The Role and Benefits of Games in Language Learning

Unit 18: The Functions of Games in Education

Theoretical Foundations

Richard-Amato (1996) explains that games provide motivation, reduce stress, promote subconscious learning, and offer pupils opportunities for honest communication, thereby aiding students in becoming more proficient. Games are based on what Koestler called “bio-active thinking,” which is the connection and interaction between a student's creativity and their previous experience.

Psychological Implications and Theories

• Theories: Recreation, rest, energy excess, functional anticipation (adults), and recapitulation (performing primitive acts).
• Advantages: 10 key benefits.
• Functions: Formative, social, cultural, and practical.

The Role of Games in Language Teaching

Games are voluntary activities that contribute to children’s psychological development. They provide a link to the outside world and are inherently enjoyable. They offer learners opportunities for subconscious revision and reinforcement of language previously studied in class. Furthermore, games help focus attention on completing a task without students necessarily realizing that specific language items are being practiced.

Games are essential because they add enjoyment to Foreign Language Teaching, provide learning material, and create opportunities for language acquisition and creative thinking. Harve (1982) points out that these activities can serve as the “hard work itself.” They can be used at any stage of a lesson, including warm-ups, presentation, practice, or production.

Developing Communicative Competence

Games foster student creativity: children begin to generate new ideas, and in the process, they improve their communicative competence.

Key Characteristics

• Rules
• Objectives
• Student-Centered Learning (SCL)
• Motivation and interests

Classification of Games

• Cooperative
• Competitive
• Code-control
• Communicative (structure games, vocabulary, pronunciation, spelling, TPR, mime, and role-play)

Aspects to Consider

When implementing games, consider: age, level, content, layout, noise levels, interest, materials, culture, and timing.

Techniques and Grouping

1. Techniques

• Information gap principle
• Information transfer
• Jigsaw principle
• Baster principle

2. Grouping Strategies

Individual, pair, group, team, and class.

3. Mediums (Hadfield, 1990)

Drawing, information gaps, guessing games, stories, true/false, brainstorming, treasure hunts, descriptions, pronunciation, spelling, fast writing, memory games, yes/no questions, board games, puzzles, dictionary searches, and mimes.