The use of computer games in english language teaching and learning (on the example of Dragon Age II)

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FEDERAL STATE AUTONOMOUS EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

FOR HIGHER PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

NATIONAL RESEARCH UNIVERSITY HIGHER SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS

School of Foreign Languages

THE USE OF COMPUTER GAMES IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING (ON THE EXAMPLE OF DRAGON AGE II)

BACHELOR'S PROJECT

Field of study: Linguistics

Degree programme: Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication

computer game language learning

Yanina Tukmakova

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1. Theoretical framework and literature review

1. Game as a tool for language learning

2. Computer game classification & peculiarities

3. Computer game controversies

4. Extralinguistic benefits of computer games

5. Linguistic benefits of computer game

6. Earlier studies into the contribution of video games to the language learning process

Chapter 2 .Methods and Handbook creation process

1. Methods

2. The peculiarities of Dragon Age II

3. Determining the handbook structure

4. Task designing

4.1 Listening tasks

4.2 Reading tasks

4.3 Speaking tasks (individual, pair, and group work)

4.4 Writing tasks

4.5 Use of English tasks

4.5.1 Grammar tasks

4.5.2 Vocabulary tasks

Chapter 3. Results and discussion

Conclusion

References

Appendix

Introduction

In the sphere of education, games have always served a powerful tool to engage students' attention and transmit new information in a less formal and more entertaining manner. It is only natural that, with the rapid technological development and introduction of computers and various game consoles, researchers and teachers started to seek ways to assimilate video games into the sphere of learning and utilize them to further accelerate students' progress and increase motivation. In regards to linguistic studies in this field, many researchers tend to disregard computer games belonging to the sphere of entertainment and instead base their works upon computer games of primarily educational nature, that is, mostly consisting of multiple tasks and activities specifically aimed at enhancing various cognitive skills and accumulating knowledge belonging to a particular area of science. However, while such games certainly do рresent interest, we should by no means overlook the role of video games designed for the needs of entertainment, which nowadays compose by far the largest part of video game industry.

With such games, the process of language learning tends to be implicit rather than explicit, and students usually absorb information unintentionally, simply by being engaged in the gaming process and naturally picking up new grammatical patterns, set expressions, and lexical structures without giving it much notice. This process, however, is far from what teachers and conscientious students would expect and even more so hope for, as its flow tends to be rather slow and uncontrolled, with few to no opportunities to increase the learning success. The desire to solve this problem and optimize the process of English learning via computer gaming served the main incentive for this work.

My study aims to investigate the phenomenon of computer gaming of entertaining from the language learning perspective and on the example of a particular single-player computer game designed primarily for the needs of entertainment (Dragon Age II), as well as to create a handbook consisting of different types of tasks (grammar, vocabulary, listening, and speaking). This handbook would serve a supplementary material for the players and would help not only to structure and intensify the process of English learning, but also to refute the claim that video games belonging to the sphere of entertainment cannot be used as a full-fledged instrument for language teaching.

In order to fulfil this goal, I first studied the phenomenon of game in language learning and examined how it can be further developed in regards to computer games specifically, taking into account their main peculiarities. The most crucial extralinguistic and linguistic benefits of computer games were also discussed, along with the earlier studies into the field of language learning via computer gaming. Finally, in the second chapter of our work, I focused on particular ways to structure the process of language learning on the example of Dragon Age II, and elaborated on particular ways to create tasks of different types based on the game storyline and main topics. Furthermore, I also tried to predict possible difficulties students might experience during their learning process, and suggested ways to overcome these difficulties.

Chapter 1. Theoretical framework and literature review

1. Game as a tool for language learning

Despite all significant benefits and countless opportunities for lesson design they offer, for the longest time games as a whole have been severely neglected and overlooked in the sphere of education, and it took decades for them to finally establish their rightful place in this area (Gaudart, 1999). However, by the time computer and video games made their appearance and rapidly gained popularity, the phenomenon of games as a whole had already been long successfully employed as a powerful tool for language learning. This included various types of games, ranging from those that mostly implied physical activities to the ones of more educational nature (stimulating cognitive activity). The latter are probably more closely correlated with computer games in terms of techniques and methods they employed (e.g. storytelling).

There are several reasons behind the popularity of games in the sphere of education in general and in the sphere of foreign language learning in particular. First of all, games give students the opportunity to apply their skills in a more relaxed and uncontrolled form, thus reducing the level of stress and increasing the success of interaction. Although it may seem as if these factors could lead to the decrease in the accuracy of speech, the results of particular research proved the opposite and showed that games increase both the fluency and accuracy via transforming declarative knowledge into procedural knowledge first (Macedonia, 2005).

