Forte language games for teaching theory

Language Games:
An Innovative, Engaging Way
to Teach Theory Use Competencies
Professor James A. Forte
(jamesforte@mac.com; http://jamesaforte.com)
(The Changing World and
the Face of Social Work
2014 BPD Annual Conference
March 23, 2014 Louisville, KY)

Competencies & Theorizing Skills
• 2.1.3 Critical thinking – theorizing skills including
critique (science, social work, practical standards),
contextualize, deductive reasoning, inductive
reasoning
• 2.1.7 Apply knowledge – core theorizing skills,
advanced theorizing
• 2.1.10 Planned change processes – differential and
situation appropriate use of core theorizing skills
and advanced theorizing skills

Ludwig Wittgenstein
• Lived 1889 to 1951
• Considered one of greatest philosophers of
last century
• A major interest – language, its uses and
language learning
• Classic work – Philosophical Investigations

W’s Game Metaphor, Expanded
• Professional activity – interaction in varied “theory use”
language games
• Student – game contestant learning to play and win games
• Educator – coach preparing contestants and game show
host facilitating play
• Professional development – progress in knowledge (theory
content) and ability (theorizing competencies) necessary to
make moves (talk-fluency & literacy and deed) showing
effective game playing as judged by “community of
practitioners”

Need for Theory Language
Games
Social Workers need to learn many languages –
research, ethics and values, social work practice
(EBP), and
theory (explanatory, practice, folk theories)
(Bloom, 1991)
BUT
The profession is not teaching theoretical languages
or mastery of SW language games.

Games – Language Games
Game of Risk SW Assessment Game
• Goal-To conquer world To understand PIE
• Moves–locate forces Question, Summarize
• Context-Home Agency, Client Life Space
• Rules-battles, troop Rules-privacy, focal topics,
movements, etc. assembly of information, etc.

Theory Language Games in SW
• Game of Interpreting PIE Problems
(Assessment)
• Game of Solving PIE Problems
• Game of Reporting on Case
• Game of Team Conferences
• Game of Translating
Assessment/Intervention Plan for Others

Teaching Language Games (Principles)
• Teach with priority on “theoretical language learning”
• Teach that theory meanings emerge during interaction in
situations embedded in social-physical environments
• Teach rules and moves (word use) necessary for effective
“theorizing” game play (coordinated action)
• Teach with emphasis on theoretical languages as tools
• Teach that theory languages shape our perception of
reality
• Teach in ways simulating actual context for theory talk
• Teach appreciation for multiple theory languages & games

Teaching with Theory Language Games
(Benefits)
• Motivate students to work to learn theoretical content and theorizing
skills by fun, enjoyable learning activities
• Elicit student reflections on theoretical concepts, the uses of
theoretical concepts, and the social work contexts for theory / theory
concept use
• Make learning active via practice, rehearsal of language use and
relating classroom language learning to social work in field settings
• Help students increase their vocabulary of theoretical concepts and
their ability to use this vocabulary in theory-related talk and action

Theory Language Games: Steps
• 1. Pick language game suitable to class members and relevant to purpose of
class session; relate game design to specific helping contexts
• 2. Introduce the game and the rules to the class. If necessary, provide a brief
demonstration of how the game works.
• 3. Play the game - create teams, begin play, facilitate / host, manage noise, use
classroom space appropriately, balance competition and fun, note students'
learning problems related to game play
• 4. Give out prizes and debrief game with class regarding theory knowledge
and theorizing process decisions, lessons, new understandings
• 5. Revise game or prepare new games to help students master learning
challenges that became apparent

Tailoring Games to PIE, Setting,
Inquiry & Action Plans
Feeling – Psychodynamic Theory / Crisis Services, Mental Health Clinics
Uncover intrapsychic conflicts & attachment problems / Plan to deepen insights
and improve attachments
Sensing - Evolutionary Biology /Adoption Agencies, Hospitals, Senior Centers,
Reproductive Services
Diagnose symptoms and overall health / Plan for disease remedies or health
promotion
Thinking – Cognitive Science/ Schools, Centers for Developmental Challenges
Appraise thinking and cognitive development / Plan to challenge distorted
thinking and enhance cognitive abilities

Gaining Familiarity with
Theories

Theory Bingo
• Students mingle and attempt to find
someone in the class who has done the
activity in a bingo skeet box. The student
asks the other student to initial the bottom
of the box. (No more than three initials
from any one person. The first three persons
to complete a row or column win prizes.)

Theory Charades
• Each student player selects a theory name
from a list of explanatory or practice theory
and following the rules of charades, acts out
the name for his or her team. The
performance it timed and the team with the
shortest time wins the round.

