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As noted by researchers (Squire, 2006; Williams, 2003), many youths have been spending more time playing in digital worlds than reading, or watching TV or films. Though many people, parents and teachers alike, still take video games as mere entertainment, gaming culture (Sanford & Madill, 2007) and game literacy (Gee, 2007) have been proposed to view gaming as a positive and potential tool in literacy development. Most of the studies, however, are conducted with native English speakers and deal with the features in games that could facilitate learning. What remains to be explored is what adolescent English language learners (ELLs ) online gaming experience is like. To fill this gap, this book presents a rich, thick description (Merriam, 1998, p. 29) of how adolescent ELLs are engaged in second language (L2) literacy practices through a popular massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG), World of Warcraft (WoW). In order to better reach them [students] to teach them (Tomlinson & Doubet, 2005), this book urges educators and parents to expand their knowledge about adolescent ELLs´ gaming world and channel their interest of gaming into academic learning.

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Zhuo Li is currently an Assistant Professor of English at the South University of Science and Technology of China. She obtained her Ph.D. in ESOL/ Bilingual Education at the University of Florida. Her research interests include multiliterate approaches to language learning and applying educational technology to second language acquisition.

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