GAMES AS A DIDACTIC TOOL: THE ATTITUDES OF PROSPECTIVE FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS

Abstract

In the Dictionary of Didactics (Cuq, 2003: 160) the term game is found under the entry playful (ludique) and is defined as “a didactic activity, which follows a set of rules and is used in the classroom for the amusement it provides”. For centuries, games were excluded from the school environment. It was in the late seventies of the previous century that they slowly started appearing in classrooms through the communicative approach (Silva, 2009: 106). Despite the fact that this approach recognized games as a legitimate didactic tool, we cannot help but notice that games are all too often still used merely as fill-ins at times when “serious” activities are out of the question, for example during the last class before the holidays.