the written word in order to embed digital literacies in the language

curriculum.

THE AUTHOR
Christoph A. Hafner is an assistant professor in the Department of English, City
University of Hong Kong. His research interests include specialized discourse, digi-
tal literacies, and educational technology. He is co-author of Understanding Digital
Literacies: A Practical Introduction published by Routledge in 2012.

REFERENCES
Burbules, N. C. (1998). Rhetorics of the Web: Hyperreading and critical literacy.
In I. Snyder (Ed.), Page to screen: Taking literacy into the electronic era (pp. 102–
122). London, England: Routledge.
Godwin-Jones, R. (2012). Digital video revisited: Storytelling, conferencing, remix-
ing. Language Learning and Technology, 16(1), 1–9.
Hafner, C. A., & Miller, L. (2011). Fostering learner autonomy in English for
science: A collaborative digital video project in a technological learning envi-
ronment. Language Learning and Technology, 15(3), 68–86.
Hafner, C. A., Miller, L., & Ng, C. K. F. (2013). A tale of two genres: Narrative
structure in students’ scientific writing. In M. Gotti, & C. Sancho Guinda
(Eds.), Narratives in academic and professional genres (pp. 235–256). Bern, Switzer-
land: Peter Lang.
Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. New York,
NY: New York University Press.
Jones, R. H., & Hafner, C. A. (2012). Understanding digital literacies: A practical intro-
duction. London, England: Routledge.
Lessig, L. (2008). Remix: Making art and commerce thrive in the hybrid economy. New
York, NY: Penguin.
Manovich, L. (2007). What comes after remix? Unpublished manuscript. Retrieved
from http://manovich.net/DOCS/remix_2007_2.doc
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1–6.
doi:10.1108/10748120110424816

Naturalistic CALL and Digital Gaming

ALICE CHIK
City University of Hong Kong
Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China

doi: 10.1002/tesq.133

& Since the adoption of computers for language learning in the 1950s,
the concept of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) has come

834 TESOL QUARTERLY

a long way. Though early CALL programmes were designed for teach-
ing modern languages, CALL nonetheless has been used in the
TESOL field since the 1970s. I will start with different definitions of
CALL in the last two decades, and examine briefly how the changing
definitions reflected the places and roles of CALL in the TESOL field.
Then I will argue that digital gaming and relevant gaming practices
may be the next phase of CALL in the 21st century.
Levy (1997) defined CALL as “the search for and study of applica-
tions of the computer in language teaching and learning” (p. 1).
Levy’s definition clearly indicated a research paradigm set within
language teaching and learning research, and involved programmes
that were specifically designed for language teaching and learning.
The definition also reflected past eras when computers were not yet
commonly used in the language classroom, so inquiry in CALL fre-
quently represented pedagogical innovations that drew on technology
(Chapelle, 2010). In the mid-2000s, Egbert (2005) defined CALL as
“using computers to support language teaching and learning in some
way” (p. 1). This definition already placed computer use in language
education as a given, and also implied the use of software and materi-
als that are not designed for pedagogical purposes. The use of non-
CALL applications like word processing and desktop publishing soft-
ware for language learning led to a creative rethinking of the role of
the computer as tool. This direction was taken a step further in
Beatty’s (2010) definition of CALL as “any process in which a learner uses
a computer and, as a result, improves his or her language” (p. 7, original
emphasis). By placing the use of computers and other digital devices
as primary and language improvement as secondary and incidental,
Beatty’s definition indicated that the use of computers has become
normalized as an everyday practice (Bax, 2003). Neither the term teach-
ing nor learning is included in Beatty’s (2010) definition of CALL, thus
possibly expanding CALL beyond formal learning settings. In an age
when computer and Internet access is almost ubiquitous, there is a
need to reposition CALL in second and foreign language (SFL) learn-
ers’ everyday practices.

DIGITAL GAMING AND NATURALISTIC CALL

Over the years, technological advancement has expanded CALL

from formal to informal learning contexts, and has enabled learners
to appropriate computer use and non-CALL materials for SFL learn-
ing. Naturalistic CALL then refers to students’ pursuit of some leisure
interest through a second or foreign language in digital environments
in informal learning contexts, rather than for the explicit purpose of

