The Effects of Incorporating an Electronic Book into Digital Game-Based Learning: A Prior Knowledge Perspective

Digital game-based learning (DGBL) and electronic books (E-books) can provide students with different benefits. Accordingly, one aim of this study was to incorporate an E-book into DGBL to develop a Digital Entertaining English Learning (DEEL). However, individual differences exist among learners, especially prior knowledge. To this end, the other aim of this study was to provide a complete understanding of the effects of prior knowledge on student learning in the context of DEEL. Hence, we conducted empirical investigation, where learners’ reactions to the DEEL were analyzed with quantitative methods and the lag sequential analyses. An independent variable was prior knowledge while dependent variables were test performance, task performance and learning behavior. Regardless of test performance or task performance, results indicated that high prior knowledge learners (HPK) performed better than low prior knowledge learners (LPK). Regarding learning behavior, LPK more frequently used the grammar E-book than HPK, especially pictorial illustration. Additionally, LPK moved between the text description and pictorial illustration with a bidirectional approach while HPK viewed the text description and pictorial illustration with a unidirectional approach. Based on these findings, we developed a framework, which can be applied to personalize the DEEL so that learners’ learning experience can be improved.