The Nature of Games

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3. General Concept of Games

a. The Nature of Games

Caillois 1957:49 states that a game is as activity that must have the following characteristics: 1 fun: the activity is chosen for its light-hearted character 2 separate: it is circumscribed in time and place 3 uncertain: the outcome of the activity is unforeseeable 4 non-productive: participation is not productive 5 governed by rules: the activity has rules that are different from everyday life 6 fictitious: it is accompanied by the awareness of a different reality. According to Greenall 1990: 6, the t erm ‘game’ is used whenever there is an element of competition between individual students or teams in a language activity. Haldfield 1999: 46 further emphasizes the effectiveness of using games is that it provides chance to practice or use the new language items students have just learned. He further explains that most students have unwillingness to study but through games, they will eagerly participate to the learning and it is more effective than forcing them to do the tasks unwillingly. Games can be very useful to make the class lively yet still learn. Everyone must have competitiveness inside of them and games will encourage them to perform their skill so that they will be desired to learn. Games are not merely letting the students jumping and running here and there inside the class with no control. Like stated before, games also have rules to obey, so that the students are not merely have fun but they also have constraints. Krauer 1998 36 said that games must be run by some rules. A child playing with a doll cannot be considered as doing a game, yet it is merely a playing. Language games are not different. Language games are conducted to make the class more fun and competitive. Games must have clear rules that the all the students agree and understand. This will make the class settled and the aims of the lesson achieved. As mentioned above, we can also conclude that games are very effective in boosting students’ motivation to learn. Games are effective as they make students participate on the playing that of course has been designed to learn beforehand. As students will gain more knowledge when they enjoy the learning, games also guarantee that the students will be more successful to learn while they are having games rather than listening to teacher’s explanation unwillingly.

b. The Advantages of Using Games in Learning