Andrew Sansone
Video games are a new addition to the toolkit used by language educators, and a great deal of their effectiveness is a result of their focus upon learner autonomy and contextualization. It also offers new ways to engage learners who themselves enjoy video games in their leisure time.
One example of learner autonomy is the use of Papers, Please in a lesson focused on travel document vocabulary. Normally, this lesson would be conducted using a textbook and traditional approach, including vocabulary presentation, contextualized reading, and listening comprehension activities.
However, this lesson could be enhanced by using multimodal learning. Papers, Please involves a simple conceit- you take on the role of an Arstotzkan (a lightly disguised version of East Germany) border guard. Your job is to decide which people enter your country, and which are rejected. Your basic salary is based upon the number of people you process, and is usually insufficient- but you can earn extra money by reporting ‘criminals’ and taking bribes. Your family requires money for food, medicine, and heat. Students get to use the TL in a new and creative way- and given the role playing aspects of the game. Students are asked to spot forged passports and visas by checking the issuing city, biographical details of the subject, and by analyzing their conversation with those looking to enter Arstozka. The following PDF illustrate the various visa/passport/biographical details that students must juggle and engage with with playing the game. Obviously, all of these factors use the TL in a natural and authentic way.
Students in a class can play collaboratively, with the teacher controlling the mouse and the students telling him or her what to investigate or do. Student autonomy is central to the success of the lesson, as the directions players take in game can shape the atmosphere their character inhabits. For instance, students who take bribes to allow resistance members into Arstotzka can personally profit, but weaken the foundations of an immoral state. Those who choose to follow the ‘party-line’ will find the state strengthened, but their own moral compass malignly affected.
After playing the game, students then fill out a response to how they feel about the game and what they learned.
Interesting. And you raise some important points about collaboration (with appropriate online resources, could not students play in pairs and interact with each other as they make decisions?) and authenticity. “Use the TL in a natural and authentic way,” you say, which I assume refers to the students talking about making the border guard’s decisions? Seeing the game does remind me that there is a classroom game to be played with analogue materials where some students create an identity and others role play immigration officials who must make the decision to admit an individual or deny entrance. Plus, of course, there is a very current debate to be had about the immigrants/refugees from countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. We shall certainly circle back to this next semester when we discuss various kinds of materials, including online resources. Thanks for raising our awareness of another of the many many possibilities.