This qualitative study aimed to examine ways young children practice social skills and use language while playing the digital game Roblox in pairs, using a single electronic device, as framed through Vygotsky's Socio-cultural theory of learning. Roblox is a sandbox-style game comprising several mini-games, such as hide-and-seek simulators and…

Focusing on how a world of possibilities is opened up by language learners themselves, imagination has been regarded as an elusive but indispensable element in second language (L2) education. Drawing on notions of international posture (Yashima 2002), Ideal L2 Self (Dörnyei 2009), and imagined communities (Norton 2001), we theorised imagination…

Purpose: This paper aims to address the limitations in designing educational approaches that apply critical approaches to data literacy, given the obscure nature of digital platforms, which leave youth unable to develop discourses that challenge dominant narratives about the role of data in their lives. The purpose of this study is to propose and…

Content-language integration has been perceived to be an effective approach in second and foreign language learning. However, it can be challenging to implement in content classes, especially in science classrooms. Researchers have suggested using tasks and games to help design diverse opportunities for language and content learning; in…

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to the latest research on learning and instruction with computer games. Unlike other books on the topic, which emphasize game development or best practices, Handbook of Game-Based Learning is based on empirical findings and grounded in psychological and learning sciences theory. The contributors, all…

This study explored what kinds of phonological strategies are used by children and how they scaffold each other while they solve tasks in a digital literacy game. The theoretical basis of this study lies in Vygotsky's thoughts on the role of social interaction in learning and in the concept of peer scaffolding. The data included eight videotaped…

This paper reflects on recent projects in a variety of media forms, in both formal and informal educational settings, discussing ways of expanding our notions of literacy practices which reflect their place in the wider lived experience of digital culture. We have collected these reflections under three headings. The first of these, Dynamic…

The video-game industry has become a significant force in the business and entertainment world. Video games have become so widespread and pervasive that they are now considered a part of the mass media, a common method of storytelling and representation. Despite the massive popularity of video games, their increasing variety, and the…

In this article, we use a model for games and literacy to explore how one FIFA gamer worked across contexts. Previously, this model has been used to address the role of computer and video games in the teaching of literacy in the subject of English. In the current article, we combine this model with a learning lives perspective, which builds on the…

While digital gameplaying is increasingly recognized for its potential for language learning, its use among English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in both leisure and pedagogical contexts is comparatively meagre. Assumptions regarding the appropriate nature of schooling on the one hand and appropriate leisure pursuits on the other mediate…

This paper presents an overview of some of Michael Cole's work, starting with his pioneering research in Liberia with the Kpelle (and later, with Sylvia Scribner, studies of literacy with the Vai, 1981), which was formative of his version of a cultural-historical psychology, his translation and interpretations of the work of L. S. Vygotsky and…

Applications of locative media (e.g., place-based mobile augmented reality [AR]) are used in various educational content areas and have been shown to provide learners with valuable opportunities for investigation-based learning, location-situated social and collaborative interaction, and embodied experience of place (Squire, 2009; Thorne &…

Contemporary CALL research reflects renewed interest in digital games. One aspect of this phenomenon namely, use of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), has expanded significantly, highlighting the need for a review. This paper analyzes findings from 10 learner-based studies that draw on accounts of SLA informed by cognitive…

A quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest, non-equivalent control group design was used to examine the effect of a mobile gamification application on third and fourth grade students' Spanish language achievement and student academic self-efficacy. In this study, the treatment group's Spanish language instruction was through the use of…

The main aim of the present paper is to introduce a model for digital game categorization suitable for use in English language learning studies: the Scale of Social Interaction (SSI) Model (original idea published as Sundqvist, 2013). The SSI Model proposes a classification of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) digital games into three categories:…