Chapter published in:
Language Teacher Development in Digital Contexts
Edited by Hayriye Kayi-Aydar and Jonathon Reinhardt
[Language Learning & Language Teaching 57] 2022
► pp. 49–66

Chapter 3
Gameful teaching

Exploring language teacher identity and agency through video games

The chapter investigates how the identity and agency of a language teacher are constructed through the use of a suite of videogames originally designed for vocabulary practice, called ELLE: the EndLess LEarner. A unique aspect is that the teacher had the rare opportunity to contribute to the game development and to be one of its first testers in its multiple versions. Using reflections, autobiographical interviews, and journal entries, the chapter illuminates how this teacher’s perceptions and pedagogical values evolved in relation to the game. Her agency as an instructor, an expert in her discipline, and an emergent gamer were strongly intertwined. The findings also show that she employed the game as a technological tool to achieve socially situated goals.
Keywords: teacher identity, teacher agency, gameful teaching, game development
Article outline
  • Language teacher identity and agency
  • Gameful learning and teaching
  • Methods
    • Context and data
    • ELLE description
    • Data collection and participant
    • Data analysis
  • Findings
    • “I used to be very traditional”: Looking back, moving forward
    • Intersections between teacher and gamer identities
  • Concluding remarks
  • References
Published online: 20 January 2022
https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.57.03ger
References
, M.
(2000) Being human: The problem of agency. Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, A. M., Nielsen, R. K., Van Rooij, A. J., & Ferguson, C. J.
(2017) Video game addiction: The push to pathologize video games. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 48(5), 378–389. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, C., & Thomas, L.
(2009) Understanding teacher identity: An overview of issues in the literature and implications for teacher education. Cambridge Journal of Education, 39(2), 175–189. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, C.
(2020) Games people (don’t) play: An analysis of pre-service EFL teachers’ behaviors and beliefs regarding digital game-based language learning. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 33(1–2), 109–132. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, I.
(2014) Why gamification is bullshit. In S. P. Walz & S. Deterding (Eds.), The gameful world: Approaches, issues, applications (pp. 65–79). The MIT Press.Google Scholar
, A.
(2012) Digital gameplay for autonomous foreign language learning: Gamers’ and language teachers’ perspectives. In H. Reinders (Ed.), Digital games in language learning and teaching. New language learning and teaching environments (pp. 95–114). Palgrave Macmillan. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, D. J., & , M.
(2000) Narrative inquiry: Experience and story in qualitative research. Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
, T. M., Stansfield, M., & Hainey, T.
(2011) An alternate reality game for language learning: ARGuing for multilingual motivation. Computers & Education, 57(1), 1389–1415. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, P.
(2015) Tracing reflexivity through a narrative and identity lens. In Y. L. Cheung, S. B. Said, & K. Park (Eds.), Advances and current trends in language teacher identity research (pp. 136–147). Routledge.Google Scholar
, S., Dixon, D., Khaled, R., & Nacke, L.
(2011) From game design elements to gamefulness: Defining “gamification”. In Proceedings of the 15th international academic MindTrek conference: Envisioning future media environments. (pp. 9–15). Association for Computing Machinery.Google Scholar
, A., Bavelier, D., & Green, C. S.
(2014) Video games: Play that can do serious good. American Journal of Play, 7(1), 50–72.Google Scholar
, E. H.
(1968). Identity, youth, and crisis. W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
, J. P.
(2003) What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. Computers in Entertainment (CIE), 1(1), 20–20. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, D., Lachicotte, W., Skinner, D., & Cain, C.
(1998) Identity and agency in cultural worlds. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
, J.
(1955). Homo ludens: A study of the play-element in culture. Beacon Press.Google Scholar
, E. K., Giroux, A. L., Merritt, D., , G., Sousa, S.
In press). Assessing the impact of game modalities in second language acquisition: ELLE the EndLess LEarner . Journal of Universal Computer Science, special edition on Immersive Learning.
, K. E., & , P. R.
(Eds.) (2002) Teachers’ narrative inquiry as professional development. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
, Y., & , C.
(2011) Learning to become a second language teacher: Identities-in practice. The Modern Language Journal, 95, 236–252. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, H.
