The use of the game Magic: The Gathering in the teaching of L2 reading
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-4301.2017.2.26398Keywords:
L2 reading, Magic, The Gathering, Reading processes.Abstract
The present study aimed at exploring how the Trading Card Game (TCG) ‘Magic: The Gathering’ (MTG) can be used in the teaching of L2 reading. More specifically, how MTG can nurture the activation of the reading processes such as decoding, literal comprehension, inferential comprehension, and comprehension monitoring. Concerning the method applied in this study, a selection of MTG cards from a recent MTG collection entitled Kaladesh was made. Furthermore, for the analysis, it was taken into consideration that the readers, thought of in this study, were MTG players rather than non-players, since the lack of schemata for the game might compromise the execution of higher reading processes. In addition, the analysis was based on the model of reading processes by Gagné et al. (1993), and its procedures consisted of explaining how the texts in the cards could trigger the execution of the reading processes. As a result, the analysis suggested that MTG indeed has potential to foster the activation of the reading processes as the cards contain texts in the form of instructions and or effects which are authentic forms of input. This input, in turn, requires the reader-player’s declarative knowledge in the L2 and in MTG.
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