Typology of Games: Classification for Education & Language Learning

TYPOLOGY OF GAMES
Motor-sensorial or exercise games
Symbolic game
A) GENERAL
Piaget
Role games
With the body, objects or people.
Imitation, representation.
Role representation.
Socialised or rule games.
Non-verbal games
1) Language use
Know one another, break the ice… Sociocultural aspects.
Precommunicative games
Communication games
2) Attitudes
B) FOCUSED ON
LANGUAGE
TEACHING
Cooperative games.
Competitive games.
3) Techniques
Students play to be the first to achieve the goal.
Different games depending on the dynamic and techniques used.
Board games
They require movement, mime, performance…
To work in pairs and in small groups.
Card games
They are good for reactivating language.
Oral games
They only require oral and written communication.
Online games
5) Linguistic aspects
Emphasize communication and develop fluency.
Students work together to chieve a common aim.
Body games
4) Medium or material
Different aspects of the language (vocabulary…).
Vocabulary games.
Structure games.
They promote digital competence.
They work on words, spelling and pronunciation.
Yes / no questions, guessing what happened…