A Short Hike: Writing with a videogame

Abstract

This master thesis focuses on implementing a videogame in an educational setting. By doing this, the study can focus on the pupils’ interactions with the videogame and how their texts are inspired by the videogame A Short Hike. The study was performed in two different classes in 5th and 7th grade. With this in mind, the research question is: How does an adventure videogame inspire the pupils’ writing? With this question, the study can analyse the pupils’ texts and what is expressed in their texts. On the side, there will be a focus on the popular culture the pupils interact with and references and intertextuality in their texts.

The study carries out a lesson plan for the classes where the game A Short Hike is being played. After the gameplay, the pupils will write a continuation of where the class stopped playing. The introduced task invites the pupils to write a narrative text with no limitations to the content. There was only one condition, and it was to write a continuation of the gameplay. The texts’ content will be analysed, and the focus during the analysis is on the texts’ references and intertextualities with other videogames, popular culture, and stories.

With the analysis of four texts and observation from the study, it was discovered that the pupils’ texts contained several references and intertextualities from their interests and other videogames. The structure and theme of the texts were also inspired by previous texts they might have encountered in the past. It was also important to facilitate the pupils’ joy of writing within the study. Without it, the pupils would struggle to write and find interest in writing a text. This study encourages the teachers to learn more about the pupils’ popular culture and implement videogames in their teaching schemes. By doing this, the pupils can be more engaged in the writing and in the class. Implementing videogames for educational purposes can also motivate them and facilitate their joy of writing.