Moving Towards an Ecological View of Second Language Learning in Multiplayer Online Games

2018 ◽  
pp. 390-404
Author(s):  
Jinjing Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Dynamic Process ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Online Games ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Multiplayer Online Games ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ecological View

Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) are perceived to afford informal, contextualized L2 interaction. While earlier CALL research examined MMOGs as a tool for interaction and negotiation, more recent research is moving towards a game-as-ecology view, showing that L2 learning in MMOGs is a complex, interconnected, and dynamic process that is highly contingent on context. This chapter presents an ethnographic study of informal ESL learning mediated by multiplayer gameplay. Drawing on data from questionnaires, interviews, gaming sessions, and gaming journals, the author argues that L2 learners, when playing MMOGs at their own discretion, engage with those game discourses that align with their preferences of gameplay and goals of language learning. The study presented here adds to the growing evidence that affordances of MMOGs must be understood in relation to the learner's history, ability, and preference within the social context of gameplay. These components are interconnected and change dynamically in a coherent learning-gaming ecology.

scholarly journals Investigating the Sociocultural Factors That Affect Learning a Second Language (on the Example of English)

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 81
Author(s):  
Hatim H. Tawfiq
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Sociocultural Factors ◽  
Mean Values ◽  
The Third ◽  
Five Factors ◽  
The Social

The present study investigates the sociocultural factors that affect second language learning. The investigation is built under five factors that are presumed to affect second language learning. The first factor is related to the effects of personality traits that are linked to second language learning, such as: self-efficiency, willingness, extraversion, and introversion, etc. The second factor pertains to motivation and second language learning. The third one is stereotyping and its effects on second language learning. The fourth is about social distance as a sociocultural factor of second language learning. And the fifth factor is about attitude. The study looks for how much effects do the factors mentioned so far have got in second language learning. A questionnaire is constructed to extract perceptions about the hypothesized factors from 62 participants. Responses are analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to get statistical descriptions about the factors that mostly affect second language learning. The analytic statistics gives the following mean values for each factor: attitude = 20.58, stereotype = 20.00, motivation = 19.84, social distance = 19.74, and personality 18.85. The study concludes with the consensus belief that attitude is a crucial factor of second language learning.

CALL, the foreign-language undergraduate and the teaching of grammar: a linguistic and political battlefield

ReCALL ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
pp. 3-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Metcalfe
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Recent History ◽  
Present Generation ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

The recent history of the teaching of grammar, both for first- and second-language learning, has produced highly polarised and acrimonious debate. The repercussions have extended beyond the boundaries of linguistics into the social and political domain. The present generation of foreign-language undergraduates has been profoundly (if unknowingly) affected by this debate, as reflected in their approach to the learning of grammar, and any consideration of the methodology of language teaching, including that of CALL, must take account of it.

scholarly journals Social Context in Massively-Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs):

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 46-52
Author(s):  
Dorothy E Warner ◽  
Mike Raiter
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Online Games ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Scientific Study ◽  
Massively Multiplayer Online Games ◽  
Multiplayer Online Games ◽  
The Social ◽  
Industrialized Nations ◽  
Massively Multiplayer

Computer and video games have become nearly ubiquitous among individuals in industrialized nations, and they have received increasing attention from researchers across many areas of scientific study. However, relatively little attention has been given to Massively-Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs). The unique social context of MMOGs raises ethical questions about how communication occurs and how conflict is managed in the game world. In order to explore these questions, we compare the social context in Blizzard’s World of Warcraft and Disney’s Toontown, focusing on griefing opportunities in each game. We consider ethical questions from the perspectives of players, game companies, and policymakers.

scholarly journals Learning in a Content-Based, Collaboratively Structured Course: The Experience of an Adult ESL Learner

1994 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merrill Swain
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Japanese Woman ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Second Language Learner ◽  
Group Settings ◽  
Adult Esl ◽  
The Social

In this article the emotive, social aspects of learning ESL in small group settings are explored. The feelings and beliefs of one learner, an adult Japanese woman, are captured as she reflects on her classroom experiences. It is argued that her conscious reflection about her negative emotions and their sources allowed her to act on them, resulting in enhanced second language learning. It is also argued that it may be as important to help learners deal with the social dimensions as the cognitive dimensions of second language learning in order to experience success as a second language learner.

Folk beliefs about second language learning and teaching

AILA Review ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 88-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Pasquale
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Dynamic Process ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Folk Belief ◽  
Folk Beliefs ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Linguistic Research ◽  
Cognitive Foundations

What do students and teachers believe about the second language learning process? What if these beliefs are in conflict with each other or with prevailing applied linguistic theories? These are the types of questions that are investigated within folk linguistic research. Some researchers have taken a quantitative approach that relied on questionnaires (e.g., Horwitz 1985), while others have delved into the cognitive foundations of beliefs (e.g., Woods 2003). Lastly, some have used discoursal approaches which use discourse analytic (e.g., Pasquale & Preston, forthcoming) and culturally contextualized approaches (e.g., Barcelos 1995) suggesting that folk belief is a dynamic process. Therefore, a discoursal approach may provide insights into respondents’ reasoning rather than what might be considered more static domains of belief.

Exploring collaborative reverse subtitling for the enhancement of written production activities in English as a second language

ReCALL ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noa Talaván ◽  
Ana Ibáñez ◽  
Elena Bárcena
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Second Language Learning ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Written Production ◽  
Collective Work ◽  
The Social ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Pros And Cons

AbstractThis article explores the effects of collaborative reverse subtitling as an activity for the promotion of writing skills in English as a second language. An initial analysis is undertaken of the pros and cons of the role of translation in second language learning historically and the role of information and communication technology in this process, with special attention being paid to recent initiatives on the didactic use of audiovisual translation in the form of subtitling, and the evidence of their efficacy obtained so far. Subsequently, a completed research project is described, which was aimed at promoting second language learning among distance learning university students through collaborative reverse subtitling. Specifically, the project aimed to explore both the potential of a guided subtitling activity for the development of written production skills, and also the dynamics of undertaking such an activity collaboratively, in order to gain insights on the social, cognitive, metacognitive and transfer mechanisms that can be activated in collective study. Finally, we reflect on the need to accumulate evidence on multimodal translating scenarios combining individual and collective work for the development of communicative language competences, through further research and classroom use, in order to consolidate and refine these findings.

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