Furthermore, the use of games in the language classroom was observed not only to keep conscientious and hardworking students motivated, but also reveal potential of the students who seemed to be completely unmotivated before (Kokkalia, Drigas, & Economou, 2016). This feat is something that more traditional teaching techniques could not implement due to the lower involvement ranks. Games, however, is something both children and adults can enjoy regardless of their attitude towards studying, and this factor can turn out decisive in determining the success of the learning process.

Overall, the reaction towards the use of games in the language classroom is rather positive. Therefore, it is only natural that with the introduction of computer games countless attempts were made to include them into the learning process.

2. Computer game classification & peculiarities

When considering the inclusion of computer games into the language learning process, one must take into account the existence of a wide range of games belonging to various genres and completely different in their structure. Choosing the right game is a much simpler of a process in case of educational computer games, as there designers have already carefully considered all the possible ways their games can benefit the learning process and deliberately made the game helpful and easy to use. In this situation, the teacher only has to decide on the topic they want to introduce, revise, or drill with their students. It is not even required that they carefully examined the game itself first ( though that would definitely be an advantage) before trying it on a class, as educational computer games are typically quite well-structured, easy to navigate, and in most cases do not even require the teacher to control all the stages of the gaming process, as the instructions presented in the game tend to be rather clear.

The situation is completely different, however, with computer games designed predominately for the means of entertainment. In this case, it is highly doubtful that the developers considered the educational potential of the game and designed it accordingly (e.g., used particular grammar or lexical constructions repeatedly in order for them to be understood and learnt by heart). Therefore, the success of the learning process almost entirely depends on the teacher and their ability to choose the right game, carefully analyse its educational capacity, highlight the most vital parts in terms of different aspects of language learning, break all the information into chunks, and create the tasks that would give students the opportunity to comprehend and assimilate it.

Naturally, it is almost impossible to make an appropriate and adequate choice of a computer game without having at least the basic knowledge on their genres. There is a wide range of them, and they differ not only in terms of gameplay, structure, and most frequently reoccurring topics, but also in their educational capacity and the effect they can have on cognitive skills of a person. On the basis of all these characteristics computer games can be divided into 6 groups, as follows (Grace, 2005):

1. Action games

2. Adventure games

3. Logic (puzzle) games

4. Role-playing games

5. Simulation games

6. Strategy games

Action games

Action games are the games best characterized by the intensity of action and the need for fast response and reflex from the player. Therefore, they require enhanced motor skill and hand-eye coordination. The plot is secondary to game mechanics, and most players turn to action games in search for adrenaline and excitement rather than mental challenge, and more often than not have little intention of getting a more profound insight into the game setting. Consequently, while such games are instrumental in enhancing some cognitive skills (e.g. processing speed and hand eye co-ordination), as well as spacial resolution of vision and vision performance, they provide less opportunities to develop language skills apart from most basic commands and slang terms (e.g. «Roger that”, commonly used in military communication in shooter and fighting action games).

Adventure games

Adventure games tend to revolve around a particular task or mystery, completing or solving which requires the main character to go on a journey or a quest. As a rule, adventure games imply a type of gameplay with little reflex challenges or action and more emphasis on accomplishing various tasks or interacting with the environment and people, usually in a a non-confrontational way. For this reason adventure is often called a "purist" genre. Adventure games rarely put pressure on the player via action-based challenges or time constraints and therefore tend to appeal to people not used to playing video games. Among the most popular adventure subgenres are text and graphic adventures, visual novels, and interaction movies.

Logic (puzzle) games

The main objective in games of such kind is to solve logic puzzles, crosswords, sudoku, or other types of puzzle games. There is usually little plot to follow (sometimes no plot at all), and the player is mostly concentrated on solving puzzles and developing various cognitive skills. Sometimes there is an educational purpose behind logic puzzles, and in these regards the player can develop skills connected to various branches of science, as well as second language skills. However, educational games tend to differ drastically from other types of video games designed primarily for entertainment in their gameplay, setting, plot, way of storytelling and other basic characteristics, and will, therefore, be not examined with along them in this work. The most popular types of puzzle games are Tetris, which has significantly influenced the game industry and become an international phenomenon, mazes, sudokus, crosswords, etc.

