Language Learning Process
Anecventure offers the opportunity for English language learners to improve their English proficiency by combining different types of media through an interactive story based game. The game is intended to help K12 new immigrant children whose first language is not English, and whose parents have Limited English Proficiency. The game is structured the following way:
Player’s Level
To start the app the learner has to complete the self-reported pre-survey and pre-test to help us analyze and determine the level of the player before they start the game. This data identifies different features that support the customization and best response of the game to the learners’ needs and abilities to improve. For instance, the identified skills are: level of education, study time, level of motivation, level of self-efficacy and reading and speaking proficiency. As a result of this information, the game will locate the players in two different levels: novice and expert. This distinction helps the learning app respond better to the specific characteristics of the players by guiding their learning trajectory to the expected outcome.
LEVEL
NOVICE
EXPERT
Education
Current K12 level of the learner
Study time
Learner’s allotted time to study and speak the target language
Motivation
Learner’s desire to learn and speak the target language
Self-Efficacy
Learner’s belief in their ability to learn and speak the target language
Reading & Speaking Procifiency
Learner ability to understand in their native language and how much have they transferred to the target language acquisition
Prior Knowledge
Learner’s management of the target language vocabulary and pronunciation
Lower education level
(e.g. elementary school)
Shorter allotted time, probably less attention span
Low motivation to no motivation
Low to no belief
Low level with high needs for accommodations (e.g. students can read sentences in their native language, but just words in the target language).
Low level of vocabulary and pronunciation
(e.g. understand imperatives and classroom vocabulary).
Higher education Level
(e.g. high school).
Longer allotted time, probably higher attention span
Medium to high motivation
Medium to high
High level with slightly to no needs of accommodations (e.g. students can read books in their native language and they can read 5-10 paragraphs stories in the target language).
High level of vocabulary and pronunciation
(e.g. understand clauses and phrasal verbs).
Games’ Learning Modes
After matching the player with their current level, the game assigns a mode depending on the characteristics that the learner has shown. The mode represents the features and characteristics that the learner will respond to while playing the game. It is very important to consider the features that each level has to guide the target language acquisition process of the player. The app’s learning modes are the following:
Mode
EASY
Moderate
Difficult
Instructions
Type of orders for learners to interact with the game
Words to imperatives
Imperatives to short sentence
Sentences to paragraphs
Vocabulary
Percentage of unknown words and their level of difficulty
0% rare words, 80% simple words and 20% medium words
10% rare words, 60% simple words, and 30% medium words
20% rare words, 40% simple words, and 40% medium words
Grammatical Constructions
Sentences used and their level of difficulty, as well as the grammar used
Simple sentences, including basic grammar (e.g. simple and progressive forms)
Compound sentences including intermediate grammar (e.g. perfect forms)
Complex and compound-complex sentences, including high degree grammar (e.g. perfect progressive forms and mixed conditionals)
Reading Abilities
Learning feature designed to test the learners awareness of English written components like pronunciation, intonation, stress, and so on.
Read and comprehend texts that contain 1-2 simple sentences or 10-20 words
Speaking Abilities
Learning feature designed to test the learners awareness of English spoken components like pronunciation, intonation, stress, and so on
Speak words and phrases through repetition or answering questions
Comprehension Questions
Questions designed to assess learners comprehension of the text and the nuances of the story
Factual and primary ideas questions
Accommodations
Learning features that support the learner throughout the game
Subtitles, repetition, revisit the previous scene, hints, multiple times answers, questions are presented as multiple choice, and the player has the option to redo or restart
Read and comprehend texts that contain 2-3 simple to compound sentences or 20-30 words
Speak simple to compound sentences through repetition or answering questions
Read and comprehend texts that contain 4 sentences or more and 40 words or more
Speak simple to compound sentences through answering questions
Draw conclusion and tone of author questions
Inference and argumentative question
Reduces use of subtitles, repetition, hints, multiple times answers, questions are presented as Yes/No questions and open-ended questions with short answers, and the player has the option to redo or restart
Limited use of subtitles, repetition, hints, multiple times answers, questions are presented as open-ended questions, and the player has the option to redo or restart
Final Assessments
Finally at the end, the learner answers a post-test and a self-reported survey to evaluate their vocabulary mastery, reading comprehension, speaking abilities, self-efficacy, task value and rate the difficulty. In addition, the app evaluates and produces a report of the learners performance throughout the app that helps determine if the mode they play was the most suitable for them, and how their language proficiency was evidenced and assessed throughout the interaction with the app. Please refer to the following figure for more understanding.
Introduction of Anecventure
