Autonomous Learning Through Games!

A game that I think is extremely interactive and engaging for English language learners is Trace Effects. I played Chapters 1 and 2 of the game the first time I encountered it. Then a day later I played Chapters 1-3. I had a lot of fun playing the game but it did take playing the first chapter to get used to it. I had to learn how to navigate a choice of actions and spoken options. Also, I spent a lot of time learning how to navigate the character and interact with others. The game poses enough of a challenge for it not to be overly easy; however, it is very clear on what you need to do and how you should do it. There are a lot of options for English use between the actions which emphasize different verbs and the spoken options which emphasize pragmatic competence.

 

One specific language learning objective for students playing this game (specifically Chapter 1) would be to be able to identify vocabulary concerned with American universities. For Chapter 2 the objective for the students would change to identifying vocabulary used at farmers markets. This could include various listening and reading comprehension skills because the game forces students to read the information on the screen and also to listen to what the characters say in order to gather all the information necessary to complete each step. This is a great learning tool for English language learners because it shows some of the everyday elements and environments in the daily lives of many Americans. It also provides the students with a chance to have certain sections of the video or character speech repeated back to them. Additionally, there is  appropriate feedback when a student chooses the wrong option. The other characters in the game react differently to various answer choices and it reflects real life situations and pragmatics very well. I could assess whether learning objectives have been met by monitoring student progress as they complete the game and receive feedback at the end of each chapter. I could also have them show me what they have learned by having students role play the situations they encountered in the game. I could assess their navigation of both vocabulary and pragmatic competence by observing role play interactions.

Overall, I think this is a really fun and engaging game with a lot of relevance to everyday life and situations in America. I hope my future students will also find it a fun way to learn and practice their language skills!