Thinking about Theory as
Language

Theory Telephone
• Teams are created. The first team leaves the
room. One student reads a theoretical quote
and attempts to pass it on to the next student
as accurately as possible and so on. Each
team’s final version is compared to the
original version; the team with the closed
final “telephone message” wins.

Using Theories: SW Theory-
Informed Assessment Game

Theory What's My Line
(20 Questions)
• One student volunteers to be the mystery
guest and familiarizes self with the case
scenario. The rest of class asks closed
ended questions in order to pinpoint the
problem and the relevant explanatory
theory. When a student receives a “yes”
answer, he or she continues. A “no” answer
ends the turn.

What Would the Theorist Ask
One student volunteers to be the mystery guest (a famous
theorist related to an applied /practice theory) and
familiarizes self with the case scenario. The rest of class
asks open-ended questions in order to learn about the
details of the problem and the relevant explanatory theory.
Each student gets one turn and can guess at the end of the
turn. The teacher might either show a photo of a theorist to
guide the question formulation or show photos of a variety
of theorists and encourage students to determine which
theorist is most relevant.

Using Theories: SW Theory-
Informed Intervention Games

Theory American Idol
• Students watch and judge two or more
presentations (student team presentations,
You Tube clips by applied theory experts)
on a particular theoretical approach used in
practice to guide intervention, summarize
each in their own words, and judge which
presentation would best guide their own
intervention planning and implementation.

Theory: What Would the
Theorist Do
• One student volunteers to be the mystery guest (a famous
theorist related to an applied /practice theory) and
familiarizes self with the case scenario. The rest of class
asks open-ended questions in order to learn about the
theorist's ideas for resolving the problem and several
interventions associations with the theorist. Each student
gets one turn and can guess at the end of the turn. The
teacher might either show a photo of a theorist to guide the
question formulation or show photos of a variety of
theorists and encourage students to determine which
theorist is most relevant.

Building Theory Vocabularies:
SW Case Conference Game

Theory Match Game
• Class is divided into two teams. Each team is presented a
simple image (or question; the set of questions represents
concepts from multiple theories - one theory's concepts at
a time or concepts from different theories mixed together);
team members write down their answers. If 2/3 of team
writes correct answer, team earns 10 points. If all team
members write correct answer, team earns 20 points. The
first team to earn 100 points wins.

Theory Harvest
• List 20 theoretical concepts on an image of
a large paper tree - 4 from each of 5
theories. Create images of 5 buckets - each
with the name of one of the theories on it.
Students compete against a time limit to
place the concepts correctly in the theory
buckets. Or a the team that first fills a
bucket wins points and play continues.

Theory Password
• Two teams compete. The theoretical term to be conveyed
(the "password") is given to one player on each team and
was shown to the rest of the class (also they get to hear it).
Game play alternated between the two teams with
theoretical terms selected from multiple theories. On each
team, the player who was given the password gives a one-
word clue from which their partner attempts to guess the
password. If the partner fails to guess the password within
the allotted five-second time limit, or if an illegal clue was
given (two or more words, a hyphenated word, or any part
or form of the password), play passed to the opposing
team. The game continues until one of the players guessed
the password correctly or until ten clues had been given.
•

Magic Letters: Fill in the Blank
with Theory Answer
• For tests, students are expected to fill in the
blank part of a sentence describing some
theoretical knowledge. Sentences are
related to varied relevant theories. Students
receive a magic letter, the first or last letter
of the correct answer as a clue.

Theory Balderdash
(Definitions/Shmefinitions)
• Each team has a guesser and a set of definition finders. A
theoretical concept is presented. The finders look up the
definition in the textbook, and he or she writes it down.
The guesser writes down his or her notion of the
definition. The team earns points if the definitions match.
Game continues with concepts presented from multiple
theories.

Which Theoretical Concept
Doesn't Belong
• For tests, construct an item with 4 concepts
from one theory and a fifth concept from a
different theory. The student must pick the
concept that doesn't belong to the first
theory.

Theory Language Games: Uses
• Review of theoretical frameworks
especially concepts before tests
• Energizers to refocus student attention and
increase class level of vitality
• Part of formal class agendas to teach
theories and their uses
• Other ________________________

Jim Forte, HimselfJim Forte, Himself

Brief Biography:
James A. Forte
• Forte is professor at Salisbury University, author of four
books and 40 articles, and an enthusiastic workshop
presenter at international, national, regional, and local
conferences Forte has been teaching human behavior
classes for more than 15 years, and has recently completed
books focused on Skills for Theory Use and Using 14
Theories for Practice.