Role-playing games

Role-playing games (RPG) are those that provide the player with an opportunity to immerse themselves in the main character's situation, taking all vital plot decisions on their behalf. They continue their variegated history in storytelling by finding and utilizing innovative ways to vary and report story. One significant feature of RPG is that the game play tends to be rather long (usually around 30-200 hours on one playthrough). The most wide-spread subgenres of RPG are the following: MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-plating games), sandbox RPG, tactital RPG, fantasy games, and roguelikes.

Simulation games

The most crucial gameplay component of simulation games is the ability to reproduce real life situations and make the player fulfil the functions of one of the characters, with an ultimate goal to recreate the feeling of being that character rather than just role-playing as them. The main difference between simulators and role-playing games is that simulators include more detailed, trivial, and everyday tasks in order to provide more thorough reenactment. Simulation games are instrumental in developing cognitive skills, and especially management skills. The opportunities to learn second language through games of this genre are limited and mostly restricted to basic commands and minimal range of vocabulary on the topic the game is devoted to. The most common subgenres of simulation include combat simulations, racecar simulations, and social situation simulation.

Strategy games

Games of this type require enhanced planning and thinking skills and are aimed at achieving one ultimate goal via applying various tactics and strategies. This genre was heavily influenced by board games and at first did not imply much storytelling, but the latter has changed in the recent years. Strategy games are generally divided into either turn-based or real-time, and are focused more heavily on using either strategy or tactics in their mechanics. Strategy games provide opportunities to develop auditing, strategy creation, and problem solving skills, logic, as well as study system analysis and marketing rationals. The general opportunities to study second language through strategy games are similar to those provided by simulations. However, another thing to point out is that sometimes strategy games can be multiplayer, and in these cases there are more ample opportunities to interaction skills. The most popular subgenres of strategy are artillery, tower defense, and wargames. (Akopyan & Tukmakova, 2019).

Being aware of distinct peculiarities and differences between various video games genres is crucial for a teacher in order for them to be able to narrow the number of games they will have to analyse in order to make the most adequate choice in the existing circumstances (depending on the students' background, age, particular needs, etc).

3. Computer game controversies

Apart from the complications in the process of finding a game responding to the particular needs of students, another obstacle in the introduction of video games into the sphere of education is the prejudice existing in the society at the current moment. Even despite the long and successful usage of game-based teaching, it certainly took some time for computer games to establish their place in this sphere, and even now the debate on whether they present appropriate learning material for students is still ongoing. First of all, is not uncommon for teachers to be output by one of the biggest challenges connected with the introduction of video games to language classroom, namely, the need to properly integrate it into the learning process. This factor, due to its importance, became a serious obstacle even for the most open-minded members of the research community who would have potentially liked to explore the potential benefits computer games have to offer (Torrente et al, 2009). For the majority of teachers, though, this is most likely to serve a deciding factor rather than a regular challenge, and, as a result, prevent them completely from even attempting to adapt video games to their particular course. This especially applies to non-educational computer games, where the variety of genres and frequently complicated and non-linear structures of games make it more difficult to adapt them to the learning process.

The next challenge is connected to the prejudices regarding the very nature of video games, which, years after their introduction, are still rather wide-spread in the society. While nowadays a solid number of people agree on benefits of educational computer games and approve of their use in language classroom, the general opinion towards computer games designed primarily for the means of entertainment is not so positive. Many adults believe them to have a malnourishing effect on a child's development and their overall physical and mental state. The latter especially regards action video games, as they are known for their notorious display of violence and questionable topics. However, it is not uncommon for parents to be opposed to computer games of all types without any distinct reason, apart from the fact that they are not familiar with the phenomenon themselves and just rely on what they heard about it. They tend to assume that even if their children do, in fact, learn something from the process of gaming, it has to be negative (Prensky, 2003). However, many people do not go even this far and refuse to believe that there is anything that can be learnt from computer games, as gaming is also very frequently believed to just interfere with the learning process instead of contributing something to it.

Nevertheless, the evidence exists that computer games have a distinct positive effect on the development of a person, in terms of both their overall cognitive skills and language learning skills.

4. Extralinguistic benefits of computer games

Nevertheless, several studies into video gaming as a process have proved that it has a positive effect at the development and enhancement of various cognitive skills. The contribution may vary depending on the genre of the game, type of gameplay, contents, and several other factors. For instance, it was proven that playing action video games tends to result in the increased spatial resolution of vision (Green & Bavelier, 2007) hand eye co-ordination, and processing speed (Chandra et all, 2016). Contrary to the popular beliefs regarding the violent nature of computer games, action video games were also documented to have a positive effect at the mental state of the participants, in particular, their stress level. Apparently, action video games help to reduce pressure and help players to feel more relaxed and calm instead of making them more aggressive (Chandra et all, 2016). Moreover, studies have demonstrated that active and widespread involvement in video games has even managed to curb the violence rates on a whole country level during a period when video games reached the peak of their popularity (Johnson, 2005).

