"Es-ca-pay"

“Es-ca-pay”…I wonder what that means? That's funny, it's spelled just like the word "escape." (Finding Nemo).

“Escape games” along with other genres should be yet another tool foreign language teachers seek to employ in their classrooms. Foreign language lends itself perfectly to Gamification, “the concept of applying game-design thinking to non-game applications to make them more fun and engaging” (What is Gamification?). Long gone are the days of “drill and kill” grammar learning – games are a much more motivating and engaging way for students to learn and practice discreet skill-sets.

In an article comparing computer game and language-learning task design, Franciosi suggests that “computer games and language learning tasks are fundamentally identical in that both can be considered goal-oriented, rule-driven activities,” (A Comparison of Computer Game and Language-LearningTask Design Using Flow Theory). He also defines a game as “a problem-solving activity, approached with a playful attitude.” We present our students with lots of problems, but how do we allow them to solve them? Using games in to learn language is one possible solution.

And with that solution come many more possibilities: “point and click,” “escape the room,” arcade, puzzle games, and strategy games are just a few genres that can be used in a classroom setting (10 Gaming Genres toAdapt in Class). I tested a game called Plumber Pickle, which falls under the “escape the room” category. These games are described as “a point-and-click adventure game where players have to escape from imprisonment by exploiting their surroundings,” (Escape the Room Games). My task was to fix a leak in an apartment and escape from the building simply by clicking my way around and acquiring and using tools (such as a wrench, a sandwich, and a women’s hat). The first time I tried on my own, but I got stuck, so I played again and solved it using the help of a “walkthrough.”

An excerpt from a walkthrough for an escape game. 

Language enters the game when players use a “walkthrough,” which lists the steps for solving the problems for the game in order – basically a “cheat sheet” for how to play the game. This opens up a few options for how to use an escape game like Plumber Pickle in a Spanish class:

1. Individual activity: Students could play the game individually, following the walkthrough instructions translated into Spanish. This would assess their mastery of vocabulary (in this case, vocabulary related to the home and kitchen) as well as commands (the entire walkthrough is written using imperatives; open the cupboard, collect the pincers, use plunger). Students’ successful completion of the game would be one form of assessment, but some type of reflection may also be useful to gain further insight into their understanding and process for solving the game.
2. Partner activity: Students could also play the game with a partner. Student A would actually do the clicking while listening and following instructions from Student B in the L2. Students could play a second game and switch roles. This turns the task of the individual activity into a more communicative one, with similar goals and means of assessment.
3. Write a walkthrough: Thirdly, students could play the game without a walkthrough and have the task of writing their own using Spanish (or another L2). Again, they would need to apply appropriate vocabulary and use commands. Students could then give their walkthrough to a classmate to use when playing the game as a more authentic means of assessment (can a peer follow your instructions and complete the game?).
4. Translation: Another possibility would be to present the students with a walkthrough written in English and ask them to translate it into Spanish, thus applying vocabulary and command forms to the task. Again, giving it to a classmate to follow when playing the game could assess the accuracy and quality of their translation.

Depending on the activity chosen, objectives for using such a game could include applying specific vocabulary and grammatical structures as well as developing listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and translation, writing, and speaking skills. The teacher would have a more indirect role, since students would primarily be learning through playing the game and completing the aforementioned activities. However, she would still serve as a moderator and would help students work out problems they encounter along the way.

As foreign language learners, we constantly encounter problems, not unlike those in the gaming world, when learning and using an L2: we face unknown vocabulary words, confusing expressions, false cognates, new structures, changes in syntax, etc. And we combat these by using circumlocution, using context clues to understand a new word, interpreting body language and deciphering other pragmatic signs. “Gamifying” otherwise mundane tasks not only engages and motivates learners, but perhaps allows them to develop problem-solving skills to further their abilities to communicate and navigate a foreign language.