Overcoming barriers and improving outcomes: teachers' perspectives on using narrative videogames to teach literacy/English

Abstract

Research strongly supports the use of narrative videogames in the literacy/English classroom. However, for many teachers, incorporating videogames into their teaching practice is highly challenging. This article offers new insights into the potential of videogames as a pedagogical tool for literacy/English by exploring the barriers that teachers face when teaching with videogames, identifying how these barriers might be overcome and assessing whether the benefits of narrative videogames outweigh the practical difficulties of using them in the classroom. This participatory multiple‐case study explores the experiences of six teachers, working in a range of contexts, who each undertook an action research project to assess the barriers to and benefits of teaching literacy/English with narrative videogames. The findings show that although the participants faced barriers related to practical considerations, game choice, pedagogical knowledge and negative attitudes, almost all barriers could be overcome, and the benefits of learning far outweighed the difficulties faced. This article offers a new model for how to overcome barriers to using videogames to teach literacy/English and makes recommendations for both educational practice and the games industry.