SYMPOSIUM 835
learning the language. Digital literacies with naturalistic CALL then
imply the active organization and management of digital practices for
pleasure and learning. One type of digital practice that will be of
particular interest is digital gaming. Digital game playing is one of the
fastest growing global entertainment industries, and since the intro-
duction of early home arcade games in the early 1970s educators have
experimented with pedagogical applications of commercial games and
the designing of educational games. The recent work on digital gam-
ing and SFL learning has highlighted diverse SFL learning affordances
(see Cornillie, Thorne, & Desmet, 2012; Reinders, 2012; Sykes &
Reinhardt, 2013). The rising popularity of digital games globally also
points to three domains for SFL learning: online gaming interaction,
in-game text consumption, and game-related text production.
First, gamers from different linguistic backgrounds play together in
many of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game
(MMORPGs) gameworlds, one such example being the enormously
popular World of Warcraft. MMORPGs provide gamers with globalized
gameworlds which offer opportunities for in-game interaction; for
instance, Japanese, Ukrainian, Finnish, and American players can all
join the same guild on the same server in World of Warcraft to battle
another guild comprised of global players. In these globalized game-
worlds, English is the de facto gaming language. Thorne’s (2008)
study analyzed World of Warcraft in-game chat between an American
and Ukrainian player, in which the interaction happened in Russian,
Latin, and English, and SFL use was often the social action required
for gameplay in multilingual online gameworlds. In formal learning
contexts, Peterson (2011) found that an online gameworld created a
supportive context for continuous interaction between Japanese and
American players. Similar collaborative efforts were found between
Chinese and American teenage gaming partners co-questing in the
virtual Quest Atlantis gameworld, and both parties negotiated meaning
and co-constructed intercultural understanding through English in
order to complete the quests (Zheng, Young, Wagner, & Brewer,
2009). These studies illustrate the way that SFL gamers used English
first to achieve gaming goals, as well as the way that SFL learning
happened in gamers’ interactions.
Second, in-game texts are among the most popular reading materi-
als by young people (Williamson, 2009). Many of the most popular
commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) games are developed and published
by American and Japanese game developers, and frequently these
COTS games are only released as monolingual versions in English or
Japanese. While Grand Theft Auto IV is available in German, in-game
dialogues in L.A. Noire are delivered in English with German subtitles.
This essentially means many SFL learners are playing English-language

836 TESOL QUARTERLY

digital games. Swedish teenagers who play English-language games out-
performed the nongamers in an English vocabulary and comprehen-
sion test (Sylv
en & Sundqvist, 2012). When two Finnish-speaking boys
played English-language fantasy-adventure games at home, they were
chatting with each other in Finnish while repeating the English
phrases and dialogues used by game characters at the same time
(Piirainen-Marsh & Tainio, 2009). Hong Kong Chinese gamers were
found to self-direct their SFL learning for gameplay advancement, and
later, as advanced gamers, they used game texts to improve specific
areas of English use (Chik, 2011). The playing of English-language
digital games then provides affordances for SFL learners to use game
texts for creative English learning.
Third, many gamers produce game-related texts which are distrib-
uted to online gaming communities. These game-related texts, includ-
ing walkthroughs, video tutorials, and fan fictions, are frequently
produced in English to maximize audience reach. Good games engage
players not only in playing the game, but also in reading and writing
about them on interest-driven websites (Sykes & Reinhardt, 2013). SFL
gamers have moved back and forth between first- and foreign-language
versions of game-related walkthroughs and instructions to maximize
their gameplay advancement (Chik, 2012). These game-related texts
are not just practical texts for instruction and strategy training; they
are imaginative and creative outputs developed by gamers. Game-
related texts are often sophisticated texts with rich lexical items and
syntactic structures, and of multiple genres (Thorne, Fischer, & Lu,
2012). Devoted gamers wrote and shared their fan fictions that were
based on their favourite fantasy games. These fan fictions reimagined
alternate new game characters and plots, or provided background sto-
ries to the existing game plots (Thomas, 2007). Game texts and game-
worlds stimulate many SFL gamers to expand their gaming
experiences beyond gaming into other creative avenues.

CONCLUSIONS

Research on digital gaming and SFL learning has begun to show

that SFL gamers are active agents, using gaming to advance SFL learn-
ing and using SFL learning to advance gaming. This circular move-
ment of crossing leisure and learning activities defines a new phase of
using technology for SFL learning. Gamers are also using gaming as
pretexts for creative SFL uses, and they are navigating their practices
in multilingual environments and gameworlds. Digital literacies for
digital gaming and SFL learning then involve the active organization
and management of SFL gaming for pleasure and learning. When

SYMPOSIUM 837
digital gaming usually takes place in informal leisure contexts, one of
the biggest challenges for TESOL educators is to understand SFL ga-
mers and gaming, and the potentials for integrating SFL gaming into
formal learning contexts. Perhaps some of the most interesting devel-
opments in CALL in the next years will centre on the roles of digital
gaming and the development of second language digital literacies.

