Abstract
“How can I get my students to read?” is a question frequently asked by educators when dealing
with 21st century students. In this article, I review current literature based around using video
games as a pedagogical tool. Topics looked at include the decline of interest in reading, the rise
in student comfort with technology, the ability for video games to increase intrinsic motivation,
how the larger fields of reading, motivation, and video games form the reasoning for this
research, and benefits from previous research. Primary research is also discussed; 20 students
from Ohio Dominican University participated in a study where they played the video game The
Hobbit (2003) to see whether they would be motivated to read the book The Hobbit (1937). Due
to lack of subject feedback, quantitative results were limited, but qualitative results were found.
None of the subjects were regular gamers, but two to of the five subjects to play the game and
respond to a survey did read some of the book after playing the game. While this is stastically
insignificant, it does provide reason to continue research in this field with a re-designed and
larger study