tecHnical data for the project
- Principal Investigator: Dr. Raúl Alberto Mora
- Co-investigators: Walter Castaño (The Quarterback), Carlos Andrés Gaviria (Charles K-Pop), Julián Londoño-Mazo (Flich), Juan Camilo Mazo (Cisco), Carlos Andrés Sánchez (Kylo), Andrés Martín (Apolo), Jeferson Sanmartín-Arango (Jazzy Jef), and J. Sebastián Ramírez (Zebs)
- Design stage: September 2016 - December 2017
- Data collection and analysis: January 2018 - December 2021
- Working on presentations and manuscripts at present
Description
During our initial experience coining the idea of Language-as-Victory (LaV), we had an interesting transition phase: Three researchers from this team (Walter, Esteban, and Sebastián) joined the first phase of our LaV work, getting involved in data analysis and interpretation. That initial experience led to a very smooth transition and the ongoing work of our current team, where the insights from Carlos and Helen plus Julián's pro gaming experience have offered new layers of development we did not have before: #TeamLaV01 was a more homogeneous group, which laid the foundation for a solid conceptual framework. #TeamLaV02, on the other hand, is far more diverse, in terms of personal and overall gaming backgrounds, which has heavily influenced our new directions with LaV.
The first phase of LaV explored the use of English and other languages as a communicative resource to achieve success (literally understood as victory, hence the acronym). For this second phase of our project, we intend to take the notion of LaV beyond the linguistic dimension, adding the semiotic and aesthetic dimensions to our understanding of language. We are now exploring how the use of the different signs, icons, and sounds (to name a few) present in video games are also part of the gamers' communicative repertoire as they navigate games played in a second language. Conceptually, we have expanded LaV to include baseline definitions for language and victory, five key concepts and a developing taxonomy (for more on these concepts, we invite you to read the LSLP Micro-Papers for all concepts, including LaV itself):
The first phase of LaV explored the use of English and other languages as a communicative resource to achieve success (literally understood as victory, hence the acronym). For this second phase of our project, we intend to take the notion of LaV beyond the linguistic dimension, adding the semiotic and aesthetic dimensions to our understanding of language. We are now exploring how the use of the different signs, icons, and sounds (to name a few) present in video games are also part of the gamers' communicative repertoire as they navigate games played in a second language. Conceptually, we have expanded LaV to include baseline definitions for language and victory, five key concepts and a developing taxonomy (for more on these concepts, we invite you to read the LSLP Micro-Papers for all concepts, including LaV itself):
Graph source: Mora, Castaño, Londoño-Mazo, Mazo, Mejía, & Ramírez, 2019
EXPLORING GAMES, GENRES, ROLES, AND SPACES
Our inquiries merge elements from digital and autoethnography for the exploration of LaV in video games. For this work, we rely on the strengths of our researchers and their extended background as amateur, hardcore, and professional gamers. One line of inquiry for our research includes studying genres and their surrounding communities, in five specific genres:
A second line of inquiry, related to issues of identity and isotypes, has to do with the evolution of video games over time and what specific elements (characters, settings, storylines, etc.) remain constant over time. This will be an attempt to carry out some sort of multimodal archaeology of these games.
- Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA)
- Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMRPG)
- First Person Shooter Games (FPS)
- Real Time Strategy Games (RTSG)
- Action Role Playing Games (ARPG)
A second line of inquiry, related to issues of identity and isotypes, has to do with the evolution of video games over time and what specific elements (characters, settings, storylines, etc.) remain constant over time. This will be an attempt to carry out some sort of multimodal archaeology of these games.
Academic Presentations
Our team has begun disseminating their proposals and early work since 2017. Here is the detail so far:
2017
2017
- October - UPB Student Research Group Annual Meeting
- May - Regional Student Research Group (Antioquia Node) Annual Meeting
- May - International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (University of Illinois) (2 conceptual presentations)
- April - American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting (1 research presentation)
- May - International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (University of Illinois) (1 methodological presentation)
- September - 1st Lexicom ELT Conference (2 research presentations)
- November - Academic Sessions X (Universidad Católica Luis Amigó) (1 research presentation)
- October - ASOCOPI Annual Conference (1 research presentation)