class time is mainly taken by LMI. That is to say, we can provide students with extracurricular tasks which are designed to help them discover and develop their domains. Chapter 5 will discuss how technology can contribute to guiding students while reducing the burden for instructors. However, on the journey to claim a domain, both instructors and technology are external factors. They cannot determine a domain for the learners because they cannot impose the necessary motivation. To take full advantage of the time they spend on language learning, learners need to acquire the skill of anticipation, to which we now turn.

3.3 Anticipation: Preparing for the Future

In this study, anticipation refers to the act of preparing oneself to achieve

84 individual goals in a game, based on the reasonable expectation or prediction of other participants’ responses. As discussed earlier, a game is considered here to be a psychological reality that organizes our behaviors, and our daily life is comprised of various social games. For any game that involves more than one participant, whether an explicit or a tacit social game, the ability to anticipate and behave accordingly is a crucial factor that distinguishes good players from mediocre ones. People playing cooperatively usually need to assume a plan and shoulder different responsibilities; in competitive scenarios, players can gain an edge over their opponents by anticipating several moves ahead of them. For example, in a basketball game, good players can anticipate the moves of their teammates and opponents, which helps them make the best possible decisions, such as either shooting or passing the ball, when and where, and so on. On the contrary, players who only pay attention to their own moves without considering other player often get outplayed. Similarly, in a social game, making an appropriate move without much hesitation requires the ability to anticipate the interlocutor’s moves. It may derive from an on-the-spot analysis of various elements in the context, from past experiences, or (most likely) both. People with the ability to anticipate are less surprised by the utterances they hear and more confident in communicating with others in social games.

Anticipation is an increasingly important research area in sport psychology

(Loffing & Caal-Bruland, 2017; Mller & Abernethy, 2012), but it is rarely discussed concerning language use except for simultaneous interpretation (Chernov,

85 2004). In this section, I will examine the connotative difference between three similar mental activities: anticipation, expectation, and prediction. Two cases in competitive scenarios of explicit games will be analyzed to demonstrate how professional players anticipate at the local and global levels. Then, I will discuss the pedagogical implications drawn from the examples.

3.3.1 Preparation as the Defining Characteristic of Anticipation

As a commonly-used term, “anticipation” is used in various contexts with different meanings. It usually denotes the feeling of excitement about something that is going to happen17. For example, “The singer’s fans were trembling with anticipation when he showed up.” It can also refer to the act of preparing for something, as in “They hired some part-time workers in anticipation of crowds of customers during the golden week.” Rather than emphasizing the feeling of excitement, the concept of anticipation discussed here in this study focuses more on the aspect of preparation for responding to something, especially under the framework of human interaction in games. To fully explain the concept of anticipation and use it as the basis for future discussion, it is necessary to distinguish it from two other similar concepts: expectation and prediction.

Expectation refers to a belief that something is likely to happen. In the context of human interaction, the phenomenon of expectation is closely related to conventions,

17 The definitions of terms in this section are partly based on Merriam-Webster online dictionary (http://www.merriam-webster.com).

86 which comprise the common knowledge shared by a given community. For example, it is a convention to avoid hitting other vehicles while driving in any lawful human society, except, say, at a demolition derby, or when playing bumper cars. We follow this convention, and we have the expectation that others have the same knowledge; otherwise, we might be too scared to drive. Zhang (2016) suggests using the notion of

“expectation game” to analyze social engagements. In such games, those who hold power to evaluate others’ performances are the judges, while those being judged are the players. In the case of driving, we are all players, and other drivers or police officers can be the judges. Such social engagement can be called “expectation games” because the players need to act based upon the expectation of judges. Failing to meet expectations may result in being somehow penalized or losing the game, just as drivers who violate driving regulations are fined by policemen.

Prediction is similar to expectation, and they are even used interchangeably sometimes. The minor difference is that prediction is an overt statement about what is believed likely to happen. Regarding the relation of prediction to language use, there is research that looks into the production of predictive inferences while reading or viewing movies, based on contextual information (McKoon & Ratcliff, 1986;

Magliano, Dijkstra & Zwaan, 1996). The researchers would not be able to conduct the studies if the subjects only held a belief that something would happen but did not make a statement to that effect. The usage-based perspective of language suggests that linguistic behaviors, especially those involving the use of high-frequency items, can

87 be predicted based upon previous linguistic experience (Bod & Cochran, 2007; Ellis

& Larsen-Freeman, 2006; Bybee, 2010).

As mentioned above, anticipation is based on preparation. Therefore, it can be viewed as one step beyond expectation and prediction. Zhang (2016) mentions that there are two critical steps the players need to take in order to win in expectation games, namely “recognizing what their [the judges’] expectations are in given social situations and knowing how to take advantage of those expectations to negotiate one’s own intentions in the target culture” (p.144). In fact, the second step is a typical manifestation of anticipation. It is beneficial for the players to have an expectation of the judges’ expectations. However, to achieve their goals, the players cannot just stop there. They need to prepare themselves for their following behaviors which have the potential to meet the expectations. Thus, in this study, anticipation refers to the act of preparing oneself to achieve individual goals in a game based on the reasonable expectation or prediction of other participants’ responses.

To summarize the difference between these three terms, we can refer back to the discussion of games. Expectation is the belief of what is likely to happen. The representative group of people who have an expectation in a game is the fans. The best a fan can do is probably leaning towards one team based on records. For example,

Golden State Warriors can beat Cleveland Cavaliers because they did better in the regular season. Prediction is the statement of what is likely to happen. It can be as simple as a verbal version of expectation, without any clarification of reasons, but

88 someone who makes predictions is usually asked about the reasons by others. The representative group of people can be the commentators. When commentators support a team, they need to have more sophisticated reasons such as players’ injuries, habits and possible strategies, which is more difficult than expectation. Anticipation can be viewed as the mental process of preparing oneself for the next move based on either expectation or prediction. The representative groups are the players and coaches. The players usually anticipate based on expectation, while coaches make more verbal predictions when they explain to the players. However, it does not mean players and coaches only act based on experience as the main source of anticipation; otherwise, each game would be nothing but a representation of an older one. They still need some on-the-spot improvisation based on the analysis of current situations. Table 3.4 summarizes the difference between anticipation, expectation and, prediction situated in the context of games.

Description Representative Participants Expectation Belief of what is likely to happen Audience Statement of what is expected to Prediction Commentators, Fans happen Anticipation Preparing for what is likely to happen Players, Coach

Table 3.4. Difference between Expectation, Prediction, and Anticipation

3.3.2 Two Levels of Anticipation: Examples from Competitive Games

In a game, anticipation can happen at two levels, here labeled as the local and global level. The local anticipation occurs within a few exchanges and relates to a

89 short-term goal, such as earning a point in a tennis game. To increase the chance of achieving that goal, a player needs to anticipate the direction of the ball hit by the opponent, and get ready to hit it back. The global anticipation requires the players to process more information and make a plan for long-term objectives, such as winning a game, or even a whole tournament. In a tennis game, it means a player can estimate the approximate length of the whole game and make a rational distribution of stamina.

The following two examples are video excerpts from competitive tournaments of

League of Legends (LoL). LoL is one of the most popular multiplayer online battle arena (“moba”) games, which has been developed into a professional e-sport event. A standard game consists of five players on either team. Each player picks one from over 140 champions who have their unique abilities. They then fight with each other on a specific map as two teams and aim to take down the base of the opposite team with proper strategies. The map has three lanes connecting the two bases, commonly addressed as the blue side and the red side, and everywhere else is called the jungle area where neutral monsters live. Before reaching the base, the players need to tear down at least three defensive turrets on a single lane, as illustrated in Figure 3.5. A standard team composition features one player on the top lane, one on the mid lane, two on the bottom lane, and the fifth one in the jungle area.

90 Figure 3.5. Summoner’s Rift, the Map of Standard LoL Games

Within a game, players need to employ local anticipation to win small-scale fights, and global anticipation to win the entire game.

3.3.2.1 Local Anticipation: Every Second Makes a Difference

The screenshot used to explain local anticipation is taken from the recording of a professional match between two North American teams: Cloud 9 and Team Liquid18.

Cloud 9 (C9) is on the blue side of this game, and Team Liquid (TL) on the red side.

Figure 3.6 presents a deciding moment in a temporary two-versus-one fight on the top lane, where C9’s top-lane player outplayed TL’s player with a successful anticipation.

18 TL vs. C9 | NA LCS Spring Playoffs | Quarterfinals Game 2 | Team Liquid vs. Cloud9 (2018), retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFY4y3WR0ps

91 Figure 3.6. The Screenshot of a Deciding Moment in a Small-scale Fight

This deciding moment involves the interaction between two abilities of each champion, which had a direct impact on the result of this fight. The descriptions of the two abilities are listed below19:

C9 side — Fiora’s Riposte: Fiora parries all incoming damage, debuffs, and disables for the next 0.75 seconds and then stabs in the target direction...If Fiora parries an immobilizing effect, Riposte stuns instead of slowing.

TL side — Singed’s Fling: Damages target enemy unit and flings them into the air behind Singed.

The result of this fight is that Fiora used Riposte at the same time Singed used

Fling and stunned Singed because “into the air” is considered as “an immobilizing effect” in the game. Fiora secured the kill later with the help of Sejuani and claimed the victory of this small-scale fight.

19 The descriptions are directly quoted from the official website, retrieved from https://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/ game-info/champions

92 To the C9 player controlling Fiora, using Riposte to parry Fling is an extremely challenging and risky move because it has to be used in the perfect timing. Singed’s

Fling has no preparation time, which means his opponent cannot dodge it in close distance, while Fiora’s Riposte is only effective for 0.75 seconds. If Fiora used her ability too early, Singed would be able to wait out the effect and successfully fling

Fiora into the attack range of the turret, which could result in the death of Fiora in this fight. Therefore, the result of the fight completely depends on the ability to anticipate of the C9 player.

Such a successful anticipation stems from players’ knowledge about champions’ abilities, as well as intelligence gathering through a selective observation and evaluation of the environment. As displayed in Figure 3.5, the environment contains many elements that players can interact with: walls, bushes, minions and the turret.

However, at that specific moment, the players need to filter the unnecessary information and focus on the turret. Singed planned to get close enough to the turret and fling Fiora into the attack range of it, which would give Singed an advantage in the fight. On the other side, Fiora anticipated Singed’s move, monitored the distance to the turret, and successfully parried the fling.

To conclude, experience and deliberate observation are two critical factors that determine the success of anticipation.

93 3.3.2.2 Global Anticipation: A Chain of Plans

While ordinary players are struggling with local-level anticipation in small-scale fights, the professional players, or at least the leaders of each team, are expected to be strategists and be capable of global-level anticipation. Within a single game, the long-term goal is winning the game, but players must secure various objectives progressively, to secure the final victory. Since the opponents fight for the same objectives, such as turrets on the lanes and neutral monsters in the jungle area, players can anticipate the opponents’ macro moves across the map and respond accordingly.

As a demonstration of superior global-level anticipation, the following screenshots are taken from an analytic video of a professional match between two Korean teams:

King-Zone (KZ) and KT-Rolster (KT)20.

KZ won this game with a chain of plans. They anticipated KT’s macro moves for the majority of this game and responded actively to punish KT’s decisions, which made the situation advantageous to KZ. Figure 3.7 and 3.8 represent the first critical anticipation-based plan made by KZ.

20 The Breakdown: KING-ZONE’s Macro Masterclass, retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ojAGJ 89LHA

94 Figure 3.7. KT Trying to Take Down a Turret

Figure 3.8. KZ Trying to Take Down Baron Nashor

In Figure 3.7, KT devoted four players to take down a turret on the bottom lane.

95 Since KZ players were outnumbered, they anticipated the inevitable demolishment of the turret within the next 30 seconds and chose to retreat. As a response, the five players of KZ rotated to the top side of the map and attempted to take down Baron

Nashor, the most valuable and contested neutral monster, without being noticed by

KT. In LoL, players need to plant wards to gain temporary vision in the jungle area.

Since KT was focusing on the bottom side during the past few minutes, they lost the vision of the top side. As a result, KZ took down Baron Nashor to compensate for their loss on the bottom side, which became a turning point of the game. In other words, KZ anticipated a definite loss and actively sought for another objective as a compensation, which is commonly called as “to stop the bleeding”.

Figure 3.9. KZ’s Siege on the Mid Lane

96 Figure 3.10. KZ Took Down Two Turrets on Two Lanes

Figure 3.9 and 3.10 illustrate another type of plan based on global anticipation: to secure a greater success. In 3.9, KZ evaluated the relative strength between two teams and anticipated a successful siege. It could become a greater success if the KT player on the bottom lane went to mid lane to help defend the turret because the bottom lane would be wide open. To achieve that, KZ sustained the siege and forced

KT to perform as KZ anticipated. Patience is crucial in this situation. If KZ chose to engage in a fight under the enemy turret, it would give KT a higher chance to fight back. The patient siege resulted in two turrets taken down on both mid and bottom lanes, as displayed in Figure 3.10.

To conclude, the global anticipation relates to macro strategies. When players anticipate a failure or loss, they can avoid it and seek for compensation elsewhere; when players anticipate a success, they can seek for opportunities of a greater success

97 and patiently actualize it. A carefully conceived plan before the game is necessary because it prepares players for various possibilities. The pre-game plan is usually based on experience, such as the opponents’ favorite champions and common playstyle. However, human beings do not always follow the same pattern, so the players need to observe the progress of games and adjust the plan based on in-game anticipation. Whether local or global, successful anticipation always requires experience and observation.

3.3.3 Anticipation in Verbal Communication: Pedagogical Implications

Loffing & Caal-Bruland (2017) conclude that sports players anticipate based on

“kinematics of the opponent and non-kinematic (or contextual) sources of information” (p.6). They point out that skilled athletes are better at anticipation because they have sufficient visual experience and comprehensive strategies to pick up information. For example, a skilled tennis player relies on different relevant body parts of opponents (i.e., legs, shoulders, arms) to anticipate where a ball may come from, whereas the novice players only focus on the arm-racket area. The visual experience supports anticipation, but it is generally more difficult for players to anticipate left-handed actions due to a lack of experience. Skilled players can also draw upon contextual information like the game score to anticipate the location of serves.

Research in sport psychology reveals the importance of experience and

98 observation for skilled anticipation, which echoes with the prior discussion regarding anticipation in competitive games. The following discussion examines how anticipation can help learners achieve their goals in social games.

3.3.3.1 Local Anticipation in Communicative Events

In a single communicative event that involves language use, local anticipation can prepare learners to either produce or respond to upcoming utterances. Anticipation operates at three levels.

