National Literacy Trust and Penguin Random House Partner to Study Video Games

Published: October 18, 2019 6:28 AM /

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National Literacy Trust Video Games

UK-based nonprofit organization the National Literacy Trust has teamed up with major book publisher Penguin Random House Children's to conduct a study that will investigate the link between children playing video games and their literacy skills.

The National Literacy Trust is a registered charity that is dedicated to improving the reading, writing, and speaking abilities of the UK's poorest communities. They're partnering up with Penguin Random House Children's, a section of the company Penguin Random House which was founded in 2013 following the merger of  Random House and Penguin Group.

The nonprofit and publishing house will be teaming up to conduct a survey that will study the relationship between gaming and reading according to a press release. The purpose is to investigate how children read and write as a consequence of playing games and explore what benefits they may offer in regard to literacy engagement. In short, they'd like to find out if video games make kids more likely to read and, if so, how much more likely they are to read.

National Literacy Trust Video Games

National Literacy Trust: 73% Aged 11–16 Play Games

A survey of more than 2,000 children aged 11–16 found that 73% of them play video games. Considering the success of games ranging from Minecraft to Fortnite, it isn't surprising to find that nearly 3 in 4 children are playing video games today.

What may be slightly more distressing is the fact that 63.3% of them prefer playing games to reading books, largely because a video game makes them feel like they're more involved in the story. What this might mean for a child's literacy skills isn't yet known, but this upcoming study may just provide the answers they're looking for. Preliminary research based on the gathered data is expected to be released sometime in the Spring of 2020.

What do you think of the National Literacy Trust and Penguin Random House Children's teaming up to study the relationship between video games and reading? Do you believe playing video games improves reading skills? Let us know in the comments below!

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One of my earliest memories is playing Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo Entertainment System. I've had a controller in my hand since I was 4 and I… More about Robert N