Gamefulness: A Framework for Language Learning & Teaching with Jonathon Reinhardt

As language teachers increasingly recognize that digital games motivate learners, scholars argue that some games incorporate mechanics that offer noteworthy affordances, or opportunities, for language learning (Gee, 2007; Sykes & Reinhardt, 2012; Reinhardt, 2019). However, not all games are designed equally, and employing games in the language classroom effectively requires knowing which ones might be well-suited and why, how they might be adapted and supplemented for formal instruction, and how learner gaming experiences and dispositions towards "gameful" learning play a role in their reception. How can digital games be used for the very serious activity of language learning? Insight comes from research on gameful teaching and learning as well as from analysis of "learnable" L2 gaming practices in the Internet wilds. Grounded in these insights, this talk will present a framework of "gamefulness" for the design, evaluation, and implementation of digital games for language learning and teaching.