The fun aspect was important
Grimshaw and Cardoso were hoping to answer two main questions with their research: does playing the game as a warm-up before class positively affect the students’ English fluency? And would it decrease their anxiety about speaking English? The researchers hypothesized that they would.
After six weeks of conducting tests, they found that the treatment group did outperform the control group — though not in all metrics. For instance, there was no significant improvement in the treatment group’s syllables-per-minute. However, there was a widespread feeling that game play was an effective means of lowering anxiety and encouraging pronunciation practice.
“I think the ‘fun’ aspect was important,” says Grimshaw. “It did reduce anxiety. Even though there was pressure and stress from the game because it was timed, the students were focusing more on succeeding in the game than on the mistakes they were making.”
She adds that there was also peer feedback.
“Say you were mispronouncing a word. Someone on your team might repeat that word or say it with a different pronunciation just to check if that was the correct word.”
For Grimshaw, one of Spaceteam ESL’s strengths is its adaptability. It can be used to help students at all levels of comfort in a second language, and it is by no means limited to English. A French version is now available.
The study also underscores the effectiveness of mobile gaming and technology in language learning in general.
“With its endless possibilities,” write Grimshaw and Cardoso, “mobile gaming in [second language] education may prove to be invaluable to language and development.”
Read the complete study, “Activate space rats! Fluency development in a mobile game-assisted environment.”