English Language Teachers' Perspectives in Game-based Learning-Teaching
Muna Aljohani, University of Tabuk (Saudi Arabia)
Abstract
The game is an inherently human activity. As children, all people have learned to relate to our physical and social environment through play. The game has implied a fun feature that reduces tension and predisposes to learning. Games are used in an educational way in many schools,but dropped dramatically to reach higher education. In some areas, like medicine or nursing, simulation of reality is used during the studies to gain confidence (Sinclair & Ferguson 2009) stated in Oliveras & Creso (2013) the term Game-Based Learning has been attributed to the use of computer games that are thought to have educational content, but there is much debate surrounding this theory. Having recently completed an extensive literature review on the use of games in the classroom for the EU-based project 'Games in Schools' (Pivec & Pivec, 2009), many researchers have questioned if Game-Based Learning really works or whether it is simply the environment in which computer games are used to teach that imparts the knowledge.
The present study will try to answer the following questions:
- What is the game-based approach?
- What is the importance of game-based approach in the 21st century education?
- How are video games used in language teaching?
- What are the English language teachers' perspectives in Game-based approach?
Keywords: Game-based language learning video-games;