Serious game to help vocabulary learning in primary school

Researchers at Radboud University will investigate a new method for vocabulary learning, based on brain research on language development. The Dutch 'Nationaal Regieorgaan Onderwijsonderzoek' (NRO) has awarded 600.000 Euros to the project.

Learning words and building vocabulary in your native language—but also in foreign languages—is very important for reading and everyday communications. Previous research has shown that our brain stores vocabulary in personal models. Word forms, concepts and pronunciation are organized based on similarities and differences in spelling, sound and meaning. This seem to happen independent of language, as words from different languages are still stored together based on their similarity. Few of these insights have as yet been used in vocabulary learning, which is often primarily textual and based on item-by-item lists. The serious game MindSort aims to change that.

Linking meaning and spelling

Frank Leoné, researcher at Radboud University's Donders Institute, initiated MindSort and the current research project. 'Our game is comparable to Memory, but instead of finding two identical cards, with MindSort you have to combine meaning and spelling. For example, you have to combine an image of a lion with the word lion. An important note is that the cards are not randomly organized like in Memory. Instead, we sort them based on similarity; so the lion image lies next to the tiger image; just as we believe it works in the brain. This allows us to provide students with intelligent feedback on how close they are to the right answer, and on what is causing them to make mistakes.

The researchers will investigate MindSort—which will also appear in a physical edition—in primary education. They will use their findings, neurophysiological recordings, and neuroimaging data to construct a developmental vocabulary model, to deepen our understanding of vocabulary learning and individualize MindSort. A total of seven researchers are involved in the project, that will take approximately four years.

Provided by Radboud University