Player-Game Interaction: An Ecological Analysis of Foreign Language Gameplay Activities

This article describes how the literature on game-based foreign language (FL) learning has demonstrated that player-game interactions have a strong potential for FL learning. However, little is known about the fine-grained dynamics of these interactions, or how they could facilitate FL learning. To address this gap, the researcher conducted a pilot case study that examined the dynamics and activities that comprised gameplay in the interactions of 2 learners of Arabic as a foreign language in the simulation-management video game Baalty. Data collected through observations, thinkaloud protocol, gaming journals, gaming walkthroughs, and debriefing interview were analyzed using discourse analysis methods. An ecological approach to FL learning was used as a theoretical framework. Data analysis and interpretation demonstrated that participants interacted with the game to develop their gameplay trajectory, and to this end, they drew on and engaged with in-game FL discourses to inform experiential learning of gameplay.