Visual Novel Based Education in English Literature

A Study on Student Engagement

Abstract

The present study aims to determine the relationship between visual novels and student engagement in English literature. The visual novel development program Ren’Py was used to create a visual novel based on S. E. Hinton’s classic novel The Outsiders (1967). The game was distributed to high school students, and data was collected using a pretest-post-test quasi-experimental design. A descriptive positive relationship was tentatively found; students who indicated having read the book as well as having played the visual novel reported having a refreshed or otherwise positive experience with the visual novel. Factors such as learning enjoyment; behaviour, effort, and persistence; and cognitive learning were identified as having been enhanced through interaction with the visual novel, which suggests an overall improvement in student engagement. The most valuable implication of devoting research to this topic is the advancement of teaching methods that can impact the way students read and think critically about texts. With greater evidence and a wider breadth of subject material covered in the future, it could be possible to transform how high school students interact with literature.