Dialogic Teacher Facilitation of Esports Activities for Vulnerable Youth

Abstract

The study is part of an on-going research project entitled “Esports as learning space and gateway for vulnerable youth” (2023-2026) funded by the Velux Foundation. In the project, researchers explore the esports programmes at three Specially Planned Youth Education schools (Særligt Tilrettelagt Ungdomsuddannelse or STU). STU is an offer to vulnerable youth unable to attend regular forms of youth education in Denmark. More than 30% of the STU students are diagnosed with disorders such as ADHD and autism and many have experienced school refusal and suffer from low well-being and/or stress, isolation and anxiety. The project explores the pedagogical approaches used by teachers in three esports programmes, where students (aged 16-25) play competitive multiplayer games, primarily Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) and League of Legends. This study analyses video observations from an esports class through the theoretical perspective of dialogic space to examine how a teacher facilitates dialogue in the classroom. We uncover how a dialogical approach to facilitating the esport programme is valuable for the teachers, especially because some students' gaming expertise exceeds the teachers’ expertise, both in terms of game sense and understanding of game mechanics. The analysis shows how the students' dialogic participation is part of a teacher facilitated dialogic space, which is used as a starting point to create common goals for the programme and foci of students' collaboration. In this dialogical space students are invited to share game knowledge, strategic considerations, and analytical expertise about their gameplay. Further, the analysis will show how the teacher position himself differently in the classroom to facilitate students’ reflections on taking different perspectives in the dialogic space. Finally, the study discusses how the aim of perspective taking, and communication for successful gameplay in CS2 aligns with the pedagogical aim for the vulnerable students in the esports programme.