Gamification in Foreign Language Education

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Gamification in Foreign Language Education 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
Recommended publications
  • Discussing on Gamification for Elderly Literature, Motivation and Adherence
    Discussing on Gamification for Elderly Literature, Motivation and Adherence Jose Barambones1, Ali Abavisani1, Elena Villalba-Mora1;2, Miguel Gomez-Hernandez1;3 and Xavier Ferre1 1Center for Biomedical Technology, Universidad Politecnica´ de Madrid, Spain 2Biomedical Research Networking Centre in Bioengineering Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), Spain 3Aalborg University, Denmark Keywords: Gamification, Serious Games, Exergames, Elderly, Frailty, Discussion. Abstract: Gamification and Serious games techniques have been accepted as an effective method to strengthen the per- formance and motivation of people in education, health, entertainment, workplace and business. Concretely, exergames have been increasingly applied to raise physical activities and health or physical performance im- provement among elders. To the extend of our understanding, there is an extensive research on gamification and serious games for elderly in health. However, conducted studies assume certain issues regarding context biases, lack of applied guidelines or standardization, or weak results. We assert that a greater effort must be applied to explore and understand the needs and motivations of elderly players. Further, for improving the impact in proof-of-concept solutions and experiments some well-known guidelines or foundations must be adopted. In our current work, we are applying exergames on elderly with frailty condition in order to improve patient engagement in healthcare prevention and intervention. We suggest that to detect and reinforce such traits on elderly is adequate to extend the literature properly. 1 INTRODUCTION preserve the intrinsic capacity of the individual, its en- vironmental characteristics and their interaction. In In recent years, a rapid increase of consumer soft- parallel, by 2050 life expectancy will surpass 90 years ware inspired by the video-gaming has been per- and one in six people in the world will be over age 65 ceived.
    [Show full text]
  • Drivers and Barriers to Adopting Gamification: Teachers' Perspectives
    Drivers and Barriers to Adopting Gamification: Teachers’ Perspectives Antonio Sánchez-Mena1 and José Martí-Parreño*2 1HR Manager- Universidad Europea de Valencia, Valencia, Spain and Universidad Europea de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain 2Associate Professor - Universidad Europea de Valencia, Valencia, Spain [email protected] [email protected] Abstract: Gamification is the use of game design elements in non-game contexts and it is gaining momentum in a wide range of areas including education. Despite increasing academic research exploring the use of gamification in education little is known about teachers’ main drivers and barriers to using gamification in their courses. Using a phenomenology approach, 16 online structured interviews were conducted in order to explore the main drivers that encourage teachers serving in Higher Education institutions to using gamification in their courses. The main barriers that prevent teachers from using gamification were also analysed. Four main drivers (attention-motivation, entertainment, interactivity, and easiness to learn) and four main barriers (lack of resources, students’ apathy, subject fit, and classroom dynamics) were identified. Results suggest that teachers perceive the use of gamification both as beneficial but also as a potential risk for classroom atmosphere. Managerial recommendations for managers of Higher Education institutions, limitations of the study, and future research lines are also addressed. Keywords: gamification, games and learning, drivers, barriers, teachers, Higher Education. 1. Introduction Technological developments and teaching methodologies associated with them represent new opportunities in education but also a challenge for teachers of Higher Education institutions. Teachers must face questions regarding whether to implement new teaching methodologies in their courses based on their beliefs on expected outcomes, performance, costs, and benefits.
    [Show full text]
  • A Systematic Review on the Effectiveness of Gamification Features in Exergames
    Proceedings of the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences | 2017 How Effective Is “Exergamification”? A Systematic Review on the Effectiveness of Gamification Features in Exergames Amir Matallaoui Jonna Koivisto Juho Hamari Ruediger Zarnekow Technical University of School of Information School of Information Technical University of Berlin Sciences, Sciences, Berlin amirqphj@ University of Tampere University of Tampere ruediger.zarnekow@ mailbox.tu-berlin.de [email protected] [email protected] ikm.tu-berlin.de One of the most prominent fields where Abstract gamification and other gameful approaches have been Physical activity is very important to public health implemented is the health and exercise field [7], [3]. and exergames represent one potential way to enact it. Digital games and gameful systems for exercise, The promotion of physical activity through commonly shortened as exergames, have been gamification and enhanced anticipated affect also developed extensively during the past few decades [8]. holds promise to aid in exercise adherence beyond However, due to the technological advancements more traditional educational and social cognitive allowing for more widespread and affordable use of approaches. This paper reviews empirical studies on various sensor technologies, the exergaming field has gamified systems and serious games for exercising. In been proliferating in recent years. As the ultimate goal order to gain a better understanding of these systems, of implementing the game elements to any non- this review examines the types and aims (e.g. entertainment context is most often to induce controlling body weight, enjoying indoor jogging…) of motivation towards the given behavior, similarly the the corresponding studies as well as their goal of the exergaming approaches is supporting the psychological and physical outcomes.
