ALSIC2022: Special Issue on Games and Gaming for Native and Foreign Language Learning |
Website | https://journals.openedition.org/alsic/4953 |
Submission link | https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=alsic2022 |
Submission deadline | September 30, 2021 |
ALSIC2022 is a special issue of the Alsic journal, designed around games and gaming for supporting the development of native and foreign language skills with the help of contributing sciences. In our context, the word “learning” applies to foreign language context as well as native language contexts, often referred to as acquisition. This issue intends to explore how various areas of expertise can inform each other with state-of-the-art knowledge to support exploration of new perspectives. Combining cross-disciplinary know-how will be key to game design with academic content and observed learning outcomes.
Educational Games (sometimes also called serious games, see Alvarez, Djaouti & Rampnoux 2016) are well-known in the language learning community [Ibarra 2020]; there is an entire spectrum of language learning game applications: on the one end, gamified applications like Duolingo consist of designed learning content that use game-like mechanics in a non game environment in order to motivate the learner (points, levels, badges and social networks); on the other hand, there are fully-fledged multiplayer online role-playing games like World of Warcraft or Minecraft and their surrounding communities of practice that were not intended as language teaching environments but as entertainment. Games like these and their supporting communities have been shown to provide a natural environment for language learning or acquisition [Lenhart, Amanda 2015; Wigham 2018]. In the middle of this spectrum are (serious) games with a playful character that are created explicitly for language development.
Native (L1) and foreign (L2) language acquisition are traditionally treated separately. However, considering that literacy games designed for L1 include acquisition of reading and writing skills as a major component, this area of work should also enter into the cross-disciplinary aspects of the underlying knowledge that affects both L1 and L2 learning. This issue seeks to explicitly merge these two product and research areas.
The challenge is to combine know-how across subjects in such a way to create effective educational games and gamified applications to avoid errors and include special know-how. The combination of didactics, linguistic know-how for automated content selection, technical software development skills, and game design knowledge are necessary to ensure both intrinsic motivation as well as learning process and outcomes. This cross-disciplinary effort inspired the broad range of academic fields addressed by the current special issue. By jointly publishing seemingly diverse aspects to the same problem we hope to provide a broader context for experts from fields as diverse as didactics and game developers.
It is clear, then, that in building games, many aspects have to be considered that go beyond one’s immediate expertise. In the development process, didactic and pedagogical principles, teacher acceptance, and the particularity of content for the games need to be appreciated and integrated. The didactically motivated and linguistically extracted content for the games has to be fully understood by the developer and can be either corpus- and linguistically-based or jointly developed with experts (for example with pedagogical, speech therapy or cognitive background) that may include the teachers themselves. The user interface might draw on several disciplines including psychology of motivation to keep the players engaged, as well as a deeper understanding of the community's motivations and interests – areas in which game developers may have expertise, but linguists, teachers, or language acquisition experts may not. Responsive systems in language-based games may require Natural Language Processing (NLP) expertise, which straddles the fields of linguistics, computer science, and artificial intelligence. Social aspects of communities that develop around games and massively support written and oral interaction in foreign languages are more likely to fall under the purview of sociologists and social psychologists than any of the above areas of expertise. The problem statement is inherently multidisciplinary, and the potential list of expertise provides only examples of the types of aspects to be considered. The goal of this issue is to serve the gap for existing journals to address the interdisciplinary aspects of developing serious games for language learning in a joint publication.
Submission Guidelines
All papers must be original and not simultaneously submitted to another journal or conference. The articles should not exceed 9000 words. In addition, please follow the instructions applying to articles published in Alsic: https://journals.openedition.org/alsic/2899. Please, provide 3-5 keywords and an abstract in the language of the article as well as its translation into one other language (one of these should be in English). The following paper categories are welcome:
- Research papers
- Research and practice papers
- Analysis of tools or resources
Important dates
- Call for paper: 7 April 2021
- Abstract that are treated as intents only and can be submitted by: 15 June 2021 (this helps us to plan for the submissions and reviews - use the abstract field for this and do not upload any paper.) - about 500 words + references
- Full paper submission: 30 September 2021
- Submission of revised papers: 28 February 2022
List of Topics
- Acquisition
- Learning Content
- Corpora
- Cultural Awareness
- Didactics
- Cognition
- Learning Communities
- Learning outcomes
- L1 versus L2
- Linguistics
- Literacy
- Natural Language Processing
- Scenario
- Skills
Committees
Editors
- Kay M. Berkling
- Roger Gilabert Guerrero
- Eva Schaeffer-Lacroix
Scientific Committee
Amadieu Franck | France (Université de Toulouse) |
Bonnat Catherine | Suisse (Université de Fribourg) |
Boulton Alex | France (Université de Lorraine, Metz-Nancy) |
Bourdet Jean-François | France (Université Le Mans) |
Brougère Gilles | France (Université Sorbonne Paris Nord) |
Cazade Alain | France (Université Paris-Dauphine) |
Chateau Anne | France (Université de Lorraine, Metz-Nancy) |
Collin Simon | Canada (Université du Québec, Montréal) |
Cros Isabelle | France (Université d’Aix-Marseille) |
de Wet Febe | South Africa (Stellenbosch University) |
Dupuy Béatrice | États-Unis (University of Arizona) |
Foucher Anne-Laure | France (Clermont-Ferrand) |
Gajo Laurent | Suisse (Université de Genève) |
Gaonac’h Daniel | France (Université de Poitiers) |
Holz Heiko | Allemagne (Universität Tübingen) |
Kermes Hannah | Allemagne (H&H Communication Lab, Ulm) |
Laarmann-Quante Ronja | Allemagne (Ruhr-Universität Bochum) |
Lærke Charlotte | Danemark (Aalborg University Copenhagen) |
Laforge Bernard | France (Sorbonne Université, Paris) |
Loiseau Mathieu | France (Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon) |
Marquet Pascal | France (Université de Strasbourg) |
Moreno-Joan Arnedo | Espagne (Open university of Catalunya) |
Muller Catherine | France (Université Grenoble-Alpes) |
Narcy-Combes Marie-Françoise | France (Université de Nantes) |
Paquelin Didier | Canada (Université Laval, Québec) |
Reinhardt Jonathon | USA (University of Arizona) |
Roussel Stéphanie | France (Université de Bordeaux) |
Sarré Cédric | France (Sorbonne Université, Paris) |
Sauvage Jérémi | France (Université de Montpellier) |
Silva Haydée | Mexique (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) |
Socket Geoffrey | France (Université Paris Descartes) |
Soubrié Thierry | France (Université Grenoble-Alpes) |
Tardieu Claire | France (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris 3) |
Thue Vold Eva | Norvège (Université d’Oslo) |
Toffoli Denyze | France (Université de Toulouse) |
Véronique Georges Daniel | France (Université d’Aix-Marseille) |
Weth Constanze | Luxembourg (Université du Luxembourg) |
Whyte Shona | France (Université de Nice) |
Zampa Virgine | France (Université Grenoble-Alpes) |
Contact
All questions about submissions should be emailed to alsic2022 at easychair {"."} org