Criteria for Appraising Computer-Based Simulations for Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language
Abstract
This was an exploratory study aimed at defining more sharply the pedagogical and practical challenges entailed in designing and creating computer-based game-types simulations for learning Arabic as a foreign language. For those with neither access to study abroad nor classroom instruction, or for those whose classroom instruction emphasized grammar/translation over communication, the possibility now exists to learn to speak a foreign language in a virtual environment. The basic pedagogical premise of digital game-based learning is that it allows training to occur past the point of mastery to 'overlearning' through the creation of an engaging virtual environment where the learner doesn't tire of the instruction. Kaplan, Sabol, Wisher, & Seidel (1998) suggest that for beginners, speaking a foreign language can be stressful; as stress diminishes the performance of all skills, overlearning is essential for effective use of their limited knowledge. Effective use of the language would foster confidence in the students of themselves as language learners that would ease their subsequent study of more difficult aspects of the language. The latest advances in computer technology have made computer-based language instruction both an ever more authentic approximation of a study abroad experience and something which potentially can be widely and conveniently distributed.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA434095
Entities
People
- Richard Dabrowski
Organizations
- Indiana University