Conference venue: Seville, Spain https://iated.org/iceri/ Paper abstract: With the development of information and computer technology (ICT), digital game-mediated teaching is becoming an increasingly popular trend in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT). The interactive design of digital games has been reported to have a positive effect learner motivation and many games have been developed in recent years with an educational purpose. This presentation reports on a project being conducted with The University of Edinburgh and Nosebleed Interactive Ltd, which forms part of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) funded by Innovate UK. The grant was awarded to fund the development of a novel web based entertainment platform as an innovative method for teaching English to Chinese children. KTPs are a three-way partnership between supervising academic(s), a recent graduate and a company. The graduate, Sihan Zhou, will provide an overview of the materials that have been designed to date and the academics, Dr. Nicola Galloway and Ruby Rennie, will outline how the game development is informed by academic expertise. The presenters will also provide a brief summary of the main research findings from various research projects conducted by MSc Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) students at The University of Edinburgh. These research projects, which mainly focused on teachers’ and parents' attitudes towards game-mediated second language education, form part of a large-scale needs analysis to inform the game development. This presentation will be of interest to those interested in the field of digital game-mediated learning, TESOL, and also curriculum innovation. The presentation will explore the various contextual constraints to incorporating the materials into the Chinese primary school context, offering insights for those working in similar contexts. Keywords: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), Digital game based learning, curriculum innovation, Information and Computer Technology (ICT).

1. November 16th, 2017
International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI),
Seville.
Dr Nicola Galloway, Ruby Rennie
Sihan Zhou
1
Digital Game-Mediated Second Language Education for
Chinese young learners
Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP)

2. Overview
1. Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP)
2. Product design
4. Future directions
2

3. KTP: PROJECT PLANNING
Part One.
3

4. Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) –
About us
Academic
• Teaching English to
Speakers of Other
Languages (TESOL)
• Global Englishes (Galloway
and Rose, 2015; Galloway, 2017a,
Rose and Galloway, 2018)
• Stakeholders’ attitudes
towards English and
English language teaching
(Galloway, 2013, Galloway, 2017a)
• Materials
Evaluation/Design
(Galloway, 2017b)
• Digital Education (University
of Edinburgh Centre for Digital
Research).
• English Medium
Instruction (Galloway et al,
2017)
Company
• Games for entertainment
> social and commercial
projects
• Jon Karlsen, Nosebleed
Interactive: experience in
China
•Associate, Sihan Zhou
The project
• Developing a Story-
based English learning
curriculum with digital
and game-based
learning

5. Who is involved?
Company
Academic staff
Associate
5
KTP
LMC
meetings
Project
meetings
Developing
product
Academic
meetings

6. ELT/TESOL – global industry
Growing literature and entire books on
the pedagogical implications of the
globalisation of English
(Alsagoff et al (Ed), 2012; Bowles and Cogo, 2015; Brown
and McKay, 2016; Dogancay-Aktuna and Hardman (Eds.),
2008; Galloway, 2017b; McKay, 2002; Matsuda (Ed.), 2012,
2017; Rose and Galloway, 2018; Sharifian, 2009)
Theory/practice divide – lack of materials
- important role in the language learning
process.
-core of a programme
“For many teachers the course book is
the curriculum” (Macalister, 2016, p. 41).
98 million primary school students in China
- lack of qualified English teachers & 50%+
buy materials outside the schools’
requirements (British Council, 2012).
Commercial potential
Recognition of need for English language in
rural areas; less wealth
•Need for research-informed, creative,
innovative methods
Rationale
6

7. PRODUCT DESIGN :
Part Two.
7

8. 8
Time Output
Stage 1 Dec 2016- Jan 2017 • Needs analysis - literature review and academic/company
‘needs’
Stage 2 Feb 2017- May 2017 • Initial design and further needs analysis - student
projects/stakeholder analysis
Stage 3 Jun 2017- Sept 2017 • Revision of product design > communicative & informed
by current trends
Stage 4 Oct 2017- Feb 2018 • Tornado English platform expansion
• Second pilot
• Academic publications
Stage 5 Mar 2018- May 2018 • Product commercialisation and dissemination
• Review and evaluation

