Uncharted waters?

Abstract

The use of serious games has seen a remarkable growth in the past decade. This resulted in a substantial number of people with hands-on experience. However, to our knowledge, no research has been performed to harvest this source of information. By means of a survey with closed and open-ended questions, we explore the opinions of 50 serious game and CALL experts on serious games’ potential for foreign language learning. The first part of the paper discusses attitudes on serious games and learning. In general, we discern a rather strong belief in the potential of learning games. The second part of the paper zooms in on foreign language learning through games whereby some remarkable results emerge on the possibilities and limitations of foreign language learning games. Next, we discuss respondents’ opinions on issues regarding the integration of foreign language learning games in a classroom context and on their design. The final part of the paper elaborates on a SWOT analysis of foreign language learning games resulting in a nuanced view on the opportunities and limitations of foreign language learning games. As a consequence, this paper not only identifies topics which bear a broad consensus among experts, but also shows that strong differences in opinion exist.

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