(1) Sentence level. After acquiring a certain amount of grammatical rules or moves, language learners can begin to anticipate at the sentence level. For example, upon hearing a name at the beginning of a sentence, English learners may take it as the subject and anticipate the verb that usually follows. Anticipation at this level does not necessarily entail preparation for a response. Its primary function is to think ahead and make it easier to process the information without perceiving anything as strange and surprising. It resembles being able to anticipate the basic moves of each piece in a chess game after learning the basic rules. However, as the learning process continues, the learner may encounter cases that are outside of expectation. For example, the first name in a sentence will be the object rather than subject in a passive structure. The learner may stumble over a message structuring that is unexpected, but such experience, if retrospectively understood, can increase the repertoire of possibilities and help the learner anticipate more comprehensively next time.

99 In recent years, the development of technology gives birth to an exciting product related to anticipation: the function of automatic completion in input software. The program has a database which helps it anticipate what the users will input based on the first few letters and display the possible options on the screen. The program can also be trained to filter the options that have never been selected, as well as adding options after processing what users finished inputting by themselves. Currently, this function is mainly used to help users save time when inputting some commonly used words or phrases. In most cases, it cannot display a whole sentence at once, not to mention automatically display possible responses to the received messages. In the context of language learning, it can be a powerful learning tool if applied appropriately. For example, Chinese learners can learn word clusters that commonly appear together when they type a word, which can then become their resource for anticipation at the sentence level in the future if they pay close attention to the prompts.

(2) Short exchange level. Turner (2009, inter alia) talks about how we can use blending, a cognitive process, to generate an infinite number of sentences despite the fact that we have only a limited number of grammatical rules. We as English users tend to “break the world into events and objects” (p.60). We may extract the schema of a linguistic event, which consists of core structures, conventional expressions and such, carry it with us, and apply it to other situations. Anticipation is necessary for us to do that. The decision to apply a certain schema relies on the recognition of a certain

100 linguistic item and/or context. For example, the word “Hi” can prompt the retrieval of the schema of greeting. Seeing an acquaintance coming towards oneself can have the same function. In other words, after recognizing certain prompts, we can anticipate the necessity of applying corresponding schemata, mostly based on prior experience.

(3) Performance level. A performance, as the term is used in the performed culture approach to L2 pedagogy, can be as small as a short exchange, but it is usually a combination of multiple exchanges. Our language makes it possible for us to think and talk about something beyond the local scale (Sinha, 2010; Turner, 2009; Zull,

2011). In other words, we are able to make plans for the future. Thus, in deliberate anticipation of an event which is destined to happen, we can prepare for it beforehand to deliver a good performance. A job interview offers a good example. Interviewees usually anticipate the questions based on prior experience and rehearse their answers.

However, there is another layer of anticipation, at the performance level. Other than anticipating the verbal responses of other participants in social games, it is also filled with nonverbal responses. It requires the players to continually observe and monitor others’ facial expressions or gestures to determine whether they should adjust their original plan. Moreover, contextual information can provide cues for possible topics and the direction of the interaction going forward. In the process, the context itself evolves. For example, if a learner is asked to accompany a Chinese visiting scholar on a campus tour, the buildings along the way are likely topics for talk.

Therefore, at the performance level, anticipation requires more than familiarity with

101 linguistic codes and the rules of appropriate usage. Deliberate observation of the most relevant contextual information can help learners to adjust previous plans when necessary. In language classes, instructors can challenge students with more extended performances which have closely interconnected exchanges, instead of one-exchange drills. The meticulous setting of communicative contexts can provide learners opportunities to pick up contextual information, but preparing such scenarios can be too demanding for individual instructors and better left to technology, which will be discussed in Chapter 5.

Table 3.5 summarizes the characteristics of anticipation at three different levels:

Sentence Short exchange Performance Difficulty Low Medium High Level Memories of Prior interactive Basis of structuring Prior interactive experience Anticipation context-relevant experience + observation sentences To ease the burden To successfully To achieve personal Goal of information complete the goals in the game process exchange Table 3.5. Three Levels of Local Anticipation

3.3.3.2 Global Anticipation is Related to Domain

Local anticipation is pertinent to the training in language classes, whereas global anticipation is more related to the language program. As discussed before, the goal of a language program should be guiding students to find their own domains, which attaches more value to an individual’s language learning. Anticipation of the target

102 domain gives students a more precise idea which courses should be taken and a stronger incentive to make detailed plans. For example, a student who chooses literature as his/her future domain will voluntarily take courses related to Chinese literature even if they are not required courses.

Global anticipation consists of a series of minor goals, and the anticipated results of those goals determine whether an individual needs to adjust his/her original plan. In the context of language learning, minor goals manifest as courses, study-abroad programs, internship opportunities, relevant activities and the like. It is natural for learners to encounter predicaments that possibly lead to failure to achieve some of these goals. However, an ability to anticipate such predicaments can prompt the learner to come up with an alternative route forward. For example, if the chance of getting accepted into a study-abroad summer program is meager, it would be wise to search for other possibilities to efficiently exploit summer vacation. If the learner anticipates that participating in a particular contest may impact his/her chances for acceptance into the summer program, it would be wise to include it in the plan and actualize it.

Even if learners have determined their future domain(s) before learning Chinese, elementary Chinese courses are always necessary. Setting a domain goal is motivating, but the motivation can still be thwarted if the language-learning process is miserable.

While encouraging and guiding students to find their domains, the program directors and instructors need to make sure the courses represent meaningful experiences to

103 their students, which will be the main topic of Chapter 4.

104 Chapter Four: The Creation of Emotion in Language Learning

4.1 Introduction: the Interaction between Memory and Emotion

4.1.1 Language Learning Requires Memory Formation

Walker and Noda (2010) depict the cycle of compiling a second culture

(including its language) in terms of the relationship between personal memory and communication abilities (See Figure 4.1).

Figure 4.1 Cycle of Second Culture Compilation (Walker & Noda, 2010, p. 32)

105 The process of memory compilation supports the development of language abilities which are manifested as the ability to participate in the target culture. The cycle consists of a series of steps.

Persona refers to the overtly expressed representation of learners’ inner selves that they are willing to demonstrate in the target language. It is the sole agent in the cycle, and it is subject to change under the influence of the second culture being learned. For example, if learners are continually required to address the instructors with appropriate titles instead of the first name, the learners’ persona may gradually appear more polite in the Chinese learning environment.

Cultural knowledge and language knowledge is the integrated memories of declarative knowledge about culture and language, which is usually conveyed to the learners in explicit instruction, with textbooks and lectures, especially at the lower levels. Advanced learners can acquire cultural and language knowledge through observation, research, and interaction with native speakers.

Performances and games are communicative activities situated in specific contexts. They are “the enactment of scripts or behaviors situated at a specified time and place with roles and audiences specified” (Walker & Noda, 2010, p.35). The cultural and language knowledge guides the performances, but it does not guarantee the success. Chess learners may forget about the function of a specific chess piece when they commit to their first game. Similarly, language learners have to perform, making real-time expressive choices in contextualized activities, if their knowledge is

106 to grow into memories that support future performances.

Story here refers to the personal memory of an experience in performances and games. Different students generate different stories of the same performance because they have distinct perspectives as they play different roles in the performance and as observers. If learners are trained to develop an awareness of analyzing performances based on their defining characteristics (e.g., time, place, roles, audience, script), they can associate a newly acquired story with a previous one through compilation. As a result, the stories can be categorized as cases and compiled into sagas. “A case is a series of stories about doing something in a culture ... A saga is a series of stories about a specific set of people or a specific location” (Walker & Noda, 2010, p.40). For example, “greeting the instructor” can be categorized under either the case of greeting in Chinese culture or incorporated into the ongoing saga of Chinese class. As learners accumulate stories and expand a repertoire of cases and sagas, they are gradually constructing—all based on performance—a second-culture worldview, a complex knowledge structure that is distinct from the learners’ base culture. The newly constructed worldview influences learners’ persona and continuously restarts the cycle on a higher level of attitudes and behaviors.

Therefore, story is the basic unit of knowledge pertaining to performing in the target culture. If a CFL program aims to acculturate learners to life in Chinese, then it is essential to help learners create stories in pedagogical situations that they can apply to actual interactions with native speakers in the future. Again, story is the personal

107 memory of performances in the target culture, not just a recollection of listening to or reading about culture and language. Thus, displaying the menu of a Chinese restaurant does not help students create a story. The instructor needs to design activities in which students do something, e.g., order food or offer nutritional advice, based on the menu.

As discussed in Chapter 2, learning a language is learning to engage in various social games according to their respective rules. Underlying the ability to play particular games is the personal memory of performing in prior games. The experience of observing a game familiarizes attentive people with the rules so that they can become novice players, while the experience of playing that game elevates them to more skillful players because they can accumulate stories in the meantime.

The compilation and categorization of stories give players an ever-expanding and deepening perspective on the target game. The emerging comprehensive view characterizes the familiarity with the typical patterns of the game, based on which players can anticipate others’ behaviors and orient themselves to respond in advance.

Since memory is crucial for someone to transform himself from a novice into a skillful player, it is meaningful to examine how memory can be catalyzed.

4.1.2 Emotion Enhances Memory

Neuroscience research in the last decade has demonstrated that “emotion and cognition are deeply interwoven in the fabric of the brain” (Okon-Singer et al., 2015, p.8). As Phelps (2004) points out, “investigations examining the influence of emotion

108 on memory have primarily focused on two medial temporal lobe memory systems”

(p.198), namely the amygdala and the hippocampus (See Figure 4.2).

Figure 4.2. The Human Amygdala (in blue) and Hippocampus (in green)

(Phelps, 2004, p.199)

The amygdala specializes in the processing of emotion, while the hippocampus governs the recollection of past events, often referred to as memory. The amygdala is said to have an influence on hippocampus-dependent memories at two stages: encoding and consolidation (Phelps, 2004). Emotional stimuli evoke enhanced response in the amygdala, which leads to enhanced attention to the emotional stimuli.

For example, when we meet a group of people for the first time, our attention is naturally directed to those with faces that are “strange” to us, and stir up emotions like surprise, curiosity, or even fear. Put another way, emotional stimuli receive priority in the environment, and thus get encoded in the hippocampus. After encoding, it takes time for the instantaneous memory to become consolidated and less prone to

109 disruption. At this stage, the stimuli that elicit emotional reactions are more likely to be consolidated because they are “likely to be more important for survival” (Phelps,

2004, p.199). For example, fearful experiences easily become long-term memories that help in avoiding similar situations in the future. Although emotional reactions

(physiologically, the activation of the amygdala) are not necessary for forming memories, they have a modulatory role that enhances hippocampus-dependent memory.

Therefore, even if language learning in not quite “an emotionally driven process”

(The Douglas Fir Group, 2016, p.36), is accurately characterized as emotionally assisted, because emotions enhance the perception of information and consolidation of memories. In other words, emotionally-charged cues, linguistic or contextual, are more easily perceived and integrated into memory. On the other hand, emotions are culturally derived and socially constructed, rather than simply the private reactions of an individual (Swain, 2013), in processes that work in concert with the social nature of languages. For example, we feel repelled by curse words when we judge them inappropriate in particular social interactions. All in all, emotion is a crucial factor in language learning that has not received enough attention in the SLA literature (Swain,

2013). This chapter will explore how emotion can be usefully elicited from learners in a CFL program through examining the approaches game developers utilize in electronic games, and the model of Individualized Instruction (I.I.) as practiced at

OSU.

110 4.2 The Creation of Emotions in Electronic Games

Since gamification is a strategy that uses game elements and mechanics in what are generally regarded as non-game contexts, examining how emotions are created in explicit games can be instructional in the process of gamifying a CFL program.

Among the explicit games, electronic games exemplify how players are immersed in a visualized virtual world through the manipulation of emotions. The following discussion presents game developers’ tricks with examples taken from both single- and multi-player games, which emphasize different emotional aspects.

4.2.1 Emotions in Single-player Games: Meaningful Choices

Games fundamentally differ from other story media (e.g., films, novels, dramas) in that games offer players the opportunities to make choices that influence the final outcome in the story (Isbister, 2016). The audience of a movie or drama follows the story created by the screenwriter or playwright. Like it or not, they can only accept the fact that the filmed or enacted story is unchangeable. Sports fans who attend live games are more involved because they can cheer for their favorite teams and help them win the games, at least the fans may believe so. The owner of a basketball team can recruit amazing players, but that does not guarantee victory in every game. Only the players have a direct impact on the result of an event.

The players of electronic games and of sports share the universal emotions that

111 are seldom experienced when we watch movies or read novels. For example, a good action movie excites us when the hero defeats the enemies and leaves us heart-broken when the hero fails to rescue someone. However, we do not feel personal pride or guilt in those situations. In games, the players make a series of choices to reach their goals and cannot avoid the responsibility for the consequences. On the palette of emotions arising from the process of making meaningful choices, some are almost exclusive to game players, including pride, guilt and camaraderie. When Roberto

Baggio missed the penalty shot that cost Italy the championship in the 1994 World

Cup final, the audience felt sorry for him, and the fans of Italy were heart-broken, but nobody could imagine how guilty Baggio himself felt at that moment.

Neuropsychology researchers have also provided evidence that human beings experience certain emotions only in the act of playing an explicit game. In an experiment comparing participants playing a game and others watching the live video stream of the game, the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) results indicate that the active gamers showed more activation of “mesolimbic neural circuits associated with incentive motivation” (Cole, Yoo, Knutson & Okamoto, 2012).

Designers of electronic games, especially the single-player games, regard setting meaningful choices as one of the primary factors that elicit the emotions of players immersed in the games. Below we review some popular devices employed by the designers.

112 4.2.1.1 Inhabitable Avatars Ground the Emotions

While most movies, novels, and games have protagonists, we witness the stories happening around protagonists in movies and novels, but control protagonists in games—with a mouse, a keyboard, or other game controllers—and experience the stories from their perspectives. In other words, the games’ protagonists are our inhabitable avatars. In each game, we are attached to one or more protagonists throughout the entire game because they rarely die halfway. We share information and goals with the protagonists. If the protagonist were to lose memory, the players would have no information about the past. In fact, the success of a typical electronic game hinges upon how strong the player’s attachment is to the protagonists. Although the game designers determine the main story and fundamental game mechanics, they always leave room for players to make free choices. For example, the players can choose which side quests to finish, or which style to use in battles. It promotes a feeling of ownership by permitting players to explore their own comfortable playing style. It also fulfills the dream of many people that they could have done better than movie characters in particular situations if they had the opportunity, which leads to pride and a strong sense of achievement.

