Cause and goal of the project
My reason for starting this project is that I was curious whether the hypothesis I formed during my PhD research that gamers were better readers than non-gamers was, in fact, correct. I was curious to see whether game-based learning could be used to help poor readers become better readers.
The Primary goals of project were to test this hypothesis, use the results to develop a serious game based-learning intervention. Implement the game and test it to determine if it improved the reading skills of students.
Plan and method
The hypothesis which we wished to test was whether students with a gaming background would score higher in a standard reading comprehension test when compared to students without a gaming background. We were also interested in which aspects of the reading test would be performed better by students with a gaming background. We used a pretest – posttest design using a standardized reading comprehension test.
What were the most important challenges and how did you deal with them? The game required a storyline in which to build the game. This meant setting aside my research cap and writing a story. Then I created the reading comprehension puzzles that were woven into the story. My experience working as part of the English construction team of CITO was very useful here.
Evaluation and results
We found that gamers (n = 167) are better readers than non-gamers (n = 273). Gamers outperformed non-gamers in 4 out of the 5 reading test categories. The mean reading score of the gaming group was significantly higher than that of the non-gaming group in both the pre-test (7.2) and posttest (7.7) measurement occasions. The mean scores of the non-gaming group increased between the pretest and posttest from 4.7 to 6.4.
We calculated the percentages of the responses to the questionnaire questions where we asked the students to indicate whether they would describe themselves as a strong reader or weak reader. The self-determination of the non-gaming group as strong reader was 15%, while the self determination of the gaming group as strong reader was 72%. The self-determination of the non-gaming group as a weak reader was given at 85%, however only 28% of the gaming group self-determined as weak readers.
We found that the game works well and students find it highly enjoyable. Regarding the evaluation, a select group of students beta-tested the game and showed a modest improvement in their reading scores, though they were already proficient readers.
