What if, instead of being an impediment to literacy, video games could actually help children improve their reading skills? Scientists tested an action video game for kids in order to improve their reading skills. After only twelve hours of training, the results show that reading abilities have improved. Notably, these gains are sustained over time, with language school grades improving more than a year after training concludes.
Decoding letters into sounds is an important step in learning to read, but it is not sufficient for mastery. “Reading requires several other essential mechanisms that we don’t always think about, such as knowing how to move our eyes on the page or how to use our working memory to link words together in a coherent sentence,” says Daphné Bavelier, a professor in the Psychology Section of the UNIGE’s Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences (FPSE).
“These other skills, such as vision, the deployment of attention, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, are known to be improved by action video games,” explains Angela Pasqualotto, first author of this study, which is based on her PhD thesis at the Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science of the University of Trento under the direction of Professors Venuti and De Angeli.
First, we tested the children’s ability to read words, non-words, and paragraphs, as well as an attention test that measures the child’s attentional control, which we know is trained by action video games.
Daphne Bavelier
A child-friendly action video game to support learning
With this in mind, a video game was created that combines action video games with mini games that train various executive functions such as working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility, all of which are required during reading. “This game’s universe is an alternate world in which the child, accompanied by his Raku, a flying creature, must carry out various missions to save planets and progress in the game,” Angela Pasqualotto adds.
The goal is to recreate the elements of an action game without incorporating violence, making it suitable for young children. “For example, the Raku flies through a meteor shower, moving around to avoid them or aiming at them to weaken their impact, while collecting useful resources for the rest of the game, similar to what you find in action video games.”
The scientists then worked with 150 Italian schoolchildren aged 8 to 12, divided into two groups: the first played the team’s video game, and the second played Scratch, a game that teaches children how to code. Both games require attentional control and executive functions, but in different ways.
The action video game requires children to perform tasks within a time limit such as remembering a sequence of symbols or responding only when the Raku makes a specific sound while increasing the difficulty of these tasks according to the child’s performance. Scratch, the control game, requires planning, reasoning and problem solving. Children must manipulate objects and logical structures to establish the desired programming sequence.
“First, we tested the children’s ability to read words, non-words, and paragraphs, as well as an attention test that measures the child’s attentional control, which we know is trained by action video games,” Daphne Bavelier explains. Following the training, the children played either the action video game or the control game for six weeks, two hours per week, under supervision at school. Clinicians from the Laboratory of Observation Diagnosis and Education tested the children at school (UNITN).
Long-term improvement in reading skills
The scientists repeated the tests on both groups of children shortly after the training ended. “We discovered a 7-fold improvement in attentional control in children who played the action video game versus the control group,” says Angela Pasqualotto. Even more remarkably, the research team observed a clear improvement in reading, not only in terms of reading speed, but also in accuracy, whereas the control group showed no improvement. This literacy improvement occurs despite the fact that the action video game does not require any reading activity.
“What makes this study unique is that we conducted three additional assessment tests six months, twelve months, and eighteen months after training. On each occasion, the trained children outperformed the control group, indicating that these gains were sustained” Angela Pasqualotto expresses herself. Furthermore, the trained children’s grades in Italian improved significantly over time, indicating a virtuous improvement in learning ability. “The effects are thus long-term, consistent with the action video game strengthening the ability to learn how to learn,” Daphne Bavelier explains.
The game will be translated into German, French, and English as part of the NCCR Evolving Language project and in collaboration with Irene Altarelli (co-author of the article and researcher at LaPsyDE, University of Paris). “Decoding is more or less difficult when reading depending on the language.” Each letter in Italian, for example, is pronounced, whereas French and English are quite opaque, resulting in very different learning challenges.
“Reading in opaque languages necessitates the ability to learn exceptions, to learn how different contexts affect pronunciation, and necessitates a greater reliance on memorization,” says Irene Altarelli. Will the advantages of action video games for reading acquisition be extended to more complex learning environments such as reading in French or English? This is the question that this research will attempt to answer. Furthermore, rather than taking time away from school, the video game will be available entirely at home, remotely, as will the administration of reading and attention tests.
