Benefits of Escape the Room Games in the FL/ESL Education

What is Gamificaion?

According to the article, “Things You Should Know About…Gamification,” gamification is the application of game elements in non-gaming situations, often to motivate or influence behavior.”

Why Use Games in Language Learning?

Author Stephen Franciosi of the article “A Comparison ofComputer Game and Language-Learning Task Design Using Flow Theory,” states that using games in the foreign language classroom can offer students concrete goals, meaningful feedback and varied skill and difficulty levels. Franciosi states the benefits of using computer games in the classroom, and how games provide students with clear goals: “Successful computer games tend to have concrete goals in the form of quantifiable scores, payoffs and/or accomplishments that express outcomes which are explicit and objective” (p16).  Next, Franciosi describes the meaningful and immediate feedback that is given through games: “In well-designed computer games, feedback is usually immediate and unambiguous, provided through the use of audio/visual cues such as timers, score boards, collapsing or exploding foes, spatial movement and the like (referred to collectively as "output" by Rollings & Adams (2003, p. 183))”(p. 17). Lastly, students can experience a balance between skill and difficulty level: “The intention of such architecture is, of course, to facilitate an environment where the level of difficulty increases gradually and concurrently with player skill level. Second, computer-mediated games are able to respond in real time based on player feedback, and so are ideal for supporting adaptive learning (Torrente, Moreno-Ger, & Fernandez-Manjon, 2008)” (p 18).

Using Gaming in the Classroom:

In order to engage with the online gaming world and to see what benefits it would have for the FL/ESL classroom, I attempted to play an escape the room game called The Great Kitchen Escape. This type of game challenges students to think critically and strategically, using English vocabulary to 'escape' the kitchen and exit into the next room.

I played this game for about a half hour and needed to use the 'walkthrough' tool in order to help me progress to the next level and finish the game. I believe that this game would yeild multiple benefits for beginner ESL students and even foreign language students, if the teacher is able and willing to translate the lesson, pre-teach vocabulary and scaffold.

Language Learning Objectives:

This game has the ability to present basic-advanced English/Foreign language grammar (depending on the dialogue of the teacher); however the vocabulary is very basic. Students would be able to: 

• Read and respond to vocabulary pertaining to everyday household items.
•   Read and respond to communicative English/FL (imperatives,  interrogatives, etc)
•  Read and understand different forms of French grammar
• Read and understand different French language tenses

Role of Teacher:

I would use this computer program as a lesson on basic vocabulary and grammar, and scaffold my students along the way. It would be used as a language tool to learn and practice new vocabulary and grammar. Because the game only presents written language, I would like to read the dialogue out loud to the students where it is possible and walk them through the directions to ensure that they are clear.  This would allow for students to receive language input in both written and spoken forms. After reading and explaining the directions in English/French, I would pause so that the students could attempt the level.

Role of the Student:

The Students would be actively involved in this game by following the language prompts on the screen: They must select the correct picture with the vocabulary word, and in turn they will be granted access into the next room. This motivation alone will inspire them to reach the correct answers.

Assessing Student Progress:

One way to assess student progress is to walk around and check the computer monitors to ensure that the students are making the right choices. Also, to check that students are meeting the language objectives, I would informally assess their understanding of the language that is used in the game by either monitoring their progress when a prompt is given, or by verbally repeating the same question or statement to see if they are able to comprehend it.