Games Inspire Learning

     Gamification is a concept which involves games in teaching and learning, and its goal is to help language learners to develop their abilities and skills in language learning when they are engaged in games. Compared to traditional language teaching, involving games in language education becomes more and more popular, even in higher education. As the article 7 Things You Should Know About Games and Learning notes that "the interactive dynamic of games has the potential to benefit teaching and learning". Since during classroom-based games, students are able to develop their own abilities and language skills while they are engaged in games. Involving various games in language class not only aims to have something for fun but also to encourage students to actively participate and practice what they have learned and to provide feedback which will be helpful for students' future learning. Another significant feature of involving games in language teaching could be motivation. Motivation plays an important role in learning, especially in language learning; with motivation, students will be able to hold a positive attitude and keep exploring their own potential abilities on language learning. Moreover, students who have motivation in learning usually learn better and behave more effective than students who lack motivations. Therefore, through games, students are able to gain more interest in learning, to know what they have learned, and more importantly--to realize what they need to improve. The more they are encouraged and inspired, the better they learn.

     A number of games which are regarded as effective games could be considered by language educators. One of the types which is typical and popular in our modern society might be the digital games which requires the use of technology while teaching. In the article "Just Playing Games? A Look at the Use of Digital Games for Language Learning", five key elements--goals, interaction, feedback, context, and motivation, which are meaningful in language learning have been emphasized. Especially the key feature of context, it serves an effective function in language learning since authenticity is considered importantly in language teaching. Digital games could provide multi-dimension contexts which are powerful to develop communicative competences to language learners; therefore, through digital games, students can gain more opportunities to practice how to use language in a real world.

     This point of view was also mentioned by Tom Chatfield in his speech Tom Chatfield: 7 Ways Games Reward the Brain. And he brought up with another important feature of games-- rewards. As Tom said, rewards encourages development. The more rewards a learner gains, the more participation he/she wants to produce. Therefore, this process becomes a circulation which encourages the learner to participate more, practice more, and receive more feedback. Through games with rewards, learners will develop clear goals in order to complete the games and gain rewards, and they will try their best during the process of games. All these will benefit the learner for better language learning.