Yuchan (Blanche) Gao

Arizona State University, Mary Lou Fulton Teacher's College, Graduate Student

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Blanche is a PhD candidate and research assistant in Learning, Literacies, and Technologies at Arizona State University. Her research interests lie in the intersection of game-mediated learning and teaching, technology-enhanced language learning, and instructional design. She received her BA degree in Linguistics from Southern Illinois University and MEd degree in Curriculum and Instruction and TESOL Certificate from the University of Virginia. She worked as a secondary school ESOL instructor and curriculum director as well as a university teaching assistant and communication consultant in the US and China.

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Mia Consalvo

Concordia University (Canada)

Agnes Kukulska-Hulme

The Open University

Ahmar Mahboob

The University of Sydney

Dominic Arsenault

Université de Montréal

Greg Kessler

Ohio University

Lennart E Nacke

University of Waterloo

Eric Klopfer

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Bijoy Lal Basu

University of Dhaka, Bangladesh

Michael Lessard-Clouston

Biola University

Yasemin Bayyurt

Bogazici University

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Papers by Yuchan (Blanche) Gao

Gesture like a kitten and you won't forget your tale: Drama-based, embodied story time supports preschoolers’ narrative skills

Early Childhood Research Quarterly

Weaving game and task into content-language integration: Proposing a game-mediated dual learning model

EuroAmerican Journal of Applied Linguistics and Languages

Content-based instruction, task-based language teaching, and game-mediated learning are three ped... more Content-based instruction, task-based language teaching, and game-mediated learning are three pedagogical approaches that are perceived as effective in second and foreign language education. These approaches share common ground in a sociocultural and functional view of language learning and popularity as engaging classroom strategies in elementary, middle, and high school (K-12) contexts. However, challenges may exist in ensuring content and language dual learning goals, designing language learning tasks, or implementing game-mediated activities. Therefore, this study seeks to describe the conceptual and methodological alignment among these approaches by reviewing recent research. Moreover, a game-mediated dual learning model is proposed to pinpoint a series of design components for language educators to consider when they integrate the aforementioned three approaches.

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Defining Game-Mediated Second and Foreign Language Teaching and Learning

International Journal of Game-Based Learning

The game-mediated second and foreign language (GML2) field investigates how games can be used in ... more The game-mediated second and foreign language (GML2) field investigates how games can be used in facilitating L2 teaching and learning. This review explores how researchers define and differentiate among GML2 practices. A total of 51 publications from 2010 to 2021 were analyzed, revealing that only 40% of the publications defined GML2 practices, with the majority focused on the use of educational games. A key recommendation is that scholars clearly define specific types of GML2 practices in their empirical and conceptual work to build a more coherent body of scholarship.

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No player left behind: exploring the use of collaborative talk in a playfixing activity

CoDesign

Playfixing Broken Games

International Journal of Game-Based Learning

Designing games from the ground up is a popular activity for helping students think in designerly... more Designing games from the ground up is a popular activity for helping students think in designerly ways. Despite their benefits, such game design activities may place higher-than-anticipated demands on cognitive and institutional resources. In an effort to alleviate these demands, this study explored how playing and fixing partially completed games may elicit engagement with designerly thinking. This paper reports on the results of examining participants' talk during a playfixing activity in which, rather than designing wholesale, participants mended incomplete or “broken” tabletop games. Results suggest participants focused on problem identification, demonstrated quick and sustained engagement with thinking like designers, and drew from designerly modes non-linearly. These results illustrate that broken games may hold potential as accessible alternatives for helping learners think in designerly ways.