2.2 Songs and games in language proficiency
Surprisingly enough, educators' use of the term "active
learning" has relied more on intuitive understanding than a common definition.
Consequently, many faculties assert that all learning is inherently active and
that students are therefore actively involved while listening to formal
presentations in the classroom. Analysis of the research literature (Chickering
and Gamson1987), however, suggests that students must do more than just listen:
They must read, write, discuss, or be engaged in solving problems. Most
important, to be actively involved, students must engage in such higher-order
thinking tasks as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Within this context, it
is proposed that strategies promoting active learning be defined as
instructional activities involving students in doing things and thinking about
what they are doing.
Use of these techniques in the classroom is vital because of
their powerful impact upon students' learning. For example, several studies
have shown that students prefer strategies promoting active learning to
traditional lectures. Other research studies evaluating students' achievement
have demonstrated that many strategies promoting active learning are comparable
to lectures in promoting the mastery of content but superior to lectures in
promoting the development of students' skills in thinking and writing. Then,
one has to acknowledge that songs and games are the best ways to enhance
students interest incommunicative learning as Hadfield J (1984) put. Further,
some cognitive research has shown that a significant number of individuals have
learning styles best served by pedagogical techniques other than lecturing.
Therefore, a thoughtful and scholarly approach to skilful teaching requires
that faculty become knowledgeable about the many ways strategies promoting
active learning have been successfully used across the disciplines. Further,
each faculty member should engage in self-reflection, exploring his or her
personal willingness to experiment with alternative approaches to
instruction
Games may have a number of potentials for foreign or second
language learning. Most of these potentials are associated with the ability of
games to provide learning environments that contextualise knowledge and provide
immersive experiences for learners. As suggested by a recent review in
Languages, technology and learning (Milton 2006) learning a language
is different from any other subject in the curriculum as it combines explicit
learning of vocabulary and language rules with unconscious skill development in
the fluent application of both these things. For language learners this implies
that they should be able to master both grammatical knowledge and fluency, the
latter being often difficult to provide in classrooms where a couple of lessons
a week may fail to provide the meaningful exposure to the foreign language
required for learning. Games and simulations have been part of language
learning for decades, and have had a role in supporting communicative
approaches to language learning, i.e. in providing authentic and meaningful
opportunities for language production and use. Game-based language learning has
for instance supported fluency and Research, Reflections and Innovations in
Integrating ICT in Education715 communicative competence by letting learners
simulate or play real life situations, drama or narrative (Crookall 2007, Li
& Topolewski 2002, Crookall & Oxford 1990). In addition to this puzzles
and minigames such as Hangman have been used to enhance vocabulary acquisition
and use. In this sense games have been associated with a move from the teaching
of discrete grammatical structures to the promotion of communicative ability
(Warschauer & Kern 2000, 1). According to Macedonia (2005) games may serve
to proceduralise foreign language knowledge, i.e. to encourage and support
fluency against the generally rule-based, declarative approach to foreign
language teaching. In moving from declarative to procedural knowledge
game-based language learning may serve to provide practice as well as a basis
for the repetition of grammatical structures in the foreign language.
In Senegal foreign language education is a central part of the
curriculum, as Senegalese citizens, being speakers of a minority language, need
foreign language competence to communicate, learn and interact in a number of
contexts at home and abroad. In secondary schools children are taught English
from the first form (twelve years age group). Senegal has a long tradition for
communicative foreign language education. This means that English is generally
taught in English, teaching materials are as a rule authentic, and language
activities are contextualised and related to everyday activities. In addition
to this there is a focus on adapting instruction and learning to the needs of
the individual learner. This implies that pupils are viewed as children who are
motivated by and learn through play, musical and creative activities. In the
3rd form pupils will therefore generally have their first school based
encounters with the English language through for instance songs, rhymes,
dialogue, minigames and role-plays.
Receptive skills are given priority in the first phases of
learning the language, which means that listening is central activity in the
classroom. Text material is not generally given priority in the classroom in
the first phases of learning the language. Finally, there is an awareness of
the fact that students do not necessarily learn their initial English
vocabulary in school, i.e. that many children learn English at an early age
through the media, for instance television, films, music and computer games.
This means that instruction and learning must relate to the fact that some
learners have already acquired vocabulary and initial communicative experience
when they start learning English in school. The principles for student's
education in English in Senegalese secondary schools to some extent facilitate
the use of games in the classroom. As mentioned above games have been part of
language education for decades, and playful and creative approaches to learning
the language are generally accepted both in formal and informal learning
contexts. However, computer games have never had a central position in foreign
language education, and schools and teachers are to some extent sceptical of
the educational role of digital games. This may be due to what de Castell and
Jenson call the «dominant cultural (op) positioning of play and
education» (de Castell &Jenson 2003, 654), i.e. the fact that play and
gaming are understood as representing childish activities that are potentially
disruptive and antithetical to schooling. Gaming is, as claimed by de Castell
and Jenson, a fundamentally unpopular culture in schools, a fact that
influences teachers' views on gaming as well as their practice (de Castell
& Jenson 2003). The role of the teacher as a gate keeper and negotiator of
game-based instruction and learning is, as I will argue below, one of the
central aspects of assessing and designing serious games for language learning
in a global context
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