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CriticalEvaluationonGamesasaClassroomAc tivityinEFLLearningContext
作者：ZHOUXin
来源：《校园英语·中旬》2014年第12期
【Abstract】Game is a double-edged sword.Though games can definitely arouse
students’interests of learning and make students active and enthusiastic in EFL classroom， it is challenging for teachers to manage the games and achieve expected teaching objectives.
【Keywords】games， EFL classroom activities， communicative competence， English language proficiency
I.Description
Game is a useful teaching technique in the language learning classroom.It can be used as the warm-up activity at the beginning of the lesson，a break or “marginal” activity during the lesson，
or an essential activity for practicing learnt language at all stages of the lesson （Uberman，1998）.Games for language learning include picture games， psychology games， caring and sharing games， sound games， story games， memory games， miscellaneous games， etc.（Wright， Betteridge， and Buckby， 1984）.In spite of the different forms of various games，they have common features： 1） they are fun， motivating students to learn language； 2） they are communicative，improving students’communicative competence and spontaneous use of language； 3） they can integrate or utilize four skills of listening， speaking， reading and writing； 4） they are student-centered activity and teachers play a role of facilitator during activity （Lengeling， and Malarcher， 1997， Wright， Betteridge， and Buckby， 1984）.
II.Strengths and weaknesses
Using games in language classroom can be beneficial in the following aspects： 1） it can help teachers contextualize the target language in a meaningful and interesting situation， as well as help teachers evaluate students’ learning results and make compensations or improvement in time； 2） it encourages students to interact and communicate by using the target language in a motivating and entertaining way， which helps students to learn the language faster and better （Uberman，1998）， especially for the shy students， who may become active to participant in the game to express their ideas and practice the language； 3） for different purposes of learning the target language， games have different functions： a） for the purpose of reviewing learnt language items， games can be designed to waken the short-term working memory of students for reinforcement of the target language and transform it into long-term working memory.This can be used in vocabulary acquisition.b） For the purpose of warm-up or lead-in before teaching the target