Hannah Lewis

Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK

Exploring the Use of Video Game Technology to Engage Children Aged 7-11 with Dyslexia in the Classroom

Introduction and context

• 91% of 3–15-year-olds in the UK engaged in either online or offline gaming

(Ofcom, 2022)

• European video game players

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(Video Games Europe, 2022)

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Introduction and context

• “game which we play thanks to an audiovisual apparatus (electronic system with computing capabilities and input/output devices) and which can be based on a story”

(Esposito, 2005, p. 4)

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• An alternative way of understanding VGs could be to look at the genre games are categorised into based on their design, the mechanisms of the game and the aim of the game

(Vargas-Iglesias, 2020)

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• Useful here to separate entertainment and serious games

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Entertainment

- Designed to primarily provide entertainment

Serious games

- Designed for a primary purpose beyond entertainment

Video games in the classroom

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Serious games

- Designed for a primary purpose beyond entertainment

• Higher motivation found when game/game elements are used
• Can be used to develop skills that are hard to teach
• Game features support learning process e.g., feedback, adaptation to level and pace

(Schrader, 2022)

Video games in the classroom

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Governments are beginning to recognise video games’ educational value as well, with Poland becoming the first government in the world to include video games on its official school reading list as an educational resource, and Flanders (Belgium) becoming the second European government to incorporate video games into mainstream education.

Video games in the classroom

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Could entertainment games have a wider use in the classroom?

Entertainment

- Designed to primarily provide entertainment

• Used as a reward / in free time
• No pedagogical purpose so often not used beyond this in the classroom

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Link between video games and cognition

• Influential paper – Green and Bavelier (2003)

-recognised action video games to improve visual selective attention

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• Action video games (AVGs)

1. An extraordinary speed in terms of transient events and in terms of the velocity of moving objects

2. A high degree of perceptual, cognitive and motor load in the service of an accurate motor plan

3. Unpredictability of spatial and temporal features

4. An emphasis on peripheral processing

(Green, Li and Bavelier, 2010)

• Subsequent research has built upon this paper

Link between video games and cognition

(Bediou et al, 2018)

Link between video games and cognition

• AVG training distinct as producing effects that transfer beyond the task

(Bavelier and Green, 2019)

• AVG enhances learning rates in new tasks
• “learning to learn”

(Zhang et al, 2021)

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Key findings

• Playing action video games could remediate attentional deficits for those with dyslexia

Improved attentional deficits

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Improved letter to speech sound mapping (phonological decoding)

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Improved reading skills

• Found 12 hours AVG training to improve reading speed for Italian children with dyslexia
• An improvement equal to highly demanding traditional reading intervention

Subsequent publications: Gori et al (2016); Franceschini et al (2017); Luniewska et al (2018); Franceschini and Bertoni (2019); Bertoni et al (2021); Peters et al (2022)

Franceschini et al (2013)

Value of this research

• Valuable in practice

-Engaging

-These children often disengaged with traditional forms of intervention 

-Resource appropriate (e.g., cost, time, training needed)

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But…. more research is needed

• Some methodological weaknesses (Bavelier and Green, 2019)
• Lack of exploration in deep orthography languages
• Lack of exploration by different researchers
• No exploration of children’s views

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Research questions

1. What is the impact of action video game play on cognitive skills involved in reading for English speaking children aged 7-11 with dyslexia? 

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2. What are the views of children aged 7-11, with dyslexia, on the design of video games for use as a tool within an educational setting?   

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Design

Constructive replication – Franceschini et al (2017)

• Adheres to procedure in original study but new element(s) added to extent theory or findings

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(Hüffmeier, Mazei and Schultze, 2015)

• Within groups experimental design

-Attention, working memory and reading measured at 3 time points

-Added reading comprehension measure

-12 hours of age-appropriate action video game

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• Semi structured interviews using an inclusive visual methods technique  (new element)

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Findings – RQ1

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• No significant improvement in attention, working memory or reading that can be attributed to the intervention
• Although, for the most part it can be concluded that receiving the intervention resulted in performance no worse than receiving typical schooling

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Possible explanations

• Possible that longer training duration needed
• Possible that may only work for subgroup of those with dyslexia (attentional deficits)
• Complications of replication research

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• Failure to replicate does not indicate original findings to be incorrect and/or reliable but does cast doubt and emphasise importance of further research in English speakers

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Findings – RQ2

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Findings – RQ2

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Findings – RQ2

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Findings – RQ2

Key takeaways

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Questions? 