Isbister (2016) claims that “players controlling avatars project themselves into the character on four levels: visceral, cognitive, social, and fantasy” (p. 11). The role-play game (see more detailed explanation in Chapter 5) is a game genre that best

113 embodies this four-level projection. Final Fantasy XV21 will be used as an example for the present discussion.

Visceral level: the players control the in-game avatar to perform various actions.

By leveling up the avatar, players gain more abilities to use in the game. The players do not wield swords at home to slash enemies as the avatar does, but they must press the right button at the opportune time (see Figure 4.322). Put another way, the players engage in the combat with the avatar as an extension of their bodies.

Figure 4.3. A combat scene where pressing “B” triggers a critical hit to the enemy

Cognitive level: the players analyze the contexts and determine the strategies or actions that should yield best possible results. It requires the players to consider the

21 The latest main installment in the Final Fantasy series, a famous Japanese role-play game franchise. In Final Fantasy XV, players control Noctis, the main protagonist and heir to the kingdom of Lucis, to rescue the kingdom from its enemies. The game features an open world, in which players can freely explore the kingdom of Lucis to complete main story missions and various side quests. 22 A screenshot taken from the introduction trailer of Final Fantasy XV, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAZaOnyPWRM. Same for Figure 4.4 to 4.6.

114 status of their avatar and enemies in combat, or the avatar’s role and his relationship with interlocutors at particular points of the story. Figure 4.4 presents a combat scene where a long-range weapon is used to take advantage of the long distance between the avatar and the enemies. In the context captured by Figure 4.5, the protagonist, who is conducting a secret mission, encounters a reporter who recognizes the protagonist’s real identity. The players need to decide whether they want to make a deal with the reporter, which entails differences in the following conversation. The game designers usually set certain options as more rewarding than others and challenge the players to discover such options; players can do so by adopting the perspectives of in-game avatars.

Figure 4.4. A combat scene where a long-range weapon is used

115 Figure 4.5. The options in the conversation with the reporter

Social level: the players experience the social interactions between the avatar and other characters in the game. Figure 4.5 also serves as an example of the social-level projection. In Final Fantasy XV, the protagonist travels with three other characters throughout the whole game (see Figure 4.6), which, as a friend of mine observes, stimulates a strong feeling of camaraderie when he traversed towards the finale in the game.

Figure 4.6. The protagonist and three companions

116 Fantasy level: as the game title Final Fantasy suggests, the players have an opportunity to explore a fantasy identity different from their daily lives. Specifically, in Final Fantasy XV, the protagonist is a prince of a fictional kingdom, who has a mission to save the world.

The four-level projection forges an inseparable bonding between the players and their virtual selves in the games. The identification establishes a cognitive ground that anchors players’ emotions because everything happening in the game world feels more relevant to the players.

To further strengthen the player’s identification with a virtual self, some games allow players to customize their avatars. The Sims23 is one of the most famous examples that features an in-depth customization system. This life-simulation game series enables players to create virtual people called “Sims” and direct them through their daily lives. In a strict sense, the Sims are not avatars because the players are observing and manipulating their lives to the extent that players can end the Sims’ lives in various ways. However, many players regard the Sims as virtual selves and explore a fantasy life by treating them kindly. In The Sims 4, the “Create a Sim” mode allows players to alter almost anything: age, name, gender (see Figure 4.7), physical appearance (see Figure 4.8), body, outfit (see Figure 4.9), aspiration and traits (see

23 The Sims is a life simulation game series, and one of the best-selling video game series. The basic mechanic is creating virtual people called “Sims” and placing them in houses. Players need to satisfy Sims’ needs and desires in order to keep their physical and emotional wellness, but there lacks defined goals in the game, especially in the first three main titles.

117 Figure 4.10)24.

Figure 4.7. Customization of age, name, gender and other personality

Figure 4.8. Customization of physical appearance

24 The pictures are taken from the IGN wiki of The Sims 4, http://www.ign.com/wikis/the-sims-4/Create_a_Sim

118 Figure 4.9. Customization of body and outfit

Figure 4.10. Customization of aspiration and traits (top-left corner)

With the “Create a Sim” mode, the players can create “ideal” virtual selves who have an appealing physical appearance and the potential to accomplish life goals that appear as impossible achievements in the lives of normal players. The game provides a list of aspirations (e.g., become a superstar athlete, chess legend, international super spy) that players can choose from. Players can also select three traits that either facilitate or hinder the achievement of the chosen aspiration. For example, if the aspiration is to become a superstar athlete, then “athletic” will be a beneficial trait,

119 while “lazy” will be a trait that creates more challenges but elicits a stronger sense of achievement for the players. In the Sims series, emotions are the primary driving force behind the behaviors of Sims. For example, A sad sim prioritizes crying. However, the emotions can be affected by the traits players choose. A Sim with the trait of “clumsy” is less likely to become angry or sad when they fail at something. In other words, the customization system is part of the global anticipation that influences the entire game experience as it is played out.

In conclusion, the examples above exhibit how in-game avatars, customized or not, serve as a cognitive ground for players’ emotions when they make various choices as their virtual selves in the games. When players project themselves into avatars and assume the avatars’ perspectives in the story, the avatars’ emotions become more contagious and accessible to the players.

4.2.1.2 The Non-player Characters Complement the Game World

The protagonist controlled by e-game players is not the only dweller in the game world in most cases. The characters interacting with the players’ avatar are called non-player characters (NPCs). Some NPCs are functional, such as those who sell items to the players, give players directions, or merely walk on the street as a part of a lively city. Some NPCs get more involved in the story, and thus can become a direct source of emotions. As mentioned before in the example of Final Fantasy XV, players can develop a feeling of camaraderie after journeying with NPCs for an extended

120 period. Players also experience grief and guilt when NPCs sacrifice themselves to save the protagonists. Some players even fall in love with in-game characters.

The intimacy with NPCs is a fertile seedbed for emotions. Horton & Richard

(1956) use the term para-social relationship to describe the seeming face-to-face relationship between spectators and performers. Film directors shoot at close range to create the illusion of performers talking to the viewers. Some game designers employ the same trick in cinematic cutscenes, but the fact that players are interacting with the

NPCs through in-game avatars has already laid a solid foundation for the para-social relationship. Such a close relationship situates players in the events and enhances players’ perception of in-game characters’ feelings. The social simulation theories propose that the mirror circuits in human brains help perceivers understand others’ mental states rather than simply simulating the perceived actions. “Simulation provides a general mechanism for establishing empathy” (Barsalou, 2008, p. 623). For example, to understand the perceived feeling of desperation, we mentally simulate how we feel in desperate situations. Therefore, intimate interaction with other NPCs can reliably evoke players’ emotions.

4.2.1.3 The Freedom in an Open World

Open-world games, or sandbox games, allow players to explore the game world and pursue objectives without following one single, correct pathway (Squire, 2008).

In contrast to a linear game, which presents a more-or-less common game experience

121 by prescribing a series of objectives for players to accomplish in sequence, an open-world game encourages players to discover their own paths through an expansive game environment.

Despite the apparent merit of open-world games in enabling players to feel the joy of free exploration, such e-games are not without objectives, and they poses enormous challenges for game designers. They must determine what objectives there may be, and the extent to which those objectives are made explicit. If the objectives are buried deep, the players will soon lose patience after wandering in the game world for a few minutes. If the objectives are laid out at once, the players will be overwhelmed by the amount of information because open-world games usually feature multiple objectives at any given moment.

The game developers of Nintendo, a famous Japanese game company, found solutions to optimize the layout of objectives in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the

Wild25 (referred to as “Zelda” below). The keywords are attraction and view blocking.

In Zelda, the players only have two necessary tasks: completing the tutorial section and defeating the final boss, whose castle stands in players’ view from the very beginning of the game. Anything in between is completely optional. However, the final boss is too strong to be defeated by a weak avatar who has just finished tutorial

25 An open-world game released in 2017 as the latest installment of The Legend of Zelda series. Players can control Link, the protagonist, to explore freely in the kingdom of Hyrule and discover a way to defeat Ganon, the main antagonist. Players can collect multiple items that aid in combat and puzzle-solving. The game features a well-designed physics engine, which allows players to interact with the environment in many creative, but believable ways (e.g., setting fire on grassland to form upward current of air). The game won several game of the year awards in 2017.

122 sessions, so the players voluntarily explore the game world to build strength, improve skills and prepare for the final battle. Meanwhile, the castle of the final boss stays in the players’ minds as the ultimate objective and continuously attracts their attention.

To guide players, game designers build more landmarks with similar attraction on the map (see Figure 4.1126), but the players have the freedom to choose which one to visit.

For players who attempt to open up new areas on the map, the towers are more attractive; enemy camps attract those who desire to practice combat skills and loot items; and the high mountains presumably attract those who are fascinated by such scenery. Thus, players can have their distinct paths and acquire experiences unique to their own playing of the game. When two players tell each other “I am at the first tower,” they may not be referring to the same tower.

Figure 4.11. The attraction of landmarks based on their sizes

26 A screenshot taken from “Secrets of the best game of the year”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T35UQSWSM94&t=580s, same for Figure 4.12.

123 To further diversify the experience between different players and increase a feeling of uncertainty, the map is designed to contain a large number of triangular objects of different sizes that constantly block players’ views (see Figure 4.12). The archetypal triangular objects are mountains and hills. Players encounter such barriers when traveling from one landmark to another, and often discover new landmarks while dealing with the barriers. Suppose a group of players encounter a hill while heading to a tower. They may choose to split into two groups: the first group circumvents the hill and the second group climbs over it. The first group discovers a shrine and a stable on the way, so they split into two groups again based on members’ individual objectives. The second group sees the tower again on the top of the hill but discovers an enemy camp at the same time, so they also split up. Such a process of

“splitting” continues throughout the journey until each group only has one person, which is the actual situation among the players of Zelda.

Figure 4.12. A panorama of the game world, with triangular objects highlighted

124 Combining attractive landmarks and view-blocking techniques, Zelda manages to create a distinct game experience for each player, while allowing players to believe that they are in control of their own adventure. Coupled with characteristic NPCs,

Zelda is an excellent example of single-player games that provide abundant meaningful choices to the players. The next section examines how designers add human players to the game world and utilize the social factors to evoke emotions.

4.2.2 Emotions in Multi-player Games: A Virtual Society

Multi-player games usually build upon single-player experiences and incorporate the emotion-evoking devices discussed above, on top of which the social elements are added. The players control the avatars to explore the game world and interact with

NPCs, just as they do in single-player games. However, they are also able to interact with avatars controlled by other players. Multi-player e-games provide an alternate ground for players to cooperate and compete with other people. They also serve as a stage for players to show off their accomplishments and potentially expand their social circle.

Multi-player games address the social needs of “playing together,” which is what we commonly do in sports games and board games. Game researchers have discovered that “emotional responses change when players compete against real people rather than computers” (Isbister, 2016, p. 44). For example, Mandryk &

125 Inkpen (2004) conducted an experiment to compare the experiences of players competing against the computer and then against their friends. The results of both qualitative questionnaires and physiological measures indicated that people prefer social play. The players were more engaged when they were playing against their friends, and losing against the computer led to more boredom.

Social play is fun, but it is more complicated than, say, throwing multiple players in a framework of a single-player game or replacing the computer with real human players. Game designers are continuously innovating in order to improve multi-player experience. Isbister (2016) introduces three common elements designers use in multi-player games to elicit rich emotional responses: coordinated action, social avatars, and social situations. In the following discussion, World of Warcraft (WoW), one of the most popular massive multi-player online games, will be used as an example to explain the function of these three elements.

4.2.2.1 Coordinated Action Elicits a Sense of Responsibility

In multi-player games, designers often place difficult challenges that require coordinated action among players to overcome. It is frustrating if players have poor coordination that leads to failure, but successful coordination can bring great satisfaction to the players. Social psychologists have found that cooperative action is a fundamental way for establishing the socioemotional connection with others. Being able to “team-up” with others leads to rapport and mutual liking (Marsh, Richardson

126 & Schmidt, 2009; Bernieri, 1988). Multi-player games make the need for cooperation profoundly pressing, which urges the players to seek help from others and form teams.

As a result, players develop a sense of responsibility for others because nobody wants to ruin others’ game experience. Moreover, since subpar performance jeopardizes a player’s reputation and lowers the chance of being accepted into a strong team in the future, players feel obliged to perform at their highest level.

In WoW, it is almost a daily routine for players to form teams and fight through the dungeons. A standard team consists of three roles: damage dealers, healers, and tanks, who protect more vulnerable members from the enemies. Each role has its specialty, with a particular kind of ability, so everyone makes an indispensable contribution to the final success. A damage dealer usually does not qualify as a part-time healer. Players adjust the ratio of each role in a team based on different situations and objectives. For example, if a team aims to clear an easy dungeon as fast as possible, the ratio of damage dealers will be higher than usual; if the destination is a challenging dungeon and safety has the top priority, then healers and tanks will claim a higher ratio than usual. In a word, once the objective and team composition are determined, every member is necessary.

It is noteworthy that players are not paid to commit to such cooperative activities.

On the contrary, they are voluntarily spending money and time to participate, which reflects the strength of bonding between players. The coordinated actions heighten players’ sense of responsibility for other people’s experience, which does not exist

127 when they play against the computer by themselves.

4.2.2.2 Social Avatars and Social Situations

In multi-player games, since players are continually interacting with other human players, their avatars develop social roles in the process. As an alternative identity of the players, the avatars are perceived by others and bear on their expectations.

Although situated in a fantasy world, the multi-player games are fundamentally social games, in which we present ourselves before others in particular ways to control their impression for specific reasons (cf. Goffman, 1959; Mischel, 2004). The fact that we can choose or customize our own avatars makes our original physical traits completely irrelevant. A weak high-school student can appear as a confident fighter and lead a team. A male player can pretend to be a charming girl to get accepted into strong teams more conveniently. The players only care about the interaction with the avatars, unless they are seeking an offline relationship.

Experiencing the social life in a virtual world with an alternative identity is fun, but it would not be as compelling if all the interaction with others were purposeless.

Therefore, the game designers create meaningful social situations with a variety of game elements for the players to elicit their social and emotional responses. For example, if players want to conquer more difficult dungeons, they have no choice but to seek help from others. In fact, it is the first step for many players to establish an in-game social network. Searching for teammates is fundamentally a social situation,

128 or a social game, in which players are trying to display their most attractive characteristics. Another more complicated example is the “guild” system of WoW.

