Dissertation Title: Bringing Digital Games Into the L2 Classroom: Avatars, eSports and Pedagogical Implications
Dissertation Committee: Dr. Jon Reinhardt (Chair), Dr. Liudmila Klimanova, Dr. Carmen King-Ramirez, Dr. Shannon Sauro (Special Committee Member - University of Maryland, Baltimore County)
Location: If you would like to attend this defense, please contact Lincoln (lincolnbainiv@arizona.edu) to receive the Zoom link.
Abstract: This dissertation investigates how pedagogical implications are constructed, represented, and applied within Digital Game-Based Language Learning and Teaching (DGBLLT), with a particular focus on vernacular video games and game-adjacent digital environments. While digital games are increasingly present across both formal and informal learning spaces, much research continues to emphasize motivation and vocabulary outcomes while offering limited guidance on how findings translate into practice. This gap is apparent in studies that highlight learner engagement yet overlook broader affordances such as identity development, instructional mediation, and translanguaging in digitally networked contexts. To address these challenges, this manuscript-based dissertation comprises three interrelated empirical studies, each of which examines a distinct but connected dimension of how games and gameful environments can support second language (L2) learning through a pedagogically meaningful lens.
The first study presents a systematic review of 100 empirical studies published between 2020 and 2024. Using a grounded theory approach, it develops a 12-criteria framework for evaluating pedagogical implications in terms of clarity, relevance, and classroom applicability. The review reveals that although pedagogical implications are frequently mentioned, few are elaborated with sufficient detail to be actionable, and even fewer provide interpretive scaffolding that instructors can adapt to their own contexts. The second study shifts to an applied classroom perspective by investigating how L2 learners construct digital identities through avatar creation and gameplay in the MMORPG Lost Ark. Drawing on theories of L2 identity, multimodal composing, and social semiotics, it shows how learners embody aspects of their L2 selves through character design, customization, and narrative participation. The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge–Play Curricular Activity Reflection Discussion (TPACK-PCaRD) framework is applied to generate pedagogical strategies for adapting avatar-based gameplay into identity-focused language instruction. The third study explores language learning in the digital wilds by analyzing professional Spanish-language Twitch.TV streams of League of Legends. Using the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework, it identifies teaching, cognitive, and social presences in interactive streaming environments. It demonstrates how streamers function as informal L2 facilitators through multimodal interaction, code-switching, and community building. The Bridging Activities framework is then applied to propose ways educators can adapt these vernacular practices into classroom use.
Taken together, the three studies provide a more comprehensive and pedagogically grounded understanding of DGBLLT. They highlight the importance of interpretability, teacher mediation, and context-sensitive adaptation when integrating games and game-related practices into L2 teaching. Ultimately, this dissertation proposes a research-informed framework that is practice-oriented, bridging theory and application, offering educators and researchers clearer pathways for implementing digital games as meaningful tools for language instruction.