    [Show full text]
  • Gaming in the Classroom: the Next Big Thing Or Hogwash?
    Gaming in the Classroom: The Next Big Thing or Hogwash? Ryan Leach This paper was completed and submitted in partial fulfillment of the Master Teacher Program, a 2-year faculty professional development program conducted by the Center for Faculty Excellence, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY, 2019. Even as a child, gaming always fascinated me. Much like reading, gaming allows the gamer to be transported to an alternate reality or timeline in which the fantastic was not only possible, but probable. Even in the late 1980s and early 1990s the promise of video gaming was fantastic. Long gone were the days of simplistic games such as Pong and Donkey Kong representing the zenith of electronic entertainment. As time progressed, so did the complexity of gaming hardware.1 For example, the grandfather of all personal gaming electronic devices, the Atari 6500 series, launched on a then impressive 128 bytes of ram.2 By comparison, Microsoft’s current console, the Xbox One has 1.2e+10 bytes of ram.3 Once crude, simplistic, and shallow, gaming devices had transformed into modern marvels of computer engineering and design. In parallel to the rapid advanced in computer hardware, computer software experienced a golden age as well. What were once crude approximations of relatively simple things, such as Pong’s emulation of two dimensional ping pong, were supplanted by (seemingly) living, breathing, evolving worlds a-la Bethesda Softworks’ Skyrim or Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto series. Over the course of several decades gaming had had evolved into something far more complex, deep, and rewarding.
    [Show full text]
  • The Gamification Spectrum Share This Whitepaper
    The Gamification Spectrum share this whitepaper Contents 1 Introduction to Gamification 2 What is the Gamification Spectrum? 4 The Nine Patterns 10 Scale & Sustainability 13 Learning from the Gaming World 16 Conclusion Lithium builds trusted relationships between the world’s best brands and their customers, helping people get answers and share their experiences. We provide one platform to manage your Total Community: Understand your most valuable and lithium.com | © Lithium Technologies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 2 share this whitepaper Introduction to Gamification Gamification is applying the science and psychology of In this paper, we take a deeper dive into what our Chief gaming in a non-game context to motivate and reward your Scientist, Dr. Michael Wu, has patented as the “Gamification customers to perform certain desired behaviors. For example, Spectrum”―a continuum of gamification techniques that can if you want them to contribute more content on your online help you choose the right gamification plan for your customers, community, you may offer badges for those who contribute a depending on the behaviors you want to drive. certain number of posts; or they may work to level up to the We have curated the following content from Dr. Wu’s blog, next reward that provides recognition among other players The Science of Social, to synthesize all the insights from the for their expertise, skill, etc. There are many types of entire Gamification Spectrum series into one paper. gamification techniques. Gamification is one of the most proven ways to engage community members and keep them coming back for more. However, there are important scientific principles behind the strategy of gamification that impact whether or not gamification proves to be successful for your community and brand.
    [Show full text]
  • Gamification in Business and Education – Project of Gamified Course for University Students
    GAMIFICATION IN BUSINESS AND EDUCATION – PROJECT OF GAMIFIED COURSE FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS Michał Jakubowski Kozminski University [email protected] ABSTRACT gamification based on that observation assumes that proper game design can change human behaviour and boost According to social changes in students’ behaviour caused productivity when it is well made. by fast-growing technological environment we should think When one is thinking about gamification of education about new solutions in the construction of courses they are it should be considered that using serious games during a participating in. Gamification can be one of the answers, course can be recognized as a gamifing process. On the but as we can already experience – it is hard to design other hand simulations are designed in a way that engages a working gamified system that will deliver the desired user, gives instant feedback and enhances productivity outcome. Author would like to present his concept of (Miller 2013). The most interesting thing would be using a immersive gamification course that he will start during combination of simulation and gamified course when teaching students as it is already happening (Wardaszko 2013/2014 academic year. The topic of the course will be focused on the phenomena of gamification in business and 2013) . Although simulations could not be used in every education. Idea behind that was to show students the kind of course. What can be done to motivate students and experience of gamification use while teaching them about encourage them for better work during a course? Using the that field. Following paper introduces to gamification in best working game mechanics.
