What was the project about?
Gaming Grammar is a digital game designed to support foreign language grammar teaching and learning. Learning grammar is important because it can help us understand how we put words together to make phrases and sentences. However, many people find learning grammar a bit dull or difficult, particularly if they are learning grammar in a new language. Gaming Grammar makes grammar practice engaging and motivating, through a suite of mini-games practising a range of grammar features in French, Spanish, and German.
The game teaches grammar through listening and reading practice called form-meaning mapping, a research-based teaching approach that makes grammar essential for understanding meaning, in line with the MFL Pedagogy Review recommendations. Each mini-game is based on a spy mission and practises a pair of grammar features. To complete each mission successfully, the player must crack the code by learning how to understand the grammar features.
On 21st June 2023, Gaming Grammar was acquired by Language Nut in a move to combine Gaming Grammar’s research-based teaching approach and content, with Languagenut’s comprehensive language resources and global reach.
Who is running the project?
The project was led by Professor Emma Marsden (University of York) and Dr Rowena Kasprowicz (University of Reading).
Who is funding the project?
The Digital Creativity Labs was funded by the EPSRC to develop and evaluate the first set of mini-games in French. With additional funding from DfE, NCELP has worked with the Digital Creativity Labs to expand Gaming Grammar to Spanish and German, add more mini-games to practise a wider range of grammar features, and build an intuitive interface for teachers.