LANGUAGE GAMES Language is a complex system of communication that used by human beings.

It needs a high of human capacity for acquiring and capability in order to use it. As stated by Ferdinand de Saussure in the article Wittgenstein & the Importance of Language Games, all words acted as signs and had two components; signifiers and the signified. For the word cat, the word cat is the signifier and the description, a furry animal with four legs and a tail, is the signified. He claimed that, language is only understood when everyone able to recognises the same signifiers and the signified. Meaning of words are very depending on the situation and the intention of the speaker. English Language is one of the famous languages in the world as it always being practiced by the people around the world. This is why the English has been an important language today. In parallel to the importance of English language, Ministry of Education has stated that English language is a crucial language that the Malaysian have to learn. There are so many approaches that can be used in order to teach language. One of the approach is by using games. The games that used in teaching and learning language is called language games. Language is not an easy thing to deal with. Language learning is a hard process for the people to face. It needs a lot of efforts and must be maintained from time to time. Games is one of the way to keep the maintaining process. As we all know, everybody loves to play games especially young kids. So that, in language learning, language games can motivate the young learners because games are amusing and interesting. Indirectly games help to practice the language skills and communication skills.

As stated in the article Creative Games for the Language Class, There is a common perception that all learning should be serious and solemn in nature, and that if one is having fun and there is hilarity and laughter, then it is not really learning. This is a misconception. It is possible to learn a language as well as enjoy oneself at the same time. One of the best ways of doing this is through games(Kim L.S,1993). Here, she wants to correct the misconception of people perception of learning process. A learning process can be full of enjoyment instead of serious and dull. She also said that language can be learned when one is enjoying himself in doing things. Games are the right things to make people enjoy and indirectly promotes to learning of the language. Kim L.S(1993) also mentioned a few advantages of practicing games in the language classroom. She stated that, Games are a welcome break from the usual routine of the language class. They are motivating and challenging. Learning a language requires a great deal of effort. Games help students to make and sustain the effort of learning. Games provide language practice in the various skills- speaking, writing, listening and reading. They encourage students to interact and communicate. They create a meaningful context for language use. Based on her ideas, it is clearly shown that there are so many advantages of language games. It able to cover most of the things that one really need in order to acquire the language. In easier way, language games can be a useful medium that the teacher can use to teacher and an interesting medium for the learners in helping them to learn the language. As conclusion, language games is a good medium in teaching and learning process. It able to trigger the human capability in learning the language in indirect

way. This is why the subject Language Games for ESL classroom is exist in this course.

1 Wittgenstein & the Importance of Language Games Ludwig Wittgenstein: Philosophy & Language Jul 11, 2008 Sabrina Louise Webb

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http://exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/forum/archives/1995/docs/95-33-1l.pdf