Educator perceptions of digital game-based learning in the instruction of foreign languages in Japanese higher education.

摘要

Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL) is an innovative educational approach that is becoming increasingly popular among researchers and practitioners in technologically advanced countries in the West, but is largely unknown or ignored in the instruction of Foreign Languages (FL) in Japanese higher education. This is problematic because more interest in research and implementation among faculty in Japan would likely contribute to the development of DGBL and improve the quality of FL education. The purpose of the present study was to better understand the lack of interest in DGBL in Japan by employing Everett Rogers' Innovation Diffusion Theory to explore the perceptions of relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability of DGBL among FL faculty in Japanese higher education. A concurrent mixed-methods approach was employed to collect data through an online self-completion questionnaire and asynchronous email interviews. The results indicate that while most faculty members believe that DGBL would have a beneficial impact on learner motivation, they are unconvinced that it offers real learning outcomes. Further, participants were divided as to whether the approach would be compatible with course learning objectives, and many regarded it as suitable primarily as supplemental learning material. Faculty members with a research interest in Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) expressed a willingness to try the approach, but at the same time pointed out that there were few opportunities to do so.