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This study focuses on a sample of English
learning software for children in which there is some element of game
playing (see list).
Depending on the specific program, this element may be marginal, secondary,
complementary or central to language learning goals.
As a further guide to game playing in
language learning, here are some examples of other children's software
titles, which, in this case, are based largely or wholly on games. These
programs are divided into
three categories:
For each program the interaction
language/s are shown. Interaction in English may
well help to enrich the experience and increase the effectiveness
of learning, while the possibility of interacting in the mothertongue
can enhance learner autonomy. Multilingual interaction
capability may be of added value in a multi-cultural classroom.
For a discussion of issues related to the interaction language,
see A
proposito di software per...young learners of English >
Interaction
Underlying these considerations, as well
as the above sub-division of software, is an awareness of the increasingly
different ways and situations in which English is
being learned in Italian primary schools: as a separate subject, within a
multi-disciplinary or cross-curriculum context, as a sole foreign language or alongside other foreign languages, in classrooms with
multiple language capabilities (different mothertongues and/or heritage
languages).
For further reference and resources, you
can also search the complete database of educational software in
Essediquadro.
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