Digital games-based learning for children with dyslexia: A social constructivist perspective on engagement and learning during group game-play

Abstract

Taking a process-orientated, social constructivist lens, we examine the case of a digital game called Words Matter. The game was designed for children with dyslexia and was informed by principles from casual games and evidence-based practice from special education. Focusing on the game play of two groups of children, we employ a systematic thematic analytic approach on videos of children's verbal and non-verbal interaction triangulated with their game logs, concentrating on the nature of student-student as well as student-tutor social interactions. Our findings show that children spontaneously engage in 'game talk' regarding game performance, content, actions and experiences. While this game talk facilitates a strong sense of social engagement and playfulness, it also caters to a variety of new opportunities for learning by sparking tutor and student-initiated interventions. Alongside its social theoretical lens on digital games-based learning, the paper analyses game-based social interactions in tandem with game design decisions enabling additional implications to be drawn for practice and game design.

Games for enhancing basic reading and maths skills: A systematic review of educational game design in supporting learning by people with learning disabilities

“…In addition to intervention studies, Vasalou and colleagues () conducted a qualitative study and reported the results of a thematic analysis on children's verbal and nonverbal interactions during gamified activities. Finally, we found two studies reporting the preliminary findings of piloting a game and six studies that described the design and development processes of a game (see Table S2).…”

“…Most cases employed audio‐visual content, but in some cases, the games only had audio or graphics but in a modest way. Almost all the cases provided some sort of fictional world where the tasks take place (eg, Vasalou et al, ), and often, the world included characters (eg, De Castro et al ., ). The game world was mainly nature oriented with animal characters.…”

Understanding Factors that Affecting Continuance Usage Intention of Game-Based Learning in the Context of Collaborative Learning

“…In the context of GBL, collaboration allows learners to carry out deliberate practice of elaborating learning materials and constructing formal semantic knowledge (Sánchez & Olivares, 2011). In addition, such collaboration facilitates the development of a new theoretical understanding of GBL that shows how complex forms of social interaction can occur, as well as fostering diverse opportunities for engagement and interaction between these constructs (Vasalou et al, 2017). Therefore, collaboration should enhance the learners' learning attitudes to the game as well as increased continued usage intention with regard to GBL.…”

Digital Games Based Language Learning for Arabic Literacy Remedial

“…Systematic literature review of research studies on game-based learning and gamification conducted in Asian K-12 schools, that conducted by So and Seo (2018) have shown that the reviewed articles advocated the positive efficacy of games on learning outcomes. Vasalou, Khaled, Holmes, and Gooch, (2017) apply a social constructivist lens to DGBL for children who struggle with literacy. The findings show that children spontaneously engage in "game talk" regarding game performance, content, actions and experiences.…”