Computer Assisted Language Learning

Recommendations by Fredrik (Nässjö, Sweden)

As an English teacher I have sometimes used IF as a tool for language learning. IF is exceptionally well suited for that purpose, except for two things: 1) Most good games use very advanced language, too difficult for non-advanced learners. 2) Those few games that have a simpler language are still often difficult for beginning learners, while potentially childish for intermediate learners.

A handful of games have been designed with the specific purpose of being used for CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning). The problem with these is that they are usually poorly designed as games, and not very fun to play. Anyway, this is a list of those IF CALL games that I know about.

Please let me know if others exist.

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1. London, by Nils Eng (1989)
Average member rating: (1 rating)
Fredrik says:

Nice game, but very limited parser.

2. Ausflug am Wochenende nach München, by Brett Shelton, David Neville, Brian McInnis (2007)
Average member rating: (1 rating)
Fredrik says:

An interesting effort, which suffers from some bad programming and uninteresting problems.

3. Escape from the ELI, by Lowell Riethmuller (1992)
Average member rating: (1 rating)
Fredrik says:

Not very interesting, especially if you are not a student at that specific school.

4. Weekend Survival, by Lowell Riethmuller (1990)
Average member rating: (1 rating)
Fredrik says:

Fortunately, my memory of this game is vague.

5. Orientation to Van Pelt Library, by Richard Young (1990)
Average member rating: (1 rating)
Fredrik says:

Not much of a game, and especially boring if you are not a student at Van Pelt.

6. Around the World in Eighty Days, by Lloyd Holliday (1988)
Average member rating: (3 ratings)
Fredrik says:

Absolutely rotten game. Stay away!

7. Metro 2033 Russian-Learning Adventure Game, by Valda (2013)
Fredrik says:

Not knowing Russian, I have not played this. If you have an opinion, please make a comment.

8. 年獸文字冒險遊戲 | The Beast, Nian: A Chinese Text Adventure
by IFforL2
(2016)
Average member rating: (1 rating)

Fredrik says:

I do not understand Chinese and have not played this game.

9. Speak French
by Claire6129
(2014)
Average member rating: (3 ratings)

Fredrik says:

The reviewers agree that this game is not finished, so I have not tried it myself.

10. Li You's Secret Admirer, by Mrs. Pollard (2016)
Average member rating: (2 ratings)

11. Death at Hamsterley, by Judith Buendgens-Kosten et al. (2016)

12. Escape | 逃出去: A text adventure game for Chinese learners, by Olle Linge and Kevin Bullaughey (2016)
Average member rating: (1 rating)

13. Door | 門, by IFforL2 (2014)
Average member rating: (1 rating)

14. 迷雾中 | Into the Haze
by Olle Linge and Kevin Bullaughey
(2017)

15. LanguageQuester - Spanish, by Valera Volkov (2017)

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