Which games does ChatGPT think will improve reading comprehension? We asked, we got an answer, the answer was rubbish TBH...
First, a note on what we mean by reading comprehension. This question interested us because Peter (one of our directors) is also working on a research project with GameInLab and the University of Leeds to see if two games, Mysterium and Just One, might be able to improve reading comprehension even though they don’t involve reading. Reading comprehension is about understanding what we have read – not about knowing what the words on the page sound like, but what they actually mean when they’re strung into sentences and paragraphs. There’s all kinds of things that affect comprehension: vocabulary knowledge, the ability to infer meaning, and knowledge of the world can all affect whether we know what the author means.
However, the games ChatCPT gave us none of this…
What do you think the best board games for reading comprehension are?
There are many board games that can help improve reading comprehension skills, but here are a few that I think are particularly effective:
- Scrabble: Scrabble is a classic word game that requires players to form words using letter tiles. Players must be able to read and spell words correctly, which can improve reading comprehension and vocabulary skills.
- Bananagrams: Bananagrams is a fast-paced word game in which players race to create a grid of connected words using letter tiles. Like Scrabble, the game requires players to read and spell words correctly, but the quick gameplay and lack of a board make it a more accessible option for younger players.
- Apples to Apples: Apples to Apples is a card game in which players take turns matching noun cards to adjective cards. The game requires players to read and understand the meaning of each card in order to make the best match.
- Boggle: Boggle is a word game in which players search for words in a grid of lettered dice. The game requires players to read the grid quickly and identify words that meet certain criteria, such as being a certain length or including a specific letter.
- Ticket to Ride: While not a word game, Ticket to Ride is a board game that can improve reading comprehension skills by requiring players to read and understand complex rule sets and card interactions. The game also involves strategic decision-making and critical thinking, making it a well-rounded educational tool.
These are just a few examples of the many board games that can help improve reading comprehension skills. Ultimately, the best game for a particular player will depend on their interests and learning style.
Four out of these five don’t really involve any comprehension at all. Scrabble and Bananagrams are tests of memory more than word knowledge – if you memorise the dictionary but have no understanding, you would win – in 2015 Nigel Richards proved this by winning the French Scrabble championship without speaking any French! Boggle perhaps isn’t so much about memorising words, but certainly focusses more on spotting patterns and recognising words – perhaps excellent for decoding, but no understanding of words is needed here. And Ticket to Ride is a fantastic game, but it isn’t developing comprehension so much as testing someone’s ability to comprehend (giving someone a rule book and then asking them to play a game probably is a good way to see if they can understand written instructions). Apples to Apples, though, may well be a good choice – certainly it’s providing an opportunity for ‘semantic fields’ (words that are near-synonyms) to be explored as a group.
ChatGPT has relied on the production of words in games – and perhaps that follows what it’s learning on the internet when many people talk about games that develop reading. But developing reading comprehension probably has more to do with dialogue, misunderstandings, and conversation – it’s about tapping into the general knowledge of the entire table to expand our understanding of the world and of words. As such, games that invite the ‘what did you mean?’ questions, and ‘why did you give me that clue?’ probably develop reading comprehension more than actual word games – so any games that provide clues and guesses, with a little reflection and discussion, may well be better than ChatGPT’s list. We’d perhaps include, then, games like Mysterium, Dixit, Just One, Codenames, Chameleon, So Clover…