Starts and Stops: Multimodal Practices for Walking as a Group in an Augmented Reality Place Based Game

摘要

Augmented reality, place-based games utilize GPS-enabled maps and mobile media recording devices to shift traditional classroom activities into real-world contexts. AR-games for second language learning is a new field of research, and few studies have examined the kinds of face-to-face interactions players engage in during AR-games. Using intensive, multi-camera video data of English language learners playing an AR-game, ChronoOps, this thesis describes how groups start and stop walking during gameplay. The method used is conversation analysis, and this study draws from theories of embodied and distributed cognition, situated learning, and interactional competence Walking to and from various destinations as a group is an important action for accomplishing the ChronoOps game. Thus, starting and stopping are sites where players orient to the tasks and environment of the game. Results show that starts and stops are projectable and accountable actions comprised of multiple semiotic fields including linguistic, gestural, and embodied practices. Furthermore, starts and stops are contingent on playersu27 orientation to their place within the campus and game destinations, but also their place within the locally constructed nature of the AR-game task organization. These findings have implications for future research theories of learning in SLA and AR-games.