James Paul Gee

Arizona State University

Biography

James Paul Gee is the Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies at Arizona State University.  He is a member of the National Academy of Education.  His book Sociolinguistics and Literacies (Fourth Edition 2011) was one of the founding documents in the formation of the “New Literacy Studies”, an interdisciplinary field devoted to studying language, learning, and literacy in an integrated way in the full range of their cognitive, social, and cultural contexts.  His book An Introduction to Discourse Analysis (Third Edition 2011) brings together his work on a methodology for studying communication in its cultural settings, an approach that has been widely influential over the last two decades.  His most recent books have dealt with video games, language, and learning.  What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy (Second Edition 2007) argues that good video games are designed to enhance learning through effective learning principles supported by research in the Learning Sciences.  Situated Language and Learning (2004) places video games within an overall theory of learning and literacy and shows how they can help us in thinking about the reform of schools.  His other recent books include: Good Video Games and Good Learning: Collected Essays (2007); How to Do Discourse Analysis (2011); Woman as Gamers: The Sims and 21st Century Learning (2010) and Language and Learning in the Digital World (2011), both written with Elizabeth Hayes.  Prof. Gee has published widely in journals in linguistics, psychology, the social sciences, and education.