Affiliation:
1. University of Mauritius, Mauritius
2. University of Cumbria, UK
Abstract
For over 30 years, literacy has been recognized as a key concern in Special Education Needs (SEN) and especially in Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) education. No different in Mauritius, these children struggle to get passing marks in French language at elementary level. Addressing this concern, literature has been reviewed in the context of games for SEN and DHH education. Taking advantage of the potential of gamification, simple letter games have been developed using LiveCode. The games were administered to a sample of 14 SEN and DHH elementary students using the underlying action research theoretical framework. To assess the effectiveness of the games, the students' level of motivation after using the games was measured using the Instructional Materials Motivation Survey (IMMS) based on Keller's (2010) ARCS motivation model. The results demonstrated the potential of using LiveCode to develop timely serious games to support SEN and DHH students' literacy skills.