Entering or establishing a guild entails consistent interaction with a relatively stable cohort of players. Members of the same guild form regular teams and contribute to the development of their guild, which accelerates the formation of bonding between player, as well as the development of loyalty to a specific organization because they share the same interest and goals. The guilds function like clubs, or even companies when financial issues are involved. Guilds searching for better development recruit strong players (see Figure 4.13). The leaders of a guild have a distinguished reputation among the guild members, or even in the whole game, which actually leads to occasional power struggles. It is not exaggerating to say that the experience of staying in a guild is an epitome of the daily life, which elicits a wide array of emotions from day-to-day interpersonal interactions: from exhilaration to desperation, from responsibility to guilty, from a sense of loyalty to the feeling of being betrayed.

A multi-player game is a legitimate virtual society.

129 Figure 4.13. The recruitment post of a guild in WoW27

To conclude, Table 4.1 summarizes the game elements employed by designers to evoke emotions from players, especially the emotions not common in other media

(e.g., films, novels, TV shows). Similar elements can be incorporated in gamifying a foreign language learning environment in ways that make the learning process more emotional, and thus memorable, which will be discussed in Chapter 5.

Game Type Game Elements Examples of Relevant Emotions

Inhabitable avatars, A sense of identification (the starting Single-player/ customization point for other emotions), pride multi-player Non-player characters Intimacy, camaraderie, guilty, empathy Open world The feeling of freedom, ownership Coordinated actions A sense of achievement, frustration Multi-player Social roles and social A sense of loyalty, a sense of situations responsibility, trust, suspicion, hostility Table 4.1. Game Elements and Relevant Emotions

27 A screenshot taken from the official forum of WoW, https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20764506433

130 4.2.3 The Ultimate Goal: Creating the Flow experience

Most game designers share the same goal: to make games that players enjoy and voluntarily commit themselves to the game experience. Players enjoying the game at hand get fully immersed in the game and lose track of time, which is identical to the flow experience. Csíkszentmihályi (1990) uses the term flow to describe positive human experience, such as what we experience in enjoyment and full involvement.

Being fully involved is the feeling of staying focused and maintaining control over the progress of an event, which leads to enjoyment. However, the feeling of full involvement is not readily achievable, because life is full of challenges that we cannot overcome at specific points, which entails the sense of losing control. Only through recognizing tasks worth challenging and voluntarily stretching our bodies and/or minds to accomplish those tasks can we enter the state of flow.

131 Figure 4.14. A diagram of flow experience (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990, p.74)28

As shown in Figure 4.14, the flow channel is a relatively narrow band compared to the whole experience of our daily life. Take an ordinary office clerk as an example.

If the task at hand is too easy for her skill level, such as preparing coffee for everyone, she stays in the zone of boredom. There is no risk, but it may seem like a waste of time. If the difficulty level of a task surpasses her skill cap, as it would if she were suddenly to be called upon to do simultaneous interpretation, then she slips into the zone of anxiety. There, the clerk may experience all sorts of negative emotions, such as anxiety, frustration, self-doubt, and choose to give up. As mentioned before, it requires one’s own efforts to get into the zone of flow. When the clerk is in the zone of boredom, she can actively seek out tasks that are more difficult and worthy of challenges. If she does, there is a chance that she can enter the zone of flow, but it is

28 Csikszentmihalyi (1997) has an updated model of flow. We use the 1990 version in this study, because it serves as the basis for the models in Chen (2006) discussed below.

132 also highly possible that she will end up in the zone of anxiety. Then, it will be the time for her to stretch her body and/or mind, or improve her skills, to get back to the zone of flow. The feeling of flow is rare because we do not always engage in tasks that fit our skill level in ways that are challenging yet still manageable.

Csikszentmihalyi (1997) mentions a survey conducted in Germany, which interviewed

6469 Germans about whether they can experience the state of flow in everyday life.

Only 23% of the respondents reported that they often experience flow, but generally when they are doing their favorite activities. It is the feeling of flow in a broader sense because we do not necessarily challenge ourselves while doing favorite activities.

Csikszentmihalyi (1990, p.49-67) summarizes eight major elements of the flow experience:

1. A challenging activity that requires skills

2. The merging of action and awareness (i.e., the actions become spontaneous)

3. Clear goals and direct feedback

4. Concentration on the task at hand

5. The sense of control (over one’s own life29)

6. The loss of self-consciousness (self-transcendence)

7. The transformation of time (i.e., losing track of time)

8. The autotelic experience (i.e., intrinsically rewarding experience)

Although not all of the elements are necessary whenever we experience flow,

29 Also see the explanation of autonomy in 5.2.2 for reference.

133 some of them come into prominence from the perspective of game design. For example, it requires no particular skill for us to enjoy watching movies, but games continuously challenge our physical and/or mental skills. Chen (2006) lists three core elements in electronic games that evoke the flow experience:

1. As a premise, the game is intrinsically rewarding, and the player is up to play the game. 2. The game offers right amount of challenges to match with the player’s ability, which allows him/her to delve deeply into the game. 3. The player needs to feel a sense of personal control over the game activity. (Chen, 2006, p.8)

Chen (2006) treats flow as the game system and examines how to keep players in the flow channel after they have been attracted by the game content until they eventually finish the game. Figure 4.15 illustrates the ideal flow experience, in which players tolerate the easy parts and embrace the challenging parts. Thus, the game experience, represented by the red curve, maintains in the flow channel.

Figure 4.15. The ideal in-game flow experience (Chen, 2006, p.10)

In reality, many players leave the flow channel at certain points of the game,

134 when negative emotions arise, and never come back (see Figure 4.16). For example, when the game becomes too challenging, some players are overwhelmed by the anxiety and stop moving on.

Figure 4.16. Players encountering negative emotions (Chen, 2006, p.10)

Moreover, different players have different flow zones when they play the same game because their skill levels vary (see Figure 4.17). It is difficult for designers to create games that satisfy both hardcore and novice players. The most common solution is setting different difficulty levels that players can choose from, but some basic actions in the games, such as aiming and shooting, can already be a daunting task for casual players.

135 Figure 4.17. Different players and flow zones (Chen, 2006, p.10)

Therefore, to design a game for the broader audience, or to expand the flow zone coverage, it is necessary to offer possible experiences that will fit in the flow zone of different individual players. The tasks must be readily identifiable, and the game system must encourage the players to explore their own game experience, instead of passively waiting to be fed. In other words, with the choices provided by the game designers, the players actively adjust their game experience to stay in the flow zone, as illustrated in Figure 4.18.

136 Figure 4.18. Active flow adjustment through choices (Chen, 2006, p.13)

Such a player-driven, dynamic game system not only offers a wide variety of tasks at various difficulty levels but also provides for giving players a sense of control.

It effectively expands the coverage of the flow zone for a broader group of players.

The game Zelda mentioned above is an exemplar of this kind of game design. All of this leads us back to the question: how can we replicate this kind of success in the context of foreign or second language learning?

4.3 Individualized Instruction: a Potential for the Optimized Experience

As discussed above, emotion-infused experiences are easier to remember. The most enjoyable moments appear when we can have control over our own experience, and engage in activities at an appropriate difficulty level that is usually slightly higher than our skill level. In CFL classes, students certainly have emotional moments if they

137 actively engage in the activities. For example, they can feel proud of themselves when they accomplish a challenging task. However, it is almost impossible for a student to maintain focus and stay in the flow zone throughout an entire class unless all the activities fit his or her skill level. Since the skill level of different students inevitably varies, the course content in focus cannot satisfy the flow needs of every student; thus many or most of them jump back and forth between the anxiety zone and the boredom zone in language classes. More importantly, they have no choice regarding which activity to take on, especially at lower levels, when they have limited ability and/or resources to conduct personal projects.

The Ohio State University (OSU) implements instruction in a format called the

Individualized Instruction (I.I.), to accommodate students whose needs are for some reason or other (time of day, level of expertise, current availability of courses, etc.) not best served by regular classroom instruction. As the name implies, students enrolled in I.I. schedule one-on-one appointments with the instructors, in which the instructors compress the content of a regular 55-minute class into a 15-minute one.

Hence, the I.I. model allows students to study with the flexibility of time and pace.

Students who have time conflict between the Chinese courses and others can register for I.I., and schedule appointments per their convenience, which reflects the flexibility of time. As for the pace, students enrolled in the classroom track have to register for four credit hours in one semester, but I.I. students can choose the number of credit hours they find manageable. For example, a student who has a busy schedule can

138 register for only one credit, whereas a student who is willing to devote more time to learning Chinese can even register for five credit hours, which means finishing four credit hours of a level and another one of the next level.

The flexibility of I.I. makes it a popular choice for many students because they have more control over their learning experience, including what, when, and how they learn. Coupled with the favorable elements such as the individualized setting and relatively short class time, I.I. has the potential to optimize the learning experience and help students experience the flow zone. However, I.I. also comes with constraints that keep it from realizing that potential. This sections will discuss the advantages and deficiencies of the current I.I. system at OSU.

4.3.1 Advantages of I.I.: the Fully-engaged Learning Experience

Compared to the classroom setting, the I.I. system has at least four obvious advantages that can be traced back to the eight elements of flow experience mentioned before.

First, in any I.I. session, students concentrate on the tasks at hand, which leads to the fully-engaged learning experience. In the classroom setting, each student only has a limited share of time (no more than five minutes) to perform and get feedback. For the most of the class time, the students are spectators. The one-to-one setting, on the other hand, eliminates the interference from other students and forces students to be the players during the entire session. Besides, since there are no other peers who can

139 set models, the I.I. students must get well-prepared before the sessions and rely on themselves to finish the activities.

Second, I.I. students have more explicit goals, being aware of the fact that everything they prepare will be useful in class activities. Although students in the classroom and I.I. share the same agenda which specifies the requirements for preparation, the classroom students know that they do not have the opportunity to practice everything in class. Therefore, when they have a busy schedule, they feel safe to do the minimal preparation and rely on others in the class. The I.I. students usually prepare as much as possible based on the assignments on the agenda because they have the risk of redoing the entire session if their performances fail to meet the expectation of instructors.

Third, I.I. students can receive more direct feedback regarding their performances. Instructors in a classroom setting do not have enough time and attention to correct every mistake made by each student and give personalized feedback. In most cases, they can only provide general feedback concerning the common problems. On the contrary, I.I. instructors can focus on a single student’s performance in each session, so every feedback is directly relevant to that student.

Fourth, I.I. students have more control of their learning experience. Aside from the flexibility of time and pace, the students can also schedule appointments only with the instructors whose teaching style fits their learning style. It may sound trivial, but it is crucial for maintaining students’ positive emotional states during the class. For

140 higher-level students, I.I. takes the form of independent study, which allows students to select their own learning materials and negotiate with the instructors on the learning objectives. It is when the students can indeed feel the sense of control.

In sum, the individualized setting of I.I. builds a solid foundation for an enjoyable learning experience. It provides for a fully-engaged experience, in which the students focus on successive tasks during the I.I. sessions. They also have control over some of the most crucial aspects of the learning experience, especially at higher levels.

4.3.2 Deficiencies: the Inevitable Problems of the Current System

Despite all these advantages of the I.I. system, not every student has the optimized learning experience. At least four deficiencies exist in the current I.I. system.

First, except for the advanced-level sessions, the teaching materials and activities in I.I. sessions are standardized, which means the difficulty level cannot be adjusted.

Similar to the players’ flow experience discussed before, the fixed content means students can easily fall into the anxiety or boredom zone. For well-prepared students, they do not have challenging tasks. Some students who perform well in the sessions report that they simply memorize the answers. For struggling students, the instructors can only reduce the number of predetermined activities; they do not have time to design new tasks that fit each student’s skill levels.

141 Second, the instructors all have busy and rigid teaching schedules, which means that students must leave the session after the scheduled 15 minutes runs out. It prevents instructors from offering more comprehensive feedback. The struggling students need more help, but they can barely finish the required activities during the sessions, which leaves them no time to discuss the issues with the instructors. As a result, their performance may continue failing to meet the expectation.

Third, the I.I. system gives students freedom, but not every student can take advantage of the freedom. Some students abuse the flexibility of time and pack most of their sessions into the last month of a semester. Since the instructors do not give

Fact lectures aimed at developing declarative language and cultural knowledge, or providing pedagogical advice, the students fall back on their self-learning skills.

However, many students don’t know what they don’t know. They memorize the script to finish the in-class tasks, and they cannot recognize the problems when they fail to do so.

Fourth, the I.I. students are learning without contact with their peer students. It leads to a solitary learning experience, which excludes the emotional factors arising from cooperation and competition that make learning experiences more memorable.

Admittedly, some students sign up for I.I. exactly because they prefer the one-one-one format, but some students choose I.I. only because they have time conflict issues.

To conclude, despite the one-on-one format of teaching, current I.I. students’ learning experiences do not vary significantly among themselves. They deal with the

142 same tasks, only separately at different time slots. Flexibility is reflected only through scheduling sessions. The deficiencies are inevitable fallacies of the current I.I. system, but I.I. is still a viable model for an optimal learning experience. Chapter 5 will discuss how gamification can potentially eliminate the deficiencies of the current I.I. system.

143 Chapter Five: Designing Gamified Assessment and Domain-development Tools

Before delving into the design of gamified CFL learning tools, it is worth summarizing the problems and challenges emerging from the discussion in previous chapters (see Table 5.1).

We propose that it is possible to address the problems above through gamification. In addition to the five elements of gamification mentioned in Chapter

1—goals, scorekeeping, feedback, personal choice, and coaching—this chapter will start from instantiating the three main genres of explicit games and the game elements that can be employed to address the problems in CFL teaching and learning. Sample designs explained in 5.2 and 5.3 will be analyzed to illustrate the incorporation of those game elements in learning tools.

144 Aspects Topics Problems and Challenges 1. Students in CFL programs have limited opportunities and limited ability to learn the rules of social games through observing the behaviors of native speakers. 2. In most cases, students rely on their imagination to Learning to play Content visualize a social context in which they practice in class, such by the rules as imagining an office setting. 3. During the class time, it is impossible for the instructors to cover all the functions of a particular expression used in different contexts. 1. Guiding students to discover their personal domains at an earlier stage of CFL learning. Domain 2. Developing students’ respective domains requires individualized sessions. How can we effectively utilize the Goal human resources at the higher levels of instruction? 1. In addition to the accumulation of experience, can we Anticipation teach students techniques which are useful for local-level anticipation in daily-life communicative events? 1. How can we create personalized experiences for the learners which evoke emotional responses and thereby become Learning memorable? experience in 2. How can we build a complex communicative space CFL programs which connects learners’ in-class learning experience and after-class daily life? For example, how can we incorporate Experience Chinese communities into the CFL programs? 1. How can we give students more freedom in customizing their own learning goals and experience while Flow experience training them to efficiently take advantage of the freedom? in Individualized 2. How to ensure students can obtain sufficient coaching Instruction in the learning process? 3. How to enhance interaction among learners?