Video games can also contribute to strategic and tactical thinking, as well as the development of supervision and management skills (Buelow, Okdie, & Cooper, 2015), which can also be applied in many spheres of life. Moreover, they can lead to the improvements in students' abilities to manage and organize their studying sessions, making them more efficient and productive. In the same fashion, general problem-solving skills are also improved due to the numerous problem-solving contexts which naturally emerge throughout the gaming process (Thomas & Brown, 2011). Most games also offer opportunities for the enhancement of collaborative problem solving skills (Jan & Gaydos, 2016). This refers not only to multiplayer games, but also single-player games offering opportunities for group discussion which often occurs naturally between fellow players of the same community when they all encounter a perplexing in-game tasks or quest and require help from the outside in order to solve it.

Furthermore, the usage of computer games in the learning process can lead to the significant increase in motivation (Gee, 2007) and the overall level of engagement (Marino et al, 2013). This especially applies to the games with complicated plots and active use of various storytelling techniques that make the gaming process engaging enough for students to continue playing (and learning) even without the additional pressure from their teachers. Another factor increasing the overall level of engagement in students is also the ability to customize your character and create a new in-game identity, which is perceived as an entertaining and novel experience (Wilson el al, 2009). However, even if not all of these gameplay aspects are present in a particular game, its engagement rates would still be rather high due to the inherent interest in all video games regardless of their genre, which still remains in a typical language classroom (MacKenzie, 2005)

Although all of these points mentioned above are not directly connected to second language learning, they still lead to the enhancement of all types of autonomous learning process, including the one in question.

5. Linguistic benefits of computer games

Apart from their contribution to the overall cognitive enhancement and motivation level, video games have a certain positive effect on the very process of language learning. In this regards we can distinguish between their contribution to the development of student's listening skills, handle of lexical and grammatical constructions, and general ability to maintain conversations and solve various problems connected to the process of interaction.

First of all, many of the modern video games prove to be instrumental while enhancing one's abilities to perceive the information delivered in the spoken form. There are two main directions of listening skills' development. Firstly, via gaming a person can improve their comprehension of spoken texts delivered in a fast and rushed manner rather than a slow measured tempo typical for school listening tasks. Secondly, modern video games provide a wider range of different accents and, therefore, in this regards are more successful in preparing students for various real-life encounters and interactions. For example, Dragon Age: Inquisition presents a solid combination of British, Irish, Welsh, American, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Russian accents, while The Last of Us displays a range of Southern American accents, thus giving players an opportunity to point out differences and similarities between the accents of either completely different or relatively closely located regions. The reason why the diversity of accents proves to be so crucial is that they are becoming more and more frequently faced not only in real life situations, but also in the listening part of many standardized exams (such as C1 Advanced, IELTS, TOEFL, etc.). Therefore, inability to comprehend information delivered with the usage of various accents without any losses in time and effort can be a critical fault and affect the overall mark for the exam. It can also serve an obstacle in casual interactions, especially if the accent which a student has troubles comprehending is extremely wide-spread or typical for the region.

The next aspect of language the knowledge of which can be advanced via computer games is grammar. Despite common stereotypes, hardly any video games can be accused of having explicitly poor grammar, and in the vast majority of video game we can observe a wide range of various grammatical constructions, ranging from Old to Modern English. Of particular interest would be casual short forms of grammatical constructions (e.g. “gonna”, “ain't”, “gotta”), the reoccurrence of which is very often considered a drawback and a proof of the game's inability to be instrumental in acquiring grammar. However, these very forms are something any student nowadays must be able to comprehend, as they can be frequently encountered in social media and everyday speech.

Furthermore, playing video games can also enhance efficiency of language learning in terms of various lexical units. This may include words belonging to both formal and informal register. As well as in the case of informal grammar constructions, slang terms have become standardized in the language speaking community today, and it's only natural that learners should become familiar with them. Another remarkable thing about computer games in terms of vocabulary is that one can often encounter multitude of special terms (e.g names of weapons in RPG games) which are repeated quite frequently and in different situations. As a result, the player most likely memorizes them during the gaming process.