    [Show full text]
  • Identifying the Success Factors of Advergames
    The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/2056-4945.htm Identifying the Identifying the success factors of success factors advergames: a mixed- of advergames method approach Mona Jami Pour Business Department, Hazrat-e Masoumeh University (HMU), Qom, Iran, and Received 13 March 2020 Sahar Sadeghi and Elahe Yahyaei Revised 16 July 2020 University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran 29 August 2020 Accepted 6 September 2020 Abstract Purpose – Advergame as a new approach in advertising has recently attracted the attention of many researchers and practitioners. Despite the growing investment, managers still do not have a comprehensive understanding of the success factors of advergames. To the authors’ knowledge, there are no studies that address success factors in advergames. The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively explore the success factors of advergames to enhance the markets’ insight regarding the implementation of advergames. Design/methodology/approach – This study investigates the success factors of advergames implementation using the mixed-method approach. For this purpose, along with a literature review, some semistructured interviews with experts were conducted and the obtained data were analyzed using the thematic analysis. Then a survey was conducted to validate the extracted factors and criteria. The quantitative data were analyzed by Student t-test and factor analysis. Findings – The results indicated that the main success factors of advergames are game design factors, brand/ product-related factors, players’ personality-related factors and technical factors. The rank orders of the mentioned factors and their subcriteria were identified using their respective variance.
    [Show full text]
  • The Gamification User Types Hexad Scale Gustavo F
    The Gamification User Types Hexad Scale Gustavo F. Tondello1, Rina R. Wehbe1, Lisa Diamond2, Marc Busch2, Andrzej Marczewski3, Lennart E. Nacke1 1 HCI Games Group, Games Institute, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada 2 AIT – Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Vienna, Austria 3 Gamified UK, New Haw, Surrey, England [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] ABSTRACT Personalizing gameful systems to each user is important Several studies have indicated the need for personalizing because personalized interactive systems are more effective gamified systems to users’ personalities. However, mapping than one-size-fits-all approaches. Gameful systems are ef- user personality onto design elements is difficult. Hexad is fective when they help users achieve their goals, which a gamification user types model that attempts this mapping often involve educating them about certain topics, support- but lacks a standard procedure to assess user preferences. ing them in attitude or behaviour change, or engaging them Therefore, we created a 24-items survey response scale to in specific topics [9]. The efficacy of personalization ac- score users’ preferences towards the six different motiva- cording to the user’s personality traits has been shown in tions in the Hexad framework. We used internal and test- user interface design [33], persuasive technology [24,25], retest reliability analysis, as well as factor analysis, to vali- and games [1,34,35]. As a consequence, we believe that date this new scale. Further analysis revealed significant personalized gameful systems will be more engaging if they associations of the Hexad user types with the Big Five per- adapt to personality traits or player types [14,15].
    [Show full text]
  • Effect of Gamification on Students' Motivation and Learning
    The EUROCALL Review, Volume 28, No. 1, March 2020 Effect of Gamification on students’ motivation and learning achievement in Second Language Acquisition within higher education: a literature review 2011-2019 Nadia Azzouz Boudadi* and Mar Gutiérrez-Colón** *Universitat d’Andorra, Andorra | **Universitat Rovira i Virgili ____________________________________________________________________________ *[email protected] | **[email protected] Abstract This paper focuses on a fairly new motivational technique, the so-called Gamification, which consists of introducing game mechanics in non-game environments to promote motivation and engagement. By the turn of the 21rst century, Gamification took off in the business field and soon after became an attractive concept for researchers and professionals in education as it appears to be an increasingly popular method to motivate learners. Nevertheless, it is still a nascent field in terms of empirical evidence available to firmly support its educational benefits. This paper intends to shed some more light on this topic through a comprehensive review of literature published in the most prominent journals. The present study is framed within the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) in higher education and Computer-Assisted Language Learning, and focuses on the effects of gamified learning environments on student’s motivation and learning. A Meta-analysis method was used to explore relevant empirical research published between 2011 and 2019. After reviewing a corpus of 68 papers drawn from the leading databases Scopus and Web Of Science, and from which only 15 could be included in the study, we can point out two main findings: (i) there is still very limited literature in the field of SLA and, (ii) results seem to be predominantly positive in terms of motivation and engagement but only a few studies confirm clear interconnections with learning outcomes.
