Chapter 6. TBLT and synthetic immersive environments
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Julie M. Sykes
Abstract
While previous work has identified a strong connection between tasks and digital games, very little empirical evidence exists to aid in our understanding of how tasks within these complex digital spaces should be designed, implemented, and evaluated so as to optimally support language learning. This chapter synthesizes evidence from 120 hours of in-game behavior data and 30 hours of interview data, collected in a larger study (Sykes 2008), in which 53 advanced learners of Spanish participated in Croquelandia, a synthetic immersive environment (SIE) explicitly designed for learning how to appropriately perform requests and apologies in Spanish. The chapter focuses on quest restarts, a design capability of SIEs that allows a player to repeat a task by resetting the conditions prior to a follow-up attempt. Through the empirical examination of how quest restarts were or were not actualized in participants’ choices while playing the SIE, I will demonstrate that restart elements of in-game tasks for language learning are critical to the successful design of SIEs. My discussion includes attention to designer intentions versus player actualization and a focus on ‘playing to learn’ versus ‘learning to play’ perspectives.
Abstract
While previous work has identified a strong connection between tasks and digital games, very little empirical evidence exists to aid in our understanding of how tasks within these complex digital spaces should be designed, implemented, and evaluated so as to optimally support language learning. This chapter synthesizes evidence from 120 hours of in-game behavior data and 30 hours of interview data, collected in a larger study (Sykes 2008), in which 53 advanced learners of Spanish participated in Croquelandia, a synthetic immersive environment (SIE) explicitly designed for learning how to appropriately perform requests and apologies in Spanish. The chapter focuses on quest restarts, a design capability of SIEs that allows a player to repeat a task by resetting the conditions prior to a follow-up attempt. Through the empirical examination of how quest restarts were or were not actualized in participants’ choices while playing the SIE, I will demonstrate that restart elements of in-game tasks for language learning are critical to the successful design of SIEs. My discussion includes attention to designer intentions versus player actualization and a focus on ‘playing to learn’ versus ‘learning to play’ perspectives.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Towards technology-mediated TBLT 1
- Chapter 2. The need for needs analysis in technology-mediated TBLT 23
- Chapter 3. Prior knowledge and second language task production in text chat 51
- Chapter 4. Textbooks, tasks, and technology 79
- Chapter 5. Promoting foreign language collaborative writing through the use of Web 2.0 tools and tasks 115
- Chapter 6. TBLT and synthetic immersive environments 149
- Chapter 7. Collaborative tasks for negotiation of intercultural meaning in virtual worlds and video-web communication 183
- Chapter 8. The third dimension 213
- Chapter 9. Lessons from the fandom 239
- Chapter 10. Formative, task-based oral assessments in an advanced Chinese-language class 263
- Chapter 11. Evaluation of an online, task-based Chinese course 295
- Chapter 12. Afterword 323
- index 335
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Towards technology-mediated TBLT 1
- Chapter 2. The need for needs analysis in technology-mediated TBLT 23
- Chapter 3. Prior knowledge and second language task production in text chat 51
- Chapter 4. Textbooks, tasks, and technology 79
- Chapter 5. Promoting foreign language collaborative writing through the use of Web 2.0 tools and tasks 115
- Chapter 6. TBLT and synthetic immersive environments 149
- Chapter 7. Collaborative tasks for negotiation of intercultural meaning in virtual worlds and video-web communication 183
- Chapter 8. The third dimension 213
- Chapter 9. Lessons from the fandom 239
- Chapter 10. Formative, task-based oral assessments in an advanced Chinese-language class 263
- Chapter 11. Evaluation of an online, task-based Chinese course 295
- Chapter 12. Afterword 323
- index 335
