GOBL: Games Online for Basic Language learning (2012-2014)



This project aims to develop web-based mini-games that support spoken interaction for youths and adults who wish to improve their basic language skills [14].
Educational mini-games are small and self-contained games which focus on specific well-defined learning topics, which are highly reusable and cost-effective, and motivating. Mini-games are particularly fit for the development of language skills at the lower end of the proficiency scale (e.g. A2), and allow to focus on aspects which tend to receive little attention in language classrooms nowadays, such as explicit grammar and vocabulary teaching (e.g. [8, 9, 10]). Moreover, there is evidence that disadvantaged language learners seem to benefit most from such mini-games [11].
Over the last few years, games have been used in a number of programmes to motivate and emancipate disadvantaged citizens, such as people with health problems [1; 2], deaf people [3], people with dyslexia [4], and young boys ‘at risk’ who drop out of formal education programmes [5]. Clearly, the motivational aspects of games are being used to address a wide range of socially relevant issues. 
For the teaching of foreign languages, a number of fully immersive games exist (e.g. [6, 7]), but these often require expensive hardware or gaming skills and are hence not very accessible, or they target more advanced language learners.
In order to cater for the needs of beginning language learners, the main objective of this project is to harness the motivational elements of gaming for the basic training of grammar, vocabulary and communicative skills. Learning materials will be developed for Dutch, English and French, and will be available through mini-games that are embedded in motivating on-line tasks. Additionally, speech recognition technology will be implemented for speaking practice in Dutch and English [12, 13]. 
The project will be carried out by research units in academia and industry which have ample experience with e-learning (e.g. http://www.franel.eu) and speech (recognition) technology for language learning (see e.g. http://lands.let.ru.nl/~strik/research/Dutch-CAPT; http://lands.let.ru.nl/~strik/research/DISCO). 
The beneficiaries of this project include young and adult language learners in formal educational settings as well as at home, and organizers of blended learning programmes in secondary and adult education.

Partners
* Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands (Centre for Language and Speech Technology)
* K.U.Leuven, Belgium (Interdisciplinary research on Technology, Education and Communication)
* University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK (School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences)
* Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa (Meraka Institute)
* Televic Education, Belgium

References
1. Kato, P.M. (2010). Video Games in Health Care: Closing the Gap. Review of General Psychology, 14 (2), 113-121.
2. Gamberini, Luciano, Barresi, Giacinto, Majer, Alice & Scarpetta, Fabiola. (2008). A game a day keeps the doctor away: A short review of computer games in mental healthcare. Journal of CyberTherapy and Rehabilitation, 1(2), 127-145.
3. Gastão Saliés, T., & Starosky, P. (2008). How a deaf boy gamed his way to second-language acquisition: Tales of inter-subjectivity. Simulation & Gaming, 39(2), 209-239.
4. Smythe, I. (2010) Dyslexia in the Digital Age. Making IT work. London: Continuum.
5. Steinkuehler, C., & King, E. (2009). Digital literacies for the disengaged: creating after school contexts to support boys’ game-based literacy skills. On the Horizon, 17(1), 47-59.
6. http://www.alelo.com/tactical_language.html
7. http://www.lost-in.info 
8. http://www.digitaldialects.com/
9. http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/games
10. http://beta.visl.sdu.dk/games_gym.html
11. Herselman, M. E. (1999). South African Resource-Deprived Learners Benefit from CALL through the Medium of Computer Games. Computer-Assisted Language Learning, 12(3), 197-218.
12. Cucchiarini, C., Neri, A. and Strik, H. (2009) Oral Proficiency Training in Dutch L2: the Contribution of ASR-based Corrective Feedback. Speech Communication, Volume 51, Issue 10, October 2009, Pages 853-863.
13. http://lands.let.ru.nl/~strik/research/MPC/
14. http://lands.let.ru.nl/~strik/research/GOBL/

Acknowledgements
This project is supported by the European Commision through the Lifelong Learning Programme.