Enhancing Narrative Writing Skills through Action-Adventure Video Games

Abstract

Video games have become a big part of a student’s life. With the influence of massively marketed commercial games, teachers can no longer ignore the role it plays in the student’s overall development. This research investigates the link between commercial video games and the teaching and learning of the English language, specifically, narrative writing. This research utilized a pre-experimental research design on 4 respondents using the Sony PlayStation 3 gaming console and Naughty Dog Inc’s “UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves” video game. The results of the research show that there are several narrative elements in the video game which differs from the standard narrative structure used in an English language classroom and these elements were transferred to the respondents who played the game, as evidenced in their post-experience narrative essay. The three features of the game: Three-Act Narrative Structure, Double-Climax feature and the existence of the Orientation suggest the positive influences of the video game on the respondents’ narrative writing ability. From the results of this research, teachers will be able to tap into the educational potential of commercial video games to further enrich their writing class by integrating commercial video games into their narrative writing class. It challenges ESL teachers to break out of their traditional methodologies and use commercial video games as a tool to enrich the students’ learning experience and retention.

Keywords: Narrative writing, video games, three act structure, narrative structure, ESL