TY - JOUR
T1 - Stealth Literacy Assessments via Educational Games
AU - Fang, Ying
AU - Li, Tong
AU - Huynh, Linh
AU - Christhilf, Katerina
AU - Roscoe, Rod D.
AU - McNamara, Danielle S.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.
PY - 2023/7
Y1 - 2023/7
N2 - Literacy assessment is essential for effective literacy instruction and training. However, traditional paper-based literacy assessments are typically decontextualized and may cause stress and anxiety for test takers. In contrast, serious games and game environments allow for the assessment of literacy in more authentic and engaging ways, which has some potential to increase the assessment’s validity and reliability. The primary objective of this study is to examine the feasibility of a novel approach for stealthily assessing literacy skills using games in an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) designed for reading comprehension strategy training. We investigated the degree to which learners’ game performance and enjoyment predicted their scores on standardized reading tests. Amazon Mechanical Turk participants (n = 211) played three games in iSTART and self-reported their level of game enjoyment after each game. Participants also completed the Gates–MacGinitie Reading Test (GMRT), which includes vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension measures. The results indicated that participants’ performance in each game as well as the combined performance across all three games predicted their literacy skills. However, the relations between game enjoyment and literacy skills varied across games. These findings suggest the potential of leveraging serious games to assess students’ literacy skills and improve the adaptivity of game-based learning environments.
AB - Literacy assessment is essential for effective literacy instruction and training. However, traditional paper-based literacy assessments are typically decontextualized and may cause stress and anxiety for test takers. In contrast, serious games and game environments allow for the assessment of literacy in more authentic and engaging ways, which has some potential to increase the assessment’s validity and reliability. The primary objective of this study is to examine the feasibility of a novel approach for stealthily assessing literacy skills using games in an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) designed for reading comprehension strategy training. We investigated the degree to which learners’ game performance and enjoyment predicted their scores on standardized reading tests. Amazon Mechanical Turk participants (n = 211) played three games in iSTART and self-reported their level of game enjoyment after each game. Participants also completed the Gates–MacGinitie Reading Test (GMRT), which includes vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension measures. The results indicated that participants’ performance in each game as well as the combined performance across all three games predicted their literacy skills. However, the relations between game enjoyment and literacy skills varied across games. These findings suggest the potential of leveraging serious games to assess students’ literacy skills and improve the adaptivity of game-based learning environments.
KW - assessment
KW - educational games
KW - intelligent tutoring system
KW - literacy
KW - reading comprehension
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U2 - 10.3390/computers12070130
DO - 10.3390/computers12070130
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85166421294
SN - 2073-431X
VL - 12
JO - Computers
JF - Computers
IS - 7
M1 - 130
ER -