Simulation in second language acquisition: Part 3 (original) (raw)
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Conference Education and New Developments 2021, 2021
The paper presents an intercultural serious game 'Experiment D', which was developed in a cooperation between the junior professor of Intercultural Competence (Chemnitz University of Technology) and the chair of Social Work Management (FHD Dresden-University of Applied Sciences). The game was successfully tested and assessed in the summer term 2017 and 2018. The main plot consists of a communicative negotiation and strategic handling of a complex situation at university that involves various stakeholders, both within and without it. The game fosters cultural awareness and self-reflection, appreciation of and a creative approach towards diversity, as well as general communicative, social, and team competences. Since it does not require any specialised prior knowledge, 'Experiment D' potentially addresses students of all disciplines. The participants of the two test sessions were students of the study fields MERGE Technologies for Resource Efficiency (study component "Soft Skills", Faculty of Mechanical Engineering) and Intercultural Communication and Competence (compulsory study component Intercultural Learning, Faculty of Humanities) at the Chemnitz University of Technology. Ethnicity, nationality, first language(s), degree of proficiency in English and German, and academic background were all factors that engendered a highly diverse game setting. Aside from the concept of the game, as well as its methodology and didactics, the paper also discusses the results of its assessment.
CULTURAL PREDICAMENTS: DESIGNING ROLE-PLAY SIMULATIONS INVOLVING INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
This paper describes, analyses and compares the learning objectives and design of four role-play simulations involving intercultural communication contexts. The aim is to elicit some practical observations in the search for an effective strategy for the creation of online role-plays that meet learning objectives involving intercultural communication settings. Can learning objectives be designed into a role-play simulation framework that enables participants to experience the issues and problems involved in intercultural communication? The paper suggests that certain design choices are particularly useful in creating such role-plays regardless of the subject domain to which they are applied.
INVESTIGATING SOCIAL MOTIVATION IN AN EDUCATIONAL GAME FOR ACQUIRING INTERCULTURAL SKILLS
2009
ABSTRACT Games are increasingly being adapted for use as educational tools. One relatively new use of games is to facilitate learning social or interpersonal skills such as conflict resolution by simulating human behavior with virtual characters. My work investigates students' social goals to understand how they help motivate students to acquire cultural understanding in BiLAT, one such system designed to teach cross-cultural negotiation skills.
Simulation games as educational texts and mediational tools for intercultural learning
2020
This article reports on the results of research carried out with university students using simulation games as educational resources. The aim of the study was to analyse the role of simulation games as mediational tools in the creation of playful, creativity-based educational interaction and the development of intercultural competence. Our approach is grounded in Moeglin's (2008) discussion of the role of mediatisation in the process of learning, Huizinga's (1971) theory of play (as it relates to learning), and Vygotsky's (1978) idea of a social constructivist pedagogy. The results suggest that simulation games exhibit the potential to develop important elements of intercultural competence, by helping to: turn learning into play, develop decision-making and other intercultural skills (as opposed to simply providing knowledge), and maximise students' potential learning outcomes. In addition, simulation games provide a multimodal platform, encouraging the development o...
Intercultural Simulation Games for Management Education in Japan
Managers in Japan are isolated both geographically and psychologically from encountering people from other cultures. This presents a difficulty in acquiring competency in intercultural communication, an increasingly needed skill for corporate internationalization. Undergraduate education in the economics, commerce, and management departments of major universities can play a role in addressing this need. Simulation games, in particular, allow students to both experience meeting another culture in a short time and discover new dimensions of self-awareness, cultural sensitivity and communication skills. This paper justifies the use of simulation in relation to traditional classroom methods, compares five different intercultural simulation games developed for management training in North America and documents a case study of adapting one of these simulation games with a group of international business students in Japan. This simulation, called Bafa Bafa, was tested with fifteen students, aged 19-22, who experienced three hours of learning a simulated culture, visiting another unknown culture, discussing their problems and reflections, and summarizing these through concept mapping. Written participant comments were analyzed by coding sentences according to criteria of the Bennett model of developmental stages of intercultural sensitivity. This content analysis indicated students were able to identify new ways to communicate when rules and language are not explicit and they were forced to learn by trial and error. The process of culture shock was reproduced in the game, revealing the affective aspects of cross-cultural learning.
