Shiang-Kwei Wang

Using Gaming Literacies to Cultivate New Literacies

The use of games in educational contexts has recently received growing attention; however, many teachers struggle with finding a right context to adopt games in the classroom. To strengthen teachers’ beliefs about the educational value of games, this article explains the similarities and differences between new literacies and gaming literacy and defines gaming literacy from the “play” and “design” perspectives. This article presents examples of game use that will help teachers cultivate learners’ new literacies through gaming, understand how the game debriefing process can help scaffold students’ learning, and identify factors affecting the adoption of games in educational contexts. The audience for this article includes teachers and teacher educators who would like greater clarification regarding gaming literacy and its positive effects on the learning and development of new literacies.