A videogame grammatics: meeting the needs of disciplinary English

Abstract This paper proposes a videogame grammatics in which the values communicated in action-adventure videogames are investigated to meet the requirements of disciplinary English. Despite the popularity of action-adventure videogames, concerns about the representation of violence, gender depictions and racial stereotyping make using these games in classrooms potentially problematic for educators. This paper describes a case study about a videogame unit of work based on a popular action-adventure videogame about Batman. The paper uses semi-structured interviews with two teachers, a summary of the unit of work and lesson plans to describe videogame grammatics as a pedagogical approach in which students critically investigate the moral and socio-political values in the videogame to meet the demands of disciplinary English. The data was thematically analysed, and the three themes of implied values, videogame grammatics and critical interpretation were identified. Implications for teaching focalisation and the interactive meaning of camera positions in videogames are discussed. Further research into videogame grammatics is required to examine how the gameplay sequences enhance the implied values in videogames.