Role Play in the Norwegian EFL Classroom: Adapting a Reacting to the Past Game to the Norwegian 10th Grade Classroom in Accordance with the Subject Renewal 2020
Master thesis
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https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3036541Utgivelsesdato
2022Metadata
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This thesis is a study of the American immersion pedagogy Reacting to the Past (RTTP) andhow this pedagogy can be used in the Norwegian EFL classroom in lower secondary school.RTTP is a series of role playing games developed for American colleges and universities.Our thesis is split into three research questions, examining how to adapt a game for use inlower secondary school.
Together with two other MA students, we adapted the game Ending the Troubles :Religion, Nationalism, and the Search for Peace and Democracy in Northern Ireland, 1997-98, in accordance with the subject curricula, LK20. We played the game in a 10th grade classover two weeks in January 2022. In RTTP, the pupils run proceedings in the classroom andthe teacher serves as the game master who oversees the process. During each session, weobserved and took notes. At the end of the intervention, a survey was conducted toinvestigate which parts of our adaptation had succeeded or failed.
We have played RTTP at university both in Norway and the United States and havebeen part of a project working on developing RTTP games. The potential of the pedagogywas something we wanted to test to see if it could be used in 10th grade classes.
Our study found that it can be an effective learning tool in Norwegian 10th gradeclassrooms with some changes in the build-up and preparation of the game. Most of thepupils in our intervention enjoyed playing the game, saying “it was more fun than traditionalteaching”. Some pupils claimed they learned more from the RTTP game than they normallywould. Our study also justifies the use of RTTP as a learning tool through the competenceaims in LK20.