Abstract
This paper describes the evaluation of an educational game designed to give learners of foreign languages the opportunity to practice their spoken language skills. Within the speech interactive Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) program, scenarios are presented in which learners interact with virtual characters in the target language using speech recognition technology. Two types of interactive scenarios with virtual characters are presented as part of the game: the one-to-one scenarios which take the form of practice question and answer scenarios where the learner interacts with one virtual character and the interactive scenario which is an immersive contextualised scenario where the learner interacts with two or more virtual characters within the scene to complete a (task-based) communicative goal. The study presented here compares learners’ subjective attitudes towards the different scenarios. In addition, the study investigates the performance of the speech recognition component in this game. Forty-eight students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) took part in the evaluation. Results indicate that learners’ subjective ratings for the contextualised interactive scenario are higher than for the one-to-one, practice scenarios. In addition, recognition performance was better for these interactive scenarios.
Highlights
When learning a foreign language, opportunities for interaction in the target language can be limited
Interactivity and individual action are fundamental properties of games and can be related to communicative approaches to language learning [4], where the focus is on communicating in the target language for meaning
The affective issues are significantly better in the second one-to-one scenario. It appears that as the participants become more accustomed to the interaction there is a positive effect on their affective state
Summary
When learning a foreign language, opportunities for interaction in the target language can be limited. A student studying a language in high school may receive only a few hours of language class per week and may have very limited one-on-one time with the teacher of the class. It has been found that classroom exercises which are detached from real-life issues or activities fail to help the learner use the target language [1, 2]. Games are used in language learning to stimulate motivation and to create communicative opportunities for learners [3]. Interactivity and individual action are fundamental properties of games and can be related to communicative approaches to language learning [4], where the focus is on communicating in the target language for meaning
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