THE AUTHOR

Alice Chik is an assistant professor in the Department of English, City University

of Hong Kong. Her main research areas include narrative inquiry and popular cul-
ture in second language education. She is especially interested in the contribu-
tions of digital gaming to language learner autonomy development. She is the co-
editor of Popular Culture, Pedagogy and Teacher Education: International Perspectives
(Routledge, 2013).

REFERENCES
Bax, S. (2003). CALL—Past, present and future. System, 31, 13–28. doi:10.1016/
S0346-251X(02)00071-4
Beatty, K. (2010). Teaching and researching computer-assisted language learning (2nd
ed.). Harlow, England: Longman.
Chapelle, C. A. (2010). The spread of computer-assisted language learning. Lan-
guage Teaching, 43(1), 66–74. doi:10.1017/S0261444809005850
Chik, A. (2011). Learner autonomy development through digital gameplay. Journal
of Digital Culture and Education, 3(1), 30–45.
Chik, A. (2012). Digital gameplay for autonomous foreign language learning:
Gamers’ and language teachers’ perspectives. In H. Reinders (Ed.), Digital
games in language learning and teaching (pp. 95–114). London, England: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Cornillie, F., Thorne, S. L., & Desmet, P. (2012). ReCALL special issue: Digital
games for language learning: Challenges and opportunities. ReCALL, 24, 243–
256. doi:10.1017/S0958344012000134
Egbert, J. (2005). CALL essentials: Principles and practice in CALL classrooms. Alexan-
dria, VA: TESOL.
Levy, M. (1997). Computer-assisted language learning: Context and conceptualization.
Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
Peterson, M. (2011). Digital gaming and second language development: Japanese
learners’ interactions in a MMORPG. Journal of Digital Culture and Education,
3(1), 56–73.
Piirainen-Marsh, A., & Tainio, L. (2009). Other-repetition as a resource for partici-
pation in the activity of playing a video game. The Modern Language Journal, 93,
153–169. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.2009.00853.x
Reinders, H. (Ed.). (2012). Digital games in language learning and teaching. London,
England: Palgrave Macmillan.
Sykes, J. M., & Reinhardt, J. (2013). Language at play: Digital games in second and
foreign language teaching and learning. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

838 TESOL QUARTERLY

Sylv
en, L. K., & Sundqvist, P. (2012). Gaming as extramural English L2 learning
and L2 proficiency among young learners. ReCALL, 24, 302–321. doi:10.1017/
S095834401200016X
Thomas, A. (2007). Youth online: Identity and literacy in the digital age. New York, NY:
Peter Lang.
Thorne, S. L. (2008). Transcultural communication in open Internet environ-
ments and massively multiplayer online games. In S. S. Magnan (Ed.), Mediating
discourse online (pp. 305–327). Amsterdam, the Netherlands: John Benjamins.
Thorne, S. L., Fischer, I., & Lu, X. (2012). The semiotic ecology and linguistic
complexity of an online game world. ReCALL, 24, 279–301. doi:10.1017/
S0958344012000158
Williamson, B. (2009). Computer games, schools, and young people: A report for educators
on using games for learning. Bristol, England: Futurelab.
Zheng, D., Young, M. F., Wagner, M. M., & Brewer, R. A. (2009). Negotiation for
action: English language learning in game-based virtual worlds. The Modern
Language Journal, 93, 489–511. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.2009.00927.x

Learner Autonomy
PHIL BENSON
Hong Kong Institute of Education
New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, China

doi: 10.1002/tesq.134

& Since entering the field of TESOL in the 1970s, the theory and
practice of autonomy has evolved considerably in response to chang-
ing landscapes of language learning and use. One of the most impor-
tant changes over this period has been the rapid development and
widespread adoption of tools for digital literacies. Whereas an insignifi-
cant minority of English language learners around the world were
digitally literate in the 1970s, they are now, perhaps, in the majority.
Here I want to argue for greater synergy between research on digital
literacies and research on autonomy in language learning. On the one
hand, there may be a need to reconceptualize our understanding of
prevalent modes of autonomous language learning in view of what we
know about digital literacies. On the other, the concept of autono-
mous language learning may have something to contribute to research
on digital literacies, which has to date paid little attention to issues of
translingual communication.
First, let me clarify the key terms in this discussion. Autonomy refers
here to a capacity to control important aspects of one’s language
learning (Benson, 2011, p. 58; Holec, 1981). This conception of

SYMPOSIUM 839