Combining Game Based Learning with Content and Language Integrated Learning Approaches: A Research Proposal Utilizing QR Codes and Google Earth in a Geography-Based Game

The increasing use of computer games has motivated researchers to explore ways of integrating them in education. Game-Based Learning (GBL) provides learning approaches that better correspond with current students' requirements or habits and, as a consequence, engage students in the learning process. In this paper the GBL educational approach is combined with that of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) within the context of an educational geography computer game, utilizing QR Codes and Google Earth for teaching English Language to Greek Primary School students. This integration provides a motivational and cognitive basis for language learning, since it represents a meaningful, contextualized activity and on the other hand, gives students the chance to expand their cognitive skills and use more sophisticated language. CLIL is believed to help students improve specific language terminology, enhance students' intercultural communicative competence and foster implicit and incidental learning by centering on meaning and communication. QR codes were selected, as their low creating and reading technical barrier makes them ideal educational tools for innovative educators. The purpose of this treasure hunt - like game is to observe and enhance the learning strategies that students use while learning a foreign language. The proposed game immerses 10 to 12-year-old students in problem solving challenges regarding the use of geography in realistic contexts. In attempting to solve these problems, students must engage in collaborative work by following hints, provided by QR codes images. These images are embedded as pinned signs on Google Earth. By reading and decrypting them, the students are led to web pages with information and context-aware learning material, necessary for distinguishing the next "stop around the globe" with a QR code image. Additionally, the students are required to fill in work sheets, thus keeping a journal of their "journey" while producing text based descriptions of their thoughts, written in the foreign language. The aim of this paper is to present an innovative approach for enhancing teaching and learning outcomes, as it suggests how Content and Language Integrated Learning can be successfully enacted through a geography game-based learning environment.