20 Reasons to Use Games in College-Level ESL Courses

20 Reasons to Use Games in College-Level ESL Courses Copyright 2018 Bokomaru Publications There are many good reasons why serious games remain appropriate teaching tools in college-level second language learning courses for young adults. Before we get into those reasons, there is one thing that we should clear up. A serious game is not the same as other  games. Unlike a game played for amusement, fun  is not its primary goal. Fun is merely a useful byproduct of a well-designed learning activity.  A serious games primary purpose is pedagogical. Above all else, it is intended to support one or more of the goals of the course. Anyone interested in instructional design would do well to consider the pedagogical benefits of serious games. The Pedagogical Benefits of Language Learning Games Here is a list of 20 pedagogical benefits that games can bring to the language learning classroom:  task regulation,  motivation and strategic thinking,  preparation, memory and retention, meaningful communicative exchanges, cognitive fluency,  attention to form,  peer-correction and instruction, openness and respect,  patience and planning, mastery experiences and  ego-gratification, self-confidence and self-efficacy,  contingency planning and resilience,  energy and excitement,  reduction in  egotism,  problem-solving and effort,  creativity,  coherence,  self-directed learning, and  time-on-task. How Games Provide these Benefits Games have  rules. Rules can keep learners focused on key structures, allowing careful  task regulation. Games have  goals. Goals create  motivation and strategic thinking. Games are a form of  simulation. Simulations give us  preparation  for high-stakes communicative tasks. Games involve repetition. Repetitions  enhance  memory and retention. Games are  interactive. Oral interaction gives us  meaningful communicative exchanges. Games require speed. Speed stimulates the development of  cognitive fluency. Games involve decisions. Decisions can direct  attention to form. Games involve  feedback. Feedback means  peer-correction and instruction. Games involve turn-taking. Turn-taking ensures  openness  to the participation of others,  equality, and  respect. Games involve waiting for a turn. Waiting teaches  patience and planning. Games have  win-states. Win-states provide  mastery experiences and  ego-gratification. Games require skill. Skill development generates  self-confidence and self-efficacy. Games involve chance. Chance creates  contingency planning and resilience. Games have sudden reversals of fortune. Reversals of fortune provide  energy and excitement. Games have lose-states. Lose-states cause  reductions in  egotism  that do not damage the ego since game-play is a non-literal state. Games have  challenges. Challenges demand  problem-solving and effort. Games involve  problem-solving.  Problem-solving sparks  creativity. Games have  a beginning, middle  and  end.  Sequence offers  coherence. Games are a form of play.  Play  is Evolution’s toolbox for  self-directed learning. Games are pleasurable.  Pleasure maximizes  time-on-task. **This list is an adapted and expanded list from  Prensky, 2001, Digital Game-Based Learning, McGraw-Hill, p. 6. Please follow and like us: