This Land is My Land: Teachers' integration of game and novel in English instruction

Abstract

BackgroundThe most recent Norwegian educational reform, in force from 2020, was the first to include games alongside more traditional language learning resources (e.g., novels, films, music) in the English curriculum for secondary school. This educational emphasis on games provided a unique opportunity to examine how games are actually used in secondary English instruction in combination with other resources.ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to investigate how the digital commercial game This Land is My Land was used alongside a printed novel in naturally occurring English instruction in two lower secondary classes during a two‐week project labelled ‘The Native American Experience’.MethodsParticipants involved one teacher, nine student teachers and 52 students (aged 13–14). Using a mixed methods design, we integrated quantitative and qualitative analyses of classroom video recordings (N = 20), screen recordings during gameplay (N = 32), student texts (N = 32) and retrospective student interviews (N = 7). We used the validated Protocol for Language Arts Teaching Observation (PLATO; Grossman, 2015) for analyses of video and screen recordings and reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022) of student texts and interviews.Results and ConclusionsThe combination of digital game and printed novel during English instruction provided a dual perspective on the Native American experience. While the novel provided a window for observing the topic historically, the game provided a playground to experience the topic interactively. Although the combination of game and novel offered students different perspectives on the Native American experience, we identified missed opportunities for those who gamed before reading, whereas students who read before gameplay used their knowledge from the novel when they engaged with the game content. In the broader context of educational technology and language instruction, this study identified how to combine digital and traditional literacies that acknowledge students' prior knowledge with diverse literacies.