Table 5.1. Problems and challenges in CFL teaching and learning

5.1 Three Genres of Game and Applicable Elements

Gamification relies on the appropriate application of game elements. Different genres of games contain their own distinct elements. Based on the possible behaviors

145 of players and game designers’ expectations, there are roughly three genres of games to consider: action, strategy, and role play.

Before explaining the characteristics of the three genres, there are three relevant terms that shall be clarified: players, avatars, and roles. Players refer to the game participants who have direct control over the primary tool of a game. In basketball games, players control the basketball; in chess games, players control the chess pieces; in electronic games, players control the mouse, keyboard, or game controller. The avatar is a unique concept in electronic games and some board games which have separate game worlds inaccessible for players’ physical bodies. Therefore, players rely on avatars as representations of themselves to interact with the game worlds. For example, players in basketball games can touch the ball with their own hands and collide with other players; players of NBA 2K1830 cannot touch the ball with their own hands, but use the controller to control their in-game avatars, the simulated NBA players, to dribble the ball. Every player, or every avatar controlled by a player, has a role in a specific game. The roles determine players’ primary tasks and functions in the game. For example, in a soccer game, a player assuming the role of goalkeeper can hit the ball with hands and prevent it from passing the goal line; a player assuming the role forward focuses on scoring goals. In World of Warcraft, players control avatars which have different roles in a team—damage dealers, defenders, and healers—and collaborate to finish various tasks.

30 NBA 2K18 is the latest installment in the NBA 2K franchise, a series of basketball simulation game.

146 In different genres of games, players assume different types of roles, which requires distinct qualities from players if they desire to become competent in those games. Our task is to explore how these features are manifested, or have parallels, in a gamified CFL program.

5.1.1 Action Games Require Physical Skills

Action games challenge players’ physical skills, usually with an escalating difficulty level. Most sports games fall into this category. For example, in order to win, basketball players attempt to perform their best moves and outplay their opponents.

As they improve their skills, they have the opportunities to meet better opponents, which requires them to improve themselves further. In the world of electronic games, players who specialize in an action game can after repeated practice control their in-game avatars in a fast and accurate fashion. Although the players do not need to jump, run and hit their enemies with their physical bodies, this does not mean that playing electronic action games is less stressful than sports games. For example, the concept and mechanics of Super Mario31 are simple and easy to understand—the latter consists of just running and jumping in most cases. However, it is a challenge for many novice players to develop the right timing to perform those actions. As a result, the poor Mario controlled by novice players has to die over and over again. In short, action games generally require the players to practice their skills continuously

31 Super Mario is a series of platform video games developed by Nintendo, a Japanese company. Platform games are a type of action games in which players jump across platforms to reach the destination in various levels.

147 over a considerable period of time and thus get ready for more difficult challenges.

5.1.2 Strategy Games Emphasize Plan-making

Strategy games have no requirement of physical skills but challenge the players to excel their rivals in planning. If a basketball game is an action game to the players on the court, it can be described as a strategy game for the coaches. They do not need to be as physically strong and skillful as the players, but they are expected to have a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the game. In other words, they should be able to come up with appropriate strategies based on the ever-changing conditions on the court for the players to execute and win the game. Similarly, in the

Championship Manager series, players can become the manager of a soccer club and claim the trophies of various tournaments through successful operation of the whole club. Strategy games challenge players’ ability to make macroscopic plans rather than fast and accurate responses to moments in play. As players of strategy games, strategizers usually have plenty of time to think about the next step.

5.1.3 Role Play Games (RPG) Establish Emotional Attachment

Compared to action games and strategy games, players usually feel more emotionally involved in role play games because they are controlling someone in the story as if they were living in the game world themselves. RPG games usually have a low requirement on players’ physical skills and mental complexity, but they take a

148 considerable amount of time to clear, pr play through to an end. Classic role-play games have several correlative elements that help establish players’ emotional involvement with the in-game characters, including, but not limited to, a level-up system, battle system, and storyline. The level-up system enables the characters controlled by the players to become stronger by gaining more skills and knowledge, which gradually strengthens the identification that players feel with the controllable characters. The battle system requires the players to carefully think how different abilities should be selected and deployed to defeat enemies, which also creates emotional connections with the players, especially when engaging recurring enemies.

Players can accomplish various quests in this way and proceed along the storyline, which usually determines whether a role play game will be remembered and in time become a classic piece. Final Fantasy, as a famous and successful RPG series, has, to a large extent, gained its popularity by means of its touching and memorable stories. A carefully designed storyline has the potential to significantly extend players’ emotional attachment to other non-player characters (NPC) living in the game world.

With a dynamic integration of the level-up system, battle system and storyline, game designers of RPG can create a powerfully emotional experience for the players.

On the other hand, the popularity of massively multiplayer online role-play games (MMORPG), of the sort exemplified by World of Warcraft, suggests that there is a strong bond between players and their avatars, as well as with other players in the world of this game. With the help of the Internet, the emergence of MMORPG breaks

149 the limit of traditional single-player games and connects players all around the world.

On top of the elements of classic RPG games that establish emotional attachment in classic RPG games, MMORPG adds social factors, which consistently attracts players to come back to the games. Two aspects make this kind of game so attractive. First, instead of using a predetermined character, players can design their own avatars. They can choose from a variety of races and customize the avatar’s physical characteristics.

Whenever the avatars are equipped with newly acquired weapons and armor, these will further adjust their appearance. Needless to say, no matter what the players look like in real life, their avatars represent how they want to be perceived by other players in the world of a particular game. Second, players interacting with other players helps them create a social network in the game. For example, players can establish guilds in the game. Members of the same guild usually collaborate to complete quests or battle against other guilds. Under such circumstances, the players develop camaraderie among themselves, which becomes a tremendous attraction for them to enter the game world on a daily basis.

5.1.4 An Explanation of Game Sub-Genres

As the game industry develops, more and more game developers endeavor to merge different genres and create new sub-genres. For example, action role play games (ARPG) is a sub-genre of RPG (e.g., Diablo, Y’s, The Elder Scrolls). ARPG retains the level-up system of RPG but makes the battle system closer to action games,

150 by requiring a more skillful control of the characters. Compared to action games,

ARPG also has a greater emphasis on the storyline. Real-time strategy games (RTS) comprise a sub-genre of strategy games, which combines elements of action games and strategy games (e.g., Starcraft, Warcraft, Age of Empires). In these games, players do not have unlimited time to come up with a plan as in classic strategy games. They have to deal with their enemies in a fast-paced battle, which means there is a more pressing need for speed and accuracy when they control the troop units. The emergence of sub-genres resembles that of sub-cultures. For example, when a native

English speaker who can speak Chinese interact with a native Chinese speaker who can speak English, no matter which language they use, they are likely interacting in neither English nor Chinese cultures, but a sub-culture which has characteristics of both cultures. In this sub-culture, if the native English speaker chooses to make a compliment in Chinese, the native Chinese speaker may feel natural to positively recognize the kindness of that compliment in Chinese (“xiexie”). The emergence of such a sub-culture is a result of negotiation between two cultures, which aims to ensure a positive experience through smooth communication among all the participants.

Applying gamification to a new domain (such as FL pedagogy) is much like creating a new sub-genre of game, especially when the goal is to expand the size of a target group by creating a comprehensive system. It is restrictive to use a single genre as the foundation of design, so combining applicable elements from multiple genres is

151 a valid solution.

5.1.5 A Summary of Three Genres

A summary of the aforementioned three game genres is listed in Table 5.2, referencing the primary requirements they impose on players; examples; and elements applicable to generic gamification, since some elements are shared by multiple genres.

Many of the applicable elements will become crucial components of Game Point

System and Journey in China, the two learning tools using gamification discussed in

5.2 and 5.3.

Action Strategy Role Play Requirement Skilled control Plan-making abilities Long-term on Players engagement Basketball Chess Dungeons & Dragons Football Mahjong (board game) Call of Duty Sangokushi Final Fantasy (shooting game) Starcraft Dragon Quest Street Fighter (real-time strategy) Diablo Examples (fighting game) SimCity Need for Speed (simulation game) (racing game) Super Mario (platform game) Applicable Time limit Simulation of real Level-up system Elements situations Storyline (Unique) Interaction between players (competition / collaboration) Applicable Free choices (to various degrees) Elements In-game tutorials (Common) Lock/unlock system Reward system (badges/titles/trophies)

Table 5.2. A Summary of Three Genres of Games

152 5.2 Sample Design: Game Point System

The Game Point System (GPS) is a gamified learning tool which has the potential to be used in any CFL program to enhance learners’ motivation. GPS can be accessed through Internet browsers or applications on portable devices, but it is still at the prototype stage32. The primary functions it offers for instructors include posting grades and feedback, creating mini-tasks and accompanying badges, as well as building an online community among the learners. For learners, GPS provides the three kinds of information displayed on their interface as My Points, My Quests, and

My Zone.

My Points allows learners to check on the evaluation of their performance in class, as well as feedback from their instructors. The evaluation is presented not in terms of a ranked range (e.g., A, B, C) or a grade (e.g., 80/100), but as accumulated points. As long as learners meet the criteria set by their instructors, they can gain points accordingly. Moreover, the points can progressively add up instead of refreshing on a daily basis, and the point total is displayed through a bar chart. The learners can view the chart as a reflection of their skill level, which has the general tendency to go up. They can also make up for failed tasks and raise their points through particular quests.

If we view FL or L2 language classes as “main quests” that the learners have to clear, then My Quests features a wide array of “side quests” from which the learners

32 The figures used below are all conceptual graphs.

153 can choose the ones they have interest in to finish. The quests are designed to lead the learners to explore different areas of the target language and culture. Some quests can be finished by searching for information on the Internet, such as those related to cultural facts, idioms or poems. Other quests may require learners to talk to native speakers or explore local Chinese communities, which many learners, whether in domestic or study-abroad programs, hesitate to enter. After accomplishing particular quests, learners can acquire commemorative titles. For example, a learner can acquire the title “Poem Master” if all the quests under the category “Chinese poems” are cleared.

Aside from being collectible achievements, the titles can also be displayed along with learners’ profile names in the third section: My Zone. It can be viewed as a mini social network for the CFL program participants, including the instructors, learners, and any other native speakers related to the program. After a learner finishes a quest, the result will be automatically posted to his or her personal page. Learners can also post other experiences pertaining to learning Chinese and leave comments under others’ posts. The purpose is creating a platform for learners to share the learning experience with other peer learners and communicate with native speakers other than their instructors.

Since GPS is designed to enhance learners’ motivation with the implementation of game elements, the following section will first review the past research on using gamification to boost motivation in educational settings. Then the main functions of

154 GPS will be further analyzed to see how game elements can be incorporated in such a learning tool to enhance motivation under the theoretical framework of self-determination theory. Finally, I will discuss how GPS can be employed to address some of the problems listed in Table 5.1.

5.2.1 Past Research on Using Gamification to Boost Motivation

The gamification models integrated into educational settings often concern about creating a motivating learning environment. In some empirical studies, gamification has been proven to be useful in boosting students’ motivation and engagement

(Domínguez et al., 2013). Schmidt, Beck, and Gillespie (2013) summarize that

“Scholars generally agree that motivation refers to internal forces that underlie the direction, intensity, and persistence of behavior or thought.” (p.311) The commonly used game elements which serve this purpose comprise immediate feedback and rewards. For example, Caton & Greenhill (2014) conclude that rewards work better to increase the attendance rate than penalties in a gamified course for undergraduate students. In CFL courses which aim to structure learners’ behaviors in particular contexts, the implementation of gamification must incorporate rules which are based on the conventions of the target culture. Such courses require the learners to perform by the rules when guiding them to function in the target culture. In the learning process, learners have to keep trying and gain experience until they can perform appropriately in a specific context, but not everyone can maintain the motivation

155 despite the repeated failures. Sandberg, Maris, & de Geus (2011) report that many children voluntarily use the strategy of trial and error in game-playing as a method leading them to the final success. Failure is reconstructed as a necessary part of learning in gamified environments, which encourages the learners to keep the momentum of trying again after encountering failures. It can be achieved by giving learners immediate feedback on their performance. Tangible or intangible rewards

(e.g., candies as tangible rewards; virtual badges as intangible rewards) can be used to recognize the consistent participation in the courses. Learners, on the other hand, can learn to perceive failure as an opportunity to improve themselves, rather than a reason for them to become overwhelmed and be a passive learner (Lee & Hammer, 2011).

Since GPS is expected to function as an application on mobile devices, it is worth examining the relationship between mobile technology and motivation. There has been some research specifically on mobile game-based or gamified learning activities. Huizenga, Admiraal, Akkerman & Dam (2009) develop a mobile game which employs situated and active learning to help students gain a more comprehensive knowledge of history in secondary education. The results of a comparative study reveal that pupils using this game gained significantly more knowledge than those who received regular project-based instruction. However, no significant differences were found between the control group and experimental group regarding the motivation for historical knowledge. Schwabe & Goth (2005) describe a mobile game prototype and explore the opportunities to support learning in a

156 university setting. Although the technical issues, such as the inaccuracy of positioning systems, need to be solved, the evaluation shows that some features enhance excitement and motivation, such as “playing as a group experience” and “solving the tasks” (p.209). Hwang, Chu, Shih, Huang & Tsai (2010) discuss the potential of mobile devices in increasing students’ knowledge and motivation in natural science courses. However, most research so far has chosen the settings of K-12 scientific courses or Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), which means there is a lack of research on whether gamified learning activities can help adult learners gain knowledge and motivation in foreign language courses. In addition, the mobile technology has been used mostly for regulating learning activities (e.g., attendance) rather than as a meaningful tool which facilitates the learning process.

The GPS project described in this section is designed to fill in those gaps.

5.2.2 Self-determination Theory as the Framework

Self-determination theory (SDT) is a theory of motivation which digs deeper into the dynamics of human needs and motivation. By “self-determination,” Deci and

Ryan (1985) refer to “a quality of human functioning that involves the experience of choice. [It is] the capacity to choose and have those choices...be the determinants of one’s actions” (p.38). The feeling of possessing such a capacity can give rise to a sense of ownership. In other words, every choice stems from someone’s own intention, which signifies the intrinsic motivation. According to SDT, to facilitate the

157 development of the intrinsic motivation, it is necessary to satisfy the basic needs of human beings, namely autonomy, competency, and relatedness. To be more specific,

“autonomy” means a sense of control over one’s own life and being able to do things in harmony with one’s values. Just imagine how repressed we are when being forced to do something and how exuberant we are while engaging in our favorite hobbies.