A simple multi-player video game framework for experimenting and teaching cultural understanding
Proceedings of the 20th International Academic Mindtrek Conference on - AcademicMindtrek '16, 2016
We have created a game called Culture Code that allows researchers and teachers to host online games where teams have asynchronous abilities. Inspired by the game Barnga [11], which is designed to "explore factors related to communication problems in intercultural situations", our game, Culture Code, takes Barnga's basic mechanics and extends them. In Barnga, some players enter a game where they do not know the game rules resulting in a disadvantage compared to others who already know the rules. This mechanic is meant to simulate the disadvantages of someone entering a culture where the rules aren't explained. We extend this idea into out framework in which players are divided into teams, and each team's capabilities can be uniquely defined. This framework can be used to create a wide variety of scenarios to facilitate experiments and teaching points related to cultural advantages and disadvantages.
Coaching Intercultural Communication in a Serious Game
We consider the use of virtual humans and an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) for the teaching of cultural social conventions. Learning occurs in a serious game that requires the learner to establish trust and reach agreements with virtual characters of a different culture. Our tutoring system provides culturally focused learning support during and after the meetings with these virtual characters. In a study intended to determine the effectiveness of the ITS, we found that guidance provided during meetings seemed to improve learners' understandings of culturally-related "phases" in meetings (e.g., when to talk about business) as well as greater success in an unsupported posttest meeting, but with no overall increase in cultural understanding when compared with learning in passive and unguided conditions.
Defining Game-Mediated Second and Foreign Language Teaching and Learning
International Journal of Game-Based Learning
The game-mediated second and foreign language (GML2) field investigates how games can be used in facilitating L2 teaching and learning. This review explores how researchers define and differentiate among GML2 practices. A total of 51 publications from 2010 to 2021 were analyzed, revealing that only 40% of the publications defined GML2 practices, with the majority focused on the use of educational games. A key recommendation is that scholars clearly define specific types of GML2 practices in their empirical and conceptual work to build a more coherent body of scholarship.
Serious games as catalyst for intercultural literacy development? : a case study of Immigropoly
2017
This thesis inquires into whether a specific online game could be used as a catalyst for intercultural literacy development. The case study focused on Immigropoly, a game aimed at introducing the hardships of immigrants to society at large in Europe by putting players in control of a fictional immigrant character and tasking them with getting that character safely to Europe. The interest towards this topic is twofold. First, it deals with immigration, a hot topic with tremendous societal impact, and how to better cope with similar intercultural phenomena. Secondly, the usage of computers and computer games as a medium to convey information is something that is quite often discussed, and touches many facets of intercultural communication. The empirical study was conducted as qualitative interviews of selected test players with the BNIM (Biographic Narrative Interpretive Method) approach. The driving research question is "How do players of Immigropoly describe their gaming experience related to issues of learning?" To ascertain this, relevant theoretical concepts such experiential learning, transfer of learning and general definitions of what intercultural literacy and serious games are were introduced. According to the results, the notion of the importance of the game was prevalent in most the answers gained from the test players. Despite difficulties and problems related to using games for such educational purposes, several new research directions and ideas could be introduced.
What is it?": A Culture Sensitive Educational Game
When teachers want to introduce a discussion about the use of cigarette to a group of teenagers, it can be interesting to know what this group thinks about it in order to contextualize the approach to their profile. It is proposed here a framework to instance web game supported by common sense knowledge to approach the called “transversal themes” of the school curriculum, like healthcare, sexual education and ethic. The quiz game framework called “What is it?” is presented as a support for teachers in contextualizing the content to the students’ local culture, promoting a more effective and significant learning, where a new knowledge is related to a previous one in the student’s cognitive structure. Teachers can set up a web quiz game based on common sense knowledge in the prototype presented.