O n f e r e n c e

Manuel Pérez-Zurera
is in the final year of his Computer Science Degree at the 
University of Cadiz (Spain). He is interested in mobile applications, video-games and 
programming and has recently designed several mini-games to be included in a mobile 
app for German language learners. 
Abstract 
The steady rise and increasing availability of new technologies, especially in the area of 
MALL, has created new challenges in the Area of Foreign Language Learning. This means 
that, since students have more and more access to a wide range of devices and learning 
materials, teachers are challenged to explore the potential and the benefits of these 
technologies to enhance students’ learning processes. 
In recent years there have been several attempts to integrate devices such as mobile 
phones as valid learning tools to support formal as well as informal learning (Thornton & 
Houser 2005; Levy & Kennedy 2005; Godwin-Jones 2011; Holden & Sykes 2011; 
Stockwell 2013).

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2014 CALL Conference 
LINGUAPOLIS
www.antwerpcall.be 
Nonetheless, most of these attempts have been focused on providing learners with 
meaningful 
language input
rather than on enhancing students’ active use of the target 
language.
 
The present study therefore aims to explore some of the possibilities in using 
mobile phones for providing learners with meaningful
language input
as well as for 
pushing them towards increased 
language
output
.
 
For this purpose we have designed a 
gamificated Android App which can be played either on a smartphone or tablet. The app 
itself provides learners, through several mini-games, with opportunities to first acquire 
new vocabulary input and then to practice the newly acquired vocabulary in a 
collaborative murder game, called 
Catch me, if you can
. In order to successfully complete 
the different game tasks that are randomly assigned by the server, students need to 
collaborate with other game-players and develop real-world communication skills. 
Additionally, students’ communication is coordinated and stored by a game server that 
allows us to a
nalyze students’ behaviour and interaction during the different game 
sessions.