| Play and learning have always been closely interrelated ideas, with games historically being utilized as social constructs that are simultaneously pedagogical and entertaining in intent. This dissertation will examine an underappreciated element of gaming's pedagogical history through thinking about English composition education as a kind of gaming. Whereas much recent research about gaming has focused on the promises of digital games, I will focus on an older and more fluid type of gaming represented by Tabletop Role Playing Games. In the modern day, Tabletop Role-Playing Games (TRPGs), like the well-known game Dungeons & Dragons, represent a combination of traditional and innovative play that foreshadows where and how educators might make use of play-based learning.;In my first chapter, I will present the evolution and history of TRPGs from strategic wargaming into a higher and more complex form of general interactive simulation and gameplay. In so doing, I will demonstrate that games and play are an inherently educational form of activity, and have always been so in almost every manifestation.;In my second chapter, I take a closer look at gameplay, and what makes it motivational, social, and effective as a form of pedagogy that could be readily incorporated into the classroom. I highlight the three most pertinent advantages which TRPGs can offer to modern students and educators: the harnessing of student engagement, the encouraging of role-play and personal agency-driven learning, and the creation of authentic contexts within which learning may take place.;In my third chapter, I offer the composition classroom as a perfect example of a learning context wherein game-based learning can be of use to students and educators. I note the ways in which TRPGs benefit compositional learning, particularly in the case of the First-Year Writing and genre-based composition courses in higher education.;In my fourth chapter, I present a model for introducing TRPGs into the composition classroom, using The Quiet Year as a structural example for a First-Year Writing course activity. I conclude by describing my own experiences running TRPGs in educational environments, and the benefits which such a game-based approach can offer. |