Finally, one of the most vivid features of video games today is interaction. A player is often obliged to make multiple choices (a feature which is especially typical for RPGs) and take part in various in-game conversations which provide him or her with the information necessary for moving further. Questions may vary: players are to decide what to wear, where to go, and even what to say to the other characters. The careful imitation of various real life situations contributes to the development of the player's language skills. Some games, like Dragon Age: Inquisition, also give players the ability to choose and control the topics of dialogs. Interacting with characters imitates real-life conversations for a player. He or she decides what feedback to give. It is interesting to note that the desire to impress particular characters can serve good incentive for second language learning. This way, players will have to notice and interpret even the most subtle differences in context and tone of conversation, so that they won't accidentally worsen their relationships with their favourite characters or characters they need to stay at good terms with in order to complete the game and reach the desired ending. They will have to be more careful, and pay more attention to the language and lexical units used. (Tukmakova & Akopyan, 2019).

Overall, computer games designed predominately for the needs of entertainment can be considered a crucial contribution to various aspects of the second language learning process, despite it not being their primary function.

6. Earlier studies into the contribution of video games to the language learning process

While not numerous, several detailed studies into the process of language learning via computer games designed for the needs of entertainment have certainly been conducted before. For instance, Ari-Pekka Vдisдnen carried out a research on how gaming contributed to the knowledge of English in Finnish learners. The results showed that playing video games, especially those requiring more attention form their player in order to progress in the game, turned out to enhance the process of vocabulary learning. The raise in motivation was also something many players have observed (Vдisдnen, 2018). The latter is especially proven by the fact that the participants in Vдisдnen's study were not encouraged to start gaming by their teachers or by Vдisдnen himself; instead, they had already been gaming for several years before the research was conducted, and acquired their knowledge of English implicitly, predominately thanks to their entertaining nature and appeal, rather than with a certain incentive in mind.

Thanh Huyen and Khuat Thi Thu Nga also focused on the lexical aspect of the language and vocabulary building skills in the context of video games. Their study shows the benefits of acquiring vocabulary via gaming rather than learning it passively through the teacher's explanations. (Huyen & Thu Nga, 2003). The same point was highlighted by Yasmin B. Kafai, Maria Quintero and David Feldon, whose research suggests that video games sometimes urge people to use more advanced vocabulary in their discussions than they would have most likely used before (Kafai, Quintero & Feldon, 2010).

Catherine Beavis centred her study around the role of video games in the English classroom in the context of working with texts primarily. She argues that video games can contribute to the students ability to analyse texts and create new texts, which can be interpreted as the contribution to the knowledge of both grammatical and lexical constructions (which students may learn from the text and incorporate further in their own texts) and writing skills (Beavis, 2014). However, it is important to note here that her work was primarily concerned with teaching native English speakers rather than non-natives.

Gepard J. Altura and Jen Scott Curwood highlight the same points about video games' contribution to the development of student's writing skills, which, again can be considered as development of vocabulary building skills and the enhanced handle of grammar constructions. They also discuss their positive effect on students' writing creativity and ability to distinguish between well and poorly written literature (Altura & Curwood, 2015). As well as in the precious example, the study is primarily concerned with native speakers of the language being studied; nevertheless, the points mentioned still apply to non-native speakers as well.

To sum up, as we may observe, the focus of most of these studies was rather narrow; most attention was given to the development of vocabulary building skills, writing and text analysing skills, and to the overall increase in motivation (which cannot even be considered a unique factor applying to the sphere of second language learning only). Moreover, no exact recommendations on how to adapt non-educational video games for the educational purposes were given, as well as any elaborations on how teacher can combine and control the gaming and learning processes.

Chapter 2. Handbook creation process & finding

1. Methods

The current research aims to employ both theoretical and empirical methods. The first part of the senior thesis is of predominately descriptive nature and presents an overview on the procedure and peculiarities of assimilating games into the process of second language learning. The information presented is obtained via discourse analysis and is based on appropriate scholarly literature, including scientific articles and encyclopaedias, which account for theoretical background of the paper. The analysis of various activity design manuals is also performed, and the focus is given to the construction of tasks on the development of four basic language skills (listening, reading, writing, speaking) and Use of English, in terms of both grammar and vocabulary constructions.

