Appendix 5.6 Description of Use of a Simulation Game, Barnga, in a Language Class

Appendix 5.6 Description of Use of a Simulation Game, Barnga, in a Language Class

Although the CCAI was not designed specifically for the language classroom, we can see examples of the four perspectives in typical language classes. For example, teachers frequently lament lack of flexibility/openness (FO) in the learners’ belief that the L1 can serve as a template for the L2. Furthermore, language classrooms teachers have the opportunity to help learners develop perceptual acuity (PAC) by showing differences in use of idioms. Emotional resilience (ER) can be developed in the safe environment of the classroom when teachers provide guided assistance (see Chapter 1) for learners using communicative language in dyads or small groups. This linguistic resilience can form a foundation for them when they encounter a misunderstanding in a real world cross-cultural situation. And finally, in the language classroom, teachers can assist learners to affirm personal autonomy (PA) when they use polite language to accept or reject invitations and suggest alternative plans.

Wright (2003) showed that one example of such a simulation produced good results among his language learners in the areas of cultural awareness and comparisons across cultures. Barnga (1990) is a five-round card game, described by Wright (2003) in a lesson for foreign language learners. In the first part of the lesson, students brainstorm various meanings for the term “cross-cultural adaptability;”in the second part of the lesson they use the four main categories of CCAI to explore connections between language and cross-cultural adaptability. In the third part of the lesson they play the simulation Barnga, and in the fourth part of the lesson they pull together the threads of the lesson. Players are seated at different tables, and after one round of the game, the winner and the loser move to different tables. The players are unaware that each table has been given a different set of rules for the game. Simulation of enculturation, or becoming immersed in a new culture, happens in the first two rounds when winners and losers find themselves at new tables with different rules. Participants are not allowed to talk with each other during the entire tournament, simulating communication difficulties. At the end of the five rounds, Wright (2003) suggests a three-stage debriefing that enables language learners to demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the products, practices and perspectives of the cultures they study, and to demonstrate understanding of the nature of language and the concept of culture by comparing the languages and cultures studied with their own. To debrief, Wright suggests a set of questions in an analogy phase, e.g. “What specific real-life situations does Barnga simulate?” In the cognitive phase of the debriefing, Wright asks participants to react to statements such as “When you notice a violation of the rule you tend to attribute it to the ignorance of others.” In the last debriefing phase participants answer what-if questions such as “What if players were forewarned about rule differences and asked to come up with a different version?” (Wright, 2003, p. 39).

Source: Shrum & Glisan, original material, 2005