“Competency” refers to the feeling of being competent with tasks and dealing with the external environment. For example, learning how to swim, fixing a bicycle, or filing a tax return. Finally, “relatedness” denotes the feeling of being included in a community or connected to others.

If a task involves one or more of these needs, it tends to be intrinsically motivating, and people will do it voluntarily. Games provide some perfect examples.

Take World of Warcraft as an example, this massive multi-player online game satisfies intrinsic needs for autonomy (“I can customize my own avatar and choose what kind of quests to complete”), competency (“I can beat that huge monster!”), and relatedness (“I have so many friends in that world”). The intrinsic motivation can usually beat or outlast the influence of extrinsic motivation. For example, the players’ avatars in World of Warcraft can be sold to other players through the online community in exchange for real currency. Many players choose to do that if they have decided to leave this game forever, but few people play this game to sell their avatars.

In other words, compared to the monetary value of well-equipped avatars, which is a form of extrinsic motivation, most players value their in-game experience more,

158 which satisfies their intrinsic needs of autonomy, competency, and relatedness.

Contextual support provided by other people plays a crucial role in helping satisfy the three basic needs. In educational settings, students not only acquire the feeling of being connected through social interactions but also get support from others to help them prioritize and finish various tasks. For example, college students can discuss their options with academic advisors and inform themselves about which courses pique their curiosity and/or match their research interests rather than jumping blind into courses they know little about wasting time on courses which they have limited knowledge about. With sufficient and well-guided contextual support, students can find their basic needs satisfied, and motivation increased. However, as Chen &

Jang (2010) point out, students gain less help from “received support” than from

“perceived support” (p.750), which refers to the support students recognize and perceive as helpful. In fact, uninformed support can even lead to adverse results. For example, if the instructor misjudges students’ abilities and provides exercises that significantly exceed students’ skill level, the students would not feel that they are being supported. On the contrary, they get pushed out of their flow zone.

Designed under the theoretical framework of Self-determination Theory (SDT), the goal of GPS is to provide contextual help that learners can find useful. The next section will elaborate on the design of GPS to explain how each of the three basic needs—autonomy, competency, and relatedness—can be satisfied, thus directing students to become more motivated to learn Chinese.

159 5.2.2.1 Autonomy

The contextual help GPS provides to satisfy the needs for autonomy is mainly embodied in My Quests, which features a pool of quests. Learners have the autonomy to choose which quest to pursue and finish. As shown in Figure 5.1, the quests are divided into different categories, ranging from basic daily conversations to Chinese poems. However, not all the quests are available from the very beginning. The first two quests serve as required introductory “try-it-out” quests for students before taking on any of the others. To unlock more quests in any category, the students need to finish the preceding ones.

Figure 5.1. The onscreen interface of My Quests in the GPS system

With this design, the GPS offers two ways for students to gain control. First,

160 learners can choose to finish quests which fit their interests. Second, they can control their own pace. For some difficult quests, hints can also be made viewable as contextual support. As to whether those hints are perceived as supportive ones, it is necessary to gather and analyze user data indicating whether particular quests are finished after the hints are checked.

5.2.2.2 Competency

The elements which support the needs for competency can be found in My Points and My Quests. In My Points, a bar chart is presented to reflect learners’ skill level.

The goal is to shift learners’ focus from what they cannot do to what they can achieve because every learner can, more or less, learn something new every day. The bar chart has the learners’ daily gains—all the points they acquire in class and from quests—highlighted in different colors which signify the level of performance (see

Figure 5.2). For example, on top of the orange bar showing points that have been accumulated, a blue segment means the learner has not made much progress in terms of the accumulation of knowledge, a red one means the progress is average and more efforts are expected, whereas a green one means the learner was able to finish the majority of tasks in the class that day. Instructors’ comments are provided as an important source of contextual support. The comments consist of a list of tasks which have been accomplished by a learner and suggestions for future studies. The learners can click the bar of a certain date to check the feedback on their performance that day.

161 Figure 5.2. Learner’ points and instructors’ feedback

Another feature that helps learners recognize their own achievement is the level-up and title system. These are virtual rewards that represent learners’ competency, as shown in Figure 5.3. Learners can level up their profile whenever they reach a certain point (e.g., Silver for 200 points, Gold for 400 points). Students can also earn different titles by completing the quests (e.g., ‘Chengyu Master’, ‘Poem

Master’). Since learners choose which quests to pursue, they have the autonomy to decide which title they wish to earn. With the parameters of the level-up and title system, learners are guided to identify their general competencies and individual specialties in a more direct way.

162 Figure 5.3. Level (the silver frame) and Title (Chengyu Master)

Research on the effectiveness of virtual rewards has yielded mixed results.

Zuckerman & Gal-Oz (2014) develop a research prototype which aims to promote regular walking for exercise. The study shows that the gamified version offering virtual rewards was no more effective at motivating people to exercise than a quantified version offering continuous measurement of walking time, a daily goal, and real-time feedback on progress toward this goal. Abramovich, Schunn, & Higashi

(2013) point out that the awarding of badges that acknowledge goals reached can have a positive effect on motivation, but it depends upon the type of badges and learners’ prior knowledge. These studies have been conducted in very different fields and in

163 very specific settings. Therefore, whether virtual rewards in the kind of GPS proposed here will have a positive influence on the learners’ motivation will need to be tested.

5.2.2.3 Relatedness

To promote communication between learners and satisfy their needs for relatedness, My Zone is designed as a crucial part of the GPS system (see Figure 5.4).

My Zone is intimately connected to the points, quests, and virtual rewards introduced before, to give a holistic, integrated feel to the experience for GPS users.

First, there is a message box at the top of the interface, displaying the latest titles earned by the learner. The purpose of a learner’s sharing his or her achievements with the whole community is to motivate them to pursue and add more.

Second, learners can edit their own profile in this section. They can choose to display whichever title they have earned. The profile picture, title, and level come together and help establish a learner’s identity in the community of Chinese learners in GPS.

164 Figure 5.4. The interface of My Zone

Third, in My Zone, learners can post interesting experiences related to Chinese from their daily lives. In addition, the results of their quests are not graded by instructors. Instead, the results are automatically posted on their personal pages, with the points of the newly finished quest directly added to the learner’s total points. The viewers of the posts will be other learners, instructors, and any native Chinese speaker invited to this community. In other words, rather than their instructors’ assessments, peer review is enabled as a source of contextual support.

In sum, the design of My Zone aims to strengthen the connection among people involved in CFL programs. The learners can showcase their achievements while receiving feedback from a dynamic community. Together with My Points and My

Quests, the three main sections of GPS are designed to jointly boost learners’ intrinsic

165 motivation through satisfying their fundamental needs for autonomy, competency, and relatedness.

5.2.3 Beyond Motivation: from Boosted Experience to Domain Development

In addition to being a learning tool that enhances the motivation to learn Chinese,

GPS can also help overcome the challenges of improving the learning experience and developing the concept of domain at an earlier phase of Chinese learning.

Learners using GPS can acquire both personalized and interactive learning experience. On the personalized side, learners can receive personalized feedback on their performance in class. Since they themselves choose which quests to finish, they can proceed to acquire completely different learning experiences after class while having concrete goals. On the interactive side, the most obvious representation is the communication learners can engage in with other learners, their instructors and additional native speakers, through My Zone, which significantly expands their language-learning community beyond the classroom. Quests in particular have the potential to incorporate more interaction with Chinese communities into the learning experience. For example, instructors can customize quests such as “visiting a local

Chinese church” or “exploring a Chinese online forum.” When students report on their experience either in class or My Zone, the in-class learning experience and after-class activities get connected, from which a richly complex communicative space takes shape.

166 The quests in such a program can serve as the preliminary steps that lead learners to discover future domains, especially at lower levels. First of all, the quests present possibilities for the lower-level learners who would otherwise struggle to find points of interest due to the limited experience of learning Chinese. Insofar as the quests cover a wide range of aspects of Chinese language and culture, learners can always find a few categories related to their own interests. For example, a learner who loves watching movies may be attracted by the category “Chinese movies,” and his/her first few quests here can be the starting point of a future domain. Second, the quests in each category are carefully designed with increasing difficulty. Each quest requires the learners to finish a mini-project and share the result with others in Chinese, so that the learners are giving a series of mini-presentations, whether spoken, or written, or both. Research methods necessary for domain study are also embedded in the quests, such as narrowing down the topic and searching for authentic materials as information sources. For example, the quests under the category “Chinese movies” can be arranged in the following kind of sequence (see Table 5.3)

167 No. Quest Requirement Purpose Please tell us your favorite genre of movies. Introduction; What is your favorite movie in this genre? Narrowing down the domain; 1 Please list one to three Chinese movies in this Drawing connections to genre. (text33) previous interests Choose one of the Chinese movies listed in Searching for authentic Quest 1 and watch its trailer. Please use four to 2 materials; five tags (e.g., romance, action scene) in Simple description Chinese to describe that movie. (text) Ask two Chinese friends about that movie. If they have watched the movie, ask about their Simple interview; opinions; if they haven’t watched it, show the 3 Summarizing others’ trailer to them and ask whether they are opinions interested in it and why. Please tell us the result. (audio / text) Search for this movie on Douban34 and pick at Searching for authentic least two short comments (no more than 100 (reading) materials; 4 characters). If an idiomatic expression is used, Explaining Chinese words in please explain the comment in your own Chinese. words. (audio / text) Please report on the basic information about Information search and the director (e.g., name, date of birth, 5 selection; birthplace, educational background, past Simple presentation works). (audio) Watch the chosen movie, if possible, or any previous movie directed by the same person. Narration; 6 Please report on the main story in Chinese Information selection within 5 minutes (no spoiler please!). (audio) Compare the Chinese movie you watch for 7 Quest 6 with your favorite movie and tell us Comparison the difference. (audio / text)

Table 5.3. Sample quests with “Chinese movies”

GPS has tremendous potential for motivation enhancement, interpersonal communication, and domain development. Even so, however, among the three

33 “Text” and “audio” surrounded by parenthesis in Table 5.3 indicate the required format of submitted results for each quest. 34 A Chinese website where people can leave their comments on books, movies, albums and such.

168 sections, only My Points is directly connected to the curriculum. Hence, GPS is mainly used as a supplementary system which helps transform language learning into an organic part of learners’ daily life and sustain their motivation. Based on the experience of designing the GPS, the next model of gamification aims to have a more significant influence on the curriculum of CFL programs.

5.3 Sample Design: Journey in China

5.3.1 Lack of Accuracy in the Current Assessment System

Journey in China (JiC) is a digital self-learning tool at the conceptual stage.

Upon its completion, JiC is expected to be an integral component of the CFL program at OSU. In addition to enhancing the learning experience, JiC also aims to function as an assessment system which evaluates learners’ performance with more accuracy and helps place them at the right levels.

The current assessment system at OSU consists of two parts: daily grades and final exams. Take the first-year language course as an example: learners have weekly schedules which assign the class activities and preparations for them. Learners prepare for the activities and receive daily grades based on their performance in class.

The daily grades account for 80% of the final grade because the learners are expected to develop demonstrable skills in Chinese by the end of the course provided they follow the schedules with consistency. The final exam, which only accounts for 20% of the final grade, is an oral interview. It is a prochievement test, which like a

169 proficiency test, engages the students interactively, while covering only the course content, as in an achievement test. For example, the testees might be assigned the role of an intern in a Chinese company and required to engage in a conversation with their manager, performed by the tester. In a proficiency test, where any language is fair game, the testees cannot anticipate the topics or language that will be deployed by the manager; whereas in a prochievement test, the testees can anticipate the topics because the conversation has a predetermined script which is based on activities practiced during the semester (e.g., addressing the manager, self-introduction, talking about one’s own family). The oral interview can be an ideal assessment tool as it allows learners to demonstrate their skills in a contextualized conversation. Another advantage is that since the potential topics, words and structures are delimited by the course’s syllabus, we can reasonably expect successful interaction from students who have spent the semester learning as directed.

However, the current assessment system has two major problems. First, as they proceed through the course in its daily activities, learners have no opportunities, at points when they score poorly, to try again, fix their problems, and get a higher daily grade. When learners fail to perform appropriately on a particular class activity, points get deducted. At that point, instructors model the desired utterance, either by themselves or by prompting other learners, and then ask the learner who failed to try again. In such situations, to avoid any further loss of points, some learners simply imitate the correcting model without thinking about why their response was wrong in

170 the first place—which leaves them likely to commit the same mistake again. If they cannot repeat the correcting model (due to insufficient preparation), their grades may slip even lower. The instructors will have to move on to avoid spending too much time on a single learner. Moreover, since particular class activities are rarely repeated in subsequent classes, these learners have no opportunity to fix their problems and earn the deducted points back, which diminishes their motivation to review the previous content.

Second, getting a passing grade is too easy. The passing grade for a first-year course is 60%. In most cases, the learners can get a daily grade above 3 out of 4, which means their performance is comprehensible to native speakers despite some patterned errors. Some students who have not prepared sufficiently can even earn such a score through copying what they observe in their classmates’ performances.

Considering the fact that daily grades account for 80% of the final grade, learners getting a 3 out of 4 for every class have already achieved a passing grade without attending the final exam. Although the oral interview is an effective evaluation tool, it cannot filter unqualified learners when the result is insignificant for learners who only need a passing grade.

These two problems emerge mainly among struggling learners. They are usually overwhelmed by the new content and sacrifice the time of reviewing what they have learned before. As a result, they constantly have frustrating experiences in class and become content with a passing grade. When they continue to the next level, the skill

171 gap between them and other more successful learners only gets wider, from which a vicious circle emerges: more frustrating experiences and less motivation to get a higher grade. However, if we want to bring more learners to the advanced level, we cannot ignore this group of trapped struggling learners.

5.3.2 Journey in China as an Assessment System in CFL Programs

The primary purpose of JiC is to solve the two problems in the assessment system by permitting learners to repeatedly work on an activity for credit and ensuring that learners can accomplish all the required activities before proceeding to the next level. More specifically, JiC situates learners in a virtual environment that simulates daily life in a Chinese city. Learners can choose from three roles—intern, exchange student, and traveler—and in doing so agree to follow and fill out a particular kind of storyline with their own unique experiences. In each storyline, learners can engage in a variety of events and interact with non-player characters

(NPC). Ideally, JiC employs voice recognition technology and a database of native speakers’ behaviors to determine how NPCs respond to learners’ utterances. Some crucial NPCs also have a viewable impression score which explicitly displays how they feel towards some aspect(s) of the learners’ utterances. For example, when performing as an intern in a work context and addressing a manager appropriately with his title, the manager will smile and grant a higher impression score to the learner; if the learner addresses the manager casually, the manager will frown and

172 respond with a lower impression score. The impression score is an important value in

JiC, which influences how the story progresses. However, no particular impression score is necessarily final; all are potentially temporary, and therefore not necessarily detrimental to the final results, because learners can exercise unlimited attempts to improve the score.

