Sandra Schamroth Abrams

Demystifying Digitalk The What and Why of the Language Teens Use in Digital Writing

The language teens use in digital spaces—from social network posts to instant message chats to text messages—often does not adhere to Standard Written English (SWE). Their digital writing involves a combination of written and conversational languages and often has a digital thumbprint that distinguishes the writer. As a means to understand this digitalk, we conducted a mixed method study that not only examines the conventions of digitalk, but also explores the impetus behind teens’ languages choices. Over the course of 2 years and three rounds of data collection, we investigated the digital language use of 81 adolescents (Grades 7-12) from urban and suburban, public and private schools in a large metropolitan area. Data provide insight into the conventions of digitalk and the reasons these features of language have been conventionalized within adolescent digital communities. Ultimately, we see teens engaging in purposeful writing that may differ from SWE, but, nonetheless, shows an awareness of audience, efficiency in communication, expression of personal voice, and inclusion in a community of practice.

From Mario to FIFA: what qualitative case study research suggests about games-based learning in a US classroom

This article explores the impact of using commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) videogames in a high school curriculum when developed through a connected learning frame by examining the influence that COTS videogames have on transforming students’ literacy learning in-school. However, it must be noted that transforming literacy in school is about more than bridging in- and out-of-school literacies; it concerns developing a deeper understanding of the meaning of literacy in today’s multimediated world, and the ways that these experiences are connected not only to media, but to traditional texts, peers, and guiding teachers, so that we can better grasp how to harness new learning styles and new ways of making meaning in contemporary classroom spaces. To understand how to capture in and out-of-school practices, we conducted a qualitative case study of two high school students enrolled in a reading intervention class that incorporated a COTS videogames curriculum. Data were analyzed via a constant comparison analysis. Findings indicated that the games-based curriculum created through a connected learning frame enabled students to engage in a constellation of connections among digital media, traditional texts, peers, and guiding teachers.

Zombies, Boys, and Videogames: Problems and Possibilities in an Assessment Culture

In many ways, the zombie seems to be a suitable trope for the challenges students, teachers, and parents may face as they confront and respond to imposed standards and curricula. More specifically, this chapter extends the zombie metaphor to examine the challenges two adolescent male learners and their mother faced as their New York public middle and high schools adopted national standards and imposed curricular modifications. Through the perspective of the stakeholders (the two students and their mother), assessment-driven changes ironically challenged good pedagogy and generated hysteria. In light of the qualitative data, this chapter suggests that videogames can provide a model for productive, collaborative, and creative change that promises to be relevant and meaningful to educators and students.

Bridging Literacies with Videogames

These diverse topics will provide scholars, teachers, and curriculum developers with empirical support for bringing videogames into classroom spaces to foster meaning making. Bridging Literacies with Videogames is an essential text for undergraduates, graduates, and faculty interested in contemporizing learning with the medium of the videogame. G A M I N G E C O L O G I E S A N D P E D A G O G I E S S E R I E S