Travis Compton
Kansai Gaidai University
About
Travis is a Canadian EFL educator with nearly two decades of teaching experience in East Asia. His research interests include learner motivation, sociocultural dimensions of English education, and the use of emerging technologies such as generative AI and digital games in language teaching.Sessions
Poster Presentation Extensive RPGing: Reimagining Extensive Reading Through Role-Playing Video Games more
Sat, Jun 13, 10:20-11:20 Asia/Tokyo
Extensive reading has a well-documented history of support in second language education research, but some of today's learners may be reluctant to engage with traditional print-based reading materials outside of the classroom. This poster presentation introduces extensive RPGing as an approach that includes narrative-driven role-playing video games as a digitally mediated option for students engaging in extensive reading activities. In many RPGs, reading is an essential part of the play experience, with players needing to read and understand dialogue, menus, item descriptions, quest instructions, and other text in order to progress the story. The poster explains what extensive RPGing is, how it compares to more traditional extensive reading approaches, and draws on observations and student-generated data from early classroom implementations. While students who chose to participate reported high engagement, participation itself was limited. Challenges included students who do not play video games, skepticism toward games as learning materials, and uncertainty about selecting appropriate titles. Rather than arguing to replace other methods and materials, extensive RPGing invites participants to consider learners’ existing media consumption habits and whether these habits can be leveraged to support language learning among interested students.
Poster Presentation Designing AI-Mediated Feedback Activities for Academic Writing more
Sat, Jun 13, 10:20-11:20 Asia/Tokyo
In recent years, generative AI tools such as ChatGPT have become increasingly present in EFL and ESL writing classrooms, leading many instructors to consider how these tools can be used effectively and ethically to support student writing. This poster describes the design and implementation of two ChatGPT-based feedback activities used in an academic writing course for first-year Japanese university students in an intensive English program. Taking an iterative approach, the second activity was developed in response to student feedback from the first. In both activities, students first wrote their essay drafts by hand in class without the use of AI or other assistance, and then entered a common prompt to ChatGPT to elicit corrective feedback on their grammar and vocabulary use. Students reviewed the AI-generated suggestions and applied selected feedback during guided revision. The poster outlines this process and draws on data from post-task student surveys to highlight student perceptions of effectiveness, areas of difficulty, and practical considerations for classroom use. Participants are invited to reflect on how this approach can be further refined to integrate generative AI into writing instruction while maintaining a human element and supporting the development of students’ writing skills and voice.
