During the Language Teaching Studies Program, we were asked to watch and study the modules based on our interests in EdApp—Digital-Mediated Language Learning (DMLL). Each module covered various online technologies that could be used in language teaching, such as Youtube, Youglish, social media, digital literacy, Corpus, and gamification. These DMLL modules explained and analyzed the possible applications of the above technologies in applied linguistics, including scaffolding, discovery learning, and game-enhanced/game-based learning. After taking these module courses, I had a more comprehensive understanding of the application of technology in language teaching. With the continuous development of electronic technology, people's social lives tended to be more online, especially when the Covid-19 epidemic was severe, and both work and courses were forced to switch from offline to online. During that period, online classes' design and teaching methods appeared in an unavoidable but gradually improved way. I must say that the teachers and many students were slowly and diligently adapting to this new teaching mode.

                     Speaking of technology in the LT 537 Practicum course, also called "Talking with Ducks," our teaching team has experienced how convenient and creative when using digital tools in the classroom. We created a QR code—the two-dimensional matrix barcode for collecting students' exit tickets. After the week of music discussion, we collected the songs students picked along with team members' suggestions to create a background music list for the next class. In class, we used Kahoot to engage students and review what they had learned. The ubiquitous use of digital tools did contribute to the ease of teaching.

                     Game-enhanced learning is an essential aspect of using technology effectively. In the DMLL course, several modules related to digital game discourse in language learning, such as Module 10-Mobile Apps in Language Learning, Module 6-Digital Games and Language Learning, Module 7-Designing Your Own Mixed-Reality Game, and Module 23 Game-Enhanced Learning. They enriched my understanding of game-enhanced learning and classroom design arrangements. When designing a game-enhanced learning course, I summarized these three questions: "1. We need a big picture—what would our game be, and what does it aim to accomplish? 2. Will it fit our course, and how will the game tie to our course goal and SLOs? 3. What critical skills do our learners need to have, develop, or build during the gameplay?" 

                     In the LT538 course, Iris and I developed an activity regarding this approach, which was called Solidarity Building using In-Game Discourse - The Use of Chinese Relationship Simulation Role-Playing Games and Dating Software. In this activity, our target learning group was learners with higher proficiency levels who had reached at least the Intermediate-Mid in the target language. Such a requirement was a sufficient language foundation to play and understand the game's content. During the activity, by playing this simulation game, learners needed to save screenshots of utterance interactions that they noticed that could cause changes in character intimacy with them and then summarize and compare these communicative phrases. Finally, the patterns related to solidarity-building strategy-politeness and addressing are summarized. One shortcoming of this game was that learners only interacted with non-playable characters—NPCs, so it mainly relied on algorithms and did not have the opportunity to interact with real people. The NPC responses that appeared in it were also relatively limited.

                     On this basis, after learning DMLL Module, Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) came to my mind. Such multiplayer online interactive games could be more authentic and match our real-world language usage. Ko and Eslami (2021) explained that the potential of MMORPGs for language learning, in general, included enhanced learners' self-efficacy, an increased connection between language use and worldly functions, and the acquisition of new vocabulary. 

                     Another online tool that I used for LT538-Activity Creation 1 was Corpus. Learners could search and summarize their use and appearance rules in the Corpus according to the words and short sentence construction patterns they had found or assigned by the teacher. It was an excellent tool to promote discovery learning (Bruner, 1961) and learners' critical thinking. Let us combine these two while playing games. In that case, learners could search for relevant language utterances based on the class content and then put them into the Corpus for research and analysis, promoting learners' learning motivation. At the same time, by interacting with most of the target language native speakers online, learners could also practice using the language. The interaction here could be in text or online voice chatting, which covered all four language skills: reading, speaking, writing, and listening. After talking for a long time, I decided to put the game into the learning material called Jianwang III, an MMORPG with a solid ancient Chinese style. In this immersive game, students could not only experience the use of classical Chinese and various cultural etiquettes in ancient China but also see ancient Chinese architecture and clothing through game art design.

                     I may not pursue the direction of education technology in the future because I still prefer traditional offline classroom teaching. However, there is no doubt that various materials on the Internet, such as videos and literature, are suitable scaffolding materials. All in all, Digital-Mediated Language Learning is an excellent way to carry out auxiliary learning materials online. Learners can also access these materials quickly and conveniently. Combining it with the traditional model can be a potential teaching method.

References

Bruner, J. (1961). The act of discovery. Harvard Educational Review, 31, 21–32.

Ko, S., & Eslami, Z. R. (2021). Developing Pragmatic Competence in Digital Game Worlds: A Systematic Review. TESL-EJ, 25(1), n1. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1302258.pdf