Spela roll : En textanalys om rollspel och literacy

In modern society the mere reading of a text is not enough, instead human strive for literacy, a deeper understanding of the text and a capacity to think individually. This ability is studied through reading habits and is said to be developed through working with literature. Since not all youths enjoy reading as a fun hobby, this essay will focus on an alternative which could function as a method to develop literacy. This essay will examine the literacy potential of role-playing games. Role-playing games have been around for many years and there are several different methods of using them for education. The question is if role-plays that are not specifically educational could be useful too. Through a text analysis based on scientifically published texts studying different kinds of role-play and games this essay is meant to look into the scientific view of role-playing and what potential they hold to develop literacy. The empirical material will be analysed through two different theories. The first one is Erving Goffman’s theatrical metaphor, which allows one to scrutinize human’s need to play various roles. This will be used principally to analyse the scientists’ roles when they write about role-play. The second one is Judith Langer’s theories about envisioning literature and the four stances in the process of building an envisionment. Through this analysis it can be seen that scientists do work with this kind of role-play. There are various ways in which role-play can be used to develop literacy, but the subject is still in need of more research to establish the potential for literacy from role-playing games other than videogames.