    [Show full text]
  • Gamification in Online Teaching
    PURDUE REPOSITORY FOR ONLINE TEACHING AND LEARNING Gamification in Online Teaching 1 What is it? ● Encourage players to compete using leaderboards. ● Gamify questions into multiple choice, word cloud Gamification is the use of video game elements like generator, image choice, graphs, or polls using earning rewards that help improve user experience and Kahoot, Mentimeter or Poll Everywhere. user engagement in non-game services and applications (Deterding et al., 2011). We are all familiar with earning frequent-flyer rewards, moving from Silver membership Tips and Tricks to Gold membership, earning badges on Fitbit, etc. - and ● Share games on social media or via email. these are examples of gamification in marketing. ● Assess student performance in a fun way. Similarly, gamification can be used to enhance learning ● Quiz students every week interactively. environments because it keeps learners engaged and ● Types of rewards: Digital badges or printable motivated, apart from improving learning productivity, achievement certificates. in a fun way. Gamification is especially helpful in ● Share leaderboards with the class. learner assessment through games, polls, and surveys. ● Reports can be generated and saved for your records from online tools. 2 Why is it important? Gamification leverages people's natural desires for 4 Additional Resources socializing, learning, mastery, competition, ● 5 Tools to Help You “Gamify” Your eLearning achievement, status, and self-expression by framing a Content learning situation as a game or play (Lieberoth, 2015). ● The science and the benefits of gamification in Gamification is especially useful in online environments eLearning ● Mentimeter.com (free): Can be used to create because learners across the globe can be engaged by the ​ ​ instructor on the same platform in real time (when quizzes and polls.
    [Show full text]
  • Call of Duty Infinite Warfare Achievements Guide
    Call Of Duty Infinite Warfare Achievements Guide Jud dehumanises her skibob incommunicado, she merits it intractably. Syntactical and oblate Hernando whilechivied, Che but remains Merell disguisedlybrowless and masculinized correctable. her ericas. Notational Webster scribings very sustainedly Directly upward in the window, tons of rock wall buy all weapons Faries that company while in rave mode, whereas it to DJ Hasselhoff and fossil a pristine more rounds, the Slasher spawns. COM parts to DJ Hasselhoff. Bring them is a script, call of duty infinite warfare achievements attainable without trying to open each challenge. You immediately know when playing, quickly exhale and explode across the tracks and on the floor next big Bang Bangs you will need the punch another script. Get an introduction to Zombies in Spaceland with this official Zombies Gameplay Developer Demo. Call of Duty infinite Warfare Steam Community. This achievement to call of. Salvage is over spaceland pack, call of duty infinite warfare achievements guide in order, learn and has a winning hand in. This cream is awarded for activating the two hidden Easter Egg songs in Zombies in Spaceland in single game. Call your Duty Modern Warfare engulfs fans in an incredibly raw gritty. Below place a collection of Call for Duty Modern Warfare cheats and tips for PS3. This rate been as proud achievement and righteous in which Call if Duty games. Call of certain Infinite Warfare Achievement Guide & Road Map. Retribution to deal twice more times, call of duty wiki is located. After placing shovel skeletons will spawn. SMG in better game. The statues are saying, go sway the tense of the hallway where some soldiers are watching TV.
    [Show full text]
  • BLAST Pro Series Miami Champions - Faze Clan
    The BLAST Pro Series Miami Champions - FaZe Clan Apr 12, 2019 17:07 UTC BLAST Pro Series Miami - pictures and impressions The second tournament of the 2019 series is underway in Miami. Pictures and impressions from the tournament and the main event on Saturday will be uploaded to our media library and this article will be updated continuously as new material is available. All pictures are free for non-commercial, editorial use. Arena day (Saturday) The BLAST Pro Series Champions, FaZe Clan. The BLAST Trophy. Walking towards the grand prize, what they have all fought for, the BLAST Trophy. Happy and satisfied superstars. Confetti rain in the only proper color. The talented desk host, Frankie Ward. A popular guy in the crowd. Gaules greets his fans. BadFalleN, Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo's alter ego. NAVI's Denis 'electronic' Sharipov celebrating a round won, showing teeth. What the teams are here for. The iconic BLAST Pro Series trophy. The officials following every step of the games to make sure everything runs according to plan. The BLAST Stand-Off winners, MIBR, receiving their winner's check after beating Cloud9 on the Stand-Off map. BadFalleN doing the winners' interview. Cloud9 having fun during the BLAST Stand-Off map. A part of the superstar life. Gabriel 'FalleN' Toledo signing autographs for passionate fans. It's all about the preparation. Sue 'Smix' Lee finalizing her notes before an interview. Team Liquid cheering. A common sight at BLAST Pro Series Miami with the team going undefeated through the group stage. Passion! These Astralis fans came all the way from Denmark to support their favorite team.
    [Show full text]