Contextualizing Digital Game-Based Language Learning: Transformational Paradigm Shift or Business as Usual?

Abstract

The use of games in language learning has long been contested territory. Advocates identify advantages that range from the ‘cognitive aspects of language learning to more co-operative group dynamics’ (Lengeling & Malarcher, 1997, p. 42). According to this view, games can be motivating (Lee, 1979); reduce anxiety (Richard-Amato, 1988); focus learners on communicating in the target language rather than on using correct linguistic structures (Silvers, 1982; Zdybiewska, 1994); provide more introverted students with a greater range of opportunities for self-expression (Hansen, 1994); and create an informal atmosphere that enhances learner receptiveness (Richard-Amato, 1988; Wierus & Wierus, 1994). On the other hand, debunkers may dismiss games as mere ‘ice breakers’ and ‘gap fillers’, or activities for a rainy day and no more. Administrators may go further and ban them altogether as ‘disruptive’ activities that threaten a ‘serious’ learning environment, thus confirming the opposition of ‘enjoyment’ and ‘fun’ to so-called ‘real learning’ (Kim, 1995). This debate also highlights the way language learning itself can be seen in more general terms as a less ‘serious’ academic pursuit, and thus the need to marginalize game-like activities is part of a wider response that attempts to establish it as a ‘theory-driven’ or ‘quasi-scientific’ discipline in its own right.