An Introduction to Using Theory inAn Introduction to Using Theory in
Social Work PracticeSocial Work Practice
• Routledge 2014 – 264 pagesRoutledge 2014 – 264 pages
PaperbackPaperback:: $51.95$51.95978-0-415-72671-9978-0-415-72671-9
• James A. Forte is Professor of Social Work at Salisbury
University, Maryland, USA. (jamesforte@mac.com;
http://jamesaforte.com)
• http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415726719/

An Introduction to Using Theory in Social Work Practice equips the reader to use fourteen key
social work theories to guide each phase of the planned change process, from engagement
through to evaluation. Suitable for a generalist approach, this book illustrates the value of
applying theory to practice in a variety of social work roles, across diverse fields and facing
assorted challenges.
The first section provides a practical foundation for beginning to use theory in your social work
practice.
Section two looks at how you can translate and integrate fourteen theories commonly found in
social work across each phase of the planned change process. The theories discussed are:
behavioural, interpretive anthropology, psychodynamic, evolutionary biology, cognitive,
symbolic interactionism, strengths, social constructionism exchange economics, role,
ecological, critical, feminist, and systems theory.
The final section addresses some key issues for real life social work practice, including
common barriers to using theory in practice, the potential for multi-professional
communication and theory-sharing, and developing an integrative theoretical model for your
own personal practice.
Linking to core competencies identified by the Council of Social Work Education, this text
supports social work students and practitioners in developing vital skills, including critical
thinking, applying theory and the effective use of the planned change process.

Skills for Using Theory inSkills for Using Theory in Social Work
32 Lessons for Evidence-Informed Practice
PaperbackPaperback:: $51.95$51.95978-0-415-72684-9978-0-415-72684-9
James A. Forte is Professor of Social
Work at Salisbury University, Maryland,
USA. (jamesforte@mac.com;
http://jamesaforte.com)
http://www.routledge.com/books/details/97http://www.routledge.com/books/details/97
80415726849/80415726849/

Using theory, research evidence and experiential knowledge is a critical component of
good social work. This unique text is designed to help social work students and
practitioners to integrate theorizing into practice, demonstrating how to search for, select
and translate academic knowledge for practical use in helping people improve their lives
and environments. Presenting 32 core skills, Skills for Using Theory in Social Work
provides a conceptual foundation, a vocabulary, and a set of skills to aid competent social
work theorizing. Each chapter outlines the knowledge and action components of the skill
and its relationship to core practice behaviours, along with learning and reflection
activities. The lessons are divided into four parts:
• Section one discusses foundational material, including self-identification as a
theorist-practitioner, the deliberate use of the term theory, and a social work approach to
the selection of knowledge.
• Section two focuses on the adept use of theorizing skills. It covers identifying
assumptions, using concepts, formulating propositions, organizing theory elements
inductively or deductively, summarizing and displaying the elements of a theory, gathering
and organizing assessment information and communicating with clients and colleagues
about tentative theories.
• Section three includes lessons preparing social workers for the construction of
useful middle-range theories including causal theories and interpretive theories and for
testing and sharing these practical theories.
• Section four presents skills to develop critical thinking about theoretical knowledge.
These include avoiding the misuse of theory, judging a theory using scientific standards,
judging a theory by professional standards, critiquing theory in its cultural and historical
context and making judgments about the likely long-term impact of a theory.

Table of Contents
PART I: THEORIES AND TOOLS FOR TRANSLATION.
1. An Introduction to Theory and Practical Theorizing.
2. Tools for Translating and Practical Theorizing: Models and Metaphors.
3. Tools for Practical Theorizing: Theoretical Maps and Ecosystem Maps.
PART II: MODELS, METAPHORS, AND MAPS APPLIED.
4. Applied Ecological Theory.
5. Applied Social Systems Theory.
6. Applied Biology.
7. Applied Cognitive Science.
8. Applied Psychodynamic Theory.
9. Applied Behaviorism.
10. Applied Symbolic Interactionism.
11. Applied Social Role Theory.
12. Applied Economic Theory.
13. Applied Critical Theory.
PART III: THEORETICAL INTEGRATION.
14. Afterword: Multi Theory Practice and Routes to Integration.
Features
Students can compare and contrast each theory through three key tools: models, metaphors and maps.
Exemplary models for each theory include a brief biography of important theorists, highlighting psychologists,
sociologists, and social workers associated with that theory.
Metaphors central to each theory creatively bring the content to life and mak e the applications of ideas and concepts
specific to social work and social workers.
"Eco-maps" presented for each theory help students to visualize the components that are part of the theoretical model and
how they are interrelated.
Detailed questions an d learning activi ties encourage students to check comprehension, think critically, and apply thei r
knowledge.
The Companion Site provides theory-specific references, lists of effectiveness and theory-specific case studies, theory-
related websites, terms, outlines, and PowerPoint presentations. A test bank is also available to instructors.

Forte language games for teaching theory

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