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References

• Bavelier, D. and Green, C. S. (2019) ‘Enhancing Attentional Control: Lessons from Action Video Games’, Neuron, 104, pp. 147-163.
• Bediou, B., Adams, D. M., Mayer, R. E., Tipton, E., Green, C. S. and Bavelier, D. (2018) ‘MetaAnalysis of Action Video Game Impact on Perceptual, Attentional and Cognitive Skills’, Psychological Bulletin, 144(1), pp. 77-110.
• Bertoni, S., Franceschini, S., Puccio, G., Mancarella, M., Gori, S. and Facoetti, A. (2021) ‘Action Video Games Enhance Attentional Control and Phonological Decoding in Children with Developmental Dyslexia’, Brain Sciences, 11(2), pp. 171-188.
• Esposito, N. (2005) ‘A Short and Simple Definition of What a Videogame Is’, In Proceedings of DiGRA 2005 Conference: Changing Views – Worlds in Play. Vancouver, Canada. 16-20 June 2005. 
• Franceschini, S. and Bertoni, S. (2019) ‘Improving Action Video Games Abilities Increases the Phonological Decoding Speed and Phonological Short-Term Memory in Children with  Developmental Dyslexia’, Neuropsychologia, 130, pp. 100-106.
• Franceschini, S., Gori, S., Ruddino, M., Viola, S., Molteni, M. and Facoetti, A. (2013) ‘Action Video Games Make Dyslexic Children Read Better’, Current Biology, 23(6), pp. 462-466.
• Franceschini, S., Trevisan, P., Ronconi, L., Bertoni, S., Colmar, S., Double, K., Facoetti, A. and Gori, S. (2017) ‘Action Video Games Improve Reading Abilities and Visual-to-Auditory Attentional Shifting in English-Speaking Children with Dyslexia’, Scientific Reports, 7(1), pp. 1-12.
• Gori, S., Seitz, A. R., Ronconi, L., Franceschini S. and Facoetti, A. (2016) ‘Multiple Casual Links  Between Magnocellular-Dorsal Pathway Deficit and Developmental Dyslexia’, Cerebral Cortex,  26(11), pp. 4356-4369
• Green, C. S., Li, R. and Bavelier, D. (2010) ‘Perceptual Learning During Action Video Game Playing’,  Topics in Cognitive Science, 2(2), pp. 202-216.
• Hüffmeier, J., Mazei, J. and Schultze, T. (2016) ‘Reconceptualizing Replication as a Sequence of Different Studies: A Replication Typology’, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 66, pp. 81-92.
• Łuniewska, M., Chyl, K., Dębska, A., Kacprzak, A., Plewko, J., Szczerbiński, M., Szewczyk, J., Grabowska, A. and Jednoróg, K. (2018) ‘Neither Action Nor Phonological Video Games Make Dyslexic Children Read Better’, Scientific Reports, 8, 549
• Ofcom (2022) Online Nation: 2022 report. Available at: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/238361/online-nation-2022-report.pdf (Accessed: 23rd June 2023). 
• Peters, J. L., Crewther, S. G., Murphy, M. J. and Bavin, E. L. (2021) ‘Action Video Game Training Improves Text Reading Accuracy, Rate and Comprehension in Children with Dyslexia: A Randomized Controlled Trial’, Scientific Reports, 11(1), 18584
• Schrader, C. (2022) ‘Serious Games and Game-Based Learning’, In Zawacki-Richter, O. and Jung, I. (eds.) Handbook of Open, Distance and Digital Education, Springer Singapore, pp. 1-14.
• Vargas-Iglesias, J. J. (2020) ‘Making Sense of Genre: The Logic of Video Game Genre Organization’, Games and Culture, 15(2), pp. 158-178.
• Video Games Europe (2022) Key Facts from 2021: Video Games – A Force for Good. Available at: https://www.videogameseurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/FINAL-ISFE-EGDFKey-Facts-from-2021-about-Europe-video-games-sector-web.pdf (Accessed: 23rd June 2023). 
• Zhang, R., Chopin, A., Shibata, K., Lu, Z., Jaeggi, S. M. Buschkuehl, M., Green, C. S. and Bavelier, D. (2021) ‘Action Video Game Play Facilitates “Learning to Learn”, Communications Biology, 4, 1154.

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