This Is Next Level: Combining Video Games With Literature to Promote Literacy

Introduction

English language learners (ELLs) require two conditions to acquire a second language, like English: 1) they must have English native speakers available to them, and 2) the instructional setting must bring ELLs and English speakers into frequent contact to make language learning possible (Wong Fillmore, 1992). Smartphones offer numerous platforms to help instructors of ELLs meet both of these conditions, including narrative-driven video games that can supplement literacy curricula through literary analysis and identity construction. Over 95% of teenage students in the United States have access to a smartphone for daily classroom usage, which affords literacy teachers myriad interactive voice and mobile messaging applications to enhance native language capabilities, while the intentional pairing of ELLs with language applications can also support standards-based development (Anderson & Jiang, 2018).

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) (2020) recently revised its position on the role of English Language Arts (ELA) teachers in the education of ELLs “to reflect current knowledge on and best practices in English language learning and teaching in K-12 schooling in the United States” (para. 1). NCTE (2020) outlined specific emphases on a number of curricular models such as explicit teaching of academic language, vocabulary acquisition for development in reading and writing, and contextualizing notions of literacy assessment to more closely align with students’ home language practices. However, for ELA teachers interested in using technology integration to engage ELLs, the position statement’s recommendations regarding the integration of digital literacies are especially important, given their inclusions of multiple modalities, digitized texts, and multimedia. Increasingly, ELA teachers are prioritizing instruction and activities that position ubiquitous technology such as smartphones as a primary platform in the literacy instruction of ELLs in secondary classrooms.

This chapter features ELA instructional approaches pairing smartphone-accessible video games with classroom literature to promote reading and writing engagement for ELLs. Following a review of literature surrounding digital literacies and play, video games and esports are positioned as ideal platforms through which adolescents’ social meaning making can enhance academic achievement. A conceptual framework for engaging ELLs that prioritizes linguistic accommodations and multimodal text sets is then offered, which is followed by a description of the authors’ contexts and motivations. Suggested interventions for teachers in the form of individual lessons and a recommended unit overview are then presented. The chapter concludes with a summary of additional recommendations and best practices involving the use of smartphones in ELA.