ERIC Number: EJ1359354
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1534-8458
EISSN: EISSN-1532-7701
From DACA to Dark Souls: MMORPGs as Sanctuary, Sites of Language/Identity Development, and Third-Space Translanguaging Pedagogy for Los Otros Dreamers
Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, v21 n4 p248-264 2022
Informed by the stories of transnational youth's participation in massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) in Mexico, this study explores the language/identity development and successful (re)integration of these youth in Mexican schools and communities. Drawing on students' voices, we utilize a multimodal systemic functional linguistics framework to explain how engagement in MMORPGs allows youth to creatively demonstrate fields of knowledge and critically reposition themselves with positive in-the-moment and imagined identities. We call for teachers to create third spaces for youth to meet and play MMORPGs. Findings suggest that creating these blended affinity spaces may create opportunities for transnational youth to translanguage, find sanctuary within peer-interest-based communities of practice, maintain meaningful online connections with friends in the United States, form new important friendships, and create the identities needed for successful (re)integration in Mexico.
Descriptors: Role Playing, Video Games, Linguistics, Creativity, Student Mobility, Communities of Practice, Code Switching (Language), Language Usage, English (Second Language), Second Language Learning, Native Language, Spanish, Friendship, Computer Mediated Communication, Foreign Countries, Undocumented Immigrants, Mexicans, Social Integration, Self Concept, Teaching Methods, Language Role
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Mexico
Identifiers - Laws, Policies, & Programs: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A