Shakespeare e-books: an account of promising practice

Digital editions of Shakespeare plays are promising tools to support student engagement in sophisticated reading, evidence-based analysis, and meaningful creative productions. One such complex digital text is the e-book series WordPlay Shakespeare. In this study, American secondary English Language Arts teachers used these e-books to bring reading and other literacy success to a range of learners. The teachers reported increased interpretive understanding as well as student engagement with new creative outlets. Teachers saw the inclusion of digital Shakespeare texts expanding literacy opportunities: supporting the reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and visually representing skills essential for twenty-first century learning.