Design of a serious game for the improvement of reading comprehension through the IPLUS methodology

Reading understanding is an indispensable ability for the educational training of every citizen. Designates a higher level than the mere fact of reading (decoding lingülistic signs). While reading already implies a great cognitive advance for anyone, reading comprehension requires more skills. Understanding a text always requires three previous areas. Two of them refer to basic functions: memory and attention. The other to training: is the knowledge of the world.However, even if there are these three elements, if there is not sufficient motivation and training approach to various types of texts, the degree of reading comprehension will be poor.In Ecuador, reading comprehension levels are still low. The standardized tests that the Ecuadorian State has applied to students for admission to public universities for 10 years are evidence of the serious delay in this skill. This situation would also explain the low levels of performance in other subjects, as well as the little cultural and educational development of the general population.The causes that contribute to this low reading comprehension of the Ecuadorian student population are multiple. They range from the high cost of the book, low access to technology, the absence of a network of public libraries throughout the country, an educational system with reluctant teachers to apply innovative methodologies for reading stimulation, etc.The insufficient application of innovative methodologies for reading stimulation has built the myth that reading is boring. Young people do not read because nothing in the social environment invites them to do so demonstrating that it is an authentically attractive and useful activity. In this context, this research set out to build a gamified application for the development of students reading students from 12 to 16 years of age.For the creation of this application, the IPLUS methodology and the Videujeos Roblox Studio Development tool were used. This video game allows to train students reading skills, through the use of exercises resolution in multiple choice questions and the Cloze test. Both modalities are based on understanding a text and selecting the correct answer from a set of options. While multiple choice questions are based on the text, for the Cloze test the words omitted systematically in a written text that contain empty spaces must be located. This anima was implemented in a 3D world in Roblox so that the student can strengthen his ability to reading his reading comprehension.Iplus is a methodology created for the design of serious games for educational purposes. This methodology uses a participatory approach focused on the user where requirements are taken with experts in pedagogy and the subject. The main phases of this methodology are identification, pedagogical objectives, game script, gameplay, and refinement.Regarding the implementation of the serious game, the gamified application contains challenges to strengthen reading comprehension in the player in different themes or missions: Costa, Sierra, and East, the three regions that make up the Ecuadorian territory. Each of the scenarios contains instruction signs, a Start button, a blackboard to enter the correct answer, and response options.This gamified application in Roblox is aimed at being a tool for learning and strengthening reading comprehension in school students close to paying the transform exam, the standardized access test to public universities. This can be done independently by students or being a support tool for teachers and their students since reading comprehension skills are applicable for a lifetime.With this work, the IPLUS methodology and the Roblox Studio software create a thematic environment where reading comprehension becomes a skill resulting from the player's enjoyment has been used. Stimulation and reading shake hands thanks to this application.The results obtained suggest that the gameplay can be improved to offer greater feedback to the user about the search for the correct answer to be such an extensive scenario. Finally, this application can expand its scope by using its playability dynamics to other areas of knowledge such as mathematics, natural sciences, and social sciences.Regardless of the extension of the readings, in the design, the extension of the texts can be adapted as well as their complexity so that the reading skill can be graduated. The application works very well with short texts such as those required by the Cloze test.