Abstract
The aim of this paper is to explore how at-risk students can become included in Danish as L1 by writing gamerelated
texts such as game guides, character analysis or fictional stories, where they describe how to play and overcome key
game challenges. The empirical data is based on The School at Play project (2015-2017), which involved a series of design
interventions with the action co-op role-playing computer game Torchlight II. The interventions were carried out in eight
classes (grades 3-6) distributed across four different Danish schools with a particular focus on four selected at-risk students
in each class, who experienced social and subject-related difficulties. In order to analyze the students’ game-related texts
and their experience of writing them, the paper presents the Game as Curriculum model for understanding meaning-making processes involved in integrating games with curricular activities. The model is inspired by frame theory (Goffman 1974) as well as research on games and literacy (Apperley and Beavis 2011). Drawing on the perspectives of New Literacy Studies (Barton and Hamilton 2000), a dialogical perspective on student voice (Bakhtin 1981, Sperling and Appleman 2011) and Gee’s (2003) notion of projective identity, I conduct an empirical analysis of three different types of students’ game-related texts as well as data from post-intervention interviews. The findings indicate the importance of designing game-related assignments, which allow students to meaningfully extend their experience of overcoming game challenges in Torchlight II as well as expressing their voices through projected identities.
texts such as game guides, character analysis or fictional stories, where they describe how to play and overcome key
game challenges. The empirical data is based on The School at Play project (2015-2017), which involved a series of design
interventions with the action co-op role-playing computer game Torchlight II. The interventions were carried out in eight
classes (grades 3-6) distributed across four different Danish schools with a particular focus on four selected at-risk students
in each class, who experienced social and subject-related difficulties. In order to analyze the students’ game-related texts
and their experience of writing them, the paper presents the Game as Curriculum model for understanding meaning-making processes involved in integrating games with curricular activities. The model is inspired by frame theory (Goffman 1974) as well as research on games and literacy (Apperley and Beavis 2011). Drawing on the perspectives of New Literacy Studies (Barton and Hamilton 2000), a dialogical perspective on student voice (Bakhtin 1981, Sperling and Appleman 2011) and Gee’s (2003) notion of projective identity, I conduct an empirical analysis of three different types of students’ game-related texts as well as data from post-intervention interviews. The findings indicate the importance of designing game-related assignments, which allow students to meaningfully extend their experience of overcoming game challenges in Torchlight II as well as expressing their voices through projected identities.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 11th European Conference on Game-Based Learning. ECGBL 2017. |
| Editors | Maja Pivec, Josef Gründler |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Place of Publication | Reading |
| Publisher | Academic Conferences and Publishing International |
| Publication date | 2017 |
| Pages | 219-226 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-1-911218-56-2 |
| Publication status | Published - 2017 |
| Event | The 11th European Conference on Game-Based Learning - Graz, Austria Duration: 5 Oct 2017 → 6 Oct 2017 |
Conference
| Conference | The 11th European Conference on Game-Based Learning |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | Austria |
| City | Graz |
| Period | 05/10/2017 → 06/10/2017 |