We are investigating how to use gamification methods to collect linguistic data, especially phonetic data. In Kim, Kogan, Zhang (2023) below, we discussed the potential rationales and importance of gamifying linguistic experiments. As a follow-up, we are trialling a gamified system for a (socio-)phonetic project.
Think you know North East accents? North East Language Game
We have been collecting game data through this link [Note the voucher prizes have been given out and are no longer available]:
If you are one of our game players, the following resources may interest you:
Debriefing This page will contain any information, such as the target answers for the game questions, latest updates for our study results, and pulications.
This project is funded by the Institute for Social Science, Newcastle University through a Pioneer Award to Dr. Cong Zhang.
Wey aye, man: Think you know a North-East accent when you hear one?
Gamification of behavioral experiments has been applied successfully to research in a number of disciplines, including linguistics. We believe that these methods have been underutilized in applied linguistics, in particular second-language acquisition research. The incorporation of games and gaming elements (gamification) in behavioral experiments has been shown to mitigate many of the practical constraints characteristic of lab settings, such as limited recruitment or only achieving small-scale data. However, such constraints are no longer an issue with gamified and game-based experiments, and as a result, data collection can occur remotely with greater ease and on a much wider scale, yielding data that are ecologically valid and robust. These methods enable the collection of data that are comparable in quality to the data collected in more traditional settings while engaging far more diverse participants with different language backgrounds that are more representative of the greater population. We highlight three successful applications of using games and gamification with applied linguistic experiments to illustrate the effectiveness of such approaches in a greater effort to invite other applied linguists to do the same.
@article{kim2024collecting,author={Kim, Yoolim and Kogan, Vita V and Zhang, Cong},title={{Collecting Big Data Through Citizen Science: Gamification and Game-based Approaches to Data Collection in Applied Linguistics}},journal={Applied Linguistics},volume={45},issue={1},pages={198-205},year={2024},issn={0142-6001},doi={10.1093/applin/amad039}}
Related talks:
gamification
Gamifying phonetic data collection: an accent identification and attitude study
Cong Zhang, Yanyu Li, and Damar Hoogland
Colloquium of the British Association of Academic Phoneticians (BAAP 2024) Cardiff, UK, Mar 2024
@conference{gamifying-c,author={Zhang, Cong and Li, Yanyu and Hoogland, Damar},title={Gamifying phonetic data collection: an accent identification and attitude study},booktitle={Colloquium of the British Association of Academic Phoneticians (BAAP 2024)},year={2024},month=mar,location={Cardiff, UK}}
