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Dialogicality, Ecology, and Learning in Online Game Worlds

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Language, Education and Technology

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Language and Education ((ELE))

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Abstract

This chapter presents an action-oriented understanding of second language (L2) learning, occurring in play associated with massively multiplayer online games (MMOG), such as World of Warcraft (WoW) or EverQuest, and multiuser virtual environments, such as Second Life or Active World. In particular, we focus on research that represents what we term an ecological, dialogical, and distributed (EDD) perspective on language learning. The chapter emphasizes research that views language learning as embodied, situated, dynamic, and values-realizing, and is organized around the following questions: (1) how do studies of L2 learning with games and virtual environments treat context?, i.e., as input versus as sites with affordances for a range of action potentials; (2) what is the unit of analysis?, i.e., individual perception versus perception and action cycles or turn-by-turn utterances versus coacted communicative projects; (3) how is language theorized?, i.e., language seen as a code versus differentiation between real-time languaging (accounting for both language and actions) and prescriptive lexicogrammars and discourse-semantic regularities; (4) how is interactivity analyzed?, i.e., using transcription of utterances or text chat versus using transcriptions of language and actions from dynamic multimodal texts. We conclude with a discussion of future directions in EDD research.

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Acknowledgments

We are very thankful for Steve Thorne’s thoughtful comments and feedback which brought clarity and depth to the final version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Hawaii, Manoa, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Dongping Zheng

  2. Charter Oak State College, New Britain, CT, USA

    Kristi Newgarden

Authors
  1. Dongping Zheng
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  2. Kristi Newgarden
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Correspondence to Dongping Zheng .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Portland, Oregon, USA

    Steven Thorne

  2. Faculty of Education, University of Auckland, School of Critic, Auckland, New Zealand

    Stephen May

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Zheng, D., Newgarden, K. (2017). Dialogicality, Ecology, and Learning in Online Game Worlds. In: Thorne, S., May, S. (eds) Language, Education and Technology. Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02328-1_27-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02328-1_27-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-02328-1

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