June 6, 2023 – A Closer Look at the Lives and Literacies of Gamers as Second Language Users and Teachers
Presenter:
Dr. Raúl Alberto Mora is an Associate Professor at the School of Education and Pedagogy at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Medellín, where he teaches and supervises students in the undergraduate English teacher education program and the doctoral program in education. At UPB, he chairs the Literacies in Second Languages Project (LSLP) research lab, working with prospective and practicing teachers in Colombia. His current research explores second language literacies in urban spaces and gaming communities in Medellín, the pedagogical implementation of alternative literacies in second-language education, and critical frameworks for English Language Teaching and plurilingualism in Colombia. Dr. Mora has been a visiting professor and guest lecturer in Colombia, Brazil, Spain, the U.S., Poland, the Czech Republic, Russia, and Norway. He is one of the founding members of the Transnational Critical Literacies Network (TCLN) and currently sits on the Literacy Research Association Board of Directors (2021-2024).
Host:
For REEAL
June 6, 2023
Although research on gaming related to education is already a research fixture, studying the nexus between gaming and second language literacies is a more recent topic of inquiry. There have been efforts to focus on the effect of games on language acquisition and recent questions about gamification as an educational alternative. However, very few efforts include gamers as actual researchers. Since 2014, #TeamLaV at the Literacies in Second Languages Project (LSLP) research lab has studied what it means to be a gamer learning and using a second language and later transitioning to teaching. This presentation will share the lessons we have learned in our inquiries, using our framework of Language-as-Victory (LaV) as our compass. The presentation will share some of our histories as a team and what we found in our studies about how gamers think and use second languages. This presentation will also introduce the two spin-off projects that signal #TeamLaV’s future: The LaV Gamification Initiative and LaV Beyond.