Word Quest combines established principles of effective literacy teaching with the motivation and engagement of an interactive adventure game. Its educational approach draws on three complementary areas of research: specialist teaching for children with dyslexia and literacy difficulties; structured teaching of spelling and phonics; and evidence on game-based learning.
A note on what this page does and does not claim. The research below supports the principles Word Quest is built on. It is not a trial of Word Quest itself, and we do not claim that it is.
Children who struggle with literacy need more than repeated exposure to words. They benefit from explicit, systematic teaching that helps them understand the relationships between sounds, letters and spelling patterns.
Research supports the direct teaching of spelling rather than relying on children picking it up incidentally. A major meta-analysis by Graham and Santangelo found strong and consistent evidence that formal spelling instruction improves children's spelling, with benefits extending to reading and writing as well.
Effective spelling instruction is not simply memorising lists. It develops a child's understanding of three things at once:
Word Quest provides structured opportunities to practise and reinforce these relationships while the player progresses through the game.
Word Quest also has roots in many years of practical work with children with dyslexia and specific literacy difficulties.
Michael Thomson's longitudinal study of approximately 250 children attending East Court School, a specialist school for pupils with dyslexia, examined progress in reading and spelling. It demonstrated that the widening gap between a child's chronological age and their literacy attainment could be closed with appropriate specialist intervention.
The study was subsequently cited in the UK Government's Rose Review of dyslexia and literacy difficulties (2009).
This research is not a clinical trial of Word Quest. It is part of the educational background from which the principles underlying Word Quest developed.
Knowing what to teach is only part of the challenge. Children also have to stay interested enough to practise, repeat and consolidate what they are learning. This is where game-based learning helps.
A systematic review and meta-analysis by Clark and colleagues found that students using digital educational games achieved significantly better learning outcomes than those in non-game comparison conditions. Research into gamification has similarly found positive effects on learning, motivation and learning behaviour.
Particularly relevant to Word Quest, research has identified game fiction — providing a story or imaginary world around the learning activity — as potentially important in encouraging learning behaviour.
In Word Quest the adventure is not a reward bolted on after the spelling work. The learning happens inside the adventure. Children explore, solve problems, meet challenges and move through an imaginary world while practising and consolidating spelling skills.
Make spelling systematic. Make practice meaningful. Make learning an adventure.
Written by Dr Michael Thomson, a former Chartered Educational Psychologist renowned in the field of dyslexia, author of best-selling books on dyslexia and for over 25 years Principal of East Court School for children with dyslexia. For the teaching order and the rules covered in each part, see the Teacher's Guide.