Video Game for Learning English

[A.Russell]

I think that video games MEANT to teach English or educate people on the English
language would not be very popular. But if the games are of a particular genre
but helps in the English proficiency of the gamers then it would help. It all
lies in the purpose of the product i think. If the game is indeed fun but what
lies as the hidden meaning or the indirect theme is to teach English then i
would have little doubt that it(the video game) would fail.

This is my personal suggestion. Have the game as fun as possible and incorporate
proper sentences. Then if possible have characters use explicit phrases that are
mind catching. Such exposure would help gamers to interact with English like it
is a real person.

Now i would say that i had choosen (3). Had i said it earlier you might not have
read through. Hahax.

There is a good deal of confusion about what is the difference between an educational game and a game, and what is the difference between a game and a simulation.

Simply put, all games educate people to some extent, even if that education is just how to play a particular game or genre. What makes a game more educational or a better simulation lies in the pedagogical aspects of the game. For example, Microsoft Flight Simulator would be a fairly realistic flight simulator, but it's made a bit easier so that people can enjoy playing with it. First Flight was a flight simulator designed to educate people about the world's second powered flight by the Wright Brothers (as everyone knows, the first powered flight was by New Zealander Richard Pearse http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/pearse1.html), and it used more realistic physics and controls -to the point where the pilot who was to fly a replica could use it to train on. In fact, the pilot who used this "game" to practice before flying the real thing had much more success than a pilot who hadn't. A still better flight simulator would of the type real pilots are required to train and practice on -which would also make for wicked fun home entertainment if they didn't cost millions of dollars.

So, an educational game is a game where the pedigogical aspects take priority over the entertainment aspects that are there to make the whole experience more fun and motivating. The great thing about computer software is that you can adjust the levels of entertainment/pedagogy dynamically as the learner plays. If the learning part is too difficult and taking away from the enjoyment of the activity, the game can lower the difficulty level and make itself more fun. Alternately, too much shooting zombies can be interupted by a quiz or a level up in the knowledge and skills required to play.

Another very useful aspect about real time games for education is that the game can collect data about how the player is doing and stastically map the learners progress. This data can be used to generate reports at the end of a session.

Currently, most educational software under utilises the potential of computers both at a pedagogical and entertainment level.

[lty]

I am learning english now, but I don't think video game for learning english is a good idea.

[A.Russell]

Hi Ity,

I was looking forward to reading your reply, but I'm a bit disappointed. Could you say why you don't think a video game for learning English is good for you? It would be good practice for your English skills!

For example, do you think the highly structured, linear learning style of traditional school methods is beter than the type of non-linear, extensible learning that computer games and simulations offer?

Good to see this is still up, I thought it had gone from the sticky. Really good to see we are up to over 200 votes, too.

Once I've organised my notes I'll post again with an update on what I am up to as far as planning and development. I highly value your input, and I will have some more questions to ask you to find out more specifically what you want in a game-based language learning application.

[lty]

I think English learner might pay too much attention on playing video game in stead of learning English.

[A.Russell]

That is one of the points of the whole thing, Ity. We want the learners to be motivated to play, and in so doing learn more English.

[Red5]

To Ity:

I have removed the ponographic links from your messages. If you try that once more you will be banned for life.

You have been warned.

[Pookie]

Originally Posted by A.Russell

This might not be the right place to post this, but since it is the most active forum, I hope to get someone other than Red and Tdol to reply (not that I don't enjoy chatting with you two).

As learners of English, would you be interested in a multiplayer video game in which you could chat and collaborate with other users in English and improove you english skills through performing quests in a 3d game world?

More info here: http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=11640

Your replies will help me decide if such a project is worthwhile or not.

Russel, we live in Costa Rica. My wife has developed an english program, and we have thought of how wonderful it would be to have an interactive game. You could start it by the player getting off the plane, and going through customs, then changing money, and completing tasks for points. I think it would be a great idea. We were actually thinking it might already exist. WHat have you found? We are here right now in central Florida, and there is a gamers convention here that we were thinking about asking into it. Let me know if you want to share ideas. Pookie

[A.Russell]

Yes, that is the sort of thing, Rookie. There are not many games like that around right now, but they certtainly have a lot of potential.

Developing an idea like yours is the tricky part. A commercial video game requires something like ten plus man years to develop. That translates into a dedicated team and a lot of money. Video games with budgets in the millions are common, and most games that you see on shelves were developed with budgets of $200,000+.

I think you should go to that game convention. I have found them to be much more fun than English teacher conventions. At the GDC in San Francisco last year there were lots of parties in the surrounding area with open bars every night. In contrast, the last Engish teacher party I went to was twenty mostly middle-aged people cramped into a small, cold, brightly lit curry shop with a broken toilet (it became quite a cocktail, I can tell you).

I am happy to talk about any ideas you have on this subject. Just post them here or PM me.

lelo21: I received an email about your post, but cfan't see it. Perhaps you were shy and deleted it? Anyway, yes there is now a strong movement for making more games that girls like. Since it has been proven that targeting both sexes van be very profitable, like The Sims, we can expect to see more unisex and girls' games.

[A.Russell]

http://www.my-virtual-classroom.com/...icBookDemo.msi

We have just released a tech demo for testing ASR for game-based learning.

This is a very simple game using automatic speech recognition. Try to read the highlighted sentences, either in one shot or in smaller chunks. The more words the computer hears, the higher your score! The better your pronunciation and fluency the more the computer will pick up.

While this was designed with game-based language applications in mind, it has also been suggested that this type of application could be useful for people with speech impediments.

This is freeware. We would really appreciate your feedback.

*Do you think playing video game using English would be helpful to your learning?
*Was it difficult to get the Magic Book game to understand your English?
*Was it difficult to set up Magic Book?
*What are your suggestions and comments?

[Tdol]

AR,
I downloaded and installed it without any difficutly, but when I try to open, I get the first screen, a second of music, just enough time to see 'say start the game', then it closes. I am using XP Professional. I could email you the error report if it means anything to you.