Glatz, T. 1 , Tops, W. 1 , Maurits, N. 2 & Maassen, B. 1, 3
1 Centre for Language and Cognition (CLCG), University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
2 Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
3 Department of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
GraphoGame (GG) is a serious game for training grapheme-phoneme correspondences. In transparent writing systems such as Finnish, GG can boost reading abilities. In more opaque languages, phonological awareness (PA) has a bigger impact on reading skills than knowledge of grapheme-phoneme correspondences; and GG does not seem to reliably enhance reading accuracy. Therefore, evaluation of GG effectiveness in opaque languages requires (1) the use of measures more sensitive than mere reading accuracy scores, as well as (2) investigation of factors potentially predicting better GG outcomes in opaque languages. We tested 113 Dutch-speaking first-graders who played GG for six weeks and a control group of 117 children who played an analogous math game. A non-playing control group (N=57) followed the normal school curriculum. GG effectiveness was evaluated by (1) using pre- and post-training measures of accuracy and response latencies analysis in reading-related tests and (2) examining the effects of child's IQ, motivation, and training intensity on GG outcomes. Whereas we found no GG-related improvement in response latencies, we observed that child's IQ, motivation, and training intensity significantly predicted GG-related increase in PA accuracy scores. The study is the first large-scale project showing positive effects of GG on PA in an opaque language.