Presentation at EUROCALL 2016, 24-27 August, Limassol, Cyprus

1. Urban Explorations for language
learning: a gamified approach to
teaching Italian in a university context
Koula Charitonos
koula.charitonos@coventry.ac.uk
@koula_ch
EUROCALL 2016
24-27 August, Limassol, Cyprus

2. http://dmll.org.uk/

3. Lecturers
@Languages
Centre
Team
Tiziana Cervi-Wilson
Sen. Lecturer in Italian
Billy Brick
Languages Centre Manager
Students
@CovUni
Tyrone Bellamy-Wood
Games Technology BSc student
Gaetan van Leeuwen
Creative Writing BA Student
Researchers
@DMLL
Sylvester Arnab
Reader in Games Science
Research Assistants
Luca Morini Koula Charitonos

4. Motivation
Development
Pilot Study
Reflection
What’s next?

6. beyond the language classroom…
Source: http://www.coventry.ac.uk/Global/06%20Life%20on%20Campus%20section%20assets/Business%20School/swupl/classroom-286.jpg

7. Source: Holy Trinity parish church (left) and the tower and spire of St Michael's Cathedral (right) in central Coventry, England by G-Man / CC BY 2.0
cities and built environment provide
opportunities for language learning

8. situated experiences
observation skills
tailored-content
cultural encounters
interactions

9. Mobile learning
devices learner
learning
experience

10. 1. How can a pervasive approach to learning
using a location-based game support Italian
learners?
2. How can the use of a pervasive approach to
learning fit within the context of formal language
teaching and learning?
Research Questions

11. Arnab, S. et al. (2015). Towards the Blending of Digital and Physical Learning Contexts with a Gamified and
Pervasive Approach. Proceedings of Games and Learning Alliance (GALA) Conference, Rome, October 2015
Holistic and Modular Model

12. Motivation
Development
Pilot Study
Reflection
What’s next?

13. location-based game app

14. Intro to Tale Blazer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGiIlaGWAag

15. Characters

17. Location-based

19. Content
Italian Beginners add+vantage module (Level
A1)
Topics: yourself and others; work and family;
routines, free time, leisure activities; food and
drinks; Italian culture
Aspects of the language-in-focus are
introduced gradually e.g. Part 1 in English,
Part 2 in English with translation in Italian

20. Motivation
Development
Pilot Study
Reflection
What’s next?

21. Play-Test session

22. Participant Observation

23. Motivation
Development
Pilot Study
Reflection
What’s next?

24. Opportunities
“really interesting to learn this way rather
than being in classroom”

25. “I haven’t seen something like this
before, usually is only dictionaries…
This is more interactive instead of
sitting on a desk with a book”
[engineering student]

26. “Interesting for
beginners… an
icebreaking activity,
especially in the
beginning of the
academic year/studies
when you know no one
and you don’t talk to
anyone in the class for
the first 3-4 weeks”

27. “I didn’t know anything about the
[“Whitefriars Pub] and also the little
alley behind the cathedral”

28. “I like the history part, I don’t know much about history
of Coventry other than the cathedral being blown up”

29. P2: Is it just that? Is it just pronunciation of the letters?”
P1: They missed J and K.
P2: Does it exist in Italian? I don’t know. I don’t
remember… (she refers to an example: llunga)
P1: Unless this is the point of the alphabet to tell you that
these are not used!
[observation notes, 2 participants)
Challenges

30. Challenges

31. ‘heads-down’ (Hsi, 2003)
Hsi, S. (2003) ‘A study of user experiences mediated by nomadic web content in a museum’, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 19, 3, 308–319

32. prior-experiences

33. assessment
“I wouldn’t feel comfortable to sit an Italian exam just
by doing the app”

34. Feedback for app development
• Map
• Audio: Listening Italian music
• Video content: “more pics”
• Social aspects: “More opportunities for interactions”
• Content:
• “Instead of food right in the beginning of the
app, better to include some greetings “Hello,
how are you…?”
• Text:
• “Text is in English at all times”; “less reading”

35. Motivation
Development
Pilot Study
Reflection
What’s next?

36. Blind-test session
Induction week

37. e: koula.charitonos@coventry.ac.uk
@koula_ch
Tiziana Cervi-Wilson
Sen. Lecturer in Italian
Billy Brick
Languages Centre Manager
Tyrone Bellamy-Wood
Games Technology BSc student
Gaetan van Leeuwen
Creative Writing BA Student
Sylvester Arnab
Reader in Games Science
Research Assistants
Luca Morini Koula Charitonos
Get in touch with us…

38. #languagesmatter