Video games are a major source of contact to English language and culture, and the need to develop critical video game competency is high. This text presents reasons for (and defines) video game literacy for the English as a foreign language classroom as well as empirical research which covers problems and potentials of game topics in the classroom. This book offers as a result of the theoretical and empirical research countless ideas for task and material design, teacher education, theoretical and conceptual development of video game literacy and impulses for future empirical research.

Fact is that commercial computer games play an extensive role in young people's lives, today. According to a recent study, 62 % of German teenagers play computer games at least once a week. This development led many researchers, school leaders and teachers to the question in how far games can be used to engage young people and support their learning inside the classroom. These considerations have been supported by various studies, showing that computer games can enhance various cognitive skills such as the ability of concentration, stamina, tactical aptness, anticipatory thinking, orientation in virtual spaces, and deductive reasoning. Since then, few research projects have launched which examine digital game based learning (i.e. the learning with the help of computer games), both on a theoretical and empirical level. This study approaches the subject of digital game based learning in the EFL classroom from three different angles: Firstly, a scientific perspective will be adopted. The principles of the design and construction of games and game worlds will be examined. Secondly, the subject of the psychological effects of games on the player will be broached. Thirdly and as the main point, the didactic potential of computer games will be explored in detail. The author presents ways of integrating games into teaching units, and further, the abilities and competences that can be enhanced by the use of digital games. Moreover, particular challenges and problems will be identified that arise when the use of a digital game in class is planned.

Digital Games: Literacy in action is the result of a wide-ranging investigation into the educational possibilities involved in young people's games. From their creation in the classroom to analysing games and the world of games as text, academics and teachers are now taking seriously the serious play of young people.

Mental health has become a growing concern in today's society, with schools emerging as focal points for addressing this topic. The present volume takes this as a starting point to explore the relevance of curricula and competencies, texts and materials, (digital) culture and communication, and teacher education in the context of mental health and English language education. This, for instance, includes insights into interrelated topics such as gender, climate change, stress, and conspiracy theories. A variety of texts including multimodal novels, video games, and songs provides practical impulses for integrating mental health related topics into English lessons. As such, this volume brings together scholars from various fields who discuss the relationship between mental health issues and English as a foreign language learning from a variety of theoretical, empirical, and practice-oriented perspectives.

Due to the rapid development of gaming technologies in recent years, there has been a surge of interest in the role that digital games can play in foreign and second language learning. Bringing together innovative research from an international team of contributors, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the use of digital games in computer-assisted language learning (CALL). The book firstly lays the theoretical foundations and outlines various rationales for using digital games, incorporating contemporary theories of second language acquisition. It also explores the development and impact of digital games designed specifically for language learning, giving due consideration to design principles, pedagogical requirements and student health. Chapters then draw on case studies from Europe and Japan to analyse in-game interaction, attitudes and participation in both institutional and out-of-classroom settings. Seamlessly combining theory with practical application, this book outlines recent developments in the field and the direction of future research, and is a valuable resource for instructors, researchers and practitioners who are designing games or looking to use them in their classrooms.

Bridging Literacies with Videogames provides an international perspective of literacy practices, gaming culture, and traditional schooling. Featuring studies from Australia, Colombia, South Korea, Canada, and the United States, this edited volume addresses learning in primary, secondary, and tertiary environments with topics related to: • re-creating worlds and texts • massive multiplayer second language learning • videogames and classroom learning These diverse topics will provide scholars, teachers, and curriculum developers with empirical support for bringing videogames into classroom spaces to foster meaning making. Bridging Literacies with Videogames is an essential text for undergraduates, graduates, and faculty interested in contemporizing learning with the medium of the videogame.

Due to the rapid development of gaming technologies in recent years, there has been a surge of interest in the role that digital games can play in foreign and second language learning. Bringing together innovative research from an international team of contributors, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the use of digital games in computer-assisted language learning (CALL). The book firstly lays the theoretical foundations and outlines various rationales for using digital games, incorporating contemporary theories of second language acquisition. It also explores the development and impact of digital games designed specifically for language learning, giving due consideration to design principles, pedagogical requirements and student health. Chapters then draw on case studies from Europe and Japan to analyse in-game interaction, attitudes and participation in both institutional and out-of-classroom settings. Seamlessly combining theory with practical application, this book outlines recent developments in the field and the direction of future research, and is a valuable resource for instructors, researchers and practitioners who are designing games or looking to use them in their classrooms.

This book is the first to focus specifically on born-digital texts in EFL teaching, uniting international and innovative scholarship with practical classroom applications. The book develops a theoretically sound framework for curriculum, materials and methods design that takes into account the growing ubiquity of born-digital texts in the digital age. It covers a broad variety of born-digital text types (including those generated by AI) which so far have not been an explicit focus in the context of language teaching, while also providing a grounding in current discussions around digital tools in education. The chapters cover a wide range of issues from methodological approaches to born-digital texts to curriculum, syllabus and materials design. The book will be a valuable introduction to the subject for trainee and practising teachers, as well as teacher educators and students on EFL courses. Chapter 7 will be free to download as an open access publication. We will link to it here as soon as it is available.

How making and sharing video games offer educational benefits for coding, collaboration, and creativity. Over the last decade, video games designed to teach academic content have multiplied. Students can learn about Newtonian physics from a game or prep for entry into the army. An emphasis on the instructionist approach to gaming, however, has overshadowed the constructionist approach, in which students learn by designing their own games themselves. In this book, Yasmin Kafai and Quinn Burke discuss the educational benefits of constructionist gaming—coding, collaboration, and creativity—and the move from “computational thinking” toward “computational participation.” Kafai and Burke point to recent developments that support a shift to game making from game playing, including the game industry's acceptance, and even promotion, of “modding” and the growth of a DIY culture. Kafai and Burke show that student-designed games teach not only such technical skills as programming but also academic subjects. Making games also teaches collaboration, as students frequently work in teams to produce content and then share their games with in class or with others online. Yet Kafai and Burke don't advocate abandoning instructionist for constructionist approaches. Rather, they argue for a more comprehensive, inclusive idea of connected gaming in which both making and gaming play a part.

This book offers the first comprehensive study of the many interfaces shaping the relationship between comics and videogames. It combines in-depth conceptual reflection with a rich selection of paradigmatic case studies from contemporary media culture. The editors have gathered a distinguished group of international scholars working at the interstices of comics studies and game studies to explore two interrelated areas of inquiry: The first part of the book focuses on hybrid medialities and experimental aesthetics "between" comics and videogames; the second part zooms in on how comics and videogames function as transmedia expansions within an increasingly convergent and participatory media culture. The individual chapters address synergies and intersections between comics and videogames via a diverse set of case studies ranging from independent and experimental projects via popular franchises from the corporate worlds of DC and Marvel to the more playful forms of media mix prominent in Japan. Offering an innovative intervention into a number of salient issues in current media culture, Comics and Videogames will be of interest to scholars and students of comics studies, game studies, popular culture studies, transmedia studies, and visual culture studies.