Levelling Up Language Learning: A Study on the Impact of Gamification

Introduction

Games are a ubiquitous form of entertainment for adults and children around the world. Due to the exponential growth of the internet over the past few decades, video games and online games have become increasingly accessible as popular entertainment passtimes. Game developers have increasingly used behavioural science techniques to keep users - or ‘gamers’ - playing and engaged with their products. A report by Nielsen (2010), titled What Americans Do Online: Social Media and Games Dominate Activity, highlighted the most frequent activities of internet users in the United States. Despite the nearly limitless nature of the web, 40% of U.S. online time was reported to be spent on just three activities - social networking, email and games, with growth in the use of online games, especially by young audiences - leaving plenty of other areas vying for a declining share of the online attention pie (Nielsen, 2010).

The education system, ranging from primary to secondary schools and to universities, looks to leverage the potential for engagement through the integration of digital games or game mechanics or components, known as gamification, to support students' learning (Watson et al., 2011; Whitton & Hollins, 2008). Gamification can be defined as the utilisation of game-based mechanics, visual elements, and game-related thinking or behaviours in order to promote engagement, motivation, action, and problem-solving for learning (Kapp, 2012).

Regarding gamification in second language acquisition (SLA), Azzouz Boudadi and Gutiérrez-Colón’s (2020) study focuses exclusively on the results that are obtained through gamification in the classroom, showing that the use of gamification with L2 (second language) learners is a predominantly positive experience. However, the authors conclude that there is a need for more research on the role Gamification could play in learning contexts.

This study intends to show how gamification motivation through games helps students not only to be more involved in language study, but more importantly to accept the errors that, through the game, are seen as part of it. In addition, if we consider the stress that each student in different measure may feel at the time of being evaluated through a test, the fear of making a mistake is greater because the grade would be compromised. For this reason, proposing a gamified test allows the student to complete the test in the allotted time feeling free to make mistakes during the execution of the gamified test since he/she is aware that in this way the mistake itself can indicate on how to proceed within the game and pass the different levels and/or phases that compose it. Two questions arise in this regard:

• Q1. How might educators gamify a test?

• Q2. Are all students facilitated when facing a gamified test?

These questions will be attempted to be answered through the findings made after experimenting and comparing the results of non-gamified and gamified tests.

This study employs a mixed methodological approach to examine the implications of Gamification on assessments for grades 7 and 8 students' vocabulary and reading comprehension during a Spanish language course. The results from this study will provide a preliminary understanding to inform a future study in this field.

Background

Many academic disciplines such as psychology, sociology, ethnology, and anthropology have noted that the concept of the game is part of human culture, and significantly can help individuals' development. Huizinga (1972) conducted one of the most famous studies on the cultural aspects of games. In his book Homo ludens, he reveals the close historical relationship between games and human beings.