Towards enhancing indigenous language acquisition skills through MMORPGs

Kaschula, Russell H; Mostert, André M

Title: Towards enhancing indigenous language acquisition skills through MMORPGs
Creator: Kaschula, Russell H
Creator: Mostert, André M
Subject: Indigenous peoples -- Languages -- Study and teaching -- South Africa
Subject: Language and languags -- Computer-assisted instruction
Subject: Language and languags -- Study and teaching -- Technological innovation
Subject: Language acquisition
Subject: Computer games
Date Issued: 2010
Date: 2010
Type: article
Type: text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59343
Identifier: vital:27559
Identifier: http://alternation.ukzn.ac.za/Files/docs/17.1/08 Kas FIN.pdf
Description: The growing interest and access to massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) has opened up significant new scope for educational methodologies, from standard language teaching options through to formalising the skills that a ‘player’ develops through their quests and other activities. This scope is extensive and has created numerous opportunities for innovation both within education and the world of work. This is evidenced by the increasing presence of educational establishments in the virtual world, with Second Life being the most popular for conventional educational purposes. In Second Life and many other realms participants are earning some income and in some cases enjoying a reasonable living from online activities, while developing their skills base. These MMORPGs may open opportunities for promoting language acquisition provided this is located within a suitably attractive realm; ‘players’ would then engage in activities that would contribute to their abilities to use the indigenous languages in everyday life. This article explores how such a system could be developed and the likely contribution it could make to promote a multilingual environment at school and post school levels. Further, it will identify the implications for the future of teaching and learning through the harnessing of MMORPGs.
Format: 21 pages
Format: pdf
Language: English
Relation: Alternation: Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of the Arts and Humanities in Southern Africa
Relation: Kaschula, R.H. and Mostert, A., 2010. Towards Enhancing Indigenous Language Acquisition Skills through MMORPGs. Alternation Special Issue on Multilingualism, Access, Language Development and Language Intellectualisation, 17(1), pp.165-185.
Relation: Alternation: Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of the Arts and Humanities in Southern Africa 17 vol. 1 no. 165 185 2010 1023-1757
Rights: University of KwaZulu-Natal
Rights: Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike" License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/)

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RU School of Languages and Literatures

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