Building an Anthology of "Interactive Fiction."

A study determined whether students with an average interest in reading would become more interested in reading if they used interactive fiction computer games involving a quest or solving a problem in conjunction with required reading. Eight students in grades five through eight participated in a workshop that met 3 hours a day, 4 days a week, for 4 weeks. The students began with the easier games that involve little text reading and gradually moved on to the most sophisticated text-oriented interactive fiction. An observer helped the students to overcome problems in solving the quest so that the students would keep reading. All students were deeply engrossed in these programs, and the only condition that diminished student interest or motivation was an inability, after repeated attempts, to move ahead or solve a dilemma in the quest. None of the students reacted negatively to the considerable amount of reading required of most of the programs. Results suggest (1) students with no more than average interest in reading will spend large amounts of time engaged in interactive fiction that requires heavy amounts of reading if they are successful at carrying forward with the quest and (2) interactive fiction could be used to encourage students to read independently. (A list of the interactive fiction computer programs used in the study is appended.) (SRT)