Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-27gpq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T12:37:53.575Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Multimodal analysis of language learning in World of Warcraft play: Languaging as Values-realizing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2012

Dongping Zheng
Affiliation:
Department of Second Language Studies, University of Hawaii, Manoa, 1890 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822 USA (email: zhengd@hawaii.edu)
Kristi Newgarden
Affiliation:
University of Connecticut American English Language Institute (UCAELI), 1 Bishop Circle, U-4056, Storrs, CT 06269-4056, USA (email: kristi.newgarden@uconn.edu)
Michael F. Young
Affiliation:
Educational Psychology Department, Neag School of Education, 249 Glenbrook Rd., Unit 2064, Storrs, CT 06269-2064, USA (email: michael.f.young@uconn.edu)

Abstract

Applying Communicative Project theory (Linell, 2009), we identify and distinguish between the different coordination and language activities that emerged during an episode of World of Warcraft (WoW) gameplay involving English Language learners (ELLs). We further investigate ELLs’ coordinations between killing and caring, self and others, in which language and action arise. Using multimodal analysis, we found: 1) a diverse tapestry of communicative activities unlikely to match what would be found in a classroom environment; 2) that the values realizing involved in killing (a typical action in WoW) demonstrates a strong covariate tie with caring; and 3) that players’ values realizing is multi-layered, heterarchical and dynamic at a given time and space of situated interaction. We conclude by making suggestions for 1) the design of learning environments based on affordances for coaction and rich communicative activities and 2) the reconceiving of language learning as skilled linguistic action (Cowley, in press) grounded in situated learning and participation in intercultural, technology-mediated L2 networks.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baldry, A.Thibault, P. J. (2006) Multimodal transcription and text analysis: A multimedia toolkit and coursebook. London: Equinox Publishing Ltd.Google Scholar
Braun, V.Clarke, C. (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3: 77101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Council of Europe (2001) Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/cadre_en.aspGoogle Scholar
Cowley, S. J. (2009) Distributed language and dynamics. Pragmatics & Cognition, 17(3): 495507.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowley, S. J. (2011) Taking a language stance. Ecological Psychology, 23(3): 185209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowley, S. J. (in press) Cognitive dynamics: language as values realizing activity. To appear in Kravchenko, A. (ed.), Cognitive dynamics in linguistic interactions. Cambridge Scholars Press, 2012.Google Scholar
De Jaegher, H.Di Paolo, E. (2007) Participatory Sense-making: An enactive approach to social cognition. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 6(4): 485507.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Distributed Language Group (DLG). http://www.psy.herts.ac.uk/dlg/Google Scholar
Gee, J. P. (2003) What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy? New York: Palgrave/Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, J. J. (1979) The ecological approach to visual perception. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Hodges, B. H. (2007a) Values define fields: The intentional dynamics of driving, carrying, leading, negotiating, and conversing. Ecological Psychology, 19(2): 153178.Google Scholar
Hodges, B. H. (2007b) Good prospects: Ecological and social perspectives on conforming, creating, and caring in conversation. Language Sciences, 29: 584604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodges, B. H. (2009) Ecological pragmatics: values, dialogical arrays, complexity and caring. Pragmatics & Cognition, 17(3): 628652.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutchins, E. (1995) Cognition in the Wild. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Linell, P. (2009) Rethinking language, mind, and world dialogically: Interactional and contextual theories of human sense-making. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.Google Scholar
Love, N. (2004) Cognition and the language myth. Language Sciences, 26: 525544.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maturana, H. R. (1988) Reality: The search for objectivity or the quest for a compelling argument. Irish Journal of Psychology, 9(1): 2582.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peirce, C. S. (1955) Philosophical writings of Peirce. In: Buchler, J. (ed.), Philosophical writings of Peirce. New York: Dover, 150156.Google Scholar
Piirainen-Marsh, A.Tainio, L. (2009) Collaborative game-play as a site for participation and situated learning of second language. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 53(2): 167183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prensky, M. (2001) Digital game-based learning. New York: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Prensky, M. (2006) Don't bother me mom, I'm learning. St. Paul, MN: Paragon House.Google Scholar
Reed, E. S. (1996) Encountering the world: Toward an ecological psychology. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Steinkuehler, C.Duncan, S. (2009) Scientific habits of mind in virtual worlds. Journal of Science Education & Technology, 17: 530543.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steinkuehler, C.Williams, C. (2009) Math as narrative in World of Warcraft forum discussions. The International Journal of Learning and Media, 1(3). http://ijlm.net/knowinganddoing/10.1162/ijlm_a_00028CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuart, S. A. J. (2011) Enkinaesthesia: the essential sensuous background for co-agency. In: Radman, Z. (ed.), The Background: Knowing Without Thinking. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 167186.Google Scholar
Thibault, P. J. (2011) First-Order languaging dynamics and second-order language: The Distributed Language view. Ecological Psychology, 23: 210245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorne, S. (2008) Transcultural communication in open Internet environments and massively multiplayer online games. In: Magnan, S. (ed.), Mediating Discourse Online. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 305327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorne, S. L.Reinhardt, J. (2008) “Bridging Activities,” New Media Literacies and advanced foreign language proficiency. CALICO Journal, 25(3): 558572.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorne, S. L., Black, R. W.Sykes, J. (2009) Second Language Use, Socialization, and Learning in Internet Interest Communities and Online Games. Modern Language Journal, 93: 802821.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Lier, L. (2000) From input to affordance: Social-interactive learning from an ecological perspective. In: Lantolf, J. P. (ed.), Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning. Oxford: OUP, 245259.Google Scholar
Velleman, J. D. (2008) Bodies, Selves. American Imago, 65: 405426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978) Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Wegner, D.Sparrow, B. (2007) The puzzle of coaction. In: Ross, D., Spurrett, D., Kinkaid H. and Stephens, L. G. (eds.), Distributed Cognition and the Will. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1741.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, M. F, Slota, S., Cutter, A., Jalette, G., Lai, B., Mullin, G, Simeoni, Z., Tran, M., Yukhymenko, M. (forthcoming). Our princess is in another castle: A review of trends in video gaming for education. Review of Educational Research.Google Scholar
Zheng, D. (2012) Caring in the dynamics of design and languaging: Exploring second language learning in Virtual Spaces. Language Sciences. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2012.03.010CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zheng, D.Newgarden, K. (2012) Rethinking language learning: Virtual World as a catalyst for change. International Journal of Learning and Media, 3(2): 1336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zheng, D., Young, M. F., Wagner, M.Brewer, B. (2009) Negotiation for action: English language learning in game-based virtual worlds. The Modern Language Journal, 93(4): 489511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar