Inspiring Podcasts
For this first edition of Inspiring Podcasts, I had an interview recently with Seyed Shahrokni, Ph.D, talking about his work, dissertation, and thoughts about studying at Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA.
Seyed Shahrokni, Ph.D, is currently an adjunct faculty at the Language, Literacy, and Technology Program, Department of Teaching and Learning, College of Education, Washington State University, Pullman, WA. He is from Iran and very passionate about the use of technology in an ESL/EFL environment. He is also the managing editor of TESL-EJ (The Electronic Journal for English as A Second Language).
I had the chance to talk with him about his study, experiences, dissertation, thoughts about gaming, and tips about studying and living in Pullman, WA.
His dissertation is fantastic. It talks about second language socialization in a popular MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) called Stronghold Kingdoms. He looks at how two non-native speakers of English used the affordances provided by the game to improve their English while playing the game.
Some people believe that gaming is the future of education since it supports engagement and connects learners socially while learning.
More information about Seyed Shahrokni can be found in this link:
https://education.wsu.edu/s-shahrokni/.
To get deeper ideas about Seyed's dissertation and the Stronghold Kingdoms MMOG that he studied and played, please watch this cool Youtube video that he posted on his channel:
