Understanding game-based literacy practices in a school context: Outline for a theoretical framework
Submitted by:
Jesper Bremholm
Abstract:
In this paper, we propose to present a theoretical framework for understanding and describing literacy practices in classrooms that have adopted a game-based pedagogy.
This framework, which is currently under development, is part of the qualitative strand of the research project Game-Based Learning in the 21st Century (GBL21), a five years large-scale intervention project launched in December 2017. The overall aim is to explore how and to what degree students develop 21st century skills through a game-based pedagogy in different school subjects.
The GBL21 project is based on a mixed methods methodology, and the interventions will be carried out at 20 schools in Denmark and will consist of 4 specially designed game-based units in each of the subjects Danish (as L1), mathematics, and science in both 5th and 7th grade. Games include digital as well as analogue games, and we understand game-based learning as relating to the process of designing games, exploring game worlds, and reflecting on game activities in an educational context.
The purpose of the qualitative strand is to explore how the game-based learning activities influence the literacy practices in the different classrooms. This includes aspects such as: connections between game-based literacy practices and the 21st century skills, connections between the 21st century skills and the disciplinary literacies and skills in the three subjects in question, similarities and differences between the game-based literacy practices in the different subjects and the different grades, and the positioning and engagement of the students in the game-based learning environments. The qualitative data collection includes classroom observations, collection of student assignments, and interviews with students and teachers.
The theoretical framework is needed to inform and direct the qualitative data collection and to guide the subsequent analytical process. We plan to develop a theoretical framework since we have not been able to find an existing framework that is fitting for our purpose, which is probable due to the fact that literacy research and gaming research up till now have been largely separate fields of research. In short, the theoretical framework should be able to capture both the continuity and the discontinuity of the game-based literacy practices vis-à-vis traditional disciplinary literacy practices. This criterion relates to our hypothesis that the game-based literacy practices will connect to and support the existing literacy practices in the subjects as well as disrupt and expand these same practices. At this preliminary stage, we envisage to construct the theoretical framework by combining and integrating different theoretical perspectives, such as new literacy studies (1), disciplinary literacy theory (2), social semiotics (3), actor-network theory (4), and theories on gaming literacy (5).
At the seminar, we propose to present a preliminary version of the framework.
1) Barton 2007; Bartlett & Holland 2002; New London Group 1996; Street 1984.
2) Shanahan & Shanahan 2008; Jetton & Alexander 2004.
3) Kress 2003 & 2010; Jewitt 2008.
4) Leander & Lovvorn 2006; Leander & Rowe 2006; Law & Hassard 1999; Latour 1987.
5) Beavis, Dezuanni, & O´Mara 2017; Beavis, O´Mara, & McNeice 2012; Kell 2013; Stevens, Satwicz, & McCarthy 2008.
References
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Barton, D. (2007). Literacy: An Introduction to the Ecology of Written Language. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Beavis, C., O´Mara, J., & McNeice, L. (eds.) (2012). Digital games. Literacy in action. AATE Interface Series.
Beavis, C., Dezuanni, M., & O´Mara, J. (2017). Serious Play, Literacy, learning and digital games. London: Routledge.
Jetton, T. L. & Alexander, P. A. (2004). Domains, Teaching and Literacy. In Jetton, T. L. & Dole, J. A. (eds.), Adolescent Literacy Research and Practice. New York: The Guilford Press.
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Stevens, R., Satwicz, T., & McCarthy, L. (2008). In-Game, In-Room, In-World: Reconnecting Video Game Play to the Rest of Kids’ Lives. In Salen, K. (ed.), The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Street, B. (1984). Literacy in Theory and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bio for Jesper Bremholm
Jesper Bremholm is assistant professor at The Danish School of Education (DPU), Aarhus University.
His research focuses on disciplinary literacy and literacy practices in relation to schooling and specific school subjects. He has conducted studies on the development of students’ literacy competencies in Danish, science, and mathematics, and he has participated in several projects examining the role and impact of learning materials in classroom contexts.
Jesper Bremholm is co-coordinator of the ARLE SIG Reading, Writing and Oracy, and he is the co-founder of a network for Danish Literacy Research. He is also the reading literacy expert in the Danish PISA consortium. He has been a visiting scholar at Columbia University’s Teachers’ College, and he has published in both Danish and international research journals and anthologies. He is reviewer for Nordic Journal of Literacy Research, Leaning Tech and Springer (anthologies on literacy).
Bio for Lene Storgaard Brok
Lene Storgaard Brok is the director of the National Centre for Reading in Denmark, and she is an experienced researcher within the field of writing research. She has conducted research on workplace literacy, literacy in schools and kindergarten as well as comprising projects on writing didactics and technological literacy. Several of her research projects have been on the ability of students, pupils, and teachers to develop new knowledge, insight, and competences by Writing to Learn. In recent years, she has linked writing practices to technological literacy, and she has explored how writing and technology supports professional development.
Lene Storgaard Brok is the co-founder of a network for Danish Literacy Research. She has made several conferences together with NOLES, Network for Reading and Writing in Education, and initiated a multitude of conferences enabling discussions on scaffolding, didactics, and literacy skills.