Fostering Learning Motivation of Students with Reading and Spelling Difficulties by an AR-Enhanced Gamified Educational App for Literacy Learning

Students with special educational needs benefit from carefully designed learning approaches that consider both their individual learning requirements and the advances in teaching and learning methods and tools. This paper presents the initial exploratory results from a pilot study on the advancement of literacy skills through an innovative Augmented Reality (AR)-enhanced gamified educational app for students diagnosed with reading / spelling difficulties or dyslexia. A sample of 5 teachers and 23 students worked with the AR app for the duration of a school term and filled in standardized scales on student motivation upon completion of the pilot study. The analysis of the results indicates that both groups of teachers and students found the AR app motivating to a certain degree. However, there were challenges within the pilot implementation that impeded the successful app use and potentially delimited the perceived motivational effects. Conclusions and outlooks of research perspectives for further development highlight the necessity for further research in this important field.