In the second part of the senior thesis, the main guidelines for task construction based on the material from video games are developed, and a sample unit of an English handbook (See Appendix A) is designed. On the next stage, the efficiency of the unit is tested via the experiment. The sample group consists of ten English language-learners whose ages range from 18 to 27, with a mean age of 22,1. Seven of the participants assessed their level of English knowledge at B2, while three other participants assessed it at C1. During the first stage of the experiment, a sample group is given a pre-test with various tasks based on the material from the unit (See Appendix B). Next, during the treatment phase, the sample group goes through the unit and completes the Use of English tasks and tasks on the development of all four basic language skills. During the third stage, students from the sample group write a post-test identical to the test submitted at the first stage. The difference in students' performance during the first and the third stage will indicate whether the supplementary handbook is effective during the process of guided second language learning via gaming, as well as show the degree to which students have improved their language skills. Finally, during the last stage of the experiment students are asked to submit feedback, both freeform and via a questionnaire, and evaluate their own performance and level to which they comprehend the material from the unit. The feedback obtained will be instrumental in accessing the progress students have made during the experiment, as well as determining the possible limitations of the handbook or possibilities for its future enhancement.

2. The peculiarities of Dragon Age II

The game, unlike many other RPG games and even unlike the other two Dragon Age games, maintains a mostly linear structure, or linear frame narrative. While the outcomes of particular situations may vary, the main plot can be considered rather consistent, and all the most crucial and significant events are not influenced by player's choices and take place regardless of his or her decisions throughout the gaming process. This serves one of the main advantages of the game in the context of autonomous language learning guided by a special handbook, as it does not raise the necessity of adjusting to all of the possible outcomes. The only vital part of the game which can be changed drastically depending on the previous choices is the end, but in this case it can even be considered a benefit as it raises more question for discussion while not affecting the structure of the handbook.

The game consists of three acts, divided on the basis of plot events and separated by two 3-year-long time skips. Each acts begins with a cut scene, or a short video with the main purpose of summing up the events of previous chapters and filling the players in with what happened during these time skips. Cut scenes also appear quite frequently throughout the gaming process, marking the key moments in each part of the story and varying in length and purpose.

While the game does demonstrate a mostly linear structure as a whole, each act, or part of the plot, consist of smaller events, or quests. They do not have to be completed in any particular order, and it is up to the player to decide which quests to concentrate on first. While it would be possible for the handbook to maintain the very same structure and approach, I decided that it would be more of use to develop a strict order and urge students to complete the in-game quests in the order suggested in the handbook rather than randomly, as this way it will allow to structure the learning process and make it possible, for instance, to first introduce and only then drill particular grammar construction and lexical units.

The plot of the game revolves around Hawke, who is a refugee in the city state of Kirkwall in the imaginary continent of Thedas. They go all the way from loosing their home and sibling due to war and having to leave their village with close to no money, personal belongings or power to becoming a Champion of Kirkwall and one of the most influential persons in the state. While the plot does represent a typical monomyth, or the hero's journey, to some extent, the story has darker undertones due to it constantly raising and revolving around the issues of social inequality, discrimination, power abuse, and political violence. It also deals with more personal issues such as discovering one's true self and determining one's life path, dealing with loss and grief, overcoming trauma and emotional and physical abuse, questioning the norms of morality and taking responsibility for the lives of other people.

3. Determining the handbook structure

As there is a clear division into separate acts to be observed in the game, it would be only natural to maintain it and transfer to the structure of the handbook. Next, in order to increase the effectiveness of the learning process, these act-based units should also be divided into smaller units depending on the content of the act and the main events occurring in it. It would be relatively easy to choose on the part of the game covered in the first sample unit developed in the scope of this research, as the game begins with a prologue, which is relatively small and would perfectly fit all the content requirements.

Finally, in the same fashion most of the modern English student books and handbooks do, this handbook will utilize skill-based syllabus. This means that a distinction will be made between tasks aimed at developing different sets of skills, and each skill will be also broken down into its smaller components, also known as microskills (Richards, 2006). This approach was chosen in order to ensure proper and equal enhancement of each set of skills, which are also drastically different in content and criteria of assessment applicable to them (Council of Europe, 2001).

In summation, this handbook will consist of chapters each devoted to a particular lapse of the game plot, in chronological order. Each chapter will also be divided into units devoted to the development of particular language-related skills - those which the game provides enough resources to develop. They are as follows:

- listening skills;

- reading skills;

- speaking skills;

- writing skills;

- use of English skills (the handle of vocabulary and grammar constructions).

And here comes the most difficult part. Although it is possible to gather enough information and content for each of this units in the scope of one chapter, it is highly unlikely that the information presented and the key expressions and constructions drilled in each of them will always correlate. Therefore, it is a teacher's job to establish the correlation between units and make up for the lack of opportunities to drill words or constructions which occur only once or twice throughout the game.

