Education
Episode 15 – “Language Learning through Digital Games” by Meghan McGinley How can games help someone learn a second language? Vanderbilt graduate student Meghan McGinley was interested in exploring that question this past spring. Meghan, who is pursuing a PhD in French with a certificate in Second Language Studies, was a student in a course on second language acquisition taught by my Center for Teaching colleague Stacey Margarita Johnson. Stacey regularly asks the students in her graduate courses to conduct interviews with language teachers or language learning experts. Meghan was planning to do her semester project on that question – How can games help someone learn a second language? – so for her interview, she reached out to University of Arizona linguistics professor Jonathan Reinhardt, who had recently published a scholarly book on games and language learning. Meghan’s interview with Professor Reinhardt covers a lot of ground, from his path into game studies, to the problems when we think of work and play as two separate things, to the connection between Harry Potter and a 1961 book on games by a French sociologist. Stacey Johnson found the interview so interesting that she featured it on her podcast, We Teach Languages, and we’re excited to feature it here on VandyVox, too. Links Meghan McGinley’s website: https://my.vanderbilt.edu/meghanmcginley/ @MeghanKMcGinley on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MeghanKMcGinley We Teach Languages podcast: https://weteachlang.com/ Stacey Johnson’s blog post on her podcast and her teaching: https://staceymargarita.wordpress.com/2019/08/05/my-podcast-my-students-interviews-and-public-scholarship/ Jonathan Reinhardt’s website: https://english.arizona.edu/users/jonathon-s-reinhardt