(2015) Teacher agency, positioning, and English language learners: Voices of pre-service classroom teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 45, 94–103. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2019) Language teacher agency: Major theoretical considerations, conceptualizations and methodological choices. In H. Kayi-Aydar, G. Xuesong, E. Miller, & G. Vitanova (Eds.). Theorizing and analyzing language teacher agency (pp. 10–21). Multilingual Matters. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, H., Gao, X., Miller, E., , M., & , G.
(Eds.) (2019) Theorizing and analyzing teacher agency. Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
, D.
(2019) On language learner agency: A complex dynamic systems theory perspective. The Modern Language Journal, 103(1), 61–79. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, J.
(2009) Teacher identity. In Burns A. E. & Richards, J. C. (Eds.), The Cambridge guide to second language teacher education (pp. 172–181). Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
, G.
(2017) The role of the teacher in game-based learning: A review and outlook. In M. Ma & A. Oikonomou. (Eds.), Serious games and edutaintment applications (Vol. II, pp. 649–674). Springer. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, T. E.
(2018) Anger, fear, and games: The long event of #GamerGate. Games and Culture, 13(8), 787–806. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, J.
(2016) Hamlet on the Holodeck. Free Press.Google Scholar
, M., & Richards, J.
(2016) Teacher identity in language teaching: Integrating personal, contextual, and professional factors. RELC Journal, 47(1), 5–23. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, M.
(2012) Learner interaction in a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG): A sociocultural discourse analysis. ReCALL, 24(3), 361–380. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2016) The use of massively multiplayer games online role-playing games in CALL: An analysis of research. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 29(7), 1181–1194. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, M., Biesta, G., & Robinson, S.
(2015) Teacher agency: An ecological approach. Bloomsbury Academic. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, P., Black, R., Van Es, E., & Warschauder, M.
(2012) Affordances for second language learning in World of Warcraft. ReCALL, 24(3), 322–338. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, J.
(2017) Digital gaming in L2 Teaching and learning. In C. Chapelle & S. Sauro (Eds.), Handbook of technology in second language teaching and learning (pp. 202–216). Wiley-Blackwell. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2019) Gameful second and foreign language teaching and learning. Palgrave Macmillan. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, K., & Zimmerman, E.
(2004). Rules of play: Game design fundamentals. The MIT press.Google Scholar
, D., Nass, P., & Ruis, A.
(2015) Technology and the new professionalization of teaching. Teachers College Record, 117, 1–30. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, M.
(2018) Creativity as a lens to frame teachers’ use of games for learning. In J. Kay & R. Luckin (Eds.), Proceedings of the 13th International Conference of the Learning Sciences, (Vol. 3, pp. 1869–1872). Retrieved on 5 July 2021 from https://​drive​.google​.com​/drive​/folders​/1wTHiZuSn8Wn84Q1WpAL​-ihQ6SvaDWP17Google Scholar
, A.
(2011) Do you identify as a gamer? Gender, race, sexuality, and gamer identity. New Media and Society, 14(1), 28–44. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, G., & Richards, J. C.
(2006) Teaching and learning in the language teacher education course room: A critical sociocultural perspective. RELC Journal, 37(2), 149–175. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, S., Kim, S. W., & Kim, N. J.
(2010) Effectiveness of MMORPG-based instruction in elementary English education in Korea. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 26, 370–378. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, S. L.
(2008) Transcultural communication in open internet environments and massively multiplayer online games. In S. S. Magnan (Ed.), Mediating discourse online (pp. 305–327). John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, A., Pyhalto, K., & Oconnell Rust, F.
(2015) Teachers’ professional agency in contradictory times. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 21(6), 615–623. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, P.
(2005) History and present of didactical games as a method of mathematics’ teaching. Acta Didactica Universitatis Comenianae-Mathematics, 5, 53–68.Google Scholar
, M., , B., Johnston, B, & Johnson K.
(2005) Theorizing language teacher identity: Three perspectives and beyond. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 4(1), 21–44. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, G.
(2013) Dialogue in language learning and teaching: Directions for future research and practice. Language and Dialogue, 3(3), 388–402. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2016) Exploring second language teachers’ identities through multimodal narratives: Gender and race discourses. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 13(4), 261–288. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
, D.
(2017) The effects of group dynamics on language learning and use in an MMOG. CALICO Journal, 34(1), 58–74. CrossrefGoogle Scholar