That being said, while the game may present wider opportunities for students to learn more grammar and lexical constructions, the present research will still operate under the assumption that it would be better and more efficient to concentrate only on some of them. The reason behind this decision is that the differences in the content of units, although smoothed out by the correlations to be established, still do not allow to fully grasp and properly drill all of the learning material. This could be possible only on the condition that the amount of the material to be worked on is cut down. However, it is still possible to include it in the glossary or appendices in the end of the handbook after the main units.

Nevertheless, while we do separate the whole unit into smaller sections in accordance with language skills drilled in each of them in order to ensure easier learning, we should still remember that a unit is a complete piece of work, and the material from all the parts should be logically connected and stem from each other. For instance, while grammar cannot be fully learned through reading and needs to be covered separately (Cross, 1915), it would be best to start introducing it in the reading and listening sections of the book in order to let students understand it through authentic content and better grasp the meaning. Similarly, the vocabulary drilled in the vocabulary section of the handbook should also contain words encountered before, as their prior representation in context contributes to the learning rates (Jenkins, Stein & Wysocki, 1984).

What should also be discussed in the scope of this chapter is the characteristics all the separate exercises and exercises sequences presented in the unit should possess. First of all, they should provide opportunities for all three types of language practice separated by CLT, namely, mechanical, meaningful, and communicative practice (Richards, 2006). The particular type should depend on the needs of each topic. If possible, exercises on these types of practice should be put in a sequence and gradually interchange. Various types of tasks should also be employed in each section, and if two tasks in one unit belong to a similar type, there must be an added difficulty to each of them, making the drilling process more diverse and efficient and urging students to apply new strategy in each task (Newton et al, 2018). Moreover, the tasks utilized in the scope of the handbook should also be of high level and present certain difficulty for the majority of students with this level of English. This is done in order to boost the learning process, systematically urge students to obtain new skills and reach better results than it would be possible with the usage of lower level tasks (Rose, 2018). Finally, the information obtained in the scope of one section or unit should later be drilled to the point when it will be carefully stored and ready for future retrieval in any form required. This implies the handle of both perceptive and productive language skills. For example, all the covered vocabulary must be ready both for the instant retrieval of its meaning during the process of listening and reading and for its accurate and fluent use in the process of written or spoken communication (Uriarte, 2013). In a skill-based syllabus this ability is ensured by the flow of tasks: first, the word is introduced in the listening and writing section, then drilled in the use of English section, and, finally, utilized in speaking and writing sections of the same unit and, most likely, retrieved from memory every time it reappears in reading and listening sections of the following unit. It is up to the teacher, however, to carefully ensure this process goes smoothly and is not interrupted at any stage of the learning process.

4. Task designing

Listening tasks

As it has already been mentioned before, the game contains a wide range of cut-scenes which have significant potential to serve ample and adequate listening task material due to their particular characteristics. This includes their duration, quality of sound, variety of accents presented, and clear structure. It is also worth mentioning that cut scenes differ in their content, and, while some of them include dialogs or polylogs, the others are structured in the form of narration and present an excerpt from the history of Thedas or a summary of previous events.

It would be worth mentioning that the game also includes multiple in-game dialogs which happen not during the particular cut scenes but throughout the gaming process. These scenes definitely do present certain interest in terms of linguistic analysis and have full capabilities to be used throughout game process, especially thanks to a larger variety of accents represented and faster speech tempo in comparison to cut scenes. However, combining and including them in the handbook supplementary materials would be much harder to technically implement, as they are not strategically located at the key points of the game (as the cut scenes are) but occur randomly, and recording them would present a rather tedious and hard task. Even more so, the characteristics that make them beneficial (fast speech tempo and variety of accents ) also make them harder to analyse, which may be a downside for most of the learners of beginner and even intermediate level. Nevertheless, the problem is not entirely unsolvable, and thus these dialogs may well be considered an implication for future research.

The listening section of each unit will consist of three parts: pre-listening, listening, and post-listening. This division is included in order to ensure more structured and deliberate learning process, as well as to ensure better material comprehension. The latter is mostly achieved via pre-listening tasks, which tend to be especially efficient for English learners with higher level of language knowledge (Anyzova & Ћdнmalovб, 2012).

