THE VALUE OF GAMES IN LANGUAGE CLASSES

Learning a language is quite challenging. A lot of effort is needed and it takes quite a long time. However, Games provide meaningful and enjoyable language practise at all levels and for all age groups. Morever, they help and courage many learners to sustain their interest and work.

Games also help the teachers to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful. The learners want to take part and in order to do so must understand what others are saying or have written and they must speak or write in order to express their own point of view or give information.

The need for meaningfulness in language learning has been accepted for some years. A useful interpretation of 'meaningfulness' is that the learners respond to the content in a definite way. If they are amused, angered, intrigued or surprised the content is clearly meaningful to them. Thus the meaning of the language they listen to, read, speak and write will be more vividly experienced and, therefore, better remembered.

If it is accepted that games can provide intense and meaningful practice of language, then they must be regarded as central to a teacher's repertoire. They are thus not for use solely on wet days and at the end of term.

SOME OTHER PERSPECTIVES ON WHY TO USE GAMES IN LANGUAGE CLASSES

Ø  Games add interest to what students might not find very interesting.( Thiagarajan,1999;Wright,Betteridge,&Buckby,2005).

Ø  Meaningful communication provides the basis for comprehensible input. (Krashan,1985).

Ø  The emotions aroused when playing games add variety to the sometimes dry, serious process of language instruction. (Bransford, Brown,& Coking,2000)

Ø  The variety and intensity that games offer may lower anxiety (Richard-Amato,1988).

Ø  Games can involve all the basic language skills, i.e, listening, speaking , reading and writing, and a number of skills are often involved in the same game. (Lee,1995)

Ø  Games are student-centered in that students are active in playing the games, and games can often be organised such that students have the leading roles, with the teacher as facilitators.

Ø  The team aspect of many games can encourage cooperation and build team spirit (Ersoz,2000)

Ø  Games can connect to a variety of intelligences (Gardner,1999)

Ø  As many games can be played outside of class, they provide a means for students to use the language outside of class time (Ellis,2005)