Para além dos bons jogos: os princípios da competência comunicativa em atividades gamificadas

Abstract

The new technologies are prevalent in the routine of everyone, and the teaching and learning process is innovating to follow this constant evolution. One of these novelties is gamification, which is putting game characteristics on activities that are not games, since they seem to be very attractive, mainly to young people. Apps and online websites to learn languages already use gamification as a manner to improve their activities and motivate the students. Thus, this research is an analysis of gamified activities to learn English language in online websites and apps, which seeks observe and identify what elements of games are presented and which methodological principles are used. To achieve this, it has as theoretical basis, besides new literacies research, the sixteen good games principles by Gee (2005) that are about the elements present in good games to learn. Also the six communicative competences by Celce-Murcia (2007), which is an approach that defends a teaching not only focused on grammatical issues of language but also on comprehension and communicative aspects. In addition, this is considered one of the most embracing theoretical pillars to language teaching. The activities to be analyzed were taken from two different sites, the Duolingo, that is a gamified smartphone app to language learning, and ELO, that is a free access website in which teachers create activities to language learning. Since this is about a qualitative research, the analysis will occur through interpretation based on the defined theories that will show which principles are potentially fomented in the activities. Based on the analysis, it was found that the Duolingo’s activities propose a structural language teaching along with a bigger concern about design and appearance than teaching methodology, without indications of communicative competence as a whole, while the ELO’s activities provide a more contextualized teaching and characteristics that include a great part of the good games and the communicative competence.