Exploring Elli's world: A case study on students’ performance in media literacy tasks and teachers’ perceptions
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study investigates a game-based learning approach to enhance reading comprehension through multiple texts, emphasizing the importance of critical media engagement for students' academic success. Involving 155 students (F=83, Mean age=10.8, SD=1.3) from 5th (n=44), 6th (n=44), and 7th grades (n=65), along with 33 teachers who participated in a voluntary survey, the research aimed to assess students’ performance in Media Literacy tasks during four sessions of the videogame “Elli’s World”. Results indicated performance improvements from Session 1 to Session 3, followed by a decline in Session 4, suggesting potential fatigue. Although the class variable did not have a statistically significant impact on score increases, students' performance evolved differently over time depending on the class: younger students benefited from the game-based environment, whereas older students may respond better to shorter sessions. Although teachers expressed moderate satisfaction with the intervention, they reported no significant changes in students’ behaviour, highlighting the need for diverse instructional strategies and ongoing professional development to better align educational initiatives with classroom realities.
Article Details
Section
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 Attribution 4.0 International License.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access)
References
Barz, N., Benick, M., Dörrenbächer-Ulrich, L., & Perels, F. (2024). The effect of digital game-based learning interventions on cognitive, metacognitive, and affective-motivational learning outcomes in school: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 94(2), 193–227. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543231167795
Buckingham, D. (2006). Media education. Alfabetizzazione, apprendimento e cultura contemporanea. Erickson.
Castells, M. (2000). The rise of the networked society (2nd ed.). Blackwell.
Chang, C.-Y., & Hwang, G.-J. (2019). Trends in digital game-based learning in the mobile era: A systematic review of journal publications from 2007 to 2016. International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation, 13(1), 68–90. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJMLO.2019.096468
Cotton, S., & Patel, D. (2019). Gamification use and design in popular health and fitness mobile applications. American Journal of Health Promotion, 33(3), 448-451. https://doi.org/10.1177/0890117118790394
Deterding, S., Sicart, M., Nacke, L., O’Hara, K., & Dixon, D. (2011). Gamification. Using game-design elements in non-gaming contexts. CHI’11 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2425–2428. https://doi.org/10.1145/1979742.1979575
European Commission. (2023, February 23). Communication from the Commission: Guidelines pursuant to Article 33a(3) of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive on the scope of Member States’ reports concerning measures for the promotion and development of media lioteracy skills (2023/C 66/02). Official Journal of the European Union, C 66, 3–9. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52023XC0223(01)
Floridi, L. (2014). The fourth revolution: How the infosphere is reshaping human reality. Oxford University Press.
Floridi, L. (2015). The Onlife Manifesto: Being human in a hyperconnected era. Springer.
Gee, J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. Computers in Entertainment (CIE), 1(1), 20. https://doi.org/10.1145/950566.950595
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2010). Multivariate data analysis (7th ed.). Pearson.
Hamari, J., & Nousiainen, T. (2015). Why Do Teachers Use Game-Based Learning Technologies? The Role of Individual and Institutional ICT Readiness. In T. X. Bui, & R. H. Sprague (Eds.), Proceedings of the 48th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2015) (pp. 682-691). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/HICSS.2015.88
Hobbs, R. (1998). Media literacy in Massachusetts. In A. Hart (Ed.), Teaching the media worldwide (pp. 127–144). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Hobbs, R. (2006). The state of media literacy education. Journal of Communication, 55(4), 865–871. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2005.tb03027.x
Hobbs, R., & Moore, D. C. (2013). Discovering media literacy: Teaching digital media and popular culture in elementary school. Corwin Press.
Kapp, K. M. (2012). The gamification of learning and instruction: Game-based methods and strategies for training and education. Wiley.
Koivisto, J., & Hamari, J. (2019). The rise of motivational information systems: A review of gamification research. International Journal of Information Management, 45, 191–210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2018.10.013
Kress, G. (2003). Literacy in the New Media Age (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203299234
Loperfido, F. F., Dipace, A., & Scarinci, A. (2019). To play or not to play? A case study of teachers’ confidence and perception with regard to digital games at school. Italian Journal of Educational Technology, 27(2), 121–138. https://doi.org/10.17471/2499-4324/1062
Mao, W., Cui, Y., Chiu, M. M., & Lei, H. (2022). Effects of game-based learning on students’ critical thinking: A meta-analysis. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 59(8), 1682–1708. https://doi.org/10.1177/07356331211007098
McCrudden, M. T., & Schraw, G. (2007). Relevance and goal-focusing in text processing. Educational Psychology Review, 19(2), 113–139. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-006-9010-7
McDougall, J., Zezulkova, M., Van Driel, B., & Sternadel, D. (2018). Teaching media literacy in Europe: evidence of effective school practices in primary and secondary education, NESET II report. Retrived from: https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/31574/1/AR2_Teaching%20Media%20Literacy_NESET.pdf
Michael, D., & Chen, S. (2006). Serious games: Games that educate, train and inform. Thomson Course Technology.
Nicolaidou, I., Tozzi, F., Kindynis, P., Panayiotou, M., & Antoniades, A. (2019). Development and usability of a gamified app to help children manage stress: An evaluation study. Italian Journal of Educational Technology, 27(2), 105–120. https://doi.org/10.17471/2499-4324/1050
Pajares, M. F. (1992). Teachers’ beliefs and educational research: Cleaning up a messy construct. Review of Educational Research, 62(3), 307–332. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543062003307
Pang, Y. (2022). The effects of location-based mobile games on media literacy education in schools based on the case study of Pokémon Go. In Proceedings of the 2022 8th International Conference on Humanities and Social Science Research (ICHSSR 2022) (pp. 917–922). Atlantis Press. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.220504.168
Pineda, K. G., & Buensuceso, D. B. (2023). Using gamification technique in the assessment of executive function of kindergarten pupils. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, 7(9), 2186–2209. https://doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2023.71078
Potter, W. J. (2004). Theory of media literacy: A cognitive approach. Sage Publications.
Rivoltella, P. C. (2001). Media education. Modelli, esperienze, profilo disciplinare. Carocci.
Wu, Y., Barquero, L. A., Pickren, S. E., Barber, A. T., & Cutting, L. E. (2020). The relationship between cognitive skills and reading comprehension of narrative and expository texts: A longitudinal study from Grade 1 to Grade 4. Learning and Individual Differences, 80, 101848. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2020.101848
Zainuddin, Z., Chu, S. K. W., Shujahat, M., & Perera, C. J. (2020). The impact of gamification on learning and instruction: A systematic review. Educational Technology Research and Development, 68(4), 1005–1032. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2020.100326