A "Walkthrough" of the English Language: A Game Play Approach to Language Learning

ESL teachers are always looking for new and exciting ways to present material to students that will facilitate language learning within the classroom by engaging them in the lesson.  Another major obstacle for teachers is creating fun and meaningful lessons that will entice students to become willing participants in the language learning process; to find games and activities that also provide learning contexts.  Gamification is one such teaching technique that allows for a solution to each of the problems listed above.  The idea behind gamification is the application of game techniques and the use of game thinking in non-game contexts to aid people (students)  in solving problems.  One type of game, casual games, specifically Escape the Room games which is a genre of casual games, is especially useful to facilitate learning in the language classroom.  According to Graham Stanley, Escape the room games are effective teaching tools to use in the language classroom because they provide "good live listening skills" through the use of walkthroughs. I have had experience with one Escape the Room game in particular, Mystery of Time and Space (Motas) which involves the gamer completing various mini tasks in order to complete the larger task of escaping from a particular room.  I played about five levels of this game.  The good thing about this game is it has a lot of levels that increase in difficulty and you do not have to play all the levels in one sitting. After reading an article on this game and playing the game for myself I realized the potential for this game in the language learning classroom.  My language learning objectives for a lesson involving Motas would be: learners would demonstrate an understanding of everyday household vocabulary through the successful completion of the mini tasks involved in this type of game; and students will demonstrate the ability to listen to and follow directions in English by making visible progress in the game as they successfully move from task to task and/or room to room. The mini tasks would be dictated by the teacher which are incorporated in the walkthrough for Motas.  As the teacher, my role would be to mediate the students' comprehension of the purpose of this game through giving them detailed and specific directions on how the game works.  Once I am sure that all of my students have a grasp on the purpose of the game I would then shift my role to guide, as I guide the students through the mini tasks presented in the walkthrough making sure to use appropriate vocabulary and give feedback through clarification of steps when needed. Stanley even suggests that the teacher adapt the walkthrough to meet the specific vocabulary needs of the learners.  The role of the students would then be to listen carefully to the directions being dictated by the teacher and try to complete the puzzle or escape from the room through recollection of the vocabulary and completion of the various mini tasks.  One suggested warm up activity, which I really like, before having the students play the game is to show them still images of some of the rooms and ask them in pairs or as a class as a whole to name objects in the room.  I will be able to tell which students understand the target vocabulary and which students are having trouble with it by who is able to complete the tasks and who is not able to complete the tasks.  Another good way to assess understanding is to give the students a printed copy of the walkthrough and see who is able to escape from the room with little to no help from the teacher.  I honestly never thought that this type of game could be seen as a learning tool until I explored and researched the benefits of it in the classroom.  And I have concluded that this is definitely a teaching tool I will take advantage of in my future ESL classroom.