The meaning of signs (images, words, actions, symbols, artifacts, etc.) are situated in embodied experience. Meanings are not general or decontextualized. Whatever generality meanings come to have is discovered bottom up via embodied experiences.
Published in Chapter:
A Video Game, a Chinese Otaku, and Her Deep Learning of a Language
Kim Feldmesser (University of Brighton, UK)
Copyright: © 2009
|Pages: 29
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-808-6.ch025
Abstract
It is a buyers market for employers in todays global village, where having another language under your belt could make the difference at an interview between employment or the dole queue (unemployment line). Learning additional languages rapidly has been the goal of immersion schools, and their approaches are effective in many respects because they make use of situated learning experiences in communities of practice. Such experiences present their own challenges however, as living in the country of the chosen language for a considerable period of time may not be possible. Migrant workers too may be shunned by native speakers, particularly if they have little or no knowledge of the native language, reducing learning opportunities to engage in discourse. Video games may be one way to address these challenges. In order to do this, however, more must be understood about the ways in which games support these theories, the way individuals learning a second language interact with them, and what researchers and developers of serious games must know to support this use of games. This chapter will outline the relevant theories for second language learning, describe how they operate in games, and present guidelines for research and development of serious games and second language acquisition.