Perceived Challenges and Opportunities of Digital Games

Introduction

The use of technology in the classroom has grown more popular in recent years. Unlike in the past, where teachers provided instructions without much concern for technology, they are now expected to integrate technology in their teaching and learning as early as kindergarten. The increased use of technology in the classroom has resulted from overwhelming evidence that technology facilitates learning (Fichten, Jorgensen, Havel, King, Lussier, Asuncion, & Amsel, 2018; Kulik, 1994; Liao, 1992; Ryan, 1991; Tay, 2016). Accreditors recognize the role of technology in teacher preparation programs through standards, such as the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) Standard 1.5:

Language classes are among the beneficiaries of the use of technology in facilitating the learning process. In particular, digital games have a track record in improving the cognitive, motivational, emotional, and social development of learners (Gee, 2003; Granic, Lobel, & Engels, 2014; Griffiths, 2002; Primack et al., 2012). Apart from improving the learning of language skills by learners, technology has the potential to improve teachers’ teaching. English Language Learner (ELL) teachers can make learning interesting by incorporating technology in their practice (Ahmadi, 2018). If properly used, technology can help to improve teaching and learning in the classroom.

Digital games are arguably among the most valuable components of ELL classes, as they increase confidence and motivation while lowering anxiety about learning English (Horowitz, 2019; Iaremenko, 2017; Reinders & Wattana, 2015; Vosburg, 2017). When students play a digital game, they remember faster, better, and with more understanding, because they are “using” the language, rather than “thinking” about whether they are saying words and phrases correctly. It has been suggested that digital games should occupy a central role in language teaching programs, as opposed to the peripheral role that they are often reserved. Digital games are fun and interactive, which makes them a learner-centered approach to language learning (Gozcu & Caganaga, 2016).

For any teaching approach in ELL classes to be highly effective, teachers need to possess the required pedagogical and content skills. Teachers often lack the necessary technical knowledge, and in many cases, the personal desire to play a digital game, let alone incorporate it in their teaching (Caldwell, Osterweil, Urbano, Tan, & Eberhardt, 2017; Dickey, 2015; Gerber & Price, 2013; Mifsud, Vella & Camilleri, 2013; Sáez-López, Miller, Vázquez-Cano & Domínguez-Garrido, 2015). In most cases, digital games require a certain level of technical skills for a player to participate. Teachers must possess the necessary skills with the digital games if they are to provide effective instruction to students (Reinders, 2017). Additionally, when teachers are unfamiliar with digital games, they tend to lack the critically important support. When teachers have low digital literacy skills, it impedes their use of this approach. The National Educational Technology Plan (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology, 2017) emphasized the need to improve teachers’ digital literacy, recommending that teacher education programs “provide pre-service and in-service educators with professional learning experiences powered by technology to increase their digital literacy and enable them to create compelling learning activities that improve learning and teaching, assessment, and instructional practices.” (p. 40) While these teachers are interested in integrating digital games, they are not as enthusiastic as the learners due to the generational divide. In other cases, they are worried about how to implement digital games in the classroom due to the pedagogical and technical constraints involved (Alyaz & Sinem, 2016).

This phenomenological study highlights the barriers facing ELL teachers that want to use digital games. The study highlighted challenges related to two main dimensions: logistical and pedagogical. The logistical dimension examined how the implementation of digital games could be impossible when an ELL teacher does not have the hardware, software, and/or school support. In addition, the study explored ELL teachers’ pedagogical beliefs about the role of digital games.