The necessary skills learners are expected to acquire in each level are incorporated into milestone events and optional events35 in JiC. Milestone events resemble the oral interview, in that they integrate multiple skills into an extended and complicated event. Accomplishing milestone events unlocks new stories, which means the learners have acquired enough skills to support learning in the next level.

Optional events are shorter events which require one or two skills to finish. Through accomplishing Optional Events, learners can practice their skills, improve impression scores from particular NPCs, and gain knowledge of items or information that will help in reaching Milestone Events. In other words, Optional Events serve as preparation for Milestone Events, which can be extremely challenging otherwise.

When combined with the existing curriculum at OSU, JiC-mediated activities can replace the homework and exams while daily grading still functions as before.

Instructors can choose some Optional Events to practice in class, but learners rely on themselves to finish the tasks in JiC. They all have more-or-less different experiences based on which Optional Event they choose to engage in. Therefore, instructors can

35 The initial letters of milestone events and optional events will be capitalized when these two terms are used to refer to their specific meanings in JiC

173 also invite learners to discuss their respective experiences with one another, to demonstrate the variations in language across different contexts, particularly those that reveal a close connection between learners’ experiences in class and JiC. In sum, learners engage in Optional Events to review learned content and prepare for new activities. Towards the end of a level, learners have to finish the Milestone Events to proceed to the next level.

The following example uses the first-year course to illustrate how Optional and

Milestone Events are designed in JiC. At OSU, the first semester of Level 1 Chinese covers nine stages in the learning material series Chinese: Communicating in the

Culture (CCC). The stage titles indicate the main themes of each stage, with drill titles indicating the skills that learners are expected to acquire. Table 5.4 summarizes the main themes and skills covered in the nine stages. Some relevant themes are combined.

174 Themes Skills Greeting; Meeting people addressing Verifying information; correcting assumptions; First meeting talking to a receptionist (self-introduction); Exchanging information identifying people by position; asking names Expressing conditions; talking about people; Discussing someone’s correcting erroneous hypotheses; condition question extension; deducing a condition Describing people; comparison; Discussing and identifying introducing people; people identifying people; correcting a mistaken impression Asking about identity; identifying persons with their workplace; Meeting and introducing identifying yourself; people asking Chinese names of things; advising about titles; introducing persons Locating people/organization; getting information on the location; correcting misunderstanding about locations; Locating people deducing past locations; answering questions about location; confirming a previous state; stating likes and dislikes Identifying nationalities; stating where people are from; correcting a geographical identity; Learning people’s origin and getting information about where people work; place of work explaining where people work; explaining what kind of work people do; correcting misunderstandings about place; giving more detailed locations

Table 5.4. A list of themes and skills in the first semester of Level 1 at OSU

175 Based on Table 5.4, the skills are divided into high-frequency ones (appearing no fewer than five times) and low-frequency ones (appearing fewer than five times).

Table 5.5 reorganizes the skills according to their frequency and summarizes common topics.

Skills Topics Correcting High-frequency Identifying People (names/conditions) Asking Impression (personalities/physical appearance) Greeting Work (positions/profession/place of employment) Addressing Location (people/organization) Verifying Likes/dislikes Introducing Nationalities Low-frequency Expressing Describing Deducing Comparing Advising

Table 5.5. Skills of different frequency and common topics

When designing the events in JiC, the high-frequency skills have priority to be incorporated into the Milestone Events, but all of the skills are continuously involved in Optional Events. Figure 5.5 illustrates the layout of Milestone Events and Optional

Events in a sample storyline of the intern.

176 Figure 5.5. Events in a sample storyline of the intern in JiC

The entire storyline consists of three sections before the Milestone Event of the annual banquet. The opening of each section is marked by a checkpoint, which refers to an event automatically triggered after learners reach a particular goal. For example, after learners set up their profiles and choose the storyline of the intern, the checkpoint “First Day” will be triggered and certain optional events become available.

On the first day at work, learners can engage in first meetings with other employees in the company. On the following days, learners can chat with employees they have met to acquire more information and potentially increase the impression score. For each day in this storyline of JiC, learners can choose from “going to work,” “staying at home,” and “exploring the city,” which trigger different events. For example, if learners choose “staying at home” on a weekday, they will have to find a valid excuse and ask for leave; otherwise, they will take the risk of having decreased impression

177 scores from all the employees in the company who have met them.

Once the impression score of any employee reaches a pre-defined point, the second checkpoint is activated, and the learners will receive an invitation to the annual banquet. From then on, the learners need to plan their choices to successfully achieve the goal in the milestone event: to become acquainted with a distinguished guest who can have an impact on the learners’ career and in doing so, gain a certain impression score. To do so, learners will have to successfully inquire about the basic information of guests (e.g., name, workplace, title) from other employees and determine at least one target. The intern’s fellow employees all have unique information about the guests (e.g., personality, physical appearance, former workplaces), so learners must discover the connection between employees and target guests in order to acquire as much information as possible within several weeks (JiC time36). The more information learners get, the more topics they can have with the target guest at the banquet.

Two weeks before the banquet (JiC time), the third checkpoint “business trip” gets activated and learners will travel to a branch office in another city. The learners will work according to the schedule, meet a new group of employees, and build a relationship with them through daily chat. As their impression scores increase, the employees will lead learners to tour around the city and provide additional

36 The time in JiC does not elapse according to the universal time. Whenever learners make a choice or finish a task, a certain amount of JiC time is consumed. For example, when a learner chooses to stay at home without doing anything, a whole day passes instantly; when a learner engages in a conversation with a NPC for 5 minutes in the real world, perhaps 30 minutes are consumed in JiC.

178 information about the guests.

When the banquet finally comes, learners should have gathered sufficient information for them to engage in an extended conversation with the target guests. To sustain the conversation and earn a higher impression score, learners have to introduce (or respond to) topics in role-appropriate ways, based on the information they have collected and employ a variety of skills, especially the higher-frequency ones in Table 5.5. For example, learners might ask or verify the target guest’s former place of employment, state that they have been to that city before, and express how much they love (or discontent with) that place, in a manner that is apt for interns speaking with such people.

In sum, JiC aims to provide a more accurate evaluation of learners’ skills based on whether and how well they can accomplish the events. In addition to that, learners can get immersed in a highly personalized experience of using the target language.

Table 5.6 summarizes the crucial differences between a CFL program utilizing JiC and other CFL programs.

179 Other CFL Programs CFL Programs Utilizing JiC Contexts of Inconsistent Consistent Communication Depending on instructors Picked by learners Sequence of Linear Free choices available Activities Measurement of Courses being taken Progression in the story Learners’ Level Assessment Tools Quizzes and exams JiC Events Instructors’ Roles Lecturer or director Director and content designer Feedback Only from instructors Natural response from NPCs; instructors’ observation

Table 5.6. Differences between a CFL program involving JiC and other CFL programs

5.3.3 Potential of Journey in China for Overcoming Pedagogical Challenges

As mentioned before, although the main purpose of JiC is providing a more accurate method of assessment to reduce the achievement gaps between learners as they move towards the advanced level, it can also help enhance the learning experience when used as a self-directed learning tool. JiC has the potential to help instructors and CFL program directors overcome some pedagogical challenges with respect to content, goal, and experience (see Table 5.1).

5.3.3.1 Journey in China Immerses Learners in Visualized Contexts

The main content of CFL programs should be learning to play, using Chinese language, social games by their respective rules, which requires instructors to provide opportunities for learners to observe the games and learn the rules, then experience being players in the games. However, learners in CFL programs cannot easily observe social games played by native speakers because they are in school, and not in the

180 target language environment. When instructors create simulated contexts in the classroom for learners to experience the desired social games, this relies on the learners to visualize the context with their imagination, based on the pictures or props prepared by the instructors. Without the requisite modeling and/or explicit instruction, it is not unusual to see learners put their hands in their pockets when playing the role of an intern and talking to a manager whose role is assumed by another learner.

JiC can solve this problem by immersing learners in visualized contexts. For example, in the storyline of “the intern,” learners can see the office and face a serious manager, who responds to the learners in different ways depending on their performance. It reduces learners’ burden of imagining the context and helps them focus on their performance in the events. Before engaging in the events, learners can choose to observe how other employees behave in a similar context, which makes JiC a valid tool for self-learning. Moreover, in different storylines, learners can experience the variety of expressions. For example, addressing a manager as an intern is formal, with the title properly added, while addressing a classmate as an exchange student is casual. Although each learner may only experience one storyline, the instructors can invite learners to share their experiences in different storylines in class.

5.3.3.2 Journey in China Facilitates the Development of Anticipation

The goal of CFL programs should be guiding learners to anticipate both the interlocutors’ response at the local level and the learners’ future domains at the global

181 level. For local-level anticipation, the experience is crucial, as well as the ability to observe the surrounding environment to discover hints and sense openings, opportunities to offer what will be appreciated as an appropriate contribution. For example, if an intern sees several Chinese paintings hung on the wall in a manager’s office, then painting is a potential topic in the conversation which can be brought up by either side. While experience is an asset that learners have to accumulate over time, observation is an ability that can be acquired through proper training. If the environment in JiC can be depicted meticulously with sufficient details, it will be an excellent tool for the training of observation. However, the guidance of instructors is necessary because it is difficult for learners to realize which details are significant, and their relative importance from the beginning.

As for the development of domains at the global level, GPS can help learners narrow down their interests, while JiC only presents possibilities of learners’ future life in China—an intern, an exchange student, or a traveler. It is neither realistic nor necessary to exhaust the possibilities considering the nature of JiC as an assessment tool rather than a life-simulation game. JiC can give learners a taste of possible selves in the future, and they can narrow down their domains in other methods if they fancy that possibility.

5.3.3.3 Journey in China Enhances the Learning Experience

The personalized learning experience is especially affective, thus memorable,

182 which makes Individualized Instruction a valuable model for improvement. In JiC, learners enjoy the freedom of choosing their own path and goals, but they cannot abuse the freedom because JiC is a system incorporated in the curriculum. In other words, they cannot wait until the final week to start, because they rely on JiC to prepare for regular classes. Nevertheless, learners can decide how many challenges they would like to take. For example, they can finish the milestone event by engaging in an extended conversation with one guest; they can also choose two or three guests if they are willing to devote more time and collect more information. To assist learners with higher goals, JiC also features an embedded personal assistant, a function similar to online dictionaries that helps learners process information, such as explaining word usage and grammar structures. Learners are not encouraged to ask the personal assistant all the time, especially in the midst of events, when the interlocutors might lose patience and end the conversation as learners check words with the assistant.

As for the interaction among learners and Chinese communities, although learners do not physically engage in communication with Chinese communities and native speakers, the NPCs they interact with are configured based on data collected from native speakers. In other words, learners are interacting with a virtual Chinese community which supports the behavioral patterns of the characters in JiC. Learners cannot directly collaborate or interact with other learners in JiC, but they can share their experiences of different storylines in class, which means everyone can contribute

183 to the bank of collective knowledge for a class.

5.4 A Peek into the Future: Creation of SLLE with Virtual Reality (VR)

CFL programs are built in the Foreign Language Learning Environment (FLLE), in which learners’ native language plays the dominant role; CSL programs, on the other hand, operate in the Second Language Learning Environment (SLLE), which immerses learners in the target language environment. In SLLE, learners can engage in authentic social games with native speakers so that “language learning/acquisition and language use co-occur” (Wong et al., 2016, p.400). However, the learning experience in SLLE can be overwhelming for total beginners, who quite reasonably prefer to build a foundation of language skills in FLLE as they get prepared for SLLE.

The proponents of either FLLE or SLLE have their valid reasons, but only on the premise that FLLE and SLLE cannot co-exist. Beginners’ fear of SLLE stems from its uncontrollability. They have not accumulated sufficient experience which helps them anticipate what will happen in the authentic social games they engage in. Suppose learners can experience social games in SLLE which only involve skills they have practiced in class, it is likely to dispel their fear. In other words, it will be helpful to create a simulated, yet constrained SLLE for learners in CFL programs, especially for those who do not have enough time and budget to participate in a study-abroad program. JiC is an exploratory step towards that goal, but it can become more immersive and engaging with the help of more advanced technology, such as Virtual

184 Reality (VR).

5.4.1 Virtual Reality is Completely Synthetic

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are two closely related and confusing concepts. VR completely immerses users in a synthetic environment, replacing the physical world around the users, which is often perceived as the reality.

In contrast, AR supplements the reality, allowing the users to “see the real world, with virtual objects superimposed upon or composited with the real world” (Azuma, 1997, p.356). Figure 5.6 exhibits how real and virtual objects coexist in an AR setting.

Inside this room are a real desk and a real telephone, as well as a virtual lamp and two virtual chairs. Since the objects are combined in a three-dimensional environment, as if they coexist in reality, so that the virtual lamp sits on the real desk as the telephone does rather than floating above the desk. The desk also covers part of the virtual chairs. Users can see the desk and the telephone with their bare eyes, but they can only see the lamp and chairs through a device, such as a smartphone. The AR environment can be perceived as a middle ground that exists between VR and physical reality (Azuma, 1997).

185 Figure 5.6. Real desk with virtual lamp and two virtual chairs in an AR setting

(Azuma, 1997, p.356)

5.4.2 Difference between AR and VR for Educational Purposes

Augmented Reality (AR) has been used for educational and training purposes because AR enhances users’ perception of things they cannot directly detect and helps them perform real-world tasks with the information conveyed by virtual objects. For example, the use of AR has been reported as a solution to problems encountered in anatomical education (Thomas, John & Delieu, 2010). Cadaver dissection is the traditional and arguably the best method of teaching anatomy because it “not only gives the learner knowledge of the shape and size of the organs, it gives them an appreciation of how individual organs are positioned relative to the rest of the body”

186 (Thomas, John & Delieu, 2010, p.6). Despite the advantages of cadaver dissection, it is not as widely practiced as before due to financial and ethical considerations. With

3D datasets collected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography scans (CT), AR enables learners to see the inside of patients without cutting them open. Thus, learners can obtain a dynamic view of the position and function of each organ in a living body. Figure 5.7 displays how learners can observe the ventricle in

BARETA, an AR-based learning system. The physical equivalent of 3D virtual models can also be produced for learners to interact with. AR technology cannot yet fully replace cadaveric dissection in anatomical education but serves as an effective supplement because AR cannot “reproduce all of the sensations that cadaveric dissection can” (Thomas, John & Delieu, 2010, p.15).