9. 9
1. Needs analysis and initial design

10. 10
1. Needs Analysis – Literature and Context
• Motivation
• Young learners ( Cameron, 2001); Young learners and technology (Schmid and Whyte,
2016)
• TESOL/ELT trends – communicative/task-based (Samuda and Bygate, 2009; Willis and
Willis, 2007)
• Task-based learning with your learners ( Pinter, 2015)
• Intercultural communication (Byram, 1997, Byram et al, 2003)
“It has been taken for granted in the past that the aim of an English course is to
make the learners communicate like native speakers. This is for most learners are
inaccessible goal; and these days it is not even an appropriate one” (Ur, 2016, p.6) –
Global Englishes literature
• Digital learning ( Mayer, 2001)
• Game-based learning (Chik, 2014; deHaan, 2005; Sykes, Reinhardt and Thorne, 2010)
• Mobile learning and China (Ren and Zhao, 2010)

11. 11
Market Validation
Young learners using online English learning Apps in 2016
Source: Geo Data Annual Report 2016
Guangdong
Jiangsu
Beijing
Shanghai
Sichuan Hubei
Hunan
Anhui
Zhejiang
Fujian
Shandong
Good teaching is
“dependent on understanding the
context for teaching, the needs of
teachers and learners, the careful
planning of courses and materials, as
well as the monitoring of teaching and
learning” (Richards, 2001, p. xi).
• statistics on young learners using
online English learning Apps
• examination of the national
curriculum
• Severe unbalance in the distribution
of English education resources
(Zhang, 2012)
• Policy support for digital education
(Ren & Zhao, 2010)
2: Further needs analysis – Market, context,
learning environment

12. 12
English learning in China for young learners
‘Environment analysis’ (Nation and Macalister, 2010)
‘Situation analysis’ ( Richards, 2001)
‘Environmental constraints’ (Nation and Macalister, 2010)
”there is no reason to assume that the officially designed curriculum is
precisely and consistently implemented and taught in all classrooms
(Bickmore, 2014). Still, it is important to pay attention to the ideology
and politics behind curriculum planning, for people in positions of
power, provincial governments, school authorities, and other
stakeholders are often primary agents when decisions are made on the
content of the curriculum, as well as instructional materials and texts
chosen, thereby legitimating and enforcing what students should learn
and teachers ought to teach (Bickmore, 2005; Skerrett, 2015)” (Guo &
Maitra (2017) p.3)
2: Need analysis – empirical data
Barrier - strictly enforced national curricula >
1. Initial design based on 2011 English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory
Education in China
2. Initial focus on grammatical/Lexical syllabus informed by:
• English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education in China (Chinese
Ministry of Education, 2011)
• Cambridge English young learners-Handbook for teachers (Cambridge
English Language Assessment, 2016)
• Longman welcome to English (Dallas & Pelham, 2009)
• Junior new concept English (Alexander et al., 2008)
Scriptwriters/animation teams requested lists of vocab/grammar items - At
odds with overall goals/aims???

13. 13
•MSC TESOL Student Projects (http://www.blogs.hss.ed.ac.uk/dgbl-yl)
6 primary schools in Harbin
– teachers (yr3), students and parents
2: Need analysis – empirical data

14. 14
Ease of learning
“Run Rabbit is quite hard for me. It requires gaming skills…because I’m
really bad at games. But actually that is a very commonly seen game
type…this wouldn’t be a problem for kids. In fact, they have a natural
desire for exploration and conquest. They will try whatever they can to
figure out how to play… The faster it is, the crazier, more fun they will
feel.”
Pedagogical effectiveness
“It’s better not to do that. I don’t think that would… It’s no good. Kids
get confused. They don’t follow your teaching in class (.) if they have
learnt everything at home (…). And some students would get curious at a
new unit even without learning the last unit well.”
2: Need analysis – empirical data

15. 15
https://tornado-english.com
A. Bilingual Animation

16. 16
Product design – Interactive chatbot
B. Interactive Chatbot

17. 17
Product design – Digital games
C: Digital
Games

18. FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Part Three
18

19. The future
Finish project
Consider
funding
Product to
market
Expansion
• To date – login portal, 2 episodes, 4 games, project website: Wordplay media,
chatbot Betaversion; animation introductions; 8 task-based conversation scripts
for Chatbot
Current trends
• Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), Content-based/English
Medium Instruction –(All science topics to date) - Chinese materials (Yu, 2001;
China Ministry of Education, 2011).
• Chatbot – translangugaing (Cenoz and Gorter, 2015; Garcia and Sylvan, 2011;
Garcia and Li, 2014)
Publications
• Continue with publications
19

20. Thank you
Nicola.Galloway@ed.ac.uk
Ruby.Rennie@ed.ac.uk
20

21. 21
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