Naturally, the format of the listening tasks will depend on the format and the content of the cut scene, as well as by students' particular needs. In case of pre-listening tasks, all three most common types (tasks including lexical support, content support, and stating the main purpose of listening) can be successfully combined, with the emphasis made on the one most suitable for a particular learning group (Molavi & Kuhi,2018). While-listening tasks can also vary, ranging from those aimed at the general fragment comprehension (true or false questions, multiple choice questions, etc.) and are applicable to most listening tasks to those which are more specific and closely related to the content of the fragment. For instance, fragments on the history of Thedas may be accompanied by tasks on timeline completion, or on restoring the right order of the events. In the similar manner, fragments depicting dialogues are most suitable for table-completion tasks where you have to summarise the opinion of each speaker on each issue touched upon in the conversation. Finally, post-listening activities will require students to carefully recollect the information from the listening tasks and reflect on the information perceived. Overall, in order for students to complete all the tasks each extract of the listening section will have to be played 2-3 times, which is the optimal number of listenings (Anyzova & Ћdнmalovб, 2012).

The listening section of the sample handbook unit includes the fragment depicting the protagonists' arrival to Kirkwall. The pre-listening section contains questions on the content of the game, urging students to recollect the information from the prologue and make a guess regarding the protagonists' next actions. The while-listening section includes a multiple choice tasks and a tasks where students have to match characters to the feelings expressed, paying attention to the word choice. The latter tasks can also be considered a build-up to the grammar section of the handbook, which is devoted to modal verbs of certainty, as it asks students to explain the degree of confidence expressed by the characters based on the modal verbs and other indicators they use. The post-listening activity is prolonged to the speaking section of the unit, where students have to recollect the information from the listening section and critically reflect on it.

Reading tasks

One of the most noticeable and fascinating peculiarities of Dragon Age II is that the game, rather than simply unfolding the setting through dialogues and main story plot, provides a whole separate section containing texts on various aspects of the in-game world and spheres of life. Not only does it give us a more profound insight into the setting and establishes a deeper connection between the player and the game characters, but also can serve a perfect material for the construction of various reading tasks. This section, which is called Codex, consists of all possible types of monological texts: diary notes, formal and informal letters, articles on the in-game geography and history, extracts from books, and many more. Naturally, this diversity of texts should be fully reflected in the handbook and allow students to work with different types of discourse. The only remark here is that all the texts, regardless of the genre, should present certain interest to students and contain new information or opportunities for entertainment in order to occupy classrooms and maintain interest and higher involvement rates (Compton-Lilly, 2007). This issue, however, is mostly resolved by the very nature of the Codex, which is to provide new facts and explanations regarding the in-game world. As students are actively role-playing a person living in this world, any piece of information would be extremely instrumental and of high interest to them.

As well as with listening tasks, it would make perfect sense to divide the reading section of the unit into three main parts (pre-reading, reading, and post-reading) in accordance with the majority of the existing activity design manuals. The lack of this division and, in particular, of a pre-reading stage may drastically affect the overall success of the learning process and have a severe negative impact on students' abilities to comprehend information presented in the text (Alemi & Ebadi, 2010). The types of pre-reading tasks may vary, but it has been demonstrated that the tasks on predicting reading content from questioning activity have allowed students to comprehend the text better than the vocabulary activities (Azizifar et al, 2015). Nevertheless, both types can still exist together and be successfully combined, even with an emphasis on the former. The types of reading activities should also vary from unit to unit and may include, for instance, multiple choice questions, identifying information, sentence completion, etc. The same applies to post-reading tasks. Nevertheless, even if the types of tasks may differ from unit to unit, the overall structure of the reading section should remain intact.

The reading section of the sample unit is devoted to the geography of the in-game world. Pre-reading questions stem from the material of the prologue and listening tasks and include information recollection and predicting activities. The second and the third tasks imply the development both reading for detail skills and more general text understanding skills. The post-reading stage is prolonged to the speaking section of the unit, where students are urged to recollect the information from the text and reflect on it.

Speaking tasks (individual, pair, and group work)

As there is a significant number of controversial topics and issues touched upon throughout the game, it would be only natural to revolve speaking tasks around these issues. This approach will allow students to develop their critical thinking skills and acquire the ability to analyse the in-game events from different points of view, become able to determine their standpoint on a particular issue and later elaborate on it.

Similar to 3.2, the chapter of the handbook devoted to speaking tasks will be divided into multiple units depending on the topic. It is plausible to suggest that that some of vocabulary units, though not all of them, will correlate with speaking tasks units and therefore serve an additional help in task completion.

Each unit of the section will consist of three parts: analytical questions based on the plot of the game, topics for monologues, and topics for pair/group discussions.