Figure 5.7. Screenshots of BARETA showing different views of the ventricle

(Thomas, John & Delieu, 2010, p.10)

As VR technology becomes more mature and cost-efficient, researchers have been investigating the application of VR for educational purposes. While AR allows learners to interact with particular virtual objects to gain a deeper understanding of

187 them, VR emphasizes the immersive experience in a simulated virtual environment, and the environment is a crucial component for learning. Bell & Fogler (1995) discuss the experience of using Vicher, a VR-based educational program, in an undergraduate chemical reaction-engineering course. The program simulates a portion of a modern chemical plant, in which the reaction equipment can be operated by the students and effects observed. Students can also teleport into the relevant microscopic worlds to witness the catalytic reaction on a molecular level (see Figure 5.8). According to students’ feedback, the program offers a unique and memorable experience. It is easier to understand the complex concepts when they are visualized.

Figure 5.8. A screenshot of catalytic reactions occurring inside a catalyst pore

(Bell & Fogler, 1995, p.5)

VR-based programs have also been developed to facilitate second language learning. VR technology is regarded as an effective technological tool among supporters of constructivism, who believe in the effectiveness of an immersive

188 learning environment in facilitating the construction of knowledge through learners’ active discovery (Huang, Rauch, & Liaw, 2010). Shih & Yang (2008) describe the design of an interactive online virtual environment called VEC3D (Virtual English

Classroom 3D). It is designed to help learners develop English communicative competence through engaging in goal-based activities in an interactive online campus-like environment, where users join a classroom as avatars and interact with each other through live voice (see Figure 5.9).

Figure 5.9. The virtual classroom in VEC3D

(Huang, Rauch, & Liaw, 2010, p.62)

Below is the authors’ description of a goal-based task called “Complain about

Food”:

In the “Complain about Food” scenario...two roles are played (students and café staff). This activity is open-ended and close to a real-life situation.

189 Learners are organized into two teams to play out the roles within the conflicting situation anchored in the students’ complaints about food and the possible settlement. Each group prepares for its role and appropriate communication strategies via text/voice chat. Based on the strategies and language preplanned during the previous stage, group members take turns to serve as a spokesperson on behalf of the whole group to react to the situation. Specific information and scaffolds are provided via instructors’ in-time assistance and reference materials on VEC3D website to support students’ interaction. The teacher and students will logout from the system after accomplishing the task. The chat log and event history can be recorded automatically for analysis/evaluation. (Huang, Rauch, & Liaw, 2010, p.63)

According to the authors’ description of VEC3D, it functions as a virtual environment which facilitates distance learning. The idea of using VR technology to create an interactive space is innovative and promising, but there exist at least two apparent problems. First, the virtual environment in VEC3D seems to be a replica of the classroom, as illustrated in Figure 5.9. Most likely, the authors blur the concepts of virtual reality and virtual environment, the latter of which only exists behind the computer screen and does not immerse users in a synthetic environment. Second, the tasks are designed to emphasize on the interaction and collaboration between learners, which can be improved by involving native speakers. For example, learners can play the role of guest and complain about the food at a café located in an American city, while the role of café staff is assumed by a native speaker of English. However, the problems do not invalidate the potential of VR as an effective tool in foreign language education.

190 5.4.3 Advantages of Introducing VR to CFL Programs

Although VR has been employed and proved to be effective in fields such as anatomy and engineering, the tremendous potential of VR has not been exploited in

CFL programs. However, the experience in other fields can illuminate the path to the future, in which the power of VR is better utilized for educational purposes.

5.4.3.1 VR Situates Learners in Immersive Environments

VR technology can amplify the credibility of virtual environments and help create an immersive environment that completely replaces the physical realities around the learners. VR technology has developed to a level that everyone can shoot

360° panoramic videos with their smartphone, which can be used for educational purposes37. The two problems with VEC3D are not rare among learning tools based on virtual environments, but VR can help address such issues if combined with carefully designed models, such as JiC. First, JiC aims to create an immersive learning experience by situating learners in a Chinese city, where no context resembles a classroom. Second, although learners do not interact with real native speakers in JiC, they talk to NPCs who respond to the learners based on a database of native speakers’ most typical behaviors. In sum, the learners using JiC are interacting with simulated native speakers in a simulated Chinese city. With the help of VR, this further reduces the cognitive burden on learners to visualize the context because VR

37 It is impossible to insert videos here, but searching “360 videos” on Youtube can yield numerous results. To get an immersive VR experience, it is necessary to view the videos through VR devices, such as high-end Microsoft’s Oculus or low-end Google Cardboard.

191 makes it easier for learners to believe that they have come to another world. Therefore, they can concentrate on dealing with the events happening in their JiC daily life.

5.4.3.2 VR Accommodates Different Learning Styles

Bell & Fogler (1995) discuss how VR can accommodate students’ learning styles along five dimensions (see Table 5.7). Although the discussion is conducted in the field of engineering, the classification of learning styles also applies to the learning that takes place in CFL programs. The following discussion will use VR-based JiC as an example to explain how VR can accommodate Chinese learners who prefer various styles or combinations thereof.

192 Sensors prefer facts, data, and experimentation, are careful and patient with detail, but may be slow. Sensory/Intuitive Intuitors prefer concepts, principles, and theories, and may be quick but careless. Visual learners prefer pictures, diagrams, charts, movies, demonstrations, and exhibitions. Visual/Verbal Verbal learners prefer words, discussions, explanations, formulas, and equations. Inductive learning develops principles and generalities from observations, the natural human learning approach. Inductive/Deductive Deductive development starts with governing principles and then develops applications, the natural teaching approach.

Active learners learn by doing and participating. Active/Reflective Reflective learners learn by thinking or pondering introspectively. Sequential learners take things step by step, and will be partially effective with partial understanding. Sequential/Global Global learners must see the whole picture for any of it to make sense, and are completely ineffective until they suddenly understand the entire subject.

Table 5.7. The five dimensions of learning styles38

On the sensory/intuitive scale, sensors prefer to have more examples which can illustrate how particular grammatical or cultural rules work. For example, “Chinese people do not accept compliments immediately because they want to show humbleness” is a cultural principle. Intuitors are satisfied with knowing that principle, but sensors need examples to understand it. JiC has abundant examples to satisfy the sensors. The embedded personal assistant in JiC can provide sufficient coaching at any time, which accommodates the intuitive, verbal, and deductive learners.

38 Adapted from Table 2 in Bell & Fogler (1995), p.2.

193 On the visual/verbal scale, virtual reality offers the top-notch visualization by immersing learners in the target cultural environment when they are learning Chinese in CFL programs. In addition to the authentic environment, the NPCs in JiC can also express themselves through facial expressions and gestures, which are hardly visible when language learners play the same roles. Thus, VR-based JiC creates a comprehensive learning experience for visual learners. Since learners assume the first-person view in a VR environment, it is easy for them to develop identification with their avatars in JiC, which makes the experience even more affective and memorable.

On the inductive/deductive scale, the inductive style echoes one of the arguments in Chapter 2 that learners should be given the opportunities to observe the behaviors of native speakers as a way to learn the rules of social games. Although JiC requires the learners to perform in various events for most of the time, they can also choose to observe how NPCs interact with each other, especially after they fail in particular events.

On the active/reflective scale, the VR environment pulls learners in and makes them active participants. Unlike being passive listeners in lectures, learners using JiC must rely on their initiatives to proceed. Active learners will undoubtedly enjoy the learning experience in JiC. Reflective learners may hesitate at first, but they have unlimited time to reflect on their own performance because the whole learning experience in JiC is personalized.

194 On the sequential/global scale, the stories in JiC unfolds sequentially, but the learners are notified of the milestone event a long time before they reach there, so that they can make sense of their daily activities and draft plans accordingly. For example, when they have decided the target guest they would like to impress on the banquet, they need to gather information of that guest by talking with various people, which makes the daily chatting in JiC more goal-oriented. Therefore, sequential learners have a clear track to follow, while the global learners can perceive the whole picture and engage in the VR-based activities more confidently.

To conclude, VR technology can enhance the learning experience of JiC by creating a more immersive learning environment. Coupled with the characteristics of

JiC, the potential of VR can be exploited to accommodate learners with various learning styles and realize personalized and memorable learning experiences.

5.5 Conclusion and Future Directions

Recognizing some crucial problems relevant to content, goal, experience, assessment, and learning environment in current CFL programs, this study proposes to solve those problems through employing the approach of gamification, which refers to a problem-solving strategy employing game elements and game-design techniques in traditionally non-game contexts. We discuss game in two senses: explicit games

(activities people engage in and commonly address as games) provide examples for us to draw upon and discover applicable game elements; implicit games (activities not

195 traditionally recognized as games, but can be analyzed based on their playing fields, evaluative systems, and agreed-upon rules) offer a new perspective of viewing communicative events as games.

Chapter 2 elaborates on the idea of implicit games and conceptualizes game as a psychological reality which organizes our behaviors, including the use of language, in different contexts. Human beings assign different meanings to the same action depending on which game it is situated in. For example, kicking the ball is an acceptable action in volleyball, but a prohibited one in basketball. People who are capable players of both volleyball and basketball recognize which game is being played, and then pull out a list of acceptable moves in their mind. The more experience they have in playing a game, the less time they need to think about the acceptable moves. Under the framework of game, the interpersonal communication involving language use can be described as social games, in which the players’ behaviors are constrained by the game rules and directed by their respective goals.

Cultures have a direct influence on the game rules. For example, in the social game of encountering strangers in an elevator, players in American culture play by the rules

“greeting them shows friendliness”, whereas those in Chinese culture play by the rules “greeting them is strange”. Since we expect language learners to be players—active participants in the target language environment—in the future, we propose the player theory: the content of CFL programs should revolve around teaching learners how to recognize social games they are engaging in and play by the

196 rules to achieve their respective goals.

Chapters 3 and 4 focus on two significant aspects of CFL programs: program goals and the learning experience that is shaped by the curriculum. That the two aspects are closely related becomes quite clear when we attempt to investigate how to increase the number of learners who can reach the advanced level when the program is devoting a tremendous amount of resources on its lower-level courses. The tentative solution is setting the program goal as guiding learners to discover their interested domains which require the use of target language, and focusing on the creation of affective and memorable learning experiences.

Long-term program goals in current CFL programs seldom have direct relationship with individual learners, because the goals are usually presented with generalized expressions, such as “speak at the ACTFL Advanced level.” As a result, most learners cannot visualize how Chinese will be a useful skill in their future lives, and choose to drop out when their original curiosity diminishes and become overwhelmed by other courses. The discovery of domains can help make Chinese more relevant to their personal lives, thus maintain the motivation to keep learning

Chinese, but it requires an ability to anticipate on a global level, i.e. to orient or position oneself for an expected future event. When learners have a vision of their future selves, they can prepare for it and explore how to make it come true. They will be more determined and confident in the fact that Chinese is valuable to their future.

For example, if a Chinese learner majors in international business, and the Chinese

197 course allows him/her to explore Chinese business culture and behave appropriately in various business contexts, there will be a higher chance for that learner to stay in the Chinese program.

With guiding learners to discover their own domains as program goals, learners can acquire significant motivation, but the motivation can still diminish without engaging learning experience. Neuroscience research has demonstrated that emotional experience is easier to remember. Since games can elicit many unique emotions, such as guilty and camaraderie, compared to other story media (e.g., films, novels, dramas), and those unique emotions are commonly experienced in interpersonal communication, Chapter 4 draws upon several electronic games as examples to examine what elements are typically employed to elicit emotions from players. The result reveals that personalization is crucial for the creation of emotional and memorable experience. Therefore, Individualized Instruction, an optional track featuring one-one-one format of instruction in several language programs at OSU, has the potential to become a pedagogical model for planning and delivering memorable learning experiences.

Both anticipation and emotion are crucial features in games, and make gamification a relevant approach to realize the tentative solutions. Chapter 5 uses two sample designs of utilizing gamification in CFL programs—Game Point System (GPS) and Journey in China (JiC)—to illustrate how gamified learning tools can help overcome the challenges regarding the content, goals, and learning experience of CFL

198 programs. To be more specific, GPS functions partly like a regular learning management system which tracks learners’ progress with accumulative points and allows learners to get personal feedback from instructors and other native speakers regarding their daily performance. The difference is that GPS emphasizes learners’ self-driven research after class, presented as various quests in the system, and utilizes an internal social network for learners to share their products. GPS aims to enhance learners’ motivation through satisfying their three basic needs for autonomy, competency, and relatedness. JiC is designed to create personalized learning experience for every learner by connecting every two milestone events with multiple optional events in each storyline. JiC can also function as an alternative assessment system which ensures that every learner can deal with major communicative events at a certain level before they move on to the next one, because they are required to complete all the milestone events. Due to the fact that learners are interacting with computer-controlled characters whose behaviors derive from a database of native

Chinese speakers’ behaviors, learners can receive immediate and authentic feedback from their interlocutors (e.g., the characters may lose patience if learners are slow at making responses) while having unlimited opportunities to practice dealing with a certain event, because those characters do not get exhausted.

Although the technological tools are already available, the two sample designs have not been enacted, due to, most generally, a lack of resources. This study discusses the components of an ideal design, but they are subject to change during

199 actual development. In the future, virtual reality (VR) can be an effective technological tool which has the potential to further enhance the learning experience by providing a completely immersive learning environment. More empirical studies will be necessary to investigate and accurately anticipate the potential of gamification and VR technology in CFL programs. This dissertation has attempted to make a start, by identifying salient pedagogical problems and the reasons why these tools are well-suited to solving them.

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209 Appendix A: Glossary of Game-related Terminology (Alphabetical Order)

First Appearance Terminology Common Definition in this Article Players’ graphic representation in the game Avatar p.6 world, which are usually controllable characters A significant and powerful computer-controlled Boss p.122 enemy A successful attack that deals more damage Critical (hit) p.114 than a normal one Debuff A temporary negative status effect p.92 A labyrinthine environment, where players Dungeon need to defeat enemies and/or solve puzzles to p.127 move forward A unit of measurement used in role play games Experience (RPG) to quantify characters’ progression p.16 Points through the game, which is usually presented as the characters’ levels. Progression of game characters (mainly those controlled by players) after meeting certain Level-up requirements (e.g., gaining enough experience p.17 points by defeating enemies), which usually entails unlocking new abilities and skills Missions or tasks in video games that players can complete for rewards, which may include Quests p.16 items, in-game currency, experience points, and access to new areas in the game world. A virtual environment that players or their Game world p.6 avatars can interact with in electronic games.

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