After reading the articles “Commentary: You’re Not Studying, You’re Just …. By Purushotma and Web 2.0, Synthetic Immersive Environments, and Mobile Resources for Language Education by Sykes, I realized how important it is to use games in language learning. Language learner get bored in using text books all the time by using games will keep them motivated to learn. I found this article in the internet; I like to share with you. My question is how do you feel about using games for teaching language learning? Do you find it useful or a waste of time?
http://www.teflgames.com/why.html

ESL and video and computer games

I have been an avid gamer for over a dozen years, which is a little shorter than half my lifetime. Through many nights at the computer screen blasting people online to smithereens I have always wondered, why can't school ever be a game? After all playing a game is soooooo easy, and fun, while learning new things can be boring, tiring, and amotivational, at times. So my question to you and my blog is about video and computer games and education, specifically language acquisition.
The questions that I would like to ask you are, Do you think commercial(for entertainment)computer and video games can help with language acquisition?
Do you use educational computer games in your classroom? and if yes which sites, or games do you, or have you used?(feel free to post links in your blogs)
I have read a little information, as well, as listened to the callcast #4 to inform myself about this issue. What I personally found was that this is a pretty new area of research,(for all you future ph.ds. out there), especially SLA within commercial games, and the potential benefits of those games on SLA. So far I found that there is some evidence to support that commercial games can be beneficial, but the problem is that material learned often has limited use outside of the game world, as vocabulary can be very game specific(This is especially the case for MMOGs Massively Multiplayer Online Games). MMOGs do provide a safe haven for learners(especially advance learners) to practice with potential target language native speakers, in an neutral arena, where their identity is masked by an avatar, and they have just as much political, and face value as the other guy. Also, learners are usually highly motivated by these games to continue playing and thus hopefully interact and learn. If you would like to read more about it this is a dissertation research on everquest by Rankin(2008), you can also read these shorter articles if you are interested Sykes (2008) and Thorne(2008).
Another interesting aspect is creating games like SIE(simulated immersive environments ), or Serious games, the articles above also talk about those. Basically they are educational games, yet are designed much like MMOGs to attract learners, and harness their motivation, but have strictly educational purposes.
Finally, and Rankin rights about it, there are people who try to combine commercial and education in one, by augmenting the commercial game and making it more educational in the process. An amazing example of this can be read about in Purushotma (2005) where she creates a learning version of the Sims, by combining a German with the English version. In this way she creates a version of the Sims that is potentially very good for language learners.
Finally here is a website that I have used in my class, which has very simple games for LLs that are free, and although repetitive, can be fun. www.eslgamesworld.com just go to games, you have to scroll through advertisements but its free, and my learners enjoyed the activity, although I must say they are beginners. Anyways thats all from me.