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PRH and NLT to research video games and literacy
PRH Children’s and The National Literacy Trust will conduct research to understand the relationship between video games and literacy.
PRH and NLT have partnered with with gaming industry trade body Ukie to survey secondary school children on how their reading skills are shaped by video games. The results will potentially be used as a proof point to raise funding to research how gaming could be used to improve children’s reading and writing.
PRH Children’s m.d. Francesca Dow said: “Penguin Random House Children’s has a long and celebrated history of publishing some of the world’s best-loved children’s books and is always finding new ways to reach more young readers. With this exciting new partnership we believe that together we can have a positive impact in supporting literacy, sparking imaginations and bringing stories to life for children everywhere.”
NLT c.e.o. Jonathan Douglas added: “Giving children and young people opportunities to read texts that reflect their interests can increase their reading engagement and attainment – whether they’re interested in dance, sport or video games.
“Video games are part of everyday life for many, and our initial research shows that they are providing young people with exciting opportunities to become part of a story and to read more widely. We are keen to explore the relationship between video games and literacy further through our partnership with Ukie and Penguin Random House Children’s.”
The NLT will script the survey questions with advice from a small selection of industry figures from both the publishing and games industries. Data will be collated in early 2020 before publishing results in spring 2020.
The partnership was devised following an earlier NLT survey which indicated games and online game discussion boards formed a notable part of children’s reading habits.
The survey found almost three-quarters (73%) of 11 to 16-year-olds play video games regularly and two-thirds (63%) of these young people prefer playing video games to reading books because the games make them feel more part of the story.
