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siLang Serious Game Scenario
A backbone story drives the siLang game play. The siLang story follows a young professional as he applies for a job, goes through a job interview, gets hired, meets colleagues at the office, and participates in an international meeting. The user is introduced to each of the activities through an introductory scene; for example, the user is eased into a scene that unfolds in the corporate offices by an external image of the office building. The story applies a ‘foldback’ structure in which activities branch out to mutually exclusive activities that the user may select based on personal and professional interests. Eventually the branched out story lines fold back into the main story path. The story line is organized around 7 chapters. An overview of the story line flow appears below:

Chapter 1
In Chapter I the user searchers the web for job positions that are related to her professional and educational background. The user is presented with 4 options that span industries allowing her to tailor subsequent game activities to her professional interests and career development needs. The jobs that the user can apply for include ICT engineer, welding engineer, audio visual communication, and corporate trainer. These options have been purposefully selected to allow evaluation of the game learning value among diverse professional groups. The user is asked to write a letter in response to the job application of her choice and email it to the prospective employer. She undergoes an interview in which she replies to questions related to the job of interest and concludes the scene by signing a contract.

Chapter 2
In Chapter 2 the user is asked to find the offices of her new employer in a larger building. This is a listening comprehension exercise in which she interacts with a receptionist at the building entrance and is called to mark on a building map the location of the company offices based on her understanding of the receptionist’s description. Once into the company office space the user meets her international team of colleagues that speak with different pronunciations and introduce transfer effects into their verbal communication. She must interact with all colleagues, find out their role in the company, and receive information about the location of her desk. This is a listening comprehension exercise in which the user gets exposed to culturally influenced communication. She is asked to respond to questions about each of her colleagues’ position and mark on a map the location of her desk. Closing the scene, the user receives a phone call from the IT specialist who gives her a login account for the company on-line services. This is a spelling and typing exercise in which the user is asked to enter the correct password for logging into the company IT services.

Chapter 3
In Chapter 3 the user receives a phone call or email from her boss informing her that she must participate in an international project meeting. The different mediums of communication provide the user with the opportunity to practice written or oral communication skills. The user must understand information on the meeting location and date. She is asked to contact a travel agent and make travel arrangements based on the transferred travel information taking into account additional rules, for example pursuing the lowest possible cost. The user must apply her understanding of the information provided by her boss for correctly requesting the necessary bookings.

Chapter 4
In Chapter 4 the user travels to the meeting location. While on the plane she engages in conversation with her co-travellers. Upon arrival to the airport the user interacts with locals soliciting information on the best means of transportation from the airport to her hotel. She is offered different choices that include taking a taxi, riding the subway, or walking to the hotel. Based on her choice the user is presented with mutually exclusive tasks. For example, if taking the taxi the user has a conversation with the driver; if taking the subway she misses a stop and must find anew the correct subway line for reaching the hotel; if choosing to walk she must read a map correctly. Upon arrival at the hotel the user interacts with the receptionist to check in and then orders dinner at the hotel restaurant.

Chapter 5
In Chapter 5 the user participates in the project meeting. Meeting participants, who have different cultural backgrounds engage in work related conversation and receive information from the project coordinator on implementation tasks and deadlines. The user is called to understand the role of each participant in the meeting as well as the project tasks and timeline. The user’s understanding is evaluated through multiple choice questions that she is called to respond to in relation to the meeting proceedings. The meeting closes with individuals pre-ordering for a social dinner at a restaurant that is about to follow.

Chapter 6
In Chapter 6 the user participates in the social after meeting dinner. Meeting participants engage in social conversation related to typical national dishes and other culturally-influenced customs and practices in their country of origin. Diverse pronunciations and transfer effects are evident during the conversation making this a rich listening comprehension exercise. The user is asked to respond to multiple choice questions related to the content of the conversation evaluating her understanding of the information presented by her co-workers.

Chapter 7
In Chapter 7 the user has returned from the meeting to the office and must report to her boss on the meeting events. She writes a report including the main items of the conversation and responds to specific questions on implementation tasks and deadlines. The exercises in this chapter are linked to information presented in several of the previous ones in the story line. The chapter concludes the siLang game play.

The siLang Serious Game
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