Co-design focused, participatory approach to exploring a serious game with teachers of adult migrants with limited/interrupted formal education experience

Abstract

My current study focuses on late literacy and second language learning and teaching of adult migrants in Finland. Learners with limited/fragmented educational experiences who are learning to read and write for the first time in their second language are also referred to as LESLLA learners (see www.leslla.org ); and I identify myself as a member of the LESLLA research community. More LESLLA research is needed, as the LESLLA population has to date been neglected by most applied linguistics, educational or literacy scholars (see Young-Scholten, 2021).

At the core of my ongoing user study is gamified digital literacy support of adult emergent readers in migrant late literacy and second language training in Finland (see Malessa, 2021). In this study, in-service adult basic literacy and Finnish language teachers tested a specific game app originally developed for young children to enhance their first/second language and literacy skills and development in Finnish. The tested GraphoLearn app was developed by the AllRead team (see University of Jyväskylä, 2021). Participating teachers provided their feedback on their gaming experience via personal gaming diaries and individual researcher-teacher online interviews. Preliminary findings will be presented and discussed.

The focus of this study is to reflect on and evaluate a specific literacy game app in collaboration with adult literacy educators, benefitting from their professional expertise and practical classroom experience. The aim of this study is to devise language specific as well as non-language specific design guidelines for gamified literacy support for the modification of the tested app in question to make serious gaming enjoyable and efficient for LESLLA learners and teachers alike.