Games and Gamification for Language Teaching: What Do We Mean?

Deborah Healey

English language teachers are generally quite familiar with using games in their
classrooms. We often use competition to enhance motivation with spelling, verb
tenses, vocabulary, and more. Teachers can employ ready-made language games
or create their own from templates, such as Snakes and Ladders or Jeopardy. But
just what counts as a game?

According to a number of writers, a game is any system with the following elements:
• Rules
• Some sort of challenge
• Feedback of some sort
• Interaction
• Fun
• (Often, but not always) an emotional response
An activity that is fun and challenging but has no rules should be called play rather than a game.
Gamification, on the other hand, is using game elements in non-game contexts.

TeachThought describes the difference as follows:

Gamification is the application of game-like mechanics to non-game entities to encourage a
specific behavior.
Game-based learning is simply learning through games.
This means that gamification is first and foremost about encouragement mechanics and the
system that promotes them, while game-based learning is first and foremost about the game
and its "cognitive residue" (whether from the game's content, or traditional curriculum).
Both can be used to promote mastery of academic content. (2013, image on initial screen).

About games in learning and game-based learning

Noted computer game creator Jane McGonigal talks about "hard fun" (2011:32).
Challenging games such as chess are hard fun. These can give us a sense of
mastery when we succeed. In the classroom, we might use easy fun, a simple
game that everyone can play successfully, in the last five minutes of class.
When we want students to gain more, however, it's time for hard fun. Everyone
can participate in this mental challenge at his or her level if students play in teams. Occasionally
using games in class is an example of games in learning.

Game-based learning generally refers to the use of a game over several class periods as part of
the course. Minecraft is one example. This game is based on creating your own world from a
blank space through excavation (which can also find treasure) and building. Some English
language teachers have used Minecraft in the classroom to build language skills and encourage
collaborative work (Smolčec & Smolčec, 2014). Teachers will need to fully understand how to
build with the game in order to use it effectively. Trace Effects is another example. It was
developed by the U.S. Department of State and designed for use in the English language
classroom. It is both a fun activity for language learners and a teaching tool for teachers. The
main character, Trace, has to accomplish certain tasks to complete each of the seven chapters.

D. Healey, dhealey@uoregon.edu 2021 1

The player chooses what Trace does and says to the other characters. Players get points for
choosing appropriate language – relevant and polite – in conversations with the game's
characters. The language and game play in the game get more difficult with each chapter. After
completing a chapter, the player has access to a graphic novel version of the chapter. The CD for
the game includes additional language practice relevant to each chapter and language games. The
Teacher's Edition DVD includes an extensive teacher's manual with suggestions for game-related
classroom activities. The Teacher's Edition also includes a video walkthrough of the game.
Teachers can use the video to show specific clips from the game in class. Since the game is
designed for English language teaching, it is relatively easy for teachers to use effectively.

About gamification
Gamification is different from playing games in the classroom, either games in learning or games
as learning. The classroom itself becomes a playful, gaming environment with gamification as a
tool for motivation – and the gaming is often “hard fun,” as mentioned earlier.

For gamification, teachers need to think about using "game mechanics" to build engagement in
the classroom. Manrique describes 35 game mechanics in A Simple and Easy to Use Toolkit for
Gamification Design (2013). Teachers already use several of these, such as:
• Collaboration (Party/Team) and competition (Player vs. Player)
• Rewards (such as stars)
• Experience Points (numerical value for actions, such as grades)
• Game Constraints (rules)

Game mechanics that teachers could add would be

• Levels (points lead to rewards)
• Badges (visible/digital signs as rewards)
• Progress Display (visual depiction of progress, always
increasing)
• Quests (a mission with objectives, as in project-based
learning)
• Epic Challenge (the sense of accomplishing something
big, such as a project that goes outside the classroom).

The video Gamification in education (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYnbapB5Yl8)

explains why gamification could be good in education. One reason is persistence, the willingness
to keep trying and not give up. This is closely related to resilience, the ability to come back from
failure. Gamers try to learn from their mistakes and keep playing. The video also offers a
concrete suggestion for teachers to encourage persistence and resilience. In games, the player
starts with zero points, and points add up. In a classroom, learners start with 100% and lose
points with each mistake on an assignment and quiz. A change in grading to add up rather than
down would give the learner points and a sense of success with each assignment.

Gamification is more than just adding points, badges, and levels. As Dodson points out
(Catalano, 2012), "the way the user experience is framed – providing feelings of
competence, of being in control and that the outcome matters – is critical." As teachers,
we should see our learners as active in the classroom – as "players," with choices.

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Learners need to do more than accumulate points for the work they do. Badges can be used to
reward collaboration or other desirable classroom behavior. The levels that students achieve via
points should be meaningful, showing actual achievement. Major projects can be described as
Quests. Activity and sharing outside the classroom can turn Quests into Epic Challenges.

Teachers can start small. Vocabulary or grammar work can be gamified first, for
example. Adding game elements and gamifying thoughtfully is the key to adding
motivation that is effective in the classroom.

Game on!

References
Catalano, M. (2012). What's the difference between games and gamification? Retrieved from
https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/08/21/whats-the-difference-between-games-and-gamification/
A look at the difference, some suggestions, and some pitfalls to avoid when gamifying.
Dodgson, E. (2015). Language learning and Minecraft. https://eflmagazine.com/language-learning-
minecraft/
Some ideas about how to get started using Minecraft in English language teaching.
Gamification of education. (n.d.). [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/nYnbapB5Yl8
A brief video-based introduction to gamification.
Healey, D. (2017). Gamification for teachers: Game mechanics. Retrieved from
https://sites.google.com/site/gamificationforelteachers/game-mechanics
A description of game mechanics that often are and could be used by teachers. The site also
includes a number of additional resources for gamification.
Manrique, V. (2013). A simple and easy to use toolkit for gamification design. Retrieved from
http://www.epicwinblog.net/2013/10/the-35-gamification-mechanics-toolkit.html
A toolkit that provides 35 mechanics, with explanations. You can download them online or pay
for a print copy.
McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality is broken: Why games make us better and how they can change the world.
New York: Penguin Books.
An intriguing book about game elements that make us better and the ways that games can be
created and employed for social good.
Pixabay.com (2017). Images: soccer player from https://pixabay.com/en/boy-soccer-football-playing-
kids-1292242/; chess from https://pixabay.com/en/chess-play-relax-think-chess-board-1019908/.
Images are Creative Commons licensed. Pixabay is a good source for free images.
Smolčec, M. & Smolčec, F. (2014). Using Minecraft for learning English. http://www.tesl-
ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume18/ej70/ej70int/.
Reasons why and how English language teachers can use Minecraft in their classes.
TeachThought. (2013). The difference between gamification and game-based learning. Retrieved from
https://www.teachthought.com/learning/difference-gamification-game-based-learning/
A short and useful reading, but with a lot of intermingled ads.
U.S. Department of State. (2012). Trace Effects. Material available at
https://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/trace-effects and https://www.deborahhealey.com/trace
Free video game, teacher's manual, graphic novels, and supplemental material designed for
English language teaching and learning. Chapter 1 is playable online; download game and
extensive material on the websites.

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