Gamification in English Learning Classroom: Casual Games

      Before introducing my idea of applying a causal game in the future classroom, I would like to talk about gamification first.

What is gamification?

      According to 7Things You Should Know About Gamification, “Gamification is the application of game elements in non-gaming situations, often to motivate or influence behavior”. In other words, designing a language learning task in the form of a game is the gamification.

What are the benefits of using gamification in the classroom?

      To summarize the answer from Tom Chatfield, there are benefits:

      1. Easy to motivate or stimulate learners’ interests through beautiful and settings.

      2. Clear indications for measuring progress of each learner.

      3. Well-planned long-term and short-term goals for learners to achieve gradually.

      4. Positive reward (fictitious money, trophy or XP) and feedback both for the teacher and the player.

      5. Try to finish some tasks in collaborative and interactive atmosphere.

How to use gamification in the English class?

      This time, I would like to use a causal game as an example. I found a game named Happy Pets through 10Gaming Genres to Adapt in Class. Happy Pets is a webpage game operated by Facebook. It offers players a platform to adopt pets and raise them with care. Although this the first time I play this game, I could easily understand the operations and instructions within 10 minutes.

      I decide to use this game as an assist to help students to practice their writing skills. I can design a topic, such as what pets do you have, why would you choose this pet, or if you can raise a real one, will you choose another pet etc. Or just let them keep a weekly diary to report their pets’ growth. During this process, students should describe the images and explain the reasons in English which will practice their writing skills. Furthermore, since it is a game from Facebook, it would be easier for them to share their playing conditions with their friends and classmates. And Happy Pets has a system of giving gifts to others in order to finish a mission. Thus, I think this game would also enhance the communication or interaction between the classmates outside the classroom. I might not use a walk thourgh and the images from the game because Happy Pets does not contain much techniques. What the studetns need to do is to offer their pets some daily care. And although the images of the game is very cute, it is not very useful in the teaching.

      On the other hand, I could use prizes to keep students to get involved in the game and form a good habit of writing. And the prize will be given based on their writings rather than who has a higher level of the game. In this gamificationized writing task, the role of the teacher (me) is the controller and the judge. I should control students do not pay too much time on the game and judge their outputs both of the writing and the pets (outcome of the game).

      I think I could assess my learning objectives through my students production. Since I decide to make it a long-range task, I will find whether students' writing skills are improves or not by comparing their writings, and I could find out what efforts should I make to better support their writing.

      To sum up, gamification offers teachers an advanced but easy to get students involved in the language learning tasks, and it offers students opportunities for recognition and a positive attitude toward their work.