Megan Glover Adams
Engaging 21st-Century
Adolescents: Video
Games in the Reading
Classroom
A
s a language arts teacher, I have
found that the most useful tool I
have in motivating my students is
popular culture, particularly video
games. Many teachers may find it difficult to believe that video games can help student achievement; as a teacher in a small school district, I
understand the concern that some teachers will encounter nonbelievers. However, think of how much
fun your students have when you incorporate even
old-fashioned games into the curriculum. Much
like putting Jeopardy into your reading curriculum
over a decade ago, modern video games may help
students find competition and relevance in reading,
especially when combined with cross-age tutoring.
Cross-age tutoring, in which older and
younger students work together to improve their
ELA skills, is not a new concept; Linda D. Labbo
and William H. Teale explored it as a tool for poor
readers as early as 1990. Labbo and Teale found that
using oral readings and producing them as performance allows students who are inexperienced readers the opportunity to interact closely with “model
readers” (362). I have found that using tutoring
with video games also works well. The students
have the opportunity to read aloud collaboratively
while interacting with the game itself; thus, reluctant readers also have the opportunity to become
experts in the game. When working with a classmate, the stronger reader acts as the “model” for
interpretation and guidance, but ultimately, both
students learn a great deal from the experience.
Many students do not consider “grabbing a
good book” quality entertainment. Students look
56
Using experiences with her
students, Adams explores
how video gaming may
increase students’ “virtual
literacy” and other reading
skills.
to technology and pop culture for their entertainment, and most of them revel in competitive
games. In this article I will discuss how tutoring
with video games can help particularly reluctant or
unsuccessful readers, and I will give teachers practical ideas for making reading fun for 21st-century
adolescents.
Why Play a Video Game in Class?
The role-playing game Neverwinter Nights begins
with a simple tutorial, which is where the heaviest
reading occurs.1 The game is distributed on the
Atari label and was created by the makers of the
game Dungeons and Dragons, and it uses skills such as
logic, problem solving, higher order thinking, and
dialogue for the player to “win.” Students can play
this game in a partnership or tutoring situation with
other students in an ELA classroom to facilitate their
reading development. In a partnership, the student
mentors and the students being tutored work together to move forward in the game. This allows the
lower level reader to feel competent, increasing the
student’s self-confidence as the game progresses. Alternatively, two students could work on computers
next to each other after completing the tutorial, allowing for some competition.
The beauty of the game is that unless the student is an avid fantasy reader, the vocabulary is foreign, so even an advanced reader must learn the new
jargon when attempting to play the game. For any
adolescent reader this will provide a challenge, and
the model reading behaviors will be more important in the tutoring sessions than the vocabulary
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Megan Glover Adams
knowledge. Because the advanced reader will be
forced to work with unfamiliar vocabulary as well,
the game becomes a place where both readers are
working in unfamiliar territory, and the confidence
of the reluctant reader may increase, ultimately resulting in two more-advanced readers. I learned
about using video games to teach reading from Michelle Commeyras, professor at the University of
Georgia, who developed the concept for use in the
College of Education’s reading clinic.
I first tested Commeyras’s concept in an alternative school program in Greensboro, Georgia. One
student named J.R.—an 18-year-old African American male with a learning disability—showed an
interest in reading manga. The Naruto series was
J.R.’s favorite. I was the teacher of record and decided to allow him to read those novels as part of
his “Reading Counts” program, which is similar to
the Accelerated Reader program used in schools
around Georgia (from Renaissance Learning; http://
www.renlearn.com/ar). J.R. continued reading the
graphic novels he enjoyed, but gradually he became
more withdrawn during his time in the alternative
school, especially when the class read more difficult
texts. I decided to assign him the Neverwinter Nights
video game because it relies heavily on text and
written conversation. J.R. and I alternated reading
passages aloud when playing the game, and his
character in Neverwinter Nights developed quickly.
While helping him to increase his reading skills,
the game also allowed J.R. to construct a virtual
identity that helped him escape from the barrage of
obstacles he faced in school. I also assigned him a
tutor, and this allowed him the opportunity to play
the game without frustration because unfamiliar
vocabulary could be explored with his tutor.
James Paul Gee says that when playing video
games, there are different identities at work that
allow adolescents the opportunity to explore literacy
and lose themselves in the action (43–44). I saw
J.R., previously a hesitant reader, blossom into a
much more confident reader. He loved the game, he
loved spending time working on reading he enjoyed,
and he wanted his tutor to understand his choices
and virtual character. This gaming/reading experience allowed me to work individually with J.R.,
giving him direct and indirect instruction while
conferencing continually, and it allowed J.R. to feel
comfortable in the medium he was working with,
which gave him confidence traditional texts do not.
J.R. was the perfect candidate for the gaming
“identity” construct; he enjoys gaming and the fantasy genre and spends a great deal of time reading
in genres that seem to correlate well with the content of the game. However, another student in the
class, an 18-year-old Hispanic male named Angelo,
was not well versed in the fantasy genre, but he enjoyed the game immensely as well. I believe many
students would benefit from similar gaming/reading experiences.
In part, reluctant readers simply need an escape from their daily life in school. “This generation of students relates to
Because the advanced
graphics first, versus traditional information acquisireader will be forced to
tion of text first” (Simpson
work with unfamiliar
and Clem 6). In this study,
vocabulary as well, the
Elizabeth Simpson and
game becomes a place
Frances A. Clem found that
where both readers are
middle school students
working in unfamiliar
learn more and more rapidly when they are actively
territory, and the
engaged. Thus, the authors
confidence of the
used video games with their
reluctant reader may
students to make learning
increase, ultimately
more entertaining and more
resulting in two moreaccessible for today’s stuadvanced readers.
dents. The students used
problem-based approaches
and were evaluated using performance-based evaluations and self-assessments via rubrics. The results
were numerous teachable moments and student satisfaction. With structure and support, teachers can
implement video games easily (14).
Virtual Literacy in Today’s Classrooms
Children in today’s society have grown up in a textually rich environment, but their canvas is not the
same as the generations before them. Media of all
genres bombard them; they are children of the Internet who can access information at the touch of a button. The medium for them is the message (McLuhan
33–34), and they are so used to constant stimulation
of all senses in textual experiences that it is necessary
to provide new literacies for their consumption
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Engaging 21st-Century Adolescents: Video Games in the Reading Classroom
and offers an incentive for reluctant readers. When playing this
game, students go on a quest,
meeting characters along the way
that help them through dialogue.
The good news for teachers is that
the dialogue box at the bottom of
the screen is the most helpful component when students prepare for
battle in each section of the game.
Students must read as they go in
order to battle successfully and
move forward. Students do not
battle each other in this game beThe Secondary Luncheon at the 2008 NCTE Convention in San Antonio attracted a capacity crowd.
cause it is not conducted online;
however, there are many games
similar in content to Neverwinter Nights that teachers
(Simpson and Clem 6). Many students in classrooms
could use if they found their students enjoying
at Greene County High School read more outside
themselves so much that they wanted them to play
than inside of school. Those students are not necesagainst each other within that virtual reality.
sarily reading the novels read by many of their teachers when they were in school; instead, they are reading
text messages, blogs, comments on their online comSome Final Thoughts
munity pages, texts in their online games, and inVirtual literacy is different from informational litstructions on their Nintendo machines. Teachers are
eracy. Virtual literacy is how a student reads online
wise to tap into the tools used by teens voluntarily.
texts, images, and conversations, and it requires
According to one presentation made for the Annenthat students extend their understanding of techberg Research Network on International Communinology to include understanding how to use it recation (Castells et al.), youth cultures around the
sponsibly and how to “read” authors’ intentions by
world use popular culture as the new method of commaking inferences and comprehending the codes
munication. Telephones, instant messaging, blogs,
involved in the online world. It takes the critical
emails, interfaces, websites, online communities, and
reflection of the information used in informational
a host of other media act as students’ playgrounds,
literacy and extends it to the social constructs inand high school students have invented new lanherent in the digital world. This is especially true
guages to facilitate using those mediums quickly and
of the various identities required in online blogging
effectively. Just as film has become a common teachand gaming communities, and there, students must
ing tool in public classrooms across the country, we
do more than evaluate the social and cultural immust embrace the Internet and video gaming as new
pact: they must assume a new identity.
methods of enticing reluctant readers (Gee).
Teachers may at first wonder if virtual literacy
The video game Neverwinter Nights involves
is the only thing their students will gain from playcreating a character endowed with various abilities
ing video games in the classroom. Remember several
and hindrances based on the race, class, and skill asthings when you are making this decision for your
signed by the gamer. This allocation of identities,
classroom. First, reading is one of the most imporidentified by Gee as virtual, real, and projected, altant skills students can use when playing Neverwinter
lows students the freedom to safely become someone
Nights. By reading—and reading quickly—students
they are not (54–55). Neverwinter Nights does conadvance in the game. Even with only one student
tain violence, but its battles are comparable to Beplaying the game, the literacy skills they use inowulf or Titus Andronicus, and in addition to offering
volve vocabulary acquisition, reading comprehenstudents chances to use technology to lose themsion, and reading for information. In addition, you
selves in a fictional world, this game is rich in text
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Megan Glover Adams
may have students play on computers next to each
other, thus allowing them the creativity to create
characters and delve further into the game’s plot
and theme. By taking on actual characters, they are
acting out the story themselves, which is a literacy
skill that we often have little time for. Finally,
teachers are wise to remember that having fun in
the classroom is one of our greatest assets in motivating students. We must always be looking for
ways to create those meaningful experiences that
add relevance to students’ reading.
Note
1. For a description of Neverwinter Nights, see http://
nwn.bioware.com/about/description.html.
Works Cited
Castells, Manuel Oliván, Mireia Fernández-Ardèval, Jack
Linchuan Qiu, and Araba Sey. “The Mobile Communication Society: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Available Evidence on the Social Uses of Wireless
Communication Technology.” Annenberg Research
Network on International Communication. Los Angeles:
U of Southern California, 2004. 40–54.
Gee, James Paul. What Video Games Have to Teach Us about
Learning and Literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.
Labbo, Linda D., and William H. Teale. “Cross-Age Reading: A Strategy for Helping Poor Readers.” Reading
Teacher 43.6 (1990): 362–69.
McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: The Extensions of
Man. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2001.
Simpson, Elizabeth, and Frances A. Clem. “Video Games in
the Middle School Classroom.” Middle School Journal
39.4 (2008): 1–14.
Megan Glover Adams is a full-time teacher in Greene County who wants to help teachers understand how to best serve
diverse school populations and students in rural, low socioeconomic school districts. She is also a doctoral student in Reading
Education at the University of Georgia. Email her at [email protected].
R E A D W R IT E T H IN K C O N N E CT ION
Joyce Bruett, RWT
In her attempts to motivate students who struggle with reading, Adams has found a way to use video games
in the language arts classroom to help students develop reading skills, such as comprehension and vocabulary.
Follow up your use of video games in the classroom with a lesson that asks students to write reviews of what
they learned while playing the games. “So What Do You Think? Writing a Review” explains how students can
devise guidelines for writing interesting and informative reviews after they examine several sample reviews.
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=876
Search for New Editor of Language Arts
NCTE is seeking a new editor of Language Arts. In July 2011, the term of the present editors (Patricia Enciso,
Laurie Katz, Barbara Z. Kiefer, Detra Price-Dennis, and Melissa Wilson) will end. Interested persons should
send a letter of application to be received no later than August 7, 2009. Letters should include the applicant’s
vision for the journal and be accompanied by the applicant’s vita, one sample of published writing, and two
letters of general support from appropriate administrators at the applicant’s institution. Do not send books,
monographs, or other materials that cannot be easily copied for the Search Committee. Classroom teachers
are both eligible and encouraged to apply. The applicant appointed by the NCTE Executive Committee will
effect a transition, preparing for his or her first issue in September 2011. The appointment is for five years.
Applications should be addressed to Kurt Austin, Language Arts Search Committee, NCTE, 1111 W. Kenyon
Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096. Questions regarding any aspect of the editorship should be directed to Kurt
Austin, Publications Division Director: [email protected]; (800) 369-6283, extension 3619.
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