The illusion of learning by games in ELT

Baicu Constantin Dnu

c.Gimnazial Cinenii Mari
Loc.Cineni
Over recent years of ELT changes and progress, the focus of
classroom lessons has started to shift away from its actual vital point of
learning, and as a result, switching on to a field of unawareness and
enthusiastic gaming. It is now obvious, as Jim Scrivener and Adrian
Underhill have stated, that teachers are now relying solely on materials
and fun games to do the work of teaching and to add bits of real and
efficient learning into the equation. There has perhaps grown up an over
attention to task, material and the pursuit of fun rather than to the
moment-by-moment
learning(Scrivener,
Underhill,
2013)
This
statement is not to certify a complete fallacy or to debunk the usefulness
of the element of gaming in teaching but to notify the missing key part of
teaching, which is the essence of transmitting language and help students
aquire new language.
In his blog, An A-Z of ELT, Scott Thornbury has written an article on
Attention which says that it is a primary factor to bear in mind when an
activity or a phase of teaching is being done for it is only by the help of
attention that actual learning is taking place. The more dispersed the
attention, the less likelihood of remembering, while the more heightened
the attention, the better that remembering, and hence the better the
learning.(Thornbury, 2010) The idea of attention in this case is the holder
of a deeper meaning; its being called out on to set up a new bar of
language attendance. The fun games that are usually brought in the
classroom, alongside with other materials, envolve a certain amount of
enthusiasm followed by another level of excitement that leads to gaming
infatuation which is slowly converted into a sort of distraction. This
phenomenon gives birth to a hardly noticeable deviation from learning.
Viewed from outside the classroom, learning a second language
should be the same as learning a first language, i.e. through unconscious
acquisition of language content as a natural evolution and reaction to
authentic social contexts. But this is not always the case, for it has been
indicated that a second language provides a more complex set of strings
in its paradigm, mainly because it requires differentiated analyses of
language areas together with assimilation of comprehensible meaning.
Games or fun activities provide a real and crucial opportunity to flod in a
mass of content. The problem is that the mass must be dispersed and

isolated into small bits of the language systems and skills. There must be
a need for passive attention to game elements and its methodological
possibilities and active attention to language components. There are fine
indicators of contemporary teaching that state the value of games as a
useful tool to help the learners better retain lexical items. A PHD thesis on
The Effects of Cooperative versus Competitive Word Games on EFL
Learners Vocabulary Gain, Motivation, and Class Atmosphere reinforces
the idea of gaming, delineating a superlative function of fun
learning.There is no concrete, fixed argument that implies a does-it-all
change and focus but, compared with Nick C. Ellis idea, the more salient a
cue becomes in relation to another, both being presented at the same
time, the less salient the other one turns out to be in the end, i.e. the
language systems and skills.
So to conclude, it can well be said that games need a calculated
restraint and for this the class manager has to carefully join the fun and
real work together in a coherent and cohesive block of learning so as to
prevent the inevitable downfalls.
References:
Ellis, N.C. (2006) Selective Attention and Transfer Phenomena in L2
Acquisition: Contingency, Cue Competition, Salience, Interference,
Overshadowing, Blocking, and Perceptual Learning, Oxford University
Press
Fotovatnia, Z. (2013) The effects of Cooperative versus Competitive
Word Games on EFL Learners Vocabulary Gain, Motivation, and Class
Atmosphere, Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, Vol.4 (1) January
Scrivener, J. & Underhill A. (2013) Demand High teaching. Article
from The Teacher Trainer Journal about Demand High Available at:
http//demandhighelt.wordpress.com/discussions/
Thornbury,
S.
(2010)
An
at:http://scottthornbury.wordpress.com

A-Z

of

ELT

Available