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Лингвистика и перевод
THE USE OF GAME MODELING FOR VOCABULARY PRESENTATION AND REVISION
M. V. Fominykh
Данная статья посвящена исследованию игрового моделирования в практике презентации и повторении лексики. Игровое моделирование - новая технология в процессе обучения студентов университетов и школ; это исследование каких-либо явлений, процессов или систем путем построения и изучения их моделей в игре.
Ключевые слова: моделирование; модель; игра; презентация лексики; повторение лексики.
There are many new technologies of vocabulary presentation and revision nowadays. We examine the technology of game modeling. First of all, we should examine the terms «game», «model» and «modeling» for future understanding and analyzing of «game modeling».
Game - is : - a form of usually competitive play with rules [3.P.486];
- a piece of fun [3.P.486];
- a secret and clever plan; a trick [3.P.486];
- a type of activity or business [3.P.486].
Model - is : - a representation of something, usually smaller than the original;
- a simple description of a system, used for explaining; calculating, etc [3.P.749];
- a system used as a basis for a copy, pattern [3. P. 749];
- a taking somebody or something as an example for the actions, plans. [3.P.749]
Modeling - is the art of making models [3. P. 749].
So, the game modeling - is the analysis of events, process or systems with the help of the building of models while gaming in the process of studying; the using of models for real systems characteristics determination in gaming situations.
The Vocabulary acquisition is increasingly viewed as crucial to language acquisition. However, there is much disagreement as to the effectiveness of different approaches for presenting vocabulary items. Moreover, learning vocabulary is often perceived as a tedious and labori-
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ous process. Many experienced textbook and methodology manuals writers have argued that games are not just time-filling activities but have a great educational value. For example, W. R. Lee holds that most language games make learners use the language instead of thinking about learning the correct forms. He also says that games should be treated as central not peripheral to the foreign language teaching programme. There are many factors to consider while discussing games, one of which is appropriacy. Teachers should be very careful about choosing games if they want to make them profitable for the learning process. If games are to bring desired results, they must correspond to either the student’s level, or age, or to the material that is to be introduced or practiced. Not all games are appropriate for all students irrespective of their age. Different age groups require various topics, materials, and modes of games. For example, children benefit most from games which require moving around, imitating a model, competing between groups and the like. Furthermore, structural games that practice or reinforce a certain grammatical aspect of language have to relate to students’ abilities and prior knowledge. Games become difficult when the task or the topic is unsuitable or outside the student’s experience. Another factor influencing the choice of a game is its length and the time necessary for its completion. Many games have a time limit, the teacher can either allocate more or less time depending on the students’ level, the number of people in a group, or the knowledge of the rules of a game etc.
Game modeling is often used as short warm-up activities or when there is some time left at the end of a lesson. Games ought to be at the heart of teaching foreign languages. Also, Rixon suggests that games be used at all stages of the lesson, provided that they are suitable and carefully chosen. At different stages of the lesson, the teacher’s aims connected with a game may vary:
1. Presentation. Provide a good model making its meaning clear;
2. Controlled practice. Elicit good imitation of new language and appropriate responses;
3. Communicative practice. Give students a chance to use the language [2].
To work out the puzzle, for example, students had to match idioms with their definitions. The objective of the game was for each pair to cooperate in completing the activity successfully in order to expand their vocabulary with, in this case, colloquial expressions. All students were active and enjoyed the activity. Some of their comments were as fol-
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lows: “Very interesting and motivating” “Learning can be a lot of fun” etc. Students also had to find the appropriate matches in the shortest time possible to beat other participating groups. The element of competition among the groups made them concentrate and think intensively. The other group of students had to work out the meanings of the idioms by means of translation. Unlike the previously described group, they did not know the definitions. The expressions were listed on the board, and students tried to guess their proper meanings giving different options. Our role is to direct them to those that were appropriate. Students translated the idioms and endeavored to find similar or corresponding expressions in their mother tongue. Unlike the game used for the purpose of idiom introduction, this activity did not require the preparation of any aids. Fewer learners participated actively or enthusiastically in this lesson and most did not show great interest in the activity. In order to find out which group acquired new vocabulary better, we designed a short test, for both groups containing a translation into English and a game. This allowed learners to activate their memory with the type of activity they had been exposed to in the presentation.
Game modeling also lends themselves well to revision exercises helping learners recall material in a pleasant, entertaining way. All authors referred to in this article agree that even if games resulted only in noise and entertained students, they are still worth paying attention to and implementing in the classroom since they motivate learners, promote communicative competence, and generate fluency.
Recently, using the game modeling has become a popular technique exercised by many educators in the classrooms and recommended by methodologists. Many sources, including the ones quoted in this work, list the advantages of the use of game modeling in foreign language classrooms. Though the main objectives of the games were to acquaint students with new words or phrases and help them consolidate lexical items, they also helped develop the students’ communicative competence. From the observations, we noticed that those groups of students who practiced vocabulary activity with games felt more motivated and interested in what they were doing. However, the time they spent working on the words was usually slightly longer than when other techniques were used with different groups. This may suggest that more time devoted to activities leads to better results. The marks students received suggested that the fun and relaxed atmosphere accompanying the activities facilitated students’ learning. But this is not the only possible explanation of such an outcome.
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The use of game modeling during the lessons might have motivated students to work more on the vocabulary items on their own, so the game might have only been a good stimulus for extra work. Although, it cannot be said that games are always better and easier to cope with for everyone, an overwhelming majority of pupils find games relaxing and motivating. Games should be an integral part of a lesson, providing the possibility of intensive practice while at the same time immensely enjoyable for both students and teachers. Our research has produced some evidence which shows that game modeling are useful and more successful than other methods of vocabulary presentation and revision.
List of Literature
1. Jonbenn, B. Plays in Teaching. OTR Press, London, 2007, 339 p.
2. Role plays URL : http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOf Linguistic Terms/
3. Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